D Day for my wife and the rest of the school

[DavidinSouthampton]

Tories fault? Genuine question.

Yes - spending cuts - austerity - cutting the money going to local authorities from Central Government, with the cuts not being necessarily evenly spread (Southampton gets particularly hard hit, for example).

That does not mean, necessarily, that others would not do the same, but if public spending is cut, services like this will suffer.

 

[Chicken Run]

Patcham High the school in question I'm guessing. My other half transferred out just in time and it's crap for those still there because Paula and everyone else have worked wonders turning it around and now this.

I have 2 children at Patcham High..

 

[Chicken Run]

Oh and the bad news is When Ed's in power there won't be any D REEM songs being played, that's a certainty.

 

[RexCathedra]

It's going to be hard, going forward, maintaining social provision in a country where approximately half of the political nation doesn't believe that the noun 'society' refers to any actually-existing thing.

I'd give the NHS no better than even money odds on seeing its centenary.

 

[GreersElbow]

I genuinely worry for this country in about 10-15 years time.

We have a growing illiteracy and poor numeracy skills coupled with an education system on the brink and exam based results rather than creating genuinely intelligent and creative students. The growing dissatisfaction with school and unrealistic ambitions of kids who have don't believe they have to work for it is a recipe of disaster for this country. I left school in 2008. I only went to university in 2013 after a few level 3 courses and an apprenticeship. I only know of about 10 people who left school in 2008 who have gone to university. Many are unemployed, low skilled and stuck in entry level jobs.

I know of a few people who left school thinking they'll be professional football players and I shit you not, one kid called himself the 'British Eminem' who now has 3 kids in a council house in Whitehawk and as far as I know, works part time.

I don't ever remember being told about alternative careers other than university. I don't remember the military coming to my school, local businesses who offer apprenticeships etc.

It's entirely geared to getting grades that look good on paper, but have little transferability to real life. Teachers are getting the blame for this, rather than the constant meddling and experimentation from politicians.

Education is a ticking time bomb. It'll be the teachers blamed and not the politicians.

 

[MattBackHome]

...and I shit you not, one kid called himself the 'British Eminem'...

In a genuinely depressing post that really made me laugh

 

[GreersElbow]

In a genuinely depressing post that really made me laugh

I'm not joking https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=OUJo2A3XLdQ

 

[sully]

I am living in fear
my daughter is working for/with an after school club co just hoping she does not get the phonecall too
good luck to everybody in this terrible situation

Why do you have to be such a drama queen?

Living in fear?

It's your daughter's job, not yours. When did kids become such an appendage that we "live in fear" of them becoming unemployed? Sake.

 

[The Oldman]

Only just opened NSC and very sorry to learn of these problems. Do hope it all turns out ok for Mrs Gaffer and others. As someone who worked in the NHS for 40 years I fear for our public services in the next few years.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Of course this thread is political. Politicians are deciding the fate of these schools. How can it not be political? People will lose their jobs because politicians have cut their funding.

Yet, curiously, what is happening is being announced during that odd period when the City Council is being run by officers, not councillors. I guess there will be plenty of folk who will want to blame one of the local political parties. Any suggestions? Or do I have to point the finger at the coalition government?

 

[Hastings gull]

Is that a valid subordinate clause at the beginning of your third sentence HG? Surely the comma after the 'I' shouldn't be there...

Yes, you are right. actually I had put in something else, and then changed my mind, and forgot the comma -well, that is my excuse!
Clever dick!

 

[glasfryn]

Why do you have to be such a drama queen?

Living in fear?

It's your daughter's job, not yours. When did kids become such an appendage that we "live in fear" of them becoming unemployed? Sake.

to long to go into the history, surffice to say it is a fear.

 

[Hastings gull]

I genuinely worry for this country in about 10-15 years time.

We have a growing illiteracy and poor numeracy skills coupled with an education system on the brink and exam based results rather than creating genuinely intelligent and creative students. The growing dissatisfaction with school and unrealistic ambitions of kids who have don't believe they have to work for it is a recipe of disaster for this country. I left school in 2008. I only went to university in 2013 after a few level 3 courses and an apprenticeship. I only know of about 10 people who left school in 2008 who have gone to university. Many are unemployed, low skilled and stuck in entry level jobs.

I know of a few people who left school thinking they'll be professional football players and I shit you not, one kid called himself the 'British Eminem' who now has 3 kids in a council house in Whitehawk and as far as I know, works part time.

I don't ever remember being told about alternative careers other than university. I don't remember the military coming to my school, local businesses who offer apprenticeships etc.

It's entirely geared to getting grades that look good on paper, but have little transferability to real life. Teachers are getting the blame for this, rather than the constant meddling and experimentation from politicians.

Education is a ticking time bomb. It'll be the teachers blamed and not the politicians.

I can't help felling that this is a massive over-statement. Not sure how you create an intelligent student, by the way. Have not some children always had unrealistic ambitions, only to eventually find out their limitations. Yes, the emphasis is on results, not that this is wrong ( I know that is not what you saying) but to say that kids in general don't believe they have to work is really a statement you could not possibly be in a position to justify. However, I think there is some measure of truth in what you say as latterly in my teaching career, I did feel that kids are doing less, as there are so many distractions compared to when I was a teenager. Mind you, with grade inflation and the race to the bottom, they don't have to, as exams have got so much easier over the years. (Oh, yes, they have!)

