can state primary education plus tutoring = equivalent of private?

[wheelsonthebus]

we planned to privately educate dc, but dh lost his job and now dc is going to a state primary - downgraded from good to satisfactory by ofsted . if we have dc tutored from yr 1 say, can we get up to standard of a private school(with a view to moving dc if our finances improve - possibly at 7, but definitely at 11). Can an hour a week really achieve anything? Anyone done this from early on? Interested in any views. I now work f/t so doing lots of stuff with dc after school myself is not really an option (except at weekends). I'd be interested to know when tutoring shd really start. My friend said her primary school gets great league table results but that's because most parents pay tutors. Also; what do most people get tutors for - maths or English or both?

40% with a good OFSTED? I'd take that.

Wii technology is going to be used in whiteboard technology in meeting rooms and in lecture halls. I think there will be a lot of reasons to understand this technology.

I'm sure some fools do make those arguments.

I'm sorry are you talking to me vinblanc. Did you call me a fool ?

A 20-minute training session would be enough to learn how to use a digital projector. I don't think we need to have Wii consoles in our primary schools.

I can't believe that I am even having this discussion.

Niether can I frankly, as usual you have leapt upon one thing that someone has said that you obviously know nothing about. You are trying to use this to suggest that state schools are bins full of idiots who play vidoe games all day as a result. How very rude. Go and google future schools and see what you can find. Private schools will not be able to keep up with this. I would tell you what I do for a living and list my academic qualifications but frankly you are not worth it.

Greeny and seeker I know where you are coming from.

bysee am off to the library to hang about with other fools.

www.teachers.tv/video/221

actually vinblanc using Wii is very cost effective it enables schools to turn any ordinary wall into an interactive white board at a fraction of the cost of a real IWB.
www.esculham.eu/Home/VIEWARTICLE/tabid/134/smid/373/ArticleID/152/reftab/214/t/Wii-White%20Board/lan guage/en-GB/Default.aspx

But at Araminta's school, Wiis are for play, not learning apparently.

I don't think there are serious educational resources, supporting the national curriculum, available yet. And certainly not worth the cost versus the alternatives.

And the 'Wii whiteboard' is a Wii controller, laptop and projector. It is not a Wii console and games.

Play is a cognitive process if we are to accept Piaget. Bruner argues that play has an essential role in development and evolution.

Play activities are essential to healthy development for children and adolescents. Research shows that 75% of brain development occurs after birth. The activities engaged in by children both stimulate and influence the pattern of the connections made between the nerve cells. This process influences the development of fine and gross motor skills, language, socialization, personal awareness, emotional well-being, creativity, problem solving and learning ability.

The most important role that play can have is to help children to be active, make choices and practice actions to mastery. They should have experience with a wide variety of content (art, music, language, science, math, social relations) because each is important for the development of a complex and integrated brain. Play that links sensori-motor, cognitive, and social-emotional experiences provides an ideal setting from brain development.

but you are right they are JUST playing

DDs secondary school has given every single pupil (1200) their own laptop full of programmes to help with their learning. They have to take them every day so they can be used in all lessons.

Primary and secondary schools havent got wii's though so I think Ive lost a point in the best school catergory. However every classroom in primary school has whiteboards and DDs new school building which will be ready next september is being modeled on the Microsoft high tech school in Philadelphia. So Im taking that point back ha ha

Children have always played in schools, and they didn't need a Wii to do it. They use their own imaginations and learn how to interact with one another, not with a blardy WiiMii and its cutsey voice!

BTW, I deserve a medal for watching the programme that you linked to. It didn't mention Wii. It was all about having a robust wireless network in schools, and using laptops with standard office productivity software.

I suspect any benefit of a Wii or DS in school is the same as at home - to keep the blighters quiet while the teacher can get on with something else. .

I think offering children insentives to learn can never be classed as a bad thing. Stickers work great with little ones. As they get older, insentives need to be more creative.

Our school has a house points system. Whichever house has the most points at the end of each term, gets taken on a trip to the local cinema or to play bowling.

Its not about learning its about being rewarded for hard work.

If they replaced this system for wii time I'm sure the children would be just as happy.

We also have the weekly shield winner from each class, and pupil of the month. These rewards can be for any achievement, and are very personal.

DS2 last won the shield for "working really hard in class and allways using his manners."

Araminta - can I just pick up on this?

"No our school is the bestest !!!! Our secondary school lets the kids take apple mac laptops home to do homework on, how cool is that. And its all freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee doing a happy dance

The primary is bringing in mini laptops to take home and installing several wii consoles soon so that kids can play on them when weather is extremely wet. Not that they don't send them out when its wet because they do.

