BS: Home Education UK

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Folkiedave
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:27 AM

I referred to a free school earlier in this thread. I was referring to Summerhill.

Long time since I was there, in fact the school is highly structured - but nothing is compulsory. There is a meeting three times each week. Classes are in fact fairly formal, they are just not compulsory.

The school has been inspected twice I think. The first time it was inspected as a normal "school", the second "on its own terms". The second time around it was inspected on its own terms and flew through. Bit of bad carpet here and there.

This is all available on the school's own website.

The majority of pupils are from abroad when I was there and I have to tell you it isn't cheap.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Folkiedave
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:33 AM

Students brought up in Summerhill that would want to go to University would study "normally" - if they need qualifications they are expected to work for them.

But Universities do not need "qualifications" as such. Once you are over 21 they can accept anyone they like. I don't have "standard qualifications". The vast majority of mature
students don't have standard qualifications.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:49 AM

I was at university with a student who had been educated at Summerhill. She had 4 A grades at A level like every one else but the difference was that she had investigated for herself what it would take to get to where she wanted to be (a conference interpreter), and set her own goals and study plan. Her family background was, however, extremely dodgy (though there was money or she couldn't, presumably, have gone there) and she was glad to be detached from it. She was also the most balanced student I came across, the life and soul of all the parties and with by far the most mature outlook of any of us.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Jack Campin
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:58 AM

One odd presumption by the more aggressive homeschooling advocates here seems to be that going to school precludes learning anything from your parents.

A thread about disability aids was what brought that up. It occurred to me that my automatic response - fix it up yourself unless you know you're out of your depth - wasn't shared by everybody. But then I was brought up to fix things. My father was an architect and did a lot of home construction, my mother's father was a craftsman skilled at several trades who could do house wiring and metal-pipe plumbing. So I learned from them. But not JUST from them, as I had two years of formal lessons in woodwork and metalwork at school. I didn't have access to a lathe or a metal casting furnace at home, but a lot of the skills transferred.

Similarly what I was taught about literature and science at school helped me make sense of the books my parents had round the house.

Art and music were different: I had very litle art education at school, but there were a lot of books about it at home. I had a reasonable music education at school, but my parents weren't into it at all and I had to find my own way. For both it would have been better if school and home had not each been my sole resource.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Emma B
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 11:08 AM

'Ofsted does not routinely inspect independent schools in the way that it does maintained schools.
But by law, all independent schools must register with the Department for Education, and there is an inspection to see that they meet an adequate standard.

The government can issue a notice of complaint against any independent school, leading to it being struck off the register - and making it illegal for the school to continue teaching. '


In 1999 a critical report by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), prompted the Education Secretary, David Blunkett, to file a formal "notice of complaint" against Summerhill School demanding that it make changes to remedy six specific issues
It complained that pupils were allowed "to mistake idleness for the exercise of personal liberty" and that non-attendance at lessons was the root cause of its educational shortcomings.

Summerhill appealed against three of the six demands to the independent schools tribunal, chaired by a retired circuit court judge.

The school's lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson QC, said the freedom exercised by the pupils whether or not to go into the classroom was not negotiable
"If you insist that it is negotiable, as Ofsted wants to make it, that will be the end of Summerhill." he argued

Counsel for the education secretary, Alison Foster, said he was not trying to close the school.
"He is not intent on enforcing compulsory lessons on Summerhill pupils nor on compelling the abandonment of the general philosophy of education propounded by A S Neill."

But, she added, the minister was entitled to regard a particular form of education as being too narrow.

The Ofsted report stated
"This report cannot and does not pass judgement on the unique philosophy on which Summerhill is founded. It focuses upon the issue of whether the quality of the education provided is effective in practice."

They concluded: "Summerhill is not providing an adequate education for its pupils.
"Whether the pupils make sufficient progress and achieve the standards of which they are capable is left to each child's inclination. As a result, those willing to work achieve satisfactory or even good standards, while the rest are allowed to drift and fall behind."

