My child is in a rural primary school. its small for the area with only one form per year, but it has large classes (30)
He has recently had some issues with bullying in the school, which is something we have been unable to deal with by going into the school personally. The head states that 'there have been no cases of bullying in 35 years' and refuses to do anything about it.
Anyway, as a result of this, my son has decided to go for his 11+ and try to get into the grammar. I am happy to coach him through this as is his dad, what we are finding is that he is totally behind in literacy due to his school insisting on him writing in cursive handwriting. I can see his frustration, he spends a third of the day bored in mathematics as his grasp on this far exceeds his classmates (though he struggles to show his working out for the same issues as the cursive) and then he spends a third of the day feeling not good enough because he cant seem to get his litracy work marked (they wont mark if its not in cursive and if its in cursive its illegible) then they do a mix of science/re and sport for the rest of the week. He says he spends more time learning about God, than he does supported to be better in maths, science and English.
So we are desperately trying to bring him up to speed in english (most importantly) get him writing legibly (not in cursive) and accelerating his love for mathematics in a way that challenges him and inspires him.
The issue we are having, is with his attitude. I suppose 5 years of school have taught him that hes not good enough and even when he 'understands something' he is not able to qualify to them exactly what he needs to do, so he is immediately marked down.
Because of this hes given up on trying and if you correct him, he gets stupidly upset, throws things, overreacts and just generally makes everything a complete nightmare and a chore.
I am frustrated with the school, they have (in the past and recently) made it quite clear that safety, consent and respect arent important to them. They are not teaching my child to excel in his chosen fields and allowing him to flounder in those he isn't naturally getting (despite being immensely bright) because of (what I consider to be quite draconian) targets, like cursive handwriting.
I find it difficult because if he asks me why he is spending 6 hours a week learning about religion, I can't answer him and if he asks me why he needs cursive, I cant answer him either. It just makes absolutely not difference to adult life from what I can tell.
The school are not allowing him to even write in a pen because he cant write in cursive (which all his friends are allowed to do) he is just utterly disillusioned by schooling and education, despite being really bright and engaged in subjects that interest him.
Im preparing to go into battle with the school. For the last week I have removed him from the school at 15 mins past the afternoon bell, in order to school him at home as its the only time he seems to get anything relevant done.
Nothing more frustrating than seeing a bright child unable to form the letter 'e' or feel he has to join everything up so his writing is not readable.
Has anyone else found this with primary education? Any advice?
Home schooling is going well, he is really learning beautifully and his rages are getting less and less (though he hates being wrong and argues with us a lot)
I am just worried about the ensuing conversation with the school where they question his absence in the afternoons.