Give Schools Back to Communities

[ProtectOurSchools]

I have campaigned constantly to have schools given back to communities and away from government control, they are constantly taking money back from schools, they are not in touch with the subjects our children should be learning. My daughter has never learnt about St Georges day and she is 10 years old, but she knows all about the festival of light, the pillars of islam, divali and so on....Its outrageous. My campaign has managed to gather nearly 3000 signatures in gillingham ,kent with thanks to the English De,ocrats who are activly promoting this. what do you think ?

I think though that the school has to teach all the different religious celbrations as part of the 'religion' section of the National Curriculum. I agree though that English History should definately be taught in a prominant role, both the good and the bad. If we forget the achievements and the mistakes of our past then what of our future?
I'm learning most of my history from the documentary channels sky - some of it make me proud to be british some make me understand why other countrys hate us after what we did to them in the past!

Schools should not be a vehicle for propaganda, especially from niche groups.

I think the problem with some primary schools is that they over-focus on core subjects, and the non-core get crowded out. I know that was certainly the case at the primary school my daughters went to. I am glad I moved them into the independent sector, where the school does set their own curriculum.

If you want the individual school to dictate the curriculum, you can get that, but you have to pay.

Good choice of words - 'appears to be'

What money do they 'take back' - clarify please.
My dc both attended state primaries.
English history is taught as is 'Christian' religion.
What's wrong with a bit of international history and world religion?
Both major parties do seem to be getting behind parental groups, 'communities', religious groups etc having the right to start state funded schools with their own admissions policies. Wrong in my view - that way lies tribalism, sectarianism, racial intolerance. Note the 'English Democrats' find it difficult to even live with the Union - I imagine you've already turned off dear readers from Scotland, Ireland and Wales never mind citizens of the EU or third world countries. If you are for the reunification of Yorkshire then they're the party to get behind you. They are the party for boundaries and barriers and any association with them may not motivate a lot of right minded folks.
The desire for schools for 'people like us' may be symptomatic of the basest side of human nature. We should be going the other way and removing state funding from religious based schools etc.
State education should be inclusive across the board. If you want different you have the choice to pay for an independent sector school.

But schools already have the opportunity to move away from the constraints of the QCA guidelines in the non-core subjects.
At the junior school I work at we're now in our first full year of a creative curriculum that starts the planning process by finding out what the children want to learn about our chosen theme. It's then up to the teachers to make sure that the necessary skills and objectives are covered but doing it this way makes the children feel involved in their learning and they are far more enthusiastic - it's bringing back a lot of the spontanaeity that I remember from my school days.

Though I have to say that even when we were following the qca scenes, the children still learned about St George...

If schools were to be given back to the local community, that wouldn't mean an English Democrats curriculum in most of the country. Or do you imagine you are going to get some kind of majority vote?

Yep, that's the theory of it. A quality provision suitable for all and free at the point of use.

Sorry but the OP seems to be just a bit of not so subtle bigotry to me.

I would love to support more investment and improvements in education, but personally think it is a good thing that children learn about different cultures and religions. Maybe they won't grow up with such narrow attitudes as their elders!

I was looking another petition yesterday on Facebook, about the Govt selling the Port of Dover to raise cash. It's my home town so maybe something worthy of my support? The FB group has Nick Griffin as a member and was filled with rascist bigots. "We might as well sell London to the Arabs" " We fought Johnny Foreigner from the white Cliffs" etc etc.

Why do people feel the need to use genuine "causes" as an excuse to peddle their ignorant claptrap?

I do think that the governemnt has far too much say over what is taught in state schools. It's becomming ever more prescriptive and teachers constantly complain that they are losing their freedom to teach.

This micro managing from on high is the death knell of creative and instinctive teaching.

However, I do not think the curriculum should simply reflect the local community. The UK is a diverse community and we all need to know as much about it as possible. For one thing, it's bloody interesting.

As for out national heritage and culture, well that's as much for us to do as our schools. I teach my children about the meaning ( cultural as well as religious) of Christmas, Easter etc. Most education takes place in the home, so if you're that bothered, teach your kids about St George yourself. It really is a very short story, frankly.

St George was probably born in Palestine (if he existed). He is the patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, and Russia, as well as the cities of Amersfoort, Beirut, Bteghrine, Cáceres (Spain), Ferrara, Freiburg, Genoa, Ljubljana, Gozo, Milan, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Lod, Barcelona and Moscow!

precisely which community would you like schools to be 'given back to'

in my kids' inner London primary, the 'English' wouldn't neccessarily be the majority ...

and if you want kids to be taught a very narrow version of 'English' history, then they'd need to cover all the successive waves of immigration to this country over thousands of years, or would you want us all to be ethnically cleansed until we got back to being what? Celtic? Anglo-Saxon? they were immigrants too

Try studying a bit of history first, before setting up pointless campaigns, the only effect of which would be sectarianism and bigotry

i only learnt about st georges day etc from the brownies and girl guides.

Was George's mum really called Polychronia? What a fab name. Can you imagine Gerontius saying, "let me introduce my wife, Mrs Multi-tasker."

Wonder what's happened to the OP here.
Presumably traced her roots back to unadulterated middle english primordial slime and gone for a visit.
This has to have been a windup?!

im not saying the english democrats would decide the curriculum, its a case they are as concerned as 3000 parents in kent , i agree we should all learn about other cultures but i cant understand why in 3 years she has not even began to learn english history and culture, im up for culture and love how we respect each others but its just getting worse. The money claimed back was because of local authority overspend , they claimed back money from the budget the school hadnt spent.

notabully... great name and I love the irony in it based on your posts. Humour on MN is always appreciated. Keep it up

Why would you want to close down 7,000 "faith" state schools many of which were providing education to children before the state got their act together. I take it your DC are in the local comprehensive or private?

If your dd has got to age 10 in a school following the National Curriculum and not learnt anything about English history and culture under the current system, then may I suggest that perhaps she should start paying attention to her lessons? My dcs' education at this point had included the Great Fire of London, Pepys, the Titanic, the Victorians, the Tudors, World War 2 (as well as the Ancient Greeks and Romans). All this not because their schools are particularly ambitious, but simply because they follow the National Curriculum.

Surely your dd cannot be studying the festival of dhiwali during history lessons??? That belongs to RE,a subject where all the major religions are covered.

I would ask your teacher for information on what is covered in history and RE.

The clawing back underspent money thing is a very valid concern.
In KS1 different DC learnt about Victorians, The Gunpowder Plot & the Great Fire of London, so I think many schools are doing English history.
I think OP's problems with school system are specific to where they live, maybe?

I dunno about teaching English 'culture'; I am a furrener so perhaps not very bothered about that point, seems to me like DC are quite immersed in English culture every day, though [shrug].