A management consultant Professor Ian Cunningham, called in by the school said the government would contravene the European Convention on Human Rights if it closed the school.

The complaints were withdrawn after the school agreed to encourage pupils to attend lessons and improve its teaching and assessment.

The decision to accept Mr Blunkett's statement was taken at a meeting of past and present Summerhillians at London's law courts

Summerhill's pupils and teachers said they had 'won'

Despite it's attitude to compusory attendance at lessons (Chino Otsuka did not attend lessons for two years after she started at Summerhill School in 1982, at the age of 10) lessons are often taught quite traditionally .
However, class sizes are small (often as few as 4-5 pupils per class) and individualized instruction is routinely available.

In 2003 the school had 14 staff and 91 pupils over half of whom came from outside the UK

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 11:12 AM

"by law, all independent schools must register with the Department for Education, and there is an inspection to see that they meet an adequate standard.
The government can issue a notice of complaint against any independent school, leading to it being struck off the register - and making it illegal for the school to continue teaching. '"

Cheers Emma, question answered.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 11:21 AM

Schools can get it right, I wonder why so many don't try

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=armP8TfS9Is

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Emma B
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 12:31 PM

thanks for that link Tug the Cox - it's so unusual to discuss bereavement - or even acknowledge death with children in the UK.

From the introduction the quote

" the children begin to realize the importance of caring for their classmates."

reminded me of the experiences of the daughter of one of our members here and the pupils in her school described on another thread

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=123898
- describing a 13 year old school friend dignosed with leukemia

'They have a big crowd of friends and they are all hoping to go and visit her every week'

Not all state schools represent the "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" version of Hell some would have us believe.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 02:01 PM

Sorry I misunderstood your last post, my fault! I thought you were having a strop. But then I know nothing of shanty talk.

As far as your lady singer is concerned, I'd find it tough to genuinely judge the vocals as good or whatever, as I found her to be a bit 'lost' a behind the drums.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 02:04 PM

Doh! IGNORE

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 02:11 PM

I'm a huge fan of Summerhill. I've never been there, but I read the book when I was younger. The high school I went to had some similarities to Summerhill during the time I was there, and I think that school may have saved my life.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Folkiedave
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 03:38 PM

the life and soul of all the parties and with by far the most mature outlook of any of us.

Not as good but the Woodcraft Folk have a similar effect on young people. A teacher at my daughters' school commented she could always tell the Woodcraft folk students.

I think it is the chance to talk in meetings and have their views respected that makes the difference.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 03:46 PM

After high school (the one what was similar to Summerhill), I made an attempt at going to college (cut short by undiagnosed learning disabilities). The teacher in an English class was interested in an exchange between me and another student during class. He asked where we had gone to high school. We told him and it turned out we had gone to the same school. The teacher said he could always tell which of his students had gone to that particular high school. He said we were always highly articulate and also strongly individual and not very conformist.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: jeddy
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 04:15 PM

not sure this will work but if it does.. as seen on facebook....LOL



http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/video/video.php?v=1212601907690

take care all

jade x x x x

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Folkiedave
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 04:30 PM

It worked for me - I also posted it on Facebook!!

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Emma B
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 04:35 PM

Too funny - if the Facebook link doesn't work for you try here

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 04:47 PM

I see the attitude in the automated message as being fairly typical of the problem. When schools (the supposed authority figure in the equation) not only participate in, but actually foster an adversarial relationship with parents and children, that doesn't help inspire those whith whom they are creating the adversarial relationship to want to work with them. It also shows that those in authority have a fairly high degree of contempt for those they are paid to serve.

I would never want to send my child to a school with that kind of attitude.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Emma B
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 04:56 PM

Carol, check with snopes! FALSE!
This is the actual school -

'Maroochydore State High School Captain, Mark Pennini was recently honoured with an Order of Australia Student Citizenship Award.