Our local private school did horribly badly with its IT A level results. They can't keep up with the times you know."

Because I find the claim that state schools are further ahead in IT totally unjustifiable. At the DC's schools, every class room has an interactive white board. The ICT suite is massive and impressive. A recent survey of parents showed that 100% of the children had their own pcs or laptops at home. They can log in to the school to check homework assignments from home. Later at secondary stages, they offer IT and their results are good.

So I just don't buy your argument that state schools offer better IT provision simply because your school has bought half a dozen Wii consoles.

I've lost points too no Wii or DS in our school either and we only have IWBs in FS & KS1 ...KS2 have to make do with projectors/screens so I may have to suggest the Wii controller option.

I realise the teachersTV programme didn't feature Wii it was to illustrate the huge changes taking place in schools rather than promote Wii technology.

Yes children have always played but Wiis and DSs haven't always been around and the point is that children learn about new things through their play and in order to keep up with the fast pace of change around them the very nature of their play sometimes has to have a different focus.

I suspect many parents don't understand the reasons behind school activities and so rush in the opposite direction to the familiar even though the world is changing so fast.

"Because I find the claim that state schools are further ahead in IT totally unjustifiable. At the DC's schools, every class room has an interactive white board. The ICT suite is massive and impressive."

This is also the case at my dc's unremarkable but excellent state primary

"A recent survey of parents showed that 100% of the children had their own pcs or laptops at home."

this however could not be said of any of my local state schools

this clearly lends weight to the argument that it is the affluence, attitude and mindset of the families who send their children to private schools that makes the statistical achievements different, not the private schools or their provisions themselves

I would rather my children played with Wii and other consoles at school, with lots of other children and in an education-based environment, than at home

my dc's afterschool club has one though, it has done wonders for ds1's co-ordination (he has AS and is somewhat clumsy)

I'm pretty certain that having a wii in the classroom will make no difference to mine or anyone else's child's education. I can't believe that every child having their own lap top makes that great a difference to their education either.

I think that the single biggest influence on children's education, after parental input, is peer pressure. If a child is in a school where it's 'cool to achieve' it is much easier for them to succeed. Who cares whether this is to be found in a state or independent school. The point is that we all want our children to have wonderful opportunities and the desire to succeed.

The state offers what it can. Everyone has a right to an education, housing and health care. If we want more choice than the state can offer we buy our own houses, we pay for medical care, we pay for independent education. Unfortunately money buys choice and it is the same in the case of education as it is with other public services.

Quattrocento- I would expect every child in your DCs school to have access to a PC at home considering they can all afford private schooling.

Some children are not as priviledged, and need to rely on the school to provide ICT facilities.

DDs school is a state school and the school has told us that it was their choice to use a big chunk out of the budget to ensure that every child had the same opertunity to computers, and therefore gave every child a laptop.

The children have these at home but take them to school every day so that they can be used to support all subjects, not just ICT.
They also have homework and revision set online. They can also continue with group work at home as they can post work to eachother or get in touch with teachers in between lessons if need be.

I also know a lot of schools in the area who surply laptops the children doing GCSEs if they dont have one.

Is it the fact that children from working class backgrounds are beginning to get the same opertunities as children who's parents can afford public schooling, that you dont like?

"Is it the fact that children from working class backgrounds are beginning to get the same opertunities as children who's parents can afford public schooling, that you dont like?"

I'm not sure that my likes and dislikes are relevant, but actually I am personally delighted that every child should have a laptop, and if parents lack funds then better the school should provide than no-one. It sounds slightly ridiculous that taxpayers money should be spent on games consoles but still.

What I don't like is the dissemination of inaccurate information - arising from spouting personal prejudices as "facts". So I don't like the assertion that IT provision is better in state schools when that assertion simply cannot be substantiated and is simply not true.

The bulk of inaccurate assumptions and narrow-minded prejudices on this thread are those spouted by private school parents who need to bolster the validity of their choice - nobody like to think of themselves as simply a snob

and it is certainly inaccurate to argue that IT provision is better in private schools - it is not.

Or as an inverted snob...

I don't believe I said the Wii was used only for play. I could list the software used and what it teaches the children but you would not agree so again is pointless.

Like mrz pointed out learning through play is not a new idea.

ooooh Greeny the chip on your shoulder comment is about to come out yet again.

I think inverted snobbery only applies to people who secretly want the thing they are slating.

That is far from the case here. I wouldn't send my children to a private school if we were millionaires. Money for old rope.