Snow and school closures.

Whats your problem OldMeg ?

I was simply pointing out the sheer madness of children unable to get to open schools because they live too damned far away and can't get into local schools and children able to get to schools that are closed to children on their doorstep because the majority are bussed in.

How does that make any sense at all?

The point being that if children were able to attend the schools on their doorstep half the problem would be solved. Maybe that's too complicated for some people though eh?

Oh and if you can't bear my "moaning on and on", I would suggest you don't read my posts in future. Problem solved.

So what Gillybob ? My grandchildren could have got to school too but you don’t hear me moaning on, and on, and on, ad nauseam about it.

Exactly, gillybob, madness.
If harrigran didn't want to defend her grandchildren's education she shouldn't put it on the thread.

Yes, I teach my grandson at home now because he has autism, and cannot cope in a school of 1500 pupils. He did go to the nearest secondary school, within walking distance, for a year, but had tears in his eyes every day.
It costs us. We get no financial help to buy equipment and materials.

Saying Melissa Benn has no right to talk about community schooling as Holland Park is different to community schools in the North East is like saying I have no right as I went to a private school and I homeschool my grandson - both equally ridiculous.

Isn’t your grandson educated by you at home dj?
Isn’t that choice?
No one should have to defend their reasons for whatever type of education they choose, or for whatever reasons they choose it.

It's madness.

My eldest DGD could get to school (its only a few minutes walk) but it was closed as the majority of of pupils are bussed in from miles away.

My younger DGC's school was open but they couldn't physically get there as its miles away

When people complain about schools closing because of the snow, it's because of this ability to choose schools out of your local area and not being able to get children or teachers to school.
We definitely went to the local primary when we were at school, and quite often a local secondary. My brother and sisters could all bike to school, or walk in the snow.

The problem is though, there are oversubscribed schools with 35+ children per class and under subscribed schools where the class sizes are much smaller, usually because they are not in a good area or don't feed into a golden secondary.

I live in County Durham by the way, with grandkids going through school here, and my two eldest granddaughters were taught in schools in Heaton.

Make the classes smaller for state educated children?
What?
Tell that to the teachers of my grandchildren who are in classes of up to 40.
That's the weirdest jusification for sending your children to private school that I've yet heard.
In fact the most common reason for sending children to private schools is so that your children are in smaller classes, nothing to do with altruism.

Of course some children are cleverer than others, just as some adults are.

there are no above average children, just children with pushy middle class parents

I disagree with this comment made by a headteacher M0nica my second DGD (10) who's primary is slap bang in the middle of a large council estate, has been described by her head as extremely gifted. Her teacher said "X is not just on the top table..... she IS the top table". She is the kind of delightful child that seems to be good at everything from Maths, English and Science to Art, drama and sports too.

She most definitely doesn't have pushy parents, just average working class and none of us know where she has gotten her brains and talents from !

None of my family or friends are taking gillybob's GC's school places. My GC was taken out of a Durham county council school because they were not fulfilling their commitment to educating the child. In her final year at the primary school GD had five different teachers.
You are missing the point, as usual, dj. Those of us who pay for private education actually make the classes smaller for state educated children and also don't forget we pay twice.
Insult me all you like but the fact remains that people will do whatever it takes to give their children the education they deserve.
Do not quote Melissa Benn to me either, Holland Park school is not quite the same as our schools in Tyne and Wear or County Durham.

The only answer (imho) is that school places are awarded on the basis of those living closest get first offer of places, gradually moving outwards. This would solve the situation my DGC have travelling miles to/from school everyday. The primaries in their area are certainly no better than the one they attend but they are the GOLDEN TICKET into the very sought after secondary school which is why parents travel miles to get them there.

Lots of schools in my area ( London) stayed open last week as the snow wasn’t too bad. Lots of them are closed today as there’s no water!

dj You were very very lucky. My children went to a good local primary, but despite living in a wealthy area the local comprehensive was poor.

We were advised on all sides; teachers at DC's primary school, health professionals we were referred to and a child psychologusts, not to send DS, in particular, to the local secondary school, but, if we could, send him to a private school. So we down-sized and did.

One of the happiest things that has happened to me in the last week is hearing that DGD has got into her first choice secondary school and the knowledge that the state education she will get is comparable with the education I got in a state grammar school in the 1950s.

Children born in the 1970s and 80s were a lost generation, especially the exceptionally able and gifted. As one head teacher told a friend 'there are no above average children, just children with pushy middle class parents. In addition from 1979 schools were starved of funds and resources

I had family and friends teaching in the state system then. One left teaching in despair to return when the education system started to improve. Others hung on, only because retirement was in sight.

Harrigran lives in Tyne and Wear. Gillybob lives in Tyne and Wear - or Tyneside.
People Harrigran knows could be taking the places of Gillybob's grandchildren, making them travel a long way.

I don't think my children's or grandchildren's education has been sacrificed on the altar of ideology.
My sons both have degrees, my eldest granddaughter has a degree, all in subjects they wanted to study.
They went to the nearest school all the time they were being educated.

Harrigran so you should sacrifice your DGD's future on the altar of political ideology.
No-one should have the right to choose what they think is best for their child, all should be equal.

Who was it introduced league tables for schools? That in itself has resulted in parents fighting to get their children into schools out of their own 'catchment area'.
John Major, as far as I remember, and taken up with enthusiasm with Education, Education, Education Blair.

And that's exactly what gillybob is complaining about, that her grandchildren could not get into their local primary because of the Chelsea tractor brigade.

Bully for you and your family, harrigran. The others don't matter, of course.
You pay for smaller classes and your grandchildren to be taught with children whose parents have enough money to pay for their education.
Your local comprehensive is not a comprehensive as some pupils from the catchment have been sent somewhere else.

Depends where you live as to how good the local comprehensive is. Not an option for my GC.
GD will be back at the best girls independent school in the area this morning now that they can leave the village.
School round the corner to me is open again and the street is full of Chelsea tractors, downside to being the best primary school in town.

Macmillan was PM, Tory government, and 11+ with grammar schools. That was social engineering.

Try reading Melissa Benn's book on the education system.
I know all about social engineering. I went to a private school myself, despite being the daughter of a bus driver, because I was clever.
It doesn't stop the labour party believing in local schools for local people. My kids went to community schools and had a much better school life than I did.

Maybe you should vote for a labour government which wants all schools to be good for our children,

Nearly choked on my coffee! The majority of school's problems come from Labour trying social engineering, people are not equal, some are cleverer than others and deserve the chance to achieve something rather than being in a melting pot of mediocrity.

Back to the original topic, a friend's school stayed open during a previous snow event but conditions deteriorated rapidly and parents were contacted to collect their children pdq. Many didn't bother and staff were then stranded at the school, that's one of the many reasons for closing in anticipation.

Not everywhere is like that though, some village schools have quite a large catchment area and some secondary schools in towns have a catchment area which extends way out into the countryside.