My little stars, back at school

It feels like forever since I last wrote a post just about the children and it's probably time I rectified that.

Both children were excited about going back to school. They don't tend to see their friends outside of school  as we are relatively far from it. Giddiness of the highest order ensued on the first day back, with Missy Woo running round squealing and flinging her arms around her friends that she hadn't seen for all of six weeks. Monkey, of course, was as cool as a cucumber about seeing his friend but he was happy to return.

Monkey's main reason for looking forward to the new term was having a brand new teacher to the school as his class teacher this year. Of course, for him, it's a big step as he has moved into Year 3 and therefore into the juniors. After his first couple of days, he started mentioning Mission Impossible and we ended up "singing" the tune on his way home. I wondered what it was and last week, I finally found out. His new teacher invited all the parents to sit in on a lesson at the start of the day. As the children were settling in for the day, the teacher suddenly set a recording off and the children went hither and thither putting things away. It's his way of getting them to tidy up! The aim is to do it quicker every time, and they are all disappointed if they don't do it quicker than last time. I am seriously considering downloading Mission Impossible for use at home! Looking around the class, I realised how much they have grown up in the 3 years they have been at school and their new teacher has them eating out of his hand. He's going to have a fantastic year.

On the curriculum for him this year is learning the ukulele. A teacher comes in once a week to teach a whole class. Monkey brought his new* (*second-hand) ukulele home for the first time last week. He'd had the sum total of one lesson. He thought he was an expert and proceeded to share his new-found talent with all of us. I sent him upstairs to play instead but that didn't do much - we just heard "strum, strum, strum, strum" all the time. He's quite keen - I keep coming downstairs and finding the ukulele out of its case on the floor of the living room - but I'm dreading all the practice. Don't laugh - apparently, ukulele lessons are becoming increasingly popular in schools, so it could be coming your way soon. Oh well, at least it is not a recorder.

Missy Woo is, however, the one who has amazed me. During the school holidays, she suddenly decided she wanted to write a poem so she set about doing so. She asked for little bits of help with spellings and words to use, but on the whole, I left her to it. As she prepared to return to school, she insisted on making sure she took her poem in to show her new teacher (who was, of course, Monkey's teacher last year).

After her first day back, she told me that her teacher had said she could read out her poem at the next celebration assembly they have on Friday afternoons, and asked if I was going. Thankfully, I was as the first one was after their first full week and as a parent with children in both infant and juniors, I can basically go whenever I want. She told me she would have to write it out neatly as the teacher had said.

Come the assembly, both children took their certificates in from the summer reading challenge they had been doing at the library over the holidays and after they showed them, the headteacher held her back and started explaining about the poem that Missy Woo wrote.

What I didn't know was that Missy Woo had learnt her poem off by heart to recite to the whole school. It was her own idea and I have no idea when she did it, but she did. Not only that, my little 6 year old girl (OK, not so little - she looks at least a year older, if not two) stood there and recited in a clear and confident voice, the whole of her poem and  received a huge round of applause from all the children, staff and present.

I don't think I've ever been quite so blown away by her. I had no idea she'd learnt it off by heart - of course, she wrote it so should know what's in it but all the same, she was fantastic. And for that, she was unsurprisingly awarded the first Star of the Week trophy of the new school year. I was so proud of her.

And just so Monkey didn't feel left out, his class was class of the week too, so we had double the reason to celebrate. As we were going away straight after school, we ended up lugging the trophy to Coventry with us - and Missy Woo took it upon herself to show the trophy to just about anyone who was passing, let alone ask what it was for.

Summer holidays already feel like a month ago. Routines have been re-established, friendships rekindled, reading books grudgingly read and avoided where possible. We are definitely back at school, with lots of exciting things to look forward to.

So what can you do if you don't get the primary school you wanted?

Photo credit - msegura

All throughout April, parents of children who are due to start school in the next academic year have been nervously waiting to find out which school has a place for their child. By the end of this week, I think pretty much everyone in England should know their fate.

Whatever you read, the majority of parents do get a place for their child at their first choice school. It varies a lot according to the local situation but most areas have sufficient places.

But what if you don't? Although it didn't happen to me, I can imagine it's pretty gut-wrenching and upsetting to find that you haven't got the school you wanted. It can feel like the end of the world, probably made even worse by others getting what they want.

It isn't the end of the world. There are various things you can do. Please remember I write this as a parent and it is stuff I learned from the experiences of others I know who went through similar. It's just suggestions and tips. Always check local arrangements with your local authority.

Do you appeal?

