I’m often asked what school work a child should do over the summer holiday, as parents can be concerned that the momentum of learning can be lost over the 5 or 6 week break. My answer generally depends on one key factor. Exams – but not in the way you may think. If a student is in a non-exam school year and is simply keen to achieve and get prepared for the next year, my answer is ‘students really need to take a break from school work’. If however, a student is about to enter an exam year, or time of increased workload/effort, my answer changes to ‘students absolutely must take a break from school work’. Continue reading “Summer School Work”
Category: Blog
Bring on the wonky!
Our local supermarket has started selling a range of ‘wonky’ foods. Apparently, a carrot has to have a certain degree of straightness, smoothness and texture to be acceptable, just as a banana supposedly needs a certain curve. This week I bought a tub of ‘wonky’ raspberries. Raspberries? They looked the same in colour, size and texture as the ‘regular’ ones alongside to me, but hey – I’ll take the cheaper tub any day.
So does value come with conformity? Continue reading “Bring on the wonky!”
Free School Thinking
In the news this morning, it was announced that our Prime Minister was allocating 120 million pounds to the creation of ‘free schools’ to address the shortage of places in education over the next 5 years. The name suggests freedom from bureaucracy rather than free of any cost!
A news reporter boldly stated that Continue reading “Free School Thinking”
PISA Analysis
The ultimate goal of our nation’s education system seems to be to create world class learners, able to compete on a world stage. And why wouldn’t we want to send British teenagers into the world with a top education? The PISA rankings have been released this week, and despite all the talk of educational reform, the UK is moving down the table in Mathematics (to 27th place), well below countries like Singapore, China, South Korea and Japan.
Continue reading “PISA Analysis”
Who cares about grades more?
I find myself once again concerned about my year 11 class. I can’t help it – they’re not just a class, they’re my class and I’m proud and privileged to be their teacher. I have taken previous classes (of high and low ability) through their Maths GCSEs before, and a common thread seems to run through both types of class: it appears that I often care more about student grades than they do! Continue reading “Who cares about grades more?”
Parental partnership for year 11
Recently I participated in the first of two parents evenings for our year 11 students who will be sitting their GCSEs next summer. The first is towards the start of year 11, the second just before the final exams. Our school introduced double year 11 parents evenings a few years back, and they have proved extremely valuable. Continue reading “Parental partnership for year 11”
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