What three things would you change about schools in general / your child's school?

[Racingsnake]

Everyone seems to like to moan about teachers / school / education, but no-one ever says how they would do it better. What 3 things would you change?

Here are mine:

1. Start formal education at 6 not 4
2. Halve class sizes. Whatever the gov't says about class sizes having no effect on chn, I am sure I would teach 16 better than 32
3. Reliable ICT that works, so that the teacher can use it to open up the world to the classroom, entertain and inspire

Are we only allowed 3?

1. start school at 5.5-6 yrs.....straight in there, none of this in for half days over 3 fucking weeks..(nightmare for all concerned)

2. Better communication...why do they just presume that you know the ins and outs of the school and education system. (even after much research on the school, there are things i cant possibly know unless i am told)

3. Less focus on the herding and forced compliance of small children. They are not all the same, and should not be forced into pigeon holes. If they dont fit that pigeon hole, they should not be labbelled as "naughty" or "difficult". aged 4 years old.

4. Perhaps this would be more possible if class sizes were smaller?

Im afraid that Deany has a HUGE school wish list all gleened from negative experience thus far.

"...straight in there, none of this in for half days over 3 fucking weeks..(nightmare for all concerned)"

But full days from day 1 is a nighmare for a lot of children in the places where they do it!

I think most of the problems people encounter in schools could be solved simply by having a better child/adult ratio. You don't necessarily need smaller classes - you just need more LSAs. I think most play time problems could be sorted this way too. And more parent helpers. Maybe even a bit of training offered for parent helpers?

"Less focus on the herding and forced compliance of small children. They are not all the same, and should not be forced into pigeon holes. If they dont fit that pigeon hole, they should not be labbelled as "naughty" or "difficult". aged 4 years old."

This is why my dd will never go to my school. And why I don't like school uniform.

I think by the sound of it a lot of people's requirements would be met by a Waldorf/Steiner school The trouble is, there aren't enough. We would have to drive an hour each way.

I don't think alot of children would manage whole days straight in.

I agree about LSA's, as long as they can spell and use capital letters and have the same sort of values as the teacher. I had one in the past when full time who always wrote 'i' lower case, corrected spelling incorrectly and msde rude comments about fruit and vegetables when we were doing Healthy Schools because she never ate any. (She was lovely in many other ways and brilliant at netball.)

At my dds primary school I would change;

1. The uniform - ties for 4 yr olds?
2. Decrease class sizes
3. Improve communication with parents

Don't let anyone tell you that Waldorf/Steiner schools don't have pigeon holes. They are a slightly different shape to the state school ones and made out of wood and painted in a beautiful blend of orange and yellow - but they are still pigeon holes!

Definitely more assistants.
I dropped off a friend's child for her at my local primary and the classroom was bedlam.
The teacher was explaining something to one child and the other 28 or so were milling around, talking, crying. One had a story tape on and you couldn't hear yourself think.
I was so appalled I volunteered to hear reading - and my kids dont even fecking go there - and even my untrained presence diluted the chaos a little. a proper TA would have been a God send.

Actually, -apart from problems with disability access at junior's- my children's experience of the state sector(eldest in Yr 7) so far hasn't been all that nightmarish. Infants may have had 50-60 kids in the classroom (open plan) but it was a calm and soothing, yet bustling atmosphere; I wouldn't have minded spending the day in there myself.

Uniform is low key (sweatshirts), which is how I like it.

Communication with parents has been perfectly reasonable- again apart from a short stretch in junior's, but to be fair I think that was down to one individual rather than inherent in the system.

I have one child who is unusually gifted and one that has so far struggled with academic learning: they have both more or less had their needs met and are both positive towards the experience.

Behaviour has been mainly good and all three schools we have currently experienced (infants, junior's and secondary) have had robust anti-bullying policies and dealt swiftly and efficiently with any problems. The children have been taught to look out for one another.

The only thing that is now emerging are various gaps in the subject knowledge of some secondary school teachers- but that is bound to happen when a child is a voracious reader.

The one improvement that was really needed was the departure of one individual headteacher: that has now been accomplished.

I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect school for all children.

However, in a general sort of way, I think I like large primary schools. When DD was a tiny baby I took her to a M&T group in a local pre-school/primary school in England. The school was supposed to be highly desirable and many of the mothers attending the M&T were hoping to get their children to the top of the waiting list by taking them to M&T group there.

The "desirability" of this school was that it was tiny (70 or so pupils), in a tiny village, with a very friendly atmosphere. I quickly realised that, had I been intending to stay in that area, I would not have wanted my child to go there - I wanted her to go to a much bigger school with a greater choice of teachers and friends and more activities.

Her current school has 900 pupils (pre-school and primary) and I love that and so does she - it means proper streaming, lots of choice of teachers and friends, lots of stimulation and variety.

DD starts school next week in Australia two weeks before her 6th birthday. I could have sent her last year but decided to give her another year in pre-school instead. She will be in a class of 19 with fantastic IT resources and in a gorgeous bush setting. The school has a system of "personalized learning" which allows kids to work with others of similar ability in the key subjects, across year groups.

The UK system failed both my boys. I am torn between being really happy at the great opportunities she has starting school, and being really sad watching the boys struggle to overcome their poor start.

DD starts school next week in Australia two weeks before her 6th birthday. I could have sent her last year but decided to give her another year in pre-school instead. She will be in a class of 19 with fantastic IT resources and in a gorgeous bush setting. The school has a system of "personalized learning" which allows kids to work with others of similar ability in the key subjects, across year groups.

