In Our Thoughts!

[Neil]

I think I know which school you are talking about Tinks.
Here are a few bits from its last Ofsted report. It is a few year old so they are probably due again soon.

Where the school has weaknesses
· Governors do not play an active enough role in the management of the school.
· Provision for pupils with special educational needs is unsatisfactory.
· Teaching and curriculum development are not adequately monitored and evaluated.
· Planning to ensure pupils’ progress and the continuity of their learning is unsatisfactory in most subjects,
and the information gathered through assessment is not used in planning the curriculum.
· Resources for learning, including textbooks, library stock, equipment and information technology resources,
are inadequate.
· There are not enough support staff.
· Statutory requirements are not met for:
- information technology in Key Stage 4
- appraisal
- the content of the school prospectus
- the content of the governors’ annual report to parents.

The parents’ views of the school
What some parents are not happy about

· Homework.
· They are not given a clear understanding of what is taught.
· The school does not handle their complaints well.

The small number of lessons where teaching is unsatisfactory shows that there are few major weaknesses. Yet many lessons, although satisfactory in promoting learning, are somewhat dull and uninspiring. The challenge for this school is to raise the standard of the teaching by emphasising high expectations, enthusiasm and energy.

The quality and range of resources for learning are poor: there has been little improvement in provision since the previous inspection.

There are insufficient textbooks to support the curriculum in many subjects, such as geography, history, mathematics, modern foreign languages, science and personal and social education. In English, pupils are
obliged to use texts for GCSE English Literature examinations which have been copiously annotated by candidates in previous years. There are not enough modern foreign language reading books for the demands of the National Curriculum.

[SPUGGIE J]

Neil it reads like how not to run a school. And people wonder why their children are fed up at school bunk of and do poorley in exams.

[Romps]

How did you get on Tinks?

[vitty]

From a reporter's point of view, this is a very interesting thread:

As a newspaper, our chief aim is to cover items with a public interest and this definitely falls in to that category.

As a local newspaper, we have a strong responsibility to our readers to be...responsible.

If this went to the nationals they would a) do it briefly b) do it sensationally c) probably treat the parents badly too.

They will never have to deal with those people again; whereas these people are our bread and butter contacts.

In short - we would do it better.

And then if our story is deemed 'good' enough, it is covered by the other newspapers anyway.

Yes, as an Observer reporter I am bound to say all this....but I think we will cover this story better than anyone else (especially our friends across town )

[Margaret Pilkington]

It certainly needs to be covered in a sensitive way. What I mean by that is so that the pupils do not feel bad about having told the story.

[Margaret Pilkington]

The school in question certainly need bringing to book if this is what is going on.

[vitty]

Well, noone would be named.

Under the rules, papers cannot speak to/name under 16s without the permission of a parent or loco parentis person (i.e. school teacher etc), so unless Tinks or another parent let us, we couldn't name them.

We would, however, have to name the school.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Sometime though that will make the children feel guilty by association.....I don't know if I am making myself clear.....but sometimes when you know that you have been involved in something unpleasant you feel that everyone else knows too.

[vitty]

I see what you mean, but I can't see a way around it.

Sometimes when yo expose something like this, you are automatically associated with it.

We always have to weigh up in situations like this: Does bringing to public attention a matter of public interest outweigh the unavoidable exposure of innocent/not innocent people?

Here, the answer is yes.

[Doug]

I would concur with that Vitty and Margaret’s sentiments. The last thing that’s required is this blowing out of all proportion. I think that an approach should be made to the head first to establish if this is an isolated incident and or a rouge element in the school. Do I understand that you are proposing to take this matter up?

[vitty]

I will take the matter up (though I am off work this week).

We need to know what school it is. It is unfair just to assume it is the school whose Ofsted report appears on this thread.

And I can't just go accusing all high schools in the town of this.

I have sent a message to Tinks and hopefully she will get back to me soon.

[Tealeaf]

I expect that the questions that will now have to be asked must include the following:

1) Did this teacher act on his/her own initiative on this project?

2) If so, did she or did she not refer upwards to the headteacher/teaching supervisor (head of department/year head)? If not,what action has been taken against her?

3) If she did not act on her initiative, then presumably this idea arose from the LCC/Headmaster/teaching supervisor and was thus passed down to the teacher. From where exactly did the idea come and did the teacher object?


4) Assuming that the teaching staff do pocess some common sense, did they first write to the parents informing them of their intentions?

5) Under what part of the Common Cirriculum would this exercise fall? OK, it's under RI - but I would have assumed that the art of letter writting would come under English.

6) Who was responsible for drawing up the list of those in prison? What criteria were used in drawing up the list? Where were the original names obtained from? Has their been any involvement here by such liberterian organisations such as the Howard League? Have the prisoners themselves been informed of this scheme?

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by mani

willow - what u have to remember is one thing

the pc brigade say that u shudnt refer to christmas etc cause u'll offend etc

yet as far as i'm aware there's never been an incident where an asian has said i'll b offended!

sometimes the pc brigade shoot the gun so that it looks liketheyr'e doin sommet.

there isnt an asian that doesnt look forward to christmas if its for the holidays and the crimbo movies.

I know mani, and the ironic thing is that asian neighbours of ours have got a Christmas tree and yet the stupid PC morons would tell us not to have one in case we upset them!

Why can't we all just be left alone to get on with each other? When on holiday in a country where we were in the minority we weren't offended by the religious symbols and local customs there. It's mad isn't it?

Look forward to hearing what you've found out at school today Tinks.

There's another bit of PC school nonsense in todays paper but thankfully they've seen sense about this one. The government's "Teachernet" website had some information about what they should do (or mostly shouldn't do) this Christmas. It included:

Protecting children from the scary prospect of coming face to face with a terrifying figure dressed in red sporting a long white beard and shouting "ho, ho, ho" in case they become so traumatised it gives them nightmares. Nervous children should be placed near a door so that they can ecsape if necessary!

No competitive games at Christmas parties in case the losers get an inferiority complex.

To wrap Christmas presents in old newspapers tied up with bits of wool (why wool?) as this is environmentally friendly and far less wasteful than Christmas wrapping paper and sellotape.

And the best one of the lot in the light of Tinkerbelle's opening post in this thread - discouraging children from sending Christmas cards to each other as this is wasteful and environmentally unfriendly.

As I said, they've seen sense about it, maybe following complaints, because the advice has now been removed, but who on earth dreams up this rubbish in the first place?

[Gayle]

It almost sounds like it's a spoof site, Willow, doesn't it? Unfortunately, realise that it's all too real!

[Margaret Pilkington]

There ARE some Asian Christians......I know that when I worked in the health service we brought some staff over from India - some of the nurses on the ward thought that this would mean that these girls would be allocated to work over Christmas.....they just assumed that they would be muslims......every single one we employed on our unit was a Christian.