Giving the parents what they want?
I know I should be more into secondary school than I am and maybe it's going to grow on me. I went to a parents' evening this week. I was a bit reluctant as all the previous ones have seemed to involve a long lecture about Ofsted reports which I find terminally dull. Given that I very rarely get to go out of an evening these days and that I am very tired, when I do I would at least like to go to something that keeps me awake. I know parents are supposed to be obsessed by Ofsted reports, but I'd rather hear about what the kids are doing in class and how they are being enthused about their subjects rather than the minutiae of how Ofsted decides the difference between a satisfactory and an outstanding school. Such lectures seem a bit too much like an exercise in marketing, which is sadly what I think they are with parents being viewed as the "customers".
Anyhow, I thought I'd better go to the settling in parents evening, even though it didn't sound much fun. The notice said that it would involve a discussion of the curriculum and assessment, not two words that make my heart sing.
The assessment discussion was all about how much they are monitoring and evaluating my child. Apparently, I will be sent an interim report on her after half term which will include a lot of "data" from various tests they have carried out on her. She has already been put in a set for maths on the basis of a cognitive assessment test. By the end of the year she will be set for other subjects. In the meantime, the interim report will suggest what the school's expectations are for her by year 9 based on a comparison of other data sets. Fab. It passed through my mind at this point that this sounded a bit like they were already writing off the kids who hadn't done well in the initial cognitive tests. What if some children buck the data set information? What if expectations actually impact on results?
There then followed a session on internet safety, which was a good idea and made me feel slightly guilty even though I have had long talks about this with all three daughters and particularly daughter one. They mentioned having the computer in a central position in the house and walking past it every so often to check what sites she was on. Now, this is a very good idea, but not entirely practical if you have more than one child or indeed four and are working. It would be great if I could devote myself 24/7 to monitoring and assessing etc daughter one, but at the moment I am splitting my non-work time very much between chasing a toddler who keeps putting the remote control in different drawers or running off with the Bonjela [and who accidentally dialled 999 after reaching up for the phone the other day. Must get an extension lead...], dealing with over-exuberant kittens and tending to a tantruming eight year old and a very sweet six year old who wants to check if I am in class and want packed lunch or school dinners.
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Ha Ha Welcome to the wonderful world of secondary school! Cosy primary days are gone forever. Don't worry, you'll soon limit yourself to only going to the parents evening and buying the annual raffle tickets. The emphasis is definitely on monitoring- it's as if your child is a biology experiment and they don't realise that to monitor fully you really have to kill the specimen. I had 2 daughters at grammar and one at Catholic comprehensive and I cannot begin to described how radically different their approaches were. If you want a school that is interested in the child's personality, go Catholic is my advice!
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