The UK system failed both my boys. I am torn between being really happy at the great opportunities she has starting school, and being really sad watching the boys struggle to overcome their poor start.

Bonsoiranna - I think you're right.
Each school will please some and for others it will be dire.

My DCs school is great for us but some have been unhappy and moved with their feet.

One family felt it wasn't academically rigorous enough. All children are at least one year ahead of NC and the breadth of subjects includes specific subject teaching in Eng, maths, french, geog,science, hist,art, ICT and RE. Still you can't please all the people can you.

Similarly another family left because they were unhappy with the emphasis placed on sports. This is a positive for my DCs but obviously some kids are different.

At least those parents had a choice - it must be unbearable for those parents whose kids are not thriving but have no other options.

My catchment primary:

1. Smaller class sizes - 35 in my local school.
2. Giving summer born children time in reception (our LEA policy is children born after May 1st go straight into year 1).
3. Better home/school communication.
4. Encouraging children to learn rather than holding back the ones that can read when they start school so the others can catch up. With parents being told by the head that teacher is following the foundation stage and isn't obligated to do anything more to support the more able ones in the class .

My ds's private school:

1. Class size of 13 - ds started in reception despite June birthday.
2. Notebook for regular feedback from/to school plus reading notebook.
3. Every child gets individual reading every day so all levels well catered for.

I feel sad that I've had to choose private (and I know I'm lucky to be able to afford it). When I moved to the area 10 yrs ago the catchment school had a fantastic reputation but one retirement and three heads later this is what they have. A friend of my ds's has been told that he has to learn the alphabet with the other children even though he can read and write. He is 5 and just started in reception and is in a mixed year 1 and reception class with year 1 pupils who struggle to write their names. They have no timetable either, which seems very odd to me.

In no particular order:-

1. No SATS testing
2. Actually striving to ensure that no child leaves primary school without being able to read and write.
3. Proper help to those with learning difficulties (LEAs keep pleading a lack of resources)
4. Smaller class sizes
5. No homework - many studies have shown that doing homework does not improve performance at primary school level.
6. Improved school-home communication; letters should be checked properly before being sent out (a bug bear of mine, the school office staff are a bunch of muppets).
7. A Nurture group to be established in every year group in school run by outside staff to help children with either deep seated emotional and/or behavioural problems. Only 4% of junior schools have this currently and they are effective in helping such children - there should be more.
8. Better trained and paid LSA's
9. More and better paid midday assistants

10. A legally binding contract of behaviour within school.

Racingsnake - I hope you can. We have one or two locally who try very hard.......

1. to treat each child as the individual that they are, rather than number 32 of 37 (yes there are 37 in my dd's class)
2. to treat each child as the individual that they are
3. to treat each child as the individual that they are

Yes I know technically it's only one but it would cover so many issues.

Racingsnake - longer school day because the children from say Year 3 and above would be well able for this. I am not a teacher but yes more time for education as opposed to doing worksheets.

zanzibarmum on Sun 25-Jan-09 14:58:22
"Racingsnake - longer school day because the children from say Year 3 and above would be well able for this. I am not a teacher but yes more time for education as opposed to doing worksheets."

I would be against this. Even 8 and 9 year olds do get tired IME. Also, older children need time to cultivate their own particular interests- no school is going to be able to cater for every interest there is. Children might be able to cope with the work, but most children I know would miss out on essential parts of their education if they spent all afternoon at school. Not because school is failing them, but because it could only ever be a small part of a person's education.

I also think it is essential for children's development to have free time when they are not being organised by adults but have to make their own entertainment. And chill time, when they are not surrounded by lots of other children.

For my 8-yo, mooching around at home is an essential part of his education, drawing pictures or writing a story that he never has to show to anyone, playing with his toys (yes, even an 8yo needs to play!), kicking a ball around the garden, dropping round his friends' house,playing in the park, practising his music on his own, doing out of school activities (ballet dancing for boys- don't suppose the school would run to that). He gets home at 3.30 atm, so still has time to do these things before the evening routine takes over.

Cory - i think that's right. My DCs have a very long day and I would not tolerate it but for the obscene holidays.

No Sats.
No league tables as this will lead to "tinkering" and teaching to tests.
Start school at 6.
Free healthy school lunches in quiet orderly surroundings.
Lots of PE, music and arts.
Teachers must all be qualified to Masters Degree level, entry to college must be tough so that the most intelligent candidates get in.
Get rid of the private school system!

Cory - spot on. And Litchick - spot on re. long days/ holidays (10.5 weeks this summer, which will given them lots of time to do nothing - well deserved after 8.30-3.30 at school every day!!)

zanzibarmum, my 10 year old couldn't cope with a longer school day.

Both my boys have struggled with a 6 hour day in infants.

I havent read whole thread, my first thoughts are that I would like to:

• Halve class sizes (but keep 2 adults in the room).
• Cut terms shorter by 1 week each (it's all parties, movies and tidying up then, not needed).
• Emphasis on Play-based learning age 4-5, Formal (mostly sit-down) education to start at 6 (current Yr2).

If I had a 4th thing to change, it would be to ditch the National Curriculum (and things like the National Literacy Strategy), but keep the SATs or something similar. Allow more creativity in teaching but still have an external measure for basic accountability.

lijkk - if our terms were a week shorter, the DCs might as well be home educated!!

'Tis true that they spend a week at the end of every (short) term faffing around, but I tend to feel overall that they benefit from a bit of fun at school...

8.30-3.30pm Dot - you're kids are part timers