Mark was one of only fourteen young Queenslanders to receive this prestigious award at a ceremony held recently in the Old Legislative Council Chamber at Parliament House, Brisbane. Mark received his award from the Hon Justice Margaret McMurdo AC, President, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Queensland. His proud parents Jennifer and Lou Pennini were also present at the awards ceremony The award was made in recognition of Mark's services to his school and community.

This is one of a number of awards to be bestowed on Mark this year. In March this year, Mark was a Queensland representative at the 2009 National Schools' Constitutional Convention in Canberra.'

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Sorcha
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 05:00 PM

Carol, have you had your sense of humor surgically removed? I KNOW some of these parents. NOTHING is Their Darlings fault!

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Folkiedave
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 05:05 PM

Wikipedia suggests it is a hoax so now we are all happy. I think it is hilarious. And it isn't real.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Folkiedave
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 05:07 PM

I meant to say:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroochydore_State_High_School

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 05:19 PM

Nice set up. Post something as if it were real, and if I voice an opinion about it, make fun of me for not figuring it out? I don't understand why someone would want to do that.


No, my sense of humor is very well developed, and perfectly intact. If there had been such a recorded message at a real school, regardless of whether or not schools had such experiences with students and parents, as the people who are in the position of authority and also as employees of the tax paying public, they have a responsibility to maintain a professional demeanor with the public they serve.


And if schools do actually experience these kinds of behaviors on the part of parents and students, I, personally, see that as an indictment of the system itself. If the system was effective, those kinds of behaviors would not be a problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Emma B
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 05:27 PM

Carol I really had no idea if it was real or not - although I strongly suspected it wouldn't be - so I simply checked it out!

No one 'set you up' it was a joke that was shared is all - a bit like the ones about Sarah Palin and those banned books - remember?

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Sorcha
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 05:34 PM

Take a chill pill, Carol. It helps sometimes.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 06:01 PM

A teacher at my daughters' school commented she could always tell the Woodcraft folk students.

Yes, all that singing Red fly the banners O instead of Green grow the rushes is a bit of a giveaway.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 06:13 PM

I don't need a chill pill. I'll decide what I want to laugh about and what I do not. I would suggest a chill pill for those who can't handle that.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Folkiedave
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 06:34 PM

Yes, all that singing Red fly the banners O instead of Green grow the rushes is a bit of a giveaway.

Too right, that's the good thing about Woodcraft - no indoctrination of the young.....

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: jeddy
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 06:52 PM

dave, i would have given you the credit of finding that vid, but didn't want you to be accused of making it, just to get at a certain someone.

take care all

jade x x x x x

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 07:08 PM

Is "messege" the Australian spelling or part of the joke?

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 07:52 PM

I'm with Carol on the video. It's typical of the sneering attitude of those in education who see themselves as intellectually and socially superior to the parents of 'the little brats' they have to teach.

Over and again in here I've seen the derisory way that some in the system talk about 'parents'.

Parents are seen as, basically, a real pain in the arse...especially when it comes to secondary schools, where they're kept away as much as possible, apart from being useful to raise funds for the school.

But as far as 'knowing what's best for the child'...no, it's not considered to be the parents who know that, but the supercilious, holier-than-thou teachers.

REAL teachers work with parents and have respect for them, because they know that they, first and foremost, are the most important people in their children's lives, NOT those who teach in schools.

Somewhere along the line, some teachers got WAY too big for their boots, and WAY too puffed up with their own self importance.

I am 100% with Carol and her comments above..and nope, this does not mean I haven't got a sense of humour...it merely means that my brother, daughter and son were all damaged by pratty, insensitive people who just happen to work inside a school, as opposed to an office and who think they really are the bee's knees, when in actual fact some of them are the rat's arse.

Thank you..... :0)

Oh, and they could make a wonderful video where the children leave their own message on their own answer machine, within their own school...

