The Virtual Pub
Come Inside... => Saloon Bar => Topic started by: Snoopy on January 06, 2012, 05:27:25 PM
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Minimus has a new head teacher, the old one retired at Christmas. The new one just happens to be the wife of an idiot Head of Sixth Form at the THW's old school ~ he and I have a long record of argument. Looks like his wife and I are about to embark on a similar exchange of correspondence.
Tonight (end of first week of her first term in charge) she has sent home a news letter detailing all the things she intends to change. One in particular is that she plans to revoke the rule that says "When the Red Flag is Flying on the School Field Children must remain on the Tarmac Playground" ~ a perfectly reasonable way to keep the children clean when the field is muddy and having the double advantage of keeping the grass in reasonable condition for when better weather prevails. This rule was instigated some years ago and has worked perfectly.
She has also announced that some building work will be carried out over the next few months.
I have therefore written to her:
Many thanks for the two newsletters sent home this evening.
I note that you intend to rescind the existing rules and allow the children to “play on the school field at break times”. To facilitate this we are requested to supply an “old pair of trainers”, presumably to wear in the mud patch (which is what your field will soon become). I do, of course, see the point of not wanting all those muddy feet in the school but a couple of observations regarding this:
Children seldom have old trainers. Either they have new ones or they have trainers that they have outgrown. This means that we are now being asked to provide not only black shoes to wear when in uniform and a pair of trainers for PE and Games but two pairs of trainers. Since their feet tend to grow a size a term that equates to three pairs of shoes/trainers to be purchased each term. In these straightened times you have, at a stroke, asked us to add 1/3 to the termly cost of footwear for school.
I note that you have made no provision for the fact that they will now be leaving school each evening in nice clean black shoes beneath mud streaked trousers. Now that will really improve the image of the school. Your expectation (implied) that every evening parents will be happy to either have a pair of black trousers to wash, dry and iron, shortening their life to probably less than a term per pair, or choose to send the child back to school the following day in a muddy uniform frankly beggars belief. Don’t tell me that the mud will brush off once dry as experience has shown that whilst the mud will indeed dry overnight it and the accompanying grass stains will not be removable unless soap and water are applied.
Frankly I cannot see the logic in changing the perfectly operable “Red Flag means don’t play on the grass” system which has worked so well hitherto ~ unless it is to facilitate the use of the tarmac area of playground for the anticipated storage of builder’s equipment etc.
As you are an experienced teacher of many years standing and the parent of two boys I would have thought you could see the obvious problems you will be causing parents by this decision and I ask that you reconsider the matter, bearing in mind the foregoing observations. I do not want to be collecting a mud bespattered child each evening, nor do I want the continued aggravation of lost/stolen or strayed trainers. I am aware that such a system is in use at another school locally and the amount of lesson time wasted in changing in and out of shoes each break time could, in my opinion, be put to better educational use. This household has that particular tee-shirt and it is just one of the many reasons my son was enrolled in XXXXXXX Junior School….. It had a good reputation for using common sense in such matters.
Obviously I do not wish my son to be singled out for special consideration/treatment and if you decide to go ahead with this plan he will be provided with an additional pair of trainers in order that he may play with his classmates but frankly I felt obliged to comment and I know from the conversations overheard as parents collected their offspring and read the letters thrust into their hands at the gate this evening that I am not the only one who feels that this is not a good idea.
I foresee a long battle through to next July when he will be leaving the school and thought it best to get my opening shots in early eveilgrin:
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happ096
Is she a Welsher?
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Yup! :thumbsup:
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Escalate to Governors? whistle:
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CC'd to Chair of Governors :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Part of the Taffia noooo:
Prepare for closed ranks or foment a parental revolt.
PS It is "straitened" angel1
And possibly "builders'" angel1
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Escalate to Governors? whistle:
Get yourself on the board of governors! Works brilliantly! (voice of experience)
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Part of the Taffia noooo:
Prepare for closed ranks or foment a parental revolt.
PS It is "straitened" angel1
And possibly "builders'" angel1
Thanks ~ funny as I wondered about straightened and even Googled it and that confirmed my spelling but I bow to your superior knowledge.
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Part of the Taffia noooo:
Prepare for closed ranks or foment a parental revolt.
PS It is "straitened" angel1
And possibly "builders'" angel1
Thanks ~ funny as I wondered about straightened and even Googled it and that confirmed my spelling but I bow to your superior knowledge.
Corrections made :thumbsup:
I knew it was a good plan to post the letter here before sending it to the school.
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angel1
Did woodstock like her horoscope? whistle:
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Nobody likes a smartass, Snoopy Jr can look forward to some extra homework and occasional detention methinks. Thanks dad!! noooo:
If you say why? bear in mind, said headmistress is a civil servant, a law unto themselves!!