 

[GreersElbow]

I can't help felling that this is a massive over-statement. Not sure how you create an intelligent student, by the way. Have not some children always had unrealistic ambitions, only to eventually find out their limitations. Yes, the emphasis is on results, not that this is wrong ( I know that is not what you saying) but to say that kids in general don't believe they have to work is really a statement you could not possibly be in a position to justify. However, I think there is some measure of truth in what you say as latterly in my teaching career, I did feel that kids are doing less, as there are so many distractions compared to when I was a teenager. Mind you, with grade inflation and the race to the bottom, they don't have to, as exams have got so much easier over the years. (Oh, yes, they have!)

There may well be a slight over-exaggeration, of course, I can't speak on behalf of the nation. It's why I had to emphasis my experience from Hove Park to enforce what little I had. I think I articulated what I meant by kids don't think they have to work. I didn't intend it to come across as though they see the state hand outs as an alternative, it's more the work ethic and I'll hold my hands up. However, from my personal experience and anyone can challenge this; there's a dichotomy in ambition. Either kids want the extreme riches of a professional football player or celebrity or they don't have much ambition past school.

Exam results are not the actual problem, I think the real problem lies in the transferability of skills and qualities. However, I think the emphasis is misplaced. It ought to be on what the pupil aspires to do. Trades generally from what I can gather, don't necessarily require A*s. Damn, they bloody well help. But if a young lad wants to become a mechanic, I think the emphasis is misplaced on what he needs to do, to do well in that trade. It'd require a massive reform of the education system and I'd have no clue how to implement it.

I generally agree with you about grade inflation. I thought my English literature and language exams were far too easy and I was lazy during my GCSEs and still got Cs.

 

[clippedgull]

Because of the slashing of funding for brighton and hove unitary authority, there are meetings in all schools to announce the slashing of staff jobs, teachers, administrators, teaching assistants..which some of you may have read in the argus.

Anyway. Today is my wife's school's turn and this afternoon she finds out if after 20+ years she still has a job. It is not just her, it is the whole school that has been threatened with huge cuts.

So Dave?

I'm guessing that there was absolutely nothing for her to worry about and she can carry on.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

So Dave?

I'm guessing that there was absolutely nothing for her to worry about and she can carry on.

Not exactly...has to reapply for her own job and cuts around the school.

 

[clippedgull]

Not exactly...has to reapply for her own job and cuts around the school.

Sorry to hear that

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I genuinely worry for this country in about 10-15 years time.

We have a growing illiteracy and poor numeracy skills coupled with an education system on the brink and exam based results rather than creating genuinely intelligent and creative students. The growing dissatisfaction with school and unrealistic ambitions of kids who have don't believe they have to work for it is a recipe of disaster for this country. I left school in 2008. I only went to university in 2013 after a few level 3 courses and an apprenticeship. I only know of about 10 people who left school in 2008 who have gone to university. Many are unemployed, low skilled and stuck in entry level jobs.

I know of a few people who left school thinking they'll be professional football players and I shit you not, one kid called himself the 'British Eminem' who now has 3 kids in a council house in Whitehawk and as far as I know, works part time.

I don't ever remember being told about alternative careers other than university. I don't remember the military coming to my school, local businesses who offer apprenticeships etc.

It's entirely geared to getting grades that look good on paper, but have little transferability to real life. Teachers are getting the blame for this, rather than the constant meddling and experimentation from politicians.

Education is a ticking time bomb. It'll be the teachers blamed and not the politicians.

I think you're being a tad harsh on the education system. The biggest problem, IMHO, lies with the parents. I have three children spread across three different schools and each of them fully understands the need to work and to have realistic ambitions. What always amazes me is when they have friends round how many don't have the simple things in life that help instill that sense of pride and hard work into them. A perfect example is to sit down as a family and eat. I get Monday to Friday is hard for most parents to do this but the weekend ? We ensure both days we have a family meal where everyone sits down and discusses life - what they've done at school that week, what homework they still have to do, what they think they might like to do as a job etc. Yet many of their friends don't do this and enjoy it when they come round our house and sit down with us for said meals. Instead many parents seem to think iPads and the internet are some sort of substitute. My kids get time limits on these activities.

Schools are there to teach knowledge but parents should be teaching life skills. My two sons do a lot of Scouting and even I, as an untrained parent, can see the difference in their attitude to things like problem solving and team work when compared to their friends that don't do that kind of activity.

Where I do agree with you absolutely entirely is careers advice in schools. I left school over two decades before you and even then the careers advice was basically 'Go to Uni'. With hindsight, how I wished I'd known about Plumpton College, or maybe the possibility of doing a chef course outside the Uni system. This utterly ridiculous idea that everyone should go to Uni was only exasperated by the previous Labour government. Not everyone is suited to Uni and not everyone wants a job that requires a Uni education. This is not helped by the expectation of many parents - I argued many a time with my parents when I told them I didn't want to go to Uni ( in the end we compromised and I went to Poly for two years and I hated it ). I have no expectations on my children that they go to Uni ( although I'd be surprised if my eldest son didn't as he's very academic unlike the other two. But then again he wants to be a police officer which clearly I need to beat out of him ! ). Instead, I want them to have enjoyable, fulfilling careers doing something they like. It annoys the hell out of me that kids nowadays seem to think they HAVE to go to Uni ( shit, that makes me sound old ).

 

[AlbionPics&SouthCoastTwit]

And also some absolute bellocks! Thats where i come in.

.....and then there are the twits who really bollox this forum.............

 

[AlbionPics&SouthCoastTwit]

Thank-you for your response to this thead. It is much appreciated and offers an invaluable insight into the predicament faced by DtG's wife and her school. I do agree that there is far too much humour on this board and it would be a better place if we were all earnestly serious at all times.

Okay!

From now on I'll be as serious as the WWE!