Most people's reaction  is to consider an appeal. Others are likely to recommend it, and it seems like your opportunity to put your case. However, you do need to think carefully before you appeal as it is not straightforward at all. What complicates it is the law says that infant class sizes (basically, the first 3 years in school) cannot be greater than 30. If a school is already full and classes are already 30, an appeal is likely to fail although there are a few exceptions that will override the law. These require you to prove that you would have got a place if the admissions process was properly implemented - in other words, they made a mistake at some point, or that you would have got a place if the admissions process had followed the School Admissions Code. The other exception is that refusing you a place was not a decision that a "reasonable authority" would have made. All of these require some effort and can be quite hard to prove unless you are sure a mistake has been made. It is possible to do, but the hearing might not be until the summer, and the result not known for a few days after that. If you can prove your case, they will have to award you a place, even if the infant class size is exceeded.

The decision whether to appeal is very personal. Many decide to appeal, then find out what's involved and withdraw. What does happen is that the admissions body will send you all the information relating to your appeal before the hearing which gives you time to prepare your case or decide whether to take it further. At a hearing, the admissions body will be given chance to state why they didn't give you a place, then it will be your turn to do the same. Your case will need to concentrate on the decision to refuse you a place. Personal circumstances (unless this is something you were relying on in your original application) will not be taken into account. I can ramble on about this for hours so if you want to know more, please do get in touch with me.

Is there anything else you can do if you decide not to appeal?

The first thing to remember is that you do not have to accept the place you've been offered if you really don't want it. The local authority will provide you with a list of schools who do have places available. It's also worth contacting the school(s) that didn't offer you a place and ask for your child to be placed on their waiting list - there will be a lot of movement as people decide they don't need the place,  move areas or even emigrate. The school will place you in the list according to the same admissions criteria, but they will also be able to tell you what position in the list you hold. Most schools will operate waiting lists until the start of the school year but some keep them for longer.

Even if you are putting in an appeal, it is worth putting in some effort to go and see other schools, whether that is the school you've been offered or others that you've been told have places available. Because there may be a number of parents in the same position, you'll probably be given a deadline to express a preference for another school and then you will be told if you have a place. Having a place sorted out is a good insurance policy if your appeal is not successful, and it's worth noting that doing so will not affect your appeal. It may mean that your child starts settling in sessions at a school they ultimately don't attend but it is probably better than not doing so.

If none of these avenues provide any joy, you may take the ultimate sanction of not accepting a place anywhere. Remember that, in England at least, no child has to attend school until the term after they turn 5. Even with the oldest children in the year born between September and December, that means they don't have to go to school until January. A January to April child wouldn't have to start school until after the Easter holidays and any child younger than that wouldn't have to start school until the start of Year 1 (although they will miss Reception altogether if this is the case). In that time, it is very likely that a place will become available at a school that suits you. Alternatively, you may decide to home educate which is another topic in itself. I know little about it but people like Jax who home educates her children know a lot more than me.

If your child does start at a school that you're not totally happy with, remember that nothing is forever.You may begin to feel very differently about a school once your child is a pupil there, especially if they settle in well, are happy and seem to be doing well. Places at other schools can become available at any time so even after a school stops operating a waiting list, they may still contact you to ask if you want a place or you can keep in touch with them. The decision to move a child is another personal choice and will very much depend on the child. Generally speaking, younger children seem to adapt better than older ones, but if your child took a while to settle at school and is now happy, you may feel that it's not worth the upheaval of moving them again.

What if you're applying next year and this post terrifies you?

For a start, don't panic. As I said at the start, the majority of parents get their first choice; many more get one of their top choices and are happy with what they are offered. There are a few things you can do to improve your chances of getting a fair outcome. Take care because you will hear a lot of anecdotes from parents of older children of what worked for them but things are very different now (and anyway, they may have worked for them than for the reason they suggest).

First, use all your preferences when applying. Some people still believe that only applying for one school will guarantee them a place. Some thinks it underlines how much they want that school and that the local council will HAVE to give them that school. This is not the case. If you only apply for one school, you'll be treated the same as other parents. If there is no place available for you, the council will find you a place at the nearest available school, which could be a long way from home if places are at a premium, or it might not be a school you're happy with. The way to have some control over your destiny is to apply for as many as you're allowed - the minimum is usually 3 but some areas allow more choices to be made.

Secondly, talk to the schools and understand their admissions policies. Most voluntary aided faith schools (and academies) will have their own admissions criteria which are different to community and voluntary controlled schools. Faith schools usually give top priority to those who attend a local church regularly or those who have their children baptised. If you haven't looked already, it may already be too late to start attending church as the qualification period usually ends in the September before you apply. It may not be a problem but a school will be able to give you an idea how likely it is you could get a place without it. Personally I wouldn't attend church for this reason, and if you're the same, this may affect your decision whether to apply to such a school if it is usually oversubscribed. Also, if your local authority operates catchment areas, understand how they affect you and your choices - applying to an oversubscribed school from out of catchment may be risky and may become even harder when it comes to applying for younger siblings, especially if they are not given priority over children in catchment area.

