If you could change one thing at your child's school (money no object) what would it be? Teachers views welcomed too.

[bummer]

Imagine you have a fairy wand that actually works if it helps!

I would double or triple staff-pupil ratio for under 7s.

I would make the curriculum more like the uk primary one (more creative stuff, morre play, less handwriting)

and I would add much more equipment, especially sand/water play type stuff (which they don't have)

Better communication. Clear, frequent and informative.

teachers that stayed !

sorry, I know that's 3 things.

trhe first is the most important. staff-pupil ratio is currently usually 25 to 1 (because classroom asssistant is only there once a week). we need full time assistants.

Yes, better communication. Despite it being a bilingual school (Welsh / English) communication is poor in both languages.

In fact, it got so bad that I now produce the school newsletter myself, with minimum to no input from the headteacher or any other member of staff

A swimming pool. Think its very important they learn to swim and nearest pool is about 10 miles away.

not having to write ridiculous reports detailing what exacty each child has done or not becuase that's wha Ofsted want."She adds and subtracts numbers with two digits mentally, and numbers with three digits using written methods.."

Why can't I write 1 page of A4 to each family explaining why their childn has been a delight and all the lovely things that have done.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

Guess what I am doing.............

for the children I would like each one of them to have at least one adult in their home who loves them unconditionally and who will clothe,feed and nurture them properly....... oh and hear them read from time to time.

Yes, I understand that reports have to be written to a certain format, but they don't really tell me anything. So dd can describe the properties of a cube, I'm pleased for her, really I am, but how do I know whether that's good or bad - perhaps everyone else in the class can describe the properties of a dodecahedron...

God Robinpud those asinine reports everyone has to write. I had to read DD's pre-school report (required by Ofsted) yesterday. "Caliguletta can count up to ten. Caliguletta can point out red, blue, yellow, green etc."

WTF? Why does her long-suffering key-worker have to do this? And why do I have to read it? And why does Ofsted want it? And what is the point? It takes hours out of their time to tell us what we already know and no-one at Ofsted will ever read it anyway and chances are neither will her primary school teacher. But she then has to keep it for five years or something mental. Makes me rant. (As you can see!)

In secondary school the single thing that would improve things for every child is to have class sizes down to 15 per class.

I think the teacher could make an effort to smile at the parents a bit more and tell us she has a good day or how she's got on, it would just reassure me that my child doesn't spend all day as miserable as sin which is what the child implies :-(

angelad i'm assuming your child is quite young. i agree it would be nice to know a bit more - especially when youve been used to private day care and the a4 sheet they give you every day. however there is absolutely no way a teacher can possibly give even that tiny level of feedback to every parent of every child every day. and if they cant do it for one then they cant do it for any of them.

actually our school is good in many ways (only in the preschool so far) but for me the single thing that I would change is to break the tie with the Church of England and become independent.

Hear hear freddiecat!

Large class sizes are the biggest problem in most secondary schools today. Big classes sadly mean more crowd-control and less teaching, less one-to-one, less meeting the needs of different students, less chance for students to express themselves hence students play up. Also big classes mean students who struggle are much more likely to slip through the net because you simply haven't got the time to help them.

I now teach in a private school and classes are never bigger than 15 - it's joyous. That's not because the children are naturally better behaved or more intelligent than those in state schools - they just play up less because they all get a chance to express themselves anyway, so don't muck about to gain attention.

Get rid of the NC/SATs and let teachers teach. Reduce class sizes. Have a class teacher that stays with their primary school class, have a XXXX co-ordinators who that is their main occupation. Employ more qualified teachers and not substitute with TAs.

And as Freddiecat says reduce class sizes in secondary schools.

Don't think I can say one.

I think most importantly get rid of the strict adherence to the National Curriculum (in this particular school) - I'd love a topic-based curriculum. I find the NC hops about too much in Literacy and Numeracy and nothing is ever reinforced or explored in depth.

Secondly, class sizes - good for every child.

Third, genuine flexibility about individual children's needs

Reduce class size by 50%

I would like there to be more time for children to just be children. Paint. Dig in the mud. Make models. Sing songs. Never mind learning that the Amazon carries x amount of water each day at the age of 7. I want school to be more fun. It would also be fun for me to teach that too

Good 'inclusion units' for all schools. I teach in a (quite good) smallish secondary. Nowhere to provide decent support for students with serious behavioural problems as head claims per capita funding won't stand it (also he is ostrich extraordinaire re: kids with MAJOR behavioural issues).

So classes of 25-33 regularly derailed by one head-banger.

please please please miss can we have classes that only span 12 months in age and not 24 ....
please please PLEASE PLEASE !!!!

For ds's new school in Sept there are only 11 children in his class.

I would wish they had a bit more room and could have a hall for assembly and gym without having to go to another school.

School ofice staff a bit more cheerful !!!

Teachers who can spell well enough so that my dd doesn't need to correct them. A way of dealing with the little who upset ds so much yesterday that he tried to run away.