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Smokey.
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 08:21 PM

I'm reminded of when 'Life of Brian' was first shown at our local cinema. The religious barmpots in sandwich boards haranguing the audience going in and out made the overall experience twice as funny.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 08:28 PM

Well, everyone knew that "Life of Brian" was fiction right from the start. That recorded message was presented as the truth here in this thread. Big difference. I wouldn't have had anything at all to say about it had I known it was a hoax

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 08:30 PM

Although I also have to say I don't understand the need to sneer at people who don't find it funny.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 09:27 PM

It is humor probably invented by the students themselves. No one is sneering at anyone. If I called my son's school and got that message I would probably be pressing every button just to see what came next.
Carol - I have met you twice. You are a beautiful sweet woman. Don't be afraid to share yourself with people. Let your defences down. I promise you - no one is ridiculing you. This U-tube addresses a universal problem. Imagine being a teacher and having to deal with a parent who defends their child's right to set fires in the Boy's Room. You either laugh or you cry.

A beloved teacher in my son's school showed up one day with his leg in a cast. His story was that he fell down the stairs. But he confided in me that a student had deliberately tripped him. He protected the student who the teacher felt was not in control when he tripped him. Lots of silly humor about his clumsiness - he was the gym teacher - to get him through the crisis and help the student see the wrong that he had done without harming his status in the school. No one was laughing at the teacher, his clumsiness or his broken leg. Laughter helps to deal with a situation.

I am not preaching, ridiculing, or even advising. It is a shame to me that you don't share yourself with the rest of the community here. If you honestly do not see the humor in that video, fine. But please believe that it in no way is meant to ridicule or hurt anyone. It is ridiuculous and thereby funny.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Smokey.
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 09:31 PM

Sorry, I didn't realise anyone believed it was real..

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Smokey.
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 09:33 PM

Well put, Sinsull.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 09:47 PM

The comparison to the religious barmpots looks like sneering.

I honestly don't know what is being meant by the exhortation for me to share myself. I've shared quite a lot of myself here in this thread when I have used my own experiences as background for some of the arguments I've made, and all I got from the one who thinks I should share more of myself was criticism for having done it.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Smokey.
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:14 PM

The comparison to the religious barmpots looks like sneering.

It was vital to the plot.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:17 PM

Carol.
You have met me. I am a large woman.
Last week Kendall and Jacqui hosted a dinner party at their home with KT and her sister as well as Becca, Kendall's daughter.
Jacqui needed to share the leftovers. They were headed down to the Getaway and it was either share or throw them away.
Honest - this is going somewhere.
I got up and started rummaging through a closet looking for plastic storage bags. Jacqui is saying HEFTY! HEFTY! (the brand name). Becca says "That's not nice" as I turn to Jacqui and say "You bitch!" Maybe you had to be there but it was very funny. The joke was on me -I am HEFTY! But no one was ridiculing my weight. Everyone was laughing though. Sometimes the joke is on you and you have to accept it or miss out on the fun.
The Australian joke is really on the parents who fall into the various categories. Some really do and the teachers have to deal with them. Imagine the parent who insists that her son missed 32 days of classes because he has an ingrown toenail. That's the religious balmpot.Teachers have to deal with this stuff everyday. I had a neighbor whose son vandalized our property daily. We finally took videos of his antics to prove to his mother it was him. Her response? There is another boy in the neighborhood who looks just like my son and everyone confuses them. His picture in his clothes and she still protected him. Teachers go nuts with this kind of crap.

No one was trying to trap you into making a fool of yourself. Honest - no thought anyone would take it seriously.

We are a ridiculous lot. The whole world sneers at us - a bunch of over the hill folkies with their hand covering one ear while the other strums a banjo. We argue over the earliest instance of Barbara Allan and the true meaning of Ring Around The Rosie.

