School 'winding down' before hols and half terms

[MrsTruper]

My daughter's school seems to do a lot of winding down prior to every holiday and half term i.e. one week before each hol or h/t. In this time they do lots of colouring/"activity village" sheets etc and none of the usual numeracy/literacy classes. This is in addition to the usual mufti/sports/celebrate this and that days, which again are, as my daughter says 'just playing'. My dd says she wants to do more learning.

She has just completed year 2 at (state) school.

Are all schools like this? Is it just the state sector? Does it get less as they get to older primary.

Please do not tell me that "children learn from everything that they do blah blah" as I know that. She does lots of puzzzles, colouring etc at home - I expect her to be TAUGHT at school.

Sorry faffing not facing.

where did that "they didn't" come from, please ignore it, I don't know what your children's schools do

perhaps your schools do sports day differently and don't have bean bags

the teachers complaining about restlessness and boisterousness are on this thread, the teachers talking about tiredness and lack of routine are on this thread, the teachers getting children to do a police investigation of a fairytale are on this thread, the parent's talking about extended winding down and endless days of fun (approved of are on this thread)

i haven't really talked about my children's schools ecept for the newspaper reports, (bet yours do) the leavers' assemblies (everyone's on about them) the bean bag sports days and the cutty out spelling (must surely be universally regarded as crap but is an NC suggestion)

so yes you are saying that about my own experience because you don't like to think that children can do more, that learning is enjoyable without being artificially made time consuming FUN!!!!!!, that too much time is spent dressing up and messing about, and so on and so forth

i think we all know that many children are not learning enough at school and need to learn more

there is certainly enough time to teach children the basics well at primary school, it's how people choose to use it, that's where it goes wrong

"I can't remember the rest."

there wasn't any more

I've been to lots of different kinds of leavers assemblies

the best kind is a normal assembly last morning, couple of prizes, well done, good luck

anything else is overproduction and self-indulgent

flexy was nice though, sorry flexy for the fairytale criticism, I just don't like that thing but you were very nice last night

I have a good memory then if there wasn't any more. I base mine on supply teaching in many schools, luckily not going back if I didn't like them + 3 DCs of my own.
Children need to be stretched- for want of a better word and they need high expectations. In a good school they get both.
I also agree with the teachers on here - everyone is tired and they need to wind down - it is also the start of a transition period.

Flexy had excellent posts.

what do you mean you have a good memory

that's all I said about my shchool so how do you decide ti's crap?

i have experience of maybe five or six different primary schools and the best didn't follow the national cruriculum

yes childrem need to be stretched but as we can see from this thread a lot of time is wasted, even in good schools

people have different ideas of what is a good school and there are too many children not learning the right stuff in school - obviously
and too much time is wasted -
so add them together and the conculsion is obvious

"everyone is tired" if you're going to defend winding down on the grounds that teachers are tired then be honest

it's not about the children

"start of the transition period"

what's that supposed to mean

sorry about the dreadful typos i'm typing without my glasses

I have a good memory because I didn't reread.
I am off to work so can't answer the rest, except to say that you obviously have a 'down' on schools based on your own experience ,which you think is typical.
Read Flexy's posts about transition.

well yes i have a down on schools for not teachign children enough stuff

we have many badly educated young people

i would have thought even a teacher would believe that to be an unfortunate state of affairs

you can't really respond but it will be nice to see you try later

we have many badly educated young people

With lots of people who cant use punctuation or capital letters.

"so yes you are saying that about my own experience because you don't like to think that children can do more, that learning is enjoyable without being artificially made time consuming FUN"

No, I'm saying it because clearly your experience of primary education and the achievements of the children is very different from my own.
I doubt my children could have done more TBH.

Flexy sounds like the teachers and TAs at the dds' school -

Great posts, Flexy, and nice to hear someone acknowledging the importance of transitions!

For anyone who doesn't understand about that, have a look at what works best for kids making any big change - space to talk about it, acknowledge whats been, voice anxieties about what's coming. A structure that reflects the fact that there is a change, and that its normal to have feelings about it.