Next, don't discount any school until you have seen it for yourself. I can't stress this enough - only you know what suits your child and no-one else can judge if a school is right for them. Keep an open mind throughout.

Finally, don't panic. If it doesn't work out for you, then come back to this post next year.


My final thought is this - everything will turn out alright in the end. If it's not alright, it's not the end. Not getting the place you'd hoped for is not the end. It's just the start.

Good luck!

Testing and tuition - is it right for small children?

Holiday homework. It seems wrong but that's what we've got for Monkey - 3 books to read, some maths and some words. Oh yes, of course, it's SATs next term. Until now, the teacher has not been very pushy about their SATs but a note in his bag says she doesn't want them to be rusty when they return. I know that SATs are marked by the school these days but personally I'm uncomfortable with testing children as young as 6 - well, at least to make a big deal of it anyway. When you hear of parents issuing "incentives" to children of that age to "do well" in them, I feel that something is wrong.

Last week, I was offered some tuition for the children in return for a review. They hadn't got the ages of my children wrong, their tuition is aimed at 5 - 14 year olds; basically, from the moment they enter school through until high school. This was mentioned in association with issues of children worrying about tests or exams or to improve their confidence.

Firstly, I find it extremely sad that young children could be worried about tests or exams. The pressure to do well in them can only be external at that age - what child understands what a standard is? KS1 SATs results are not published nor are they externally marked  (KS1 is Key Stage 1, which ends by the end of the school year in which they turn 7, just in case you didn't know). Doing well in SATs is great, but nor is doing badly a huge problem. School have underplayed the tests so far but I understand that they have an interest in the children doing well, because that is how they are judged by others, which can affect how many children come to the school and ultimately, how much money they get. I feel lucky that I believe that at our school, they just want the children to achieve what they are capable of, rather than pushing them to over-achieve.

As for confidence, you may remember I blogged about this problem with Missy Woo six months ago although it seems like longer. We overcame it by speaking with the teacher who came up with some new approaches which worked a treat, but also by giving her a boost at home. Since then, she's just got better as she's realised she can read and it's been beautiful to observe. I'm sure many children need a confidence boost from time to time and I suspect most problems can be solved by giving the children help, love and support, with parents working with the teachers. Does extra tuition need to be part of the solution? I doubt it.

You may say that I'm lucky in that I don't need tuition for my children. I'm not worried about SATs. Perversely, Monkey seems to enjoy tests and treats them as a challenge, which is great. He knows we expect him to try his best, rather than set a standard to live up to that he doesn't understand. All he cares about is what reading level he is on compared to his friends.

Would I consider tuition at his age if he wasn't doing well? No. To me, that suggests that parents aren't happy with their child's progress and don't feel that school can resolve them, which is equally sad. I'd like to think that I'd be working with school in that position and discussing it with the teachers. If you can't, that's a pretty fundamental problem that I don't believe extra tuition alone can solve. I don't blame the people offering tuition; they are only offering a service because there is a demand.

Of course, as well as SATs this year for year 2, Missy Woo in year 1 will be subjected to a  new phonics test in June. She will still be 5 when she is tested and as one of the first pupils to take this test, no-one really knows what to expect, although it is believed to be quite rigorous. I hope she will take this in her stride as she is much less confident about tests than her brother but her overall reading is already ahead of what is expected of her age. No-one yet knows what happens if children don't reach the expected standard, something two thirds of pupils failed to do in pilot tests.

As I said in my polite refusal of the review of tuition, I don't believe in pushing my children hard, so the maths sheets will get done as a very low key activity as and when it suits; this is a holiday after all. For all the testing that children are facing next term, I think it's far more important for them to have a love of learning and reading at their age than them to achieve a standard set by someone else.

Isn't that what school is about?

What do you think? Is your child facing a test next term in year 1 or year 2? How has school approached these tests and what preparations are you aware of? Is your child worried about these tests and if so, why or how do they feel worried? Would you consider, or have you considered, tuition for a child aged 5 to 7? If so, why? Do please have your say below. 


Photo credit beni_bb

The Gallery - Education

This week, we're being encouraged to share pictures on the theme of Education. Tara seems quite interested in our own school days as much as those of our children. A lot of people were keen on sharing photos from their school days. I shrivelled in horror at the thought of this. I don't consider that I was a very pretty child, especially as I decided when I was 7 to get my hair cut quite short which I don't think helped.

I have only one picture from middle school that I won't post for fear of blinding you, as the uniform for girls included a seriously bright yellow shirt.

No, instead, I have plucked up the courage and you get this picture of me - and a few others - in the sixth form. So, here we go, here is L6 Wren from Chesham High School, circa 1981. Yes, it is (nearly) thirty years ago. Yes, I am that old. No, I'm not telling you which one is me. No, we didn't have any dress sense. Yes, we were the geeky lot. We left being cool and hip, mostly, to Kelvin and Scott. Oh, and being good at everything except the house drama competition.