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She is not a civil servant. But she is a Welsher
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same meat, different gravy :thumbsup:
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Children should roll in mud, climb trees, have fights and all that stuff! It's good for them - it's just a bit of extra washing Snoops!
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I agree, but at weekends!! I know of these things evil:
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Part of the Taffia noooo:
Prepare for closed ranks or foment a parental revolt.
PS It is "straitened" angel1
And possibly "builders'" angel1
Thanks ~ funny as I wondered about straightened and even Googled it and that confirmed my spelling but I bow to your superior knowledge.
Corrections made :thumbsup:
I doubt that a present day schoolteacher would notice. noooo:
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I fear you are right noooo:
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The trouble with kids nowadays is that their parents are afraid to let them do anything. They cannot go too far away from home, the parents must know where they are all the time, must not get dirty in case they catch something ( or it costs 50p to wash their clothes whistle:)
When we were kids, we only used to come home for our dinners during the day. We used to climb trees, play football,even in the mud, ride our bikes for miles and we all survived to adulthood.
Parents of today just need to get a grip and let their kids grow up normally !! noooo:
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The trouble with kids nowadays is that their parents are afraid to let them do anything. They cannot go too far away from home, the parents must know where they are all the time, must not get dirty in case they catch something ( or it costs 50p to wash their clothes whistle:)
When we were kids, we only used to come home for our dinners during the day. We used to climb trees, play football,even in the mud, ride our bikes for miles and we all survived to adulthood.
Parents of today just need to get a grip and let their kids grow up normally !! noooo:
Wot 'e said! Didn't do me any harm - and look where I am today! scared2:
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Here ? rubschin:
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Not much gets past you, eh Miss D? ;)
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My letter is redundant ~ a Petition has been started and is circulating.
I am told that so far no-one has declined to sign it.
Saved myself the cost of a stamp there :thumbsup:
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Phew , we wouldn't want stamping !
That grounds the dirt in further ;)
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My letter is redundant ~ a Petition has been started and is circulating.
I am told that so far no-one has declined to sign it.
Saved myself the cost of a stamp there :thumbsup:
And the cost of the sellotape for the envelope............... whistle:
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My letter is redundant ~ a Petition has been started and is circulating.
I am told that so far no-one has declined to sign it.
Saved myself the cost of a stamp there :thumbsup:
noooo: Banghead
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Much more to the point is that Primary School is supposed to be a preparation for Senior School. All but a very few of the children at this particular primary will go on to the local High School where the roolz are clear. "Do not go onto the sports fields unless dressed in full "regulation" sports kit." Why then start them off by having different roolz? They will have enough to cope with in their transition from one level to the next without picking up a detention on day one for running onto the grass.
I note what others have said and I agree that a bit of dirt does them no harm but they also need to learn what is expected of them when they move to High School where no prisoners are taken and the staff delight in flinging out detentions for any infraction of the roolz right from the minute they walk through the door on their first day. We are talking here of a High School with a 30 strong "Behaviour Unit" (All adult, qualified classroom assistants) whose task is to stalk the premises and grounds seeking out anyone not following every single rule. The kidz refer to them as the SS.
And people wonder why we are moving out of the area!
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I assume the "behaviour unit" is there to teach them to walk on their hind legs without knuckles scraping along the floor.
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I assume the "behaviour unit" is there to teach them to walk on their hind legs without knuckles scraping along the floor.
lol: lol: lol:
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I assume the "behaviour unit" is there to teach them to walk on their hind legs without knuckles scraping along the floor.
No ~ The Behaviour Unit is there because the school takes kids thrown out of other schools in the county.
They are the ones called to escort disruptive children from classrooms to the "Behaviour Unit" which is a secure area where they are held until parents arrive to take them home. The same school has regular visits from the police with sniffer dogs who are taken round each classroom. Last term they got one teacher who had an asthma inhaler in his pocket. lol:
Kidz who carry medications such as Asthma Inhalers or in the case of Minimus who also carries an "Epipen" as he is anaphylactic have to also carry a letter from their GP to produce when the dogs "fix" on them.
Minor was "caught" by the SS on his first day because he got lost looking for a classroom and entered a "forbidden zone". That it was his first day and he hadn't been issued with a school map, which every child is supposed to be given, was deemed to be his fault = DETENTION. He was very angry about it and said it was unfair and got a second detention for standing up for himself.... although they called it "Answering Back".
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Sounds not dis-similar to the military. No harm can come from it. Teach the little blighters a bit of self discipline and a certain respect for the 'roolz' aka 'The Law'.
Good thing if you want my opinion. rubschin:
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Sounds nit dis-similar to the military. No harm can come from it. Teach the little blighters a bit of self discipline and a certain respect for the 'roolz' aka 'The Law'.
Good thing if you want my opinion. rubschin:
Would that it were so, would that it were.
A Bit Of Fry and Laurie:- The Robert Robinson's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlgqmyB6mW8#)
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Shrugs: