primary schools - your ideal scenario

[SarfEasticated]

Mine would be home-schooling my dd(5) 2 days a week, so she can concentrate on doing the stuff she loves (and I miss her), and school the other 3 days. My ideal school would have one teacher per 8 children and the classes would be mixed ages and based on what the children were interested in.
I would also like the 3 days she does do at school to offer cover from 8 - 6 with imaginative and creative after-school clubs. I would also like the schools to interact with the wider community and help with litter clearing/weeding/fundraising.
The teaching staff would all earn at least c£50k per year and parents would be encouraged to come into the school and help out as required.
Academic success wouldn't be judged on exam results but on all round decent citizenship and usefulness to society.

What about you?

[EmmelineGoulden]

Parents choose which "strand" they wish to be in. Attendance at school is currently voluntary iand it seems to work quite well.

[EmmelineGoulden]

Owls should be compulsory.

[issynoko]

"The respect of parent's freedom to educate their children according to their vision of what education should be has been part of international human rights standards since their very emergence."

• United Nations Commission on Human Rights - 8th April 1999
  
  FYI Flexi schooling is a life saver for some small rural schools. There is a famous example in Staffordshire (Hollinsclough) which has dramatically increased the number of children on its roll through offering a flexi option ensuring the continued existence of the school, at least for now. Elizabeth Truss/Michael Gove have issues - some understandably involving funding - others due to being woefully ill-formed about how it works. It might be that flexi-schooling options could take the pressure off over-subscribed urban schools too, although I appreciate the checks needed to make sure parents were able to fulfil their side of things would make it hard to enshrine this in policy.

[issynoko]

"The respect of parent's freedom to educate their children according to their vision of what education should be has been part of international human rights standards since their very emergence."

• United Nations Commission on Human Rights - 8th April 1999
  
  FYI Flexi schooling is a life saver for some small rural schools. There is a famous example in Staffordshire (Hollinsclough) which has dramatically increased the number of children on its roll through offering a flexi option ensuring the continued existence of the school, at least for now. Elizabeth Truss/Michael Gove have issues - some understandably involving funding - others due to being woefully ill-formed about how it works. It might be that flexi-schooling options could take the pressure off over-subscribed urban schools too, although I appreciate the checks needed to make sure parents were able to fulfil their side of things would make it hard to enshrine this in policy.

[issynoko]

Whoops!

[ZutAlorsDidier]

Widow, the "education vouchers" was me and it is a separate and very simple idea - you don't hold people in school who don't want to be there, and you put aside their entitlement to education till they are ready to use it - but as you seem to be pointing out, this does require that students commit to a course, and I agree with that (commitment that is. Unless every child has an individual tutor, there has to be some joint learning and that means people have to show up and do the work consistently. I think this is fine and not in any way oppressive)

[PastSellByDate]

My DD1 is in Y6 and my DD2 in Y4 at our primary school and having had 6 years + of attending this school my views are these:

I'd like a school that worked hard to ensure every child could carry out all math calculations to 3 or 4 digits (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), and deal with numbers with up to 3 decimal places. I'd like a school which viewed it as normal for a child to leave with a reading age corresponding to chronological age.

These are in fact internationally basic standards - but elsewhere when children are struggling they're taken out of class (during low impact times - PE, Art, break/ recess/ lunch/ before or after school) and given extra small group or one on one tuition to help close the gap in learning.

I'd like a school that if they saw potential in a child would foster that - encouraging writing, research and study in an area of interest for that child or broadening it out (if popular) for the entire class to enjoy.

I'd like to see library visits being about supplying children with reading material rather than ticking the box we took 30 kids to the library - with no librarian and where kids check out books to each other chaotically and many leave with no book at all.

I'd like schools to put more emphasis on STEM subjects and try and cross-fertilize other elements of curriculum - history, guided reading, etc... Why hasn't the class been taught about the solar system? Why can't dinosaur's be taught? Why can't some of the reading children do be about this instead of always dreadful Biff & Chip.

I'd like a unit on the Romans to actually include working with Roman numerals, a visit to a Roman site, an experiment making Roman food and reading about Roman life (both fiction & non-fiction). Why not try and learn a few basic latin terms or learn to recognise some latin roots in everyday words?

I'd like resources for the national curriculum to be more freely available to both parents & school - and I'd like to better understand what is 'expected' in a given year.

I'd like the staff to own that curriculum, to absolutely understand what the national & international expectations for the age group they teach and be fired up to at least meet them if not exceed them.

Sadly pretty well none of this is happening at our school.

[Groovee]

I love our half days on a Friday in Edinburgh. Midlothian/East Lothian/West Lothian all have half days too.

It gives up the opportunity to do things together and a bit of a longer weekend.

