Help! Please tell me about state primaries where you are, are they so different to here?

[SSSandy2]

I have been very disatisfied with the primary schools/curriculum where I live(overseas) for the past two years but I wonder if I have unrealistic expectations and whether schools elsewhere are really so different that it is worth moving so dd can attend school elsewhere. I need to get it in perspective.

(I think private schools just have other facilties/options/freedoms with the curriculum etc and that's why I'm not asking for comparisons with those)

1. Do your dc hate school/hate their teacher? Is this just pretty normal do you think?
2. Are your teachers often nasty to the dc? (Sarcastic/ screaming at them / belittling them in front of the class). Does this happen regularly, say every week/2weeks?
3. Are the dc learning what they are being taught at school or are the dp having to do a great deal at home to supplement the school teaching of core subjects?

sorry cod, never looked into the cat thing and how you set it up (lazy emoticon). If you have an email that doesn't identify you, maybe you send me the link? It's iskrennii at yahoo dot de - but don't worry if you'd rather not.

Russel, that's interesting, especially since you attended primary school here yourself. It may well be, you know, if we do manage to move overseas that I will find myself reassessing things here and thinking there was a lot of good after all!

mrz, which country is this? Presuming you are not in the UK since the curriculum sounds different. Sounds very good in fact.

Thanks Throckenholt. I may well be back to pick your brains. You sound very organised, like you're used to managing things.

I think mrz's curriculum is in the UK. Have just gone over dd's school report (reception) and all those topics are mentioned.
In addition I know for a fact ds (Y4) does RE, ICT, technology (just came home with a fab model of a suspension bridge he'd made)

Move to our little enclave of London, SSS. School here is beyond lovely, laid back, liberal, high-achieving blahdiblah.

Dd1 runs up to the headteacher in the playground of a morning and hugs her.

[soppy emoticon]

Honestly, I don't know anyone in the UK who has had as uniformly miserable an experience as you seem to have. I think most primary school parents in the UK are pretty happy overall.

oh I see Russel bit confused now if she has these as seperate subjects in the UK and others have them as part of project-based work. So state schools are vary quite a bit in their approach maybe. Think I have the general idea now though.

Hi Frogs, where is this haven of yours exactly?! Well I wonder in fact if it is ME you know at times and I need a thorough mental make-over. Of course it hasn't been uniformly awful althoguh I don't mention the good intervals and the nice things etc much, I just come on here in a PANIC about the bad things, so you don't see the whole picture IYSWIM. Dd has an absolutely lovely teacher for religion for instance, and it would I think have been her favourite subject anyway but she RUNS to school on the days she has religion because she adores this woman. It wouldn't matter how sick she felt,she would never want to miss religion day.

I'm not going to out my location online, SSsandy! But there are quite a few lovely mixed liberal primary schools in various areas of London.

I don't think you're over-reacting, actually -- the only time I've felt like you about school is when dd1 was having problems, and with hindsight I should have moved her. Ds was happy enough at the same school (very different child) but when we moved house and he started at his current primary (not the same one as dd2) he was blissful instantly. Teachers are lovely, and any issues we've had (two minor incidents in one calendar year) have been dealt with swiftly and effectively.

When you get the right child in the right school, the difference is stunning, and makes a huge impact on all-round levels of family happiness.

LOL no, I wasn't expecting you to. Tbh I would like to have a break from big city life for a while.

Soemthing totally different, but you don't have a good recipe for German cheesecake, do you?

how awful that your dd hates school so much

ds adores school..can't wait to get there
teachers are all caring and excellent at their job
ds has learnt loads there,we simply reinforce reading at home
Hope you can resolve this ssandy

SSSandy, you are right - UK schools have to teach the subjects in the National Curriculum (see Mrsz), but they can choose HOW they teach them. So some schools are very formal and subject-based, others are fluffy and fun and topic-based.
You can look at Ofsted reports and Primary League tables to get some idea of the variation between schools, but the best way to find out is to visit them!

Ds's brilliant school definately does it project based. For instance, history is timetabled for X number of hours per month, but instead of having one hour per week regimented where they sit and 'do' history, they combine all the hours and totally immerse themselves into a subject. So during 'Roman Month' they wore Roman clothes, elected emperors, did roman numerals in maths etc. Even their residential school trip revolved around romans and they built a small viaduct, took part in Roman battles, did Roman cookery, made mosaic patterns etc.

Thanks very much everyone for your comments on the thread. Didn't realise the schools were so free to vary their approach. Suppose I thought it would be a bit more uniform throughout the UK but on the whole it does sound like dd would like it there. Feel like I have a better overview now

I am reeling a wee bit though after reading Bree van der Camp )?)'s thread yesterday about her teacher telling ds, your report will make your mum cry etc. I suppose there are teachers I wouldn't much like anywhere I went..

SSS, I think there are teachers and schools you wouldn't like anywhere. There is also a huge difference in atmosphere between individual schools, which is only partly down to the nature of the catchment area, and is very significantly influenced by the head's vision -- some are formal, wiht uniform and teachers called Sir and Miss X, others are first name terms and anything goes re clothes. Some do project work and lots of arts-based stuff, others are more academic and sporty. You really have to go and look at individual school to see whether you like the atmosphere and ethos.

BUT I think the UK has a much wider concept of what schools should be doing than Germany does, and consequently they will have a range of policies on eg. bullying, racism, supporting lower achievers/SN and will be much more likely to have systems in place to encourage children to eg. consider the feelings of others, share, make sure people are not excluded etc. Not to say that all schools are perfect at this, but it would be hard for any school to argue that this was not part of its remit.

I also think the policy of keeping year groups together strictly by age affects the way that schools operate. It means that the concept of 'failing to achieve the class targets' doesn't exist, and the teaching is much more based on where the children are starting from rather than some notional Klassenziel. There are downsides to this dd1 was in a Y3 class (7-8yo) where a little group of her mates were reading Lord of the Rings and having opinions on the Iliad while a large group at the other end couldn't read at all. The other downside can be inflexibility I have a friend with twins who were August-born three months premature, who have really struggled at school, and she has been unable to convince the LA to put them back into the yeargroup that they would have been with according to their due date.

But I think overall the UK system leads to a more humane and child-centred teaching concept, and one which focusses more on the all-round development of the child, rather being a means of transmitting XYZ body of knowledge and washing its hands of anything beyond that.