Enbrace your silly side. Laugh out loud at whatever you find funny. Or at least allow others to without tking offece,

SINS the Hefty

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:19 PM

Embrace
Taking

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Smokey.
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:31 PM

Just for the record, I tried embracing my silly side, and fell over. I hope you have public liability insurance.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:35 PM

I repeat. The comparison to the people referred to as religious barmpots looks like a sneer. Just because one has a funny story to tell about their experience with sandwich bags doesn't mean the teller of the story knows what's in the minds of the other people who post in this thread, in particular, the one who made the comparison to the religious barmpots.

Now, having said that, I will also note that the person who made that comparison has also said they are sorry, and that they didn't know that anyone in the thread didn't know the recorded message was a hoax.

Here's another little heartwarming story:

Once there was a thread in the Mudcat in which people were offering their opinions about things. One of the people in the thread decided that she knew what was best for everyone else and she started telling other people in the thread what to do. Some of them didn't like it and they tried to get her to stop. But she didn't want to stop, so she kept doing it. Then one day, she realized she really didn't know what was best for anyone other than herself, and she realized that while it was normal for her to offer her opinions about the subjects being discussed in the thread, it was not emotionally healthy to think that she knew what was best for everyone else, and it was very intrusive and counterproductive for her to go around telling other people what to do. So she stopped doing that and everyone in the thread lived happily ever after.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:43 PM

As long as everyone lives happily ever after...

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Smokey.
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:55 PM

Quite..

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: jeddy
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 12:06 AM

i find myself in a quandry about this, see what you think.

i am all for freedom of speech, thoughts, and faith. only if your actions that are based on those thoughts etc. do not hurt anyone.

now can the same be said for what we teach children?

example: the god hates fags group in the US, would be perfectly within their rights to think that, if they were not picketing dead soldiers funerals and harrasing the family of said fallen soldier.
however when i know they are teaching thier kids that it makes me very angry.

so what we deem acceptable for adults to think for themselves and what we think is ok to teach children, in my case at least, are two very different things.

i have been thinking about this all day and still have not come up with anything that makes sense.

at what age are kids allowed to make up their own minds about things?

you see why i am confused?

censorship goes against everything i believe in but then so does filling young and impressionable kids heads with things i find distasteful.

dogmatic religion.
homophobia.
racism.
sexism.

the list goes on.

take care all

jade x x x x

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 01:23 AM

The problem then comes with deciding what will be permissible and who will get to decide.

What if someone who thinks that gay people shouldn't be allowed to raise children were to be chosen to decide? This would not be outside the realm of possibility here in the US, depending on who got elected to the presidency and who controlled our Congress. They would say that if gay people are allowed to raise children, they will indoctrinate them into the gay lifestyle and the "gay agenda". There are many people who actually believe this in the US and they are very politically active.

The problem with limits on free speech is that the limits aren't always defined and enforced by the people with whom we personally agree.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 03:35 AM

Is it just me, or is this thread increasingly turning into all about "What Carol said" and "why Carol is WRONG" and "Why Carol needs to open up" and so-on?

Is this a thread about "Home Education in the UK", or is it about "Mudcat Educating CarolC"? I know Mudcat has a highly endearing Pastoral ethic. So for anyone really interesting in teaching poor benighted Carol "how to laugh again" (or whatever other 'support' she needs to generally grow and evolve into a happier more fulfilled and 'right about stuff', human being), maybe we could start a "Save Poor CarolC!" thread?

Sorry folk, couldn't resist... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 03:52 AM

PS I thought the phone message was thoroughly hysterical! Teachers I know go through that kind of stuff like that everyday, even to the point of dodging out of the staff room window to get away from highly aggressive parents who go to the school to "sort the school out".

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 05:01 AM

Yup, CS. Some schools in Manchester have had to adopt a "zero tolerance" approach as a result of violence and aggression towards teachers from parents. I suspect the home education equivalent would be zero tolerance to beating yourself up...

