Typecast

You seem to enjoy these " what I have learnt " updates so here are this weeks - again, in no particular order... The next generation still love traditional and classic poems like Albert And The Lion , which I joyously recited (off by heart... oh yes, I did) to my two granddaughters after hearing that one of them was visiting Blackpool Zoo next week. She's not allowed to take a stick with a horse's head handle ... y'know, just in case... My youngest child official left school last week *sob* .  However, this week we received a letter from the school which led us to believe that he'd missed one of his exams due to their incompetence. I had to ring the deputy head and, after our initial conversation, in my mind he was running around the school like the headmaster on Ferris Bueller to get the situation sorted out. The old guy that lives next door doesn't realise how loud his TV is when he's watching (what we think is) porn.  He also watches ...

This is the last time I'll ever be posting a "first day of the new school term" picture so humour me, please. Every September since 1995 I have waved my child(ren) off to start a new school term and today was the last time.  My youngest set off on his Year 11 journey today.  He actually has another compulsory year of EET ( employment, education or training ) but this will have to be away from his high school as they don't have a sixth form/Year 12-13.  He's got plans anyway... plans that involve something non-academic and fun and that will incorporate all his vocational GCSE's - music, drama and catering. It doesn't seem that long ago since I was starting the top class of high school and yet it was a full generation away. I was full of dreams and expectations and had ideas about the career path I was going to take.  Nothing much changes, does it? I've linked this to Tara's Gallery this week as she has a "Back To School" th...

Cheer up, Jake! You're going back to school. HOORAY! Yeah, I know everyone did their " Back To School " posts last week but Jake's school (part of the Building Schools for the Future programme) was being rebuilt over the summer break and wasn't quite finished.  Therefore their start date was put back a week.   The other reason this is a massive moment in this house is because it's actually 15 weeks since Jake set foot in his school (with the exception of one day).  He had three weeks off because of a recurring virus and then had the one day back in school.  Later that evening he broke his foot which meant that he couldn't go back into school until the cast was off.  This was a total of four weeks and the cast came off the day the schools broke up for summer.  The summer break was just short of seven weeks long and then the delayed start. The uniform has changed this year - they are no longer in polo shirts and jumpers but in full su...

This post was submitted to me within the ethos of  Blognonymous . The author is a friend who asked me if I would post this as a guest post but I think it's more appropriate as a Blognonymous post. I would be great if you could offer feedback or advice from both sides of the fence very much in a WWYD (what would you do) sense.  If you  prefer to remain anonymous yourself then there is  a "guest comment" facility - sign out of Disqus (if you have used it before), write your comment, click "Post as..." and you will see "guest" appear as an option. If you would like to contact the Blognonymous team please click on the image to above for more details. ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨ Today my 14-year old son (J) came home from school with a story.  First a little background.  He has a girlfriend (A), a sweet girl he's been friends with for quite a while but they've only been a couple for four months.  She's not his first girlfrien...

I've never been a fan of school reunions, mainly because I break out into cold sweats at the memories of the bullying I received during my high school years.  But my primary school years were great.  I was lucky to be surrounded by teachers that were inspirational and that I remember to this day ( especially "Sir" ).  People change, people move on and whilst the memories remain intact life takes us down very different paths. One of my best friends at primary school was Steph.  We enjoyed lots of birthday parties together and attended Brownies.  We came as a gang of four or five (including Tara, Claire and Frances) and I can't remember a single time that we fell out although I'm sure there were some. Steph ended up going to a different high school and we lost contact with each other.  Many years later, through the wonders of the internet we managed to hook up again via Yahoo but, for one reason or another, we lost touch again.  Then, finally,...

I am setting up for a launch meeting at work (it's OK, I don't work for NASA but we're very excited about some Big Lottery funding we have recently been awarded) and my phone rings. "Hello, it's Jake's school.  He's had a bit of an accident..." I squeak, "Oh god, no!  What's happened?" Everyone turns to look at me, their panic-stricken faces mirroring mine.  Every single scenario runs through my head in about two seconds flat.

I was browsing through the BBC website during my lunch break and saw the " Could you pass the 11-plus? " challenge so I thought I would have a go.  15 questions with a 10-minute timer.  Easy, right?  I almost applied for " Are You Smarter Than A 10-Year Old? " because I was a damn sight smarter than my own 10-year old at the time * out-of-context-smugness * So click on the link above ( opens in a new window ), take the test and then come back here to tell me how well you did or didn't do. I had a " I am SO going to run out of time here " for Questions 7 and 8 and a complete * head-desk * moment for Question 10 (which I got wrong) but here are my results. swot... oh yes I am The answers and explanations are available on this page when you have finished.   NO PEEKING !