[Theas18]

In all this lovely fluffiness can I add the following?

Parents to ensure that all children are well behaved at school. And parents to be better behaved!

No suing the school when child fell off climbing frame or out of tree ( as we are encouraging active outside activity) or knocked a tooth out in rugby. Parents to hold own insurance for things like this. THis is how independent schools operate, and I believe we have paid something like a fiver at DS school for similar insurance. Of course the school has responsibility to make sure the matting the the play area is right etc but accidents do and will happen.

[EmmelineGoulden]

Theas18 - There's nothing stopping you suing your independent school if you think they were negligent and some parents do, you just don't hear about it quite so much. The individual insurance your school insists on for pupils doesn't change their liability as an institution. If you want to change the culture of suing at the drop of a hat (and I'm not sure how much of a culture of that we really have) it's our legal system and its funding you need to change.

[friday16]

You're right, Emmeline, that there is nothing to stop people from bringing actions against independent schools.

However, there's a reason why the adverts for accident lawyers are in tabloid newspapers and ad breaks on ITV4 and not in the Guardian.

[EmmelineGoulden]

And what do you think that reason is friday?

[Theas18]

Of course anyone can sue anyone but if you have insurance in place then the financial motivation to sue is less I would think? Or maybe that's just my " reasonableness" showing through- If I have the financial support from insurance,if say, my child needs if say they loose a tooth and need implants via the insurance why would I sue the school?

I do think this is an issue in how are kids are educated ( my kids are at state school BTW ). I'd want my kids at a school where climbing trees/throwing snowballs, and maybe even skidding on the ice wasn't forbidden.

[friday16]

That a few grand of compensation is of differential value depending on how affluent you are, and the getting of that compensation is seen in different ways in different social classes. If you can afford twenty grand a year in school fees, grubbing around in court in order to get a couple of grand in compensation is neither a worthwhile use of your time, nor something you'd want your friends to know about.

[merrymouse]

(Steiner is nothing like Summerhill - they have almost nothing in common and home-ed these days can be anything you want)

Anyway, my ideal primary school would have lovely teachers who loved teaching (like the majority of teachers I have encountered), who would have some kind of time turner so that they could both be part-time and not have to job share. They would have plenty of qualified staff in school so that the teachers could say no to parent helpers if they weren't that helpful. Classes would be no more than 20, and as this is an imaginary school, the teacher would be able to provide enough attention to each child regardless of child's needs/available time. (Remember, teacher has time turner).

No SATS/testing as they seem to waste so much time. Everybody would just trust what the teacher said about each child (and they would obviously be able to pass on information in a way that enabled this.)

All classrooms would be very well organised and have plenty of space and light, while not having any noise problems.

Delicious school lunches served at tables with table cloths, plates, flowers and proper cutlery, with plenty of time to eat, and not too noisy.

The PTA would organise social events for parents and children, but no body would have to feel guilty about not being able to contribute during the working week. No fundraising necessary.

No computers in infants.

No special 'days' (e.g. world book day) or 'weeks' - just a good teacher and children having fun learning with sufficient resources in a calm, pleasant environment.

(As parents also have time turners, no need to offer extended hours).

[EmmelineGoulden]

Can I have a time turner? That would make motherhood sooo much better...

[EmmelineGoulden]

I mean, even without going to your school.

[CruCru]

Quite a lot of what some of you would like reflects Montessori principles.

I'd like

• no uniforms
• lots of outside playtime with things like climbing frames etc
• PE not just to be bloody ball games
• emphasis on being kind to each other.

[hardboiled]

Mine would be home-schooling my dd(5) 2 days a week, so she can concentrate on doing the stuff she loves (and I miss her), and school the other 3 days.

Ahhhhh [sigh ] How exceedingly lovely are the fantasies of the bourgeois. Unfortunately, most people have to work for a living and full days at school are a life saver for them.

[SarfEasticated]

(Sigh) I also have to work full-time - if I didn't this wouldn't be my ideal or fantasy.

[chocoluvva]

I agree wholeheartedly with "emphasis on being kind to each other"

The primary school my two went to was considered to be a good school, but the senior staff could not have been described as kind.

[hardboiled]

So basically your ideal would be that every mother of a primary child in the uk gets two days off a week cause the ideal is that school is three days only and that includes cleaners, supermarket cashiers, nurses, admin assistants, teachers... everyone who couldn't pay for such amount of childcare time.
Well yes, I guess that is what we call a fantasy.

[merrymouse]

I can only assume that if you started a thread about fantasy dinner party guests and included Einstein and Shakespeare some people wouldn't be able to get over the fact that they were dead.

[chocoluvva]

That's the point of the thread! "ideal scenario"

[chocoluvva]

My last post referred to HardBoiled.