Coat. Got.

Subject: RE: BS: Home Education UK
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 06:45 AM

I've never been violent, or aggressive, to a wonderful teacher, only thanked God for them, silently.

I did however, learn to be assertive, at the age of 40, due to my daughter's headmaster.

He had told me she'd never set the world on fire...and he had left the children themselves to make their own way to Tavistock College, from their primary school in Horrabridge, via the normal bus service, which went through the village.

This was for the day when primary school pupils go to their next school for the day/week, so that they get to know it a little before they actually start in the new term..

I couldn't believe that he hadn't organised school coaches to take the children from their primary school over to Tavistock College.

Everyone was complaining about it, but as ever no-one did anything...

So, I went to see him.

I was a little nervous, because I was still 'conditioned' to quaking in my shoes when it came to teachers..they always 'being right an' all'...(Ha!)

I sat down and told him that he was wrong not to have organised this officially, as other schools seemed to do. He told me that many children had older brothers and sisters at school, and went in with them. I asked him what he did for the children who did NOT have siblings already there...and he stared at me.

I told him that this was a very important time in the lives of the children and it should all have been arranged correctly by the school to ensure as smooth a passage as possible.

At this point he started to interrupted me, and he kept doing so over and again, talking over me...

That was when I suddenly refused to back down...and I slammed my hand down on the arm of chair and told him to never interrupt me again, because he had no right to do that. I told him the buck stopped with him, and it was no good trying to weasel his way out of his responsibility, because every single one of those children were in his care, and it was during his school time as well. I wasn't interested in local authoritys, or excuses...because there were NO excuses.

He eventually backed down and organised a coach.....

Fast forward..........

My son, now 5 years old.......

I had refused to send him to school when he was just 4, because it was way too young. He is a summer baby and so would have been a very young 4...I asked if I could send him during the final term of that year, about half way through, just so that he could have a short time to get to know school, before he started in September, aged 5.

They agreed.

However, when I rang up to arrange this, I was told that because I'd not sent him at the start of the Reception Year, when he'd literally have just turned four, I would now have to wait until the Year 1 September term started.

I was fuming, because they renegaed on their word, but they were adamant. I presume I'd been a naughty parent and was therefore being made to pay the price.

Fast forward again.....

It's the first 'meet the teacher, see how your child's doing' day in Year One, a few months later...and I am sitting there listening to his teacher talk about him in glowing terms, saying how well he's settled in, how he gets on with everyone and what a happy child he is.....and I felt very proud of him. He was happy too, I knew that...

A week later I was walking down the road when someone called out to me...and I went over and spoke to her. She asked how my son was getting on as she'd heard he was having 'major problems'...?????

I stared at her, puzzled.

Then I told her that he was having no problems at all....

I then got to hear the story of how Mr. Idden, the headmaster, had been welcoming the new parents to the school, who had the next lot of 4 year olds...and he'd told them how important it was to send your child to school early. He then went on to tell them 'the story' of my son...telling them that because I'd held him back a year, he was now struggling terribly, both work wise and socially...

The air turned blue!

I went straight home, rang the school and spoke to him...and I told him that at the EXACT time I was hearing, from one of his teachers, how well my son was doing, what a pleasure he was...he was in another roon holding him up as an example of what could happen if you were a bad parent and wanted to keep your child away from school until they turned 5!

I was bloody angry!!!

He knew he'd made a FATAL mistake and fell over himself to apologise!!!

The ONLY reason he'd said what he did was because he wanted the money for yet more 4 year olds, that the Government was then paying, to drag more and more little kids in, WAY YOO EARLY!

What a complete bastard!

He grovelled....and grovelled, but I told him where to stick his apology and that's when we moved away!

Absolutely disgusting way for any headmaster to behave! It took the parents years to get rid of him, but they did, eventually.

He went to work for OFSTED!

HA!!