When you live in Blackburn and you are the parent to tweens and teens, it is hard not to take notice of the rumour mill cranking its way round the local schools.  Moreso when you have the utmost responsibility of selecting a high school for them.  Luckily (if you see it that way), we don't live in a "lottery area" so the choice of schools is pretty much on an even keel, with the faith schools slightly out-performing the traditional comprehensives.  We do, however, live in an area that is performing below the national average . I come from the era of "old school" when teachers were respected, you stood up at your desk on the rare occasion that the headmaster entered the classroom, blackboard dusters were thrown with regularity in the direction of unnecessary behaviour and if you got a detention you missed your bus home and had to yomp into town to catch another.  There were only ever one or two students that were recognised as being 'difficult' or ...

I often sit and wonder what memories I am providing my children with.  Are we, as parents, conscious of providing good (or bad) memories?

Back in the olden days when the world was black and white I was taught by the most amazing man - "Sir" was someone whose teaching was inspirational, ahead of his time and who wasn't afraid to try new teaching methods.  I have mentioned him before . When I wrote yesterday's post I was reminded about my high school English teacher.  A man who stayed sat behind his desk for the majority of the time, slumped.  A man who appeared to be ambivalent about teaching in general and about the majority of the students who passed through his classroom door.  A man who completely and utterly disliked me - or so I felt at the time.  I don't remember a single compliment passing his lips or a mark that merited mentioning.  I failed English Language and English Literature spectacularly because he marked my work so low that it was unsuitable to be sent to the examination board.

I was listening to BBC Breakfast News this morning and heard snippets of an article discussing the new Government White Paper and the proposed return to exam-based study.  The White Paper suggests that secondary schools will be considered to be failing if less than 35% of their students attain less than 5 Grade C's at GCSE level. Whoever originally decided that it was a good idea to make 15- and 16-year old kids, raging with hormones, study for two years then judge them for the rest of their lives on a series of 2-hour windows was mad.  Modular learning gives better results all round.  Yes, we should still have exams but they they should be relevant to progression.

When I took Jake out of school back in July for our family holiday , he missed his last week ever of primary school - and his presentation day.  A couple of weeks ago, I received a phone call from his old headmaster inviting him into a Friday assembly to receive his awards.  He had already cleared it with the Year 7 (high school) Head of Year and thought it would be a great opportunity for Jake.  I agreed.

I really would appreciate any hairdressers advice or teachers input on this one please. Jake started high school last week  and was very self-concious about a patch of alopecia at the back of his head - the result of a careless somersault-related prank over the summer holidays.  It is definitely caused by a bang to his head and the hair has already started growing back, albeit very fine strands.  He definitely didn't want to go to a new school environment drawing attention to himself.  I had scoured the school website and all the paperwork sent to us prior to the start of the new academic year and found no school rule that prevented the haircut we had planned to cover up the bald patch.  Because I had heard that the school had previously banned "V-cuts" ( see below for a visual explanation ), I sent a letter in with him on his first day, explaining the situation, promising to have his hair restyled once the alopecia deceased and included my phone numbers so t...

Today marks the start of a new academic year.  This year my middle child begins a Motor Vehicle course at the local college after getting brilliant GCSE results and my youngest child starts high school.  It also marks the start of the early morning calls of the Worker Bird , a.k.a. "harassed working mother":

I threw out your pictures made of pasta and glitter because they cluttered up the house.

Steady!  Not that!  I'm on about the yoof of today, of course.  I am now officially "old" because I have clicked PUBLISH on a blog post that contains comparisons of my life and the next generation.  Oh dear.

Today's post is from Garry who I know through the "Parent Blogging" network that has sprung up over the past few months.   Garry blogs at " Blog Up North " and invades Twitter as  @HimUpNorth .   Over to Garry...

Tell Us Your Story   is giving people the opportunity to recognise and reward others who have made a positive impact on their lives or in their community over the past year. Entries are submitted online at  http://www. avivatellusyourstory.co.uk/ Launched by Aviva, for every entry they will donate £1 to the Street to School Programme - a global initiative with the aim of reaching 500,000 children worldwide, helping them get off the streets and back into education.

Today, I had an invitation to a very special fashion show and I was seated on the second row.  I was aware that the designers were new on the scene and that the audience members would be very exclusive for this premier presentation...

Child #3 has ADHD .  Everyone knows that.  The school know, they are supportive in our control methods and they are lenient to a degree (firm but fair) with regards his behaviour.  I'm happy with that and I have a fairly good rapport with his teacher. He is 10 years old and in Year 6 and every single week we have the same battle over homework.  He arrives home on a Monday evening with approximately 12 pages of worksheets to be completed by Friday morning.  There is both literacy and maths worksheets.  Jake has a bit of an delay with reading - he's never really grasped it but is improving - so everything has to be read to him, with him and explained in detail.  He does about an hour's homework a night (which I think is MORE than enough, to be honest - he's 10, for god's sake, not studying for A-Levels) but still doesn't complete all the worksheets.  He's been getting a little bit stressed recently saying that his teacher gets angry with the peop...