On Thursday Kerry, Amy, and I went to the open day at the primary school where Amy will be starting next year. There are a number of things that attract us to sending her to the school, namely it is within walking distance of our house, has an average class size of just 15 children (in fact there are only 38 kids in the entire school), and has a reputation for a nurturing and close knit atmosphere.
However the open day very nearly changed our minds about sending her there. Here are a couple direct quotes from our conversation with the (acting) head teacher:
[on the plans to begin sharing the teaching pool with another similarly sized local school]
“Up until now all the teachers have been wearing a number of different hats. For example I’ve been literacy co-ordinator, IT leader, and in charge of physical education. And quite frankly I’ve had so much to do that I haven’t been doing any of those jobs particularly well”
[on the plans to employ a head teacher to jointly manage both this school and the previously mentioned similarly sized local school]
“..and by having a head responsible for both schools hopefully we’ll be able to recruit a headmaster of much higher caliber than we could previously”
Now to be fair I know what she was trying to say, and if I’m honest the pooling of the two schools resources sounds like a good and practical idea. If nothing else it should help protect against any future school closures. But surely she could have chosen her words more carefully than that. Let’s just be thankful that they don’t teach marketing at primary school.
on Nov 4th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Do you actually have to send her to school? ( I was once an education welfare lady and it takes ages for them to catch up with you for truancy you know *grin*) I mean couldn’t you just leave her to go feral for a bit? I’d bet she’d learn loads more foraging for food along the canalside…..and is much less likely to pick up swear words and other unpleasant habits that my Mum said I picked up from school.
on Nov 4th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Well, at least you know they aren’t going to lie to you! Though if they do, heaven only knows what it would be about it (alligators in the school plumbing?) She sounds seriously overworked, though.
Good heads really need to be good politicians and I think that part of their skillset is seriously underrated.
on Nov 4th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Don’t rattle the kettle!!
I used to work in childcare and I said stupid stuff all the time. It happens. Still does really.
on Nov 4th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
“Also, PE consists of running from the rabid squirrels we just can’t seem to get rid of, no matter how much poison we spread over every surface”
on Nov 5th, 2007 at 1:45 am
I showed this to my Mum who works at a school and she debated whether or not your (acting) head was the same muppet who works at her school. After much deliberation (and a cup of tea) it was decided that they just went to the same personality based parental liasing workshop.