gareth malone extraordinary school for boys... Are you watching

[VoldemortsNipple]

I cant wait. It looks very interesting!

BBC 2 Tonight at 9pm

I'm really interested. Ds is at an all boys prep and they really seem to take on board how boys learn. I didn't make a deliberate choice for single sex education but seeing it in practice I'm glad I did.

I see he's teaching yrs 5 & 6. They couldn't have picked harder ages, ime.

Yes but only because I have a crush on Gareth Malone

I'm watching.

I want Gareth to be ds's dad.

Not watching (too tired and have stinking cold), but recording it and marking my place to see what all you clever ladies had to say about it .

it's really common sense though isn't it. they learn better if they don't have pent up energy. maybe we should be more like scandanavian countries and start formal schooling later and let them learn through play when younger. too many female risk averse teachert too

Agree with everything you just said nikkershaw.

Mrs Morgan, me too!!

Sad that the HT cannot see the benefit of the boys being active and taking risks. Ds's school is surrounded by woodland and the boys get plenty of time to play and run around, have lessons there too.

Scandinavian countries have a far better pre-school structure than us and do lots of learning before they start school.

See ds is a bit adverse to physical activity, but thats because the emphisis is always put on football etc. If it were building dens and similar, then he'd be in there and loving it.

I want to slap those women.They seem to have this automatic assumption that boys are naughty.

is he a qualified teacher? i missed the beginning, what's his background? educationalist?

i work in informal education and am very interested to see him taking approaches we do in supporting formal education. ideally the 'formal' sector would be so good you wouldn't need people like me providing 'enrichment' and i would do teacher training myself

i bet some of the teachers are told to say certain things

Omg, Harry is so like my Harry.

this is interesting, my girls at guides are very good at self-policing in games like this. am surprised these boys are not. when i was young children learned to 'play by the rules' out on the street playing in mixed age groups and modelling the older kids.

Not qualified teacher, has worked as a learning assistant and discussed with educationalists on how boys learn. If you saw the Glyndebourne programmes you can see how well he did with disaffected teenage 'yoof' and some of these boys seem very similar.

Superlatives - is he correct in saying that words like brilliant, fantastic, excellent are superlatives ... really?

Sorry for hijack - I have posted in Pedant's Corner and await the onslaught!

I do like him, I hope he does well with them :)

No they are not superlatives.

Can't enrichment be provided by friends and family? Does it all have to be so jargonised and organised?

You're right TDD but it doesn't take away the effort he is making with them!

Lots of fun but incorrect.

Is that where education is going?

Not sure it is about enrichment though. These boys lack confidence in a school environment and that affects their learning. Not sure how out of school enrichment activities would translate into school.

Yes, I think the sentiments are great but I guess that's the price you pay when someone who's not a teacher teaches ... then again, I can only assume a teacher OKed the lesson ... ?

I do like to see them inspired and confident though :)

I have no idea what out of school enrichment activities are.

It is a confidence thing, well it is with my ds.

He thinks he is rubbish at anything to do with school, and i'd love a teacher to convince him he is not.

this is going to make sound like a snobby twat, but still,it's got to be said...
was just a little surprised the head was talking about the kids poor speaking skills, when both she and the teachers sound dreadful!
There was one yr 5 teacher who sounded barely literate.. now that is obviously not the case, but it can't set a good example.. it just can't!