Brings back memories good and bad, this picture. I am not in touch with many of these people now although none of the people I really disliked from school were in my house thankfully. I'm friends with a handful of these people on Facebook, but the majority do not even seem to know what Facebook or Twitter are. The person I consider my oldest friend is also in this picture. We don't see each other or get in touch that often but we always pick up exactly where we left off whenever we meet up.

And the saddest, scariest thing of all about this picture? At least one of these people is no longer alive. Chilling thought. A terrible counterpoint to a photograph of young adults just setting out on adult life, driven by dreams of success and hope for the future.

Go on, have a guess which one is me! I think it's probably fairly easy. And no, my dress sense is no better than anyone else's. Leave me a comment telling me which one you think is me (anyone suggesting I'm one of the blokes will get a virtual slap) and I'll tell you in a day or two. There are no prizes for getting it right, just the kudos of being a clever clogs.

Term time holidays: are they such a bad thing?

Two weeks ago, we took Monkey to Barcelona for the weekend. Primarily, it was because he wanted to see his Daddy run in the marathon but he also wanted to go to the Nou Camp and see FC Barcelona play. The fact this fell just before his birthday meant we could do some negotiating regarding presents and party and so the deal was struck.

Obviously, it's term time so he missed a couple of days of school. Thankfully, our school is fairly relaxed about absences and as long as you have asked for permission on the right form, they will grant permission if you've not exceeded the 10 days limit for absence in any school year. And yet, I have heard tales of other schools stating that they will not grant permission for any term-time holidays at all and some go as far as issuing fines for unauthorised absences. Seriously?

This gives the impression that any parent taking their child out of school in term time is depriving their child of a proper education and are somehow failing. But is that really the case?

Monkey learned so much in the four days he was in Barcelona. It was the first time he'd been abroad and be old enough to appreciate all the things that were happening. When we first landed in Spain and were finally in a place where Brits were in the minority, his eyes were as wide as saucers. He could hear people talking and not understand a word they were saying. All the posters and billboards had words on them that he could no longer read. He'd never considered before that being in a different country really was so totally different. As it happened, his teacher had given him a reading book about tunnels which we took with us - and then he went down more tunnels than he'd ever seen before, which helped him understand the pictures and words he was reading. Then, we saw a massive drill that was digging a tunnel to allow high speed trains to come into the central station nearby. He went back to school to tell the teacher all about all the tunnels he'd been in and what they were like.

It wasn't just tunnels - Monkey experienced what was, to him anyway, a whole new world. New food (he ate copious amounts of calamari, tomato bread, patatas bravas and pasta salad), new language, sights, sounds and people. At school, he'd have been doing some reading and some topic work on fruit - so we took him around La Boqueria market so he could see all the fruit, amongst other things, on display. In fact, he learnt so many things, I swear he grew an inch or two whilst we were there.

OK, so not every holiday is a city break to a place that has so much that can be considered educational. But I found a quote from an Ancient Greek philosopher Euripides which is as true now as it was thousands of years ago. “Experience, travel - these are as education in themselves”. Whether it is a trip to the seaside in the UK, a city break, a beach holiday in Europe or further afield, it provides new experiences for a child, which surely, they must learn from.

I appreciate why they say children should not miss school - largely for reasons that are more disruptive to the school and fears it will hamper the child's progress - but if it's managed carefully and planned, surely it can't be detrimental? And how much more disruptive to a child's learning must unplanned absence for illness be? Persistent lateness is likely to be more disruptive to the child's progress too, if not more so, as it will affect more school days than a week or two of authorised absence.

So, why do some schools frown so much on term-time holidays? Or is it because the pressure on them to deliver on targets for attendance as well as academic performance mean there is little margin for error? Surely it pushes parents to lie to the school and say their child is ill instead! Many families are now finding that taking a term-time holiday is the only way they can afford one. (I won't go into the whys and wherefores of the price of holidays during school holidays; that's a whole other post). Taking children out of school to spend valuable time with their families that they would otherwise not have is likely to be a largely positive experience that has the potential to benefit their school work.

Or is it just me that thinks that? Am I just being a rebel?

For the record, I'm not planning to take my children out of school regularly although this was the second time they had been out of school this year, due to attending a family wedding in Devon that took place on a Friday. Last year, Monkey missed no school days at all, not even one for sickness. Next year may well be the same - the way that the school holidays have worked out, we can take a holiday this summer during the last week when most schools are going back so prices have dropped quite sharply. All the same, I don't think that if we choose to take them awayduring term time, I will worry too much about any harm to their progress at school.

Because they have so much to learn, the world is out there. And unfortunately, the world doesn't come to them inside the confines of a classroom.