The change from term time to a long holiday makes loads of people anxious (and/or excited) - not just kids - its not as big a deal as changing schools, obviously, but I would think that any teacher worth their salt knows that kids calm down and work better/deal with things better when change is acknowledged and talked about.

Accuracyrequired - I can only assume that your own personal experience of school - either from your own childhood or your child's experience now - is very very poor. I am sorry you have had such bad experiences. However, my own experiences are very different.

Mind you - we've just had a fun day today. The children possibly didn't learn a great deal - but we did have fun, enjoyed one another's company. We had a few different activities, children got to chose. We watched a DVD but didn't do a q and a afterwards either. We just enjoyed the film - their treat from achieving their class target - and the treat they, as a class, selected. It's been quite lovely tbh.

Glad we didn't try to do too much other stuff tbh too. It was emotional enough for some little ones as it was.

"start of the transition period"

You know - finding out about their new class, visiting the class (or even new school for the leavers), learning new routines in new classrooms with new teachers/TAs.... For many children it is a big thing. It needs to be taken slowly and over time.

My class were having a great time this morning ... doing maths when my head walked in and comment that I really know how to give them a treat . They had leaver's assembly and cakes this afternoon and a couple asked if they could do more maths ...

We did literacy followed by ICT this morning, then created our own plays about incidents in our class (based on the leavers' play we saw earlier on in the week) and wrote down the dialogue as a playscript.

Did circle time-type transition activities this afternoon before the final assembly.

Meanwhile my beloved TA sorted out all the books - taking the old ones to the new classroom, labelling all the new ones - took down the displays and prepared all the artwork from the children coming up to go on the walls (they did art + writing about themselves + ICT-created name plates on transition day).

So we're sorted, both for the end of term and for the beginning of next. Holiday time!

overthe rooftops,

that's not good. The SEN children - I have 3 with full statements coming up to me in September - have been visiting my class with their TA e.g. during asseembly, or while my class is at PE, since half term. Also have gradually met my class TA who they will be working with some of the time.

They then came up with the whole cohort for the transition days. They loved being 'the expert on Mrs X's class' and showing all their friends where everything is kept!

I confess my high dependency SEN child missed transition week due to holiday but as a regular visitor to me since birth (I taught older siblings) he knows me well and will have his full time support with him. I'm emailing his mum pictures of the classroom once I have it set up so he knows what to expect

Transition arrangements are very important. They reduce the children's anxieties about going into a new year group, which enables them to start the new year in 'learning mode' rather then in an unsettled state, not knowing where anything is or who the teachers and TAs are.

A transition period enables the children to find out about their new teacher; to learn where the toilets are; to find out where they will hang their coats; to experience sitting on bigger chairs; to see the layout of their new classroom; to meet the TAs; to learn about clubs that will be available in the new term; to meet the other children in their new class; the list goes on and on. I fully expect my new class to come in on the first day next term ready to learn, fully confident of where they are going and who they are going to be with. On the second day of the new term, we will start structured lessons, alongside required assessments - we will not need a honeymoon period.

In our school, we have a transition for YR parents and children, with TAs, teachers and the whole of KS1.

And just a little comment on the fairytale police report, accuracy.
We read the story of the 3 bears (Goldilocks was an old woman) which was full of good vocabulary; we became the policemen on the case and wrote questions that we would ask the bears; we hotseated the 3 bears, who answered our questions; we wrote a forensics report about material evidence found in the bears' house; based on the evidence and clues from nursery rhymes, we had a debate about whether the perpetrator was Old Mother Hubbard or The Old Woman Who lived in a Shoe and finally we wrote a note from Mother Hubbard saying how sorry she was for breaking in and what she would do for the 3 bears for community service.

And our leavers' assembly today was lovely, particularly when the children talked about memories from YR.

Oh yes, as mrz said - we also give all our SEN children little books with pictures of ex and new classrooms, ex and new teachers, new toilets, new cloakrooms, etc., together with a little potted history of what they did during the year and how much they've improved.

My own child with SN has been doing transition for a month, and he has a new 'year 1' book with the pictures of his new class inside, pictures of him, his work station etc, as well as his new teacher. He has done some work with her already (mainly letter sheets and colouring).

The transition is important for lots of children. not just those with SEN