Topic ID 4343
Ok, kids get a lot of bad press these days, and some of it rightly so. However, on Wednesday I walked down from Bengeo to Hertford and just by the bridge over the river by the tennis courts saw some kids who appeared to be carrying out some tests in the river. I got talking to a guy who turned out to be their teacher from Richard Hale.The kids were 16-17 year olds who were doing stuff for their A levels.The rapport between teacher and kids was great! He knew all of them by their first names (unheard of when I was at school) and the kids obviously respected him ("Sir, should I do.............whatever")It would have made a great advert for attracting people to teaching!! I would be the first to admit that I am a cynical old ba****d but I walked away from that encounter feeling that things ain't that bad!!Do you know, some things just make your day..........that did!
Reply ID 62887
I've said it before on here and I'll say it again, I so wish my son was at Richard Hale instead of Simon Balle.
Reply ID 62889
quote:Why?
Originally posted by Millie
I've said it before on here and I'll say it again, I so wish my son was at Richard Hale instead of Simon Balle.
Reply ID 62890
That's curious Millie, in my experience that could just as easily have been a Simon Balle teacher and pupils.
Reply ID 62896
quote:One reason - snobbery!!
Originally posted by James007quote:Why?
Originally posted by Millie
I've said it before on here and I'll say it again, I so wish my son was at Richard Hale instead of Simon Balle.
Reply ID 62905
Why would that be snobbery?! Surely if they had said Haileybury or some such other private school - but Richard Hale?! Is it really that much better that Simon Balle? and if so, why?
Reply ID 62912
quote:Simon Balle is a great school. It taught me how to spell properly and conduct myself professionally towards others, open doors for the female, walk kerbside for a lady and simply learn about the way a woman's mind works. Rihcard Hale is a very good shcool, and I will not codnone aynone to thnik ohterwise. It is olny now tath I wihs I had been palced at Rihcard Hale. Edn of lesnos!
Originally posted by Millie
I've said it before on here and I'll say it again, I so wish my son was at Richard Hale instead of Simon Balle.
Reply ID 62913
not sure why wishing my son went to RH makes me a snob [?]..that comment is quite laughable. In my experience RH is much better at dealing with boys in matters such as motivation. My son's friends from primary school seemed far more conscientious and hard working from the very 1st year that they started at RH. Too much to tell on here but I have complained up at SB for every year that my son has been there regarding lack of homework, inaccurate school reports, inconsistent teaching, missing marking etc. It just seems to me that boys need to be handled (and pushed) differently to girls in order to get the best out of them and RH has the experience and know how. Before anyone suggests that maybe it's just my son, his friend also from primary school is a very bright boy with A grades throughout up until the GCSE year when suddenly he too is a predicted 'D' (his mother is a teacher) and his mother feels the exact same way that I do. I have been predicting for 2 years now that we'll start to see SB slide down the results table. I really think the school has sat back on past results and lost its way.
Reply ID 62919
quote:My partner's boys are doing exceptionally well at SB. From a personal development perspective, they also have the advantage of not being in an all male environment. Pupil teacher rapport seems excellent. My only critism is RE, but even that isn't specific to SB, but more of a national problem.
Originally posted by Millie
not sure why wishing my son went to RH makes me a snob [?]..that comment is quite laughable. In my experience RH is much better at dealing with boys in matters such as motivation. My son's friends from primary school seemed far more conscientious and hard working from the very 1st year that they started at RH. Too much to tell on here but I have complained up at SB for every year that my son has been there regarding lack of homework, inaccurate school reports, inconsistent teaching, missing marking etc. It just seems to me that boys need to be handled (and pushed) differently to girls in order to get the best out of them and RH has the experience and know how. Before anyone suggests that maybe it's just my son, his friend also from primary school is a very bright boy with A grades throughout up until the GCSE year when suddenly he too is a predicted 'D' (his mother is a teacher) and his mother feels the exact same way that I do. I have been predicting for 2 years now that we'll start to see SB slide down the results table. I really think the school has sat back on past results and lost its way.
Reply ID 62920
My son and daughter did well at SB. But no kid can sail through 7 years of secondary education without a hitch. If you have a problem, Millie, talk to the teachers, the head of year or the head teacher, all of whom I found to be very approachable and keen to put things right.
Reply ID 62922
It is so hard to generalize about schools. So much depends on the child. I have two daughters who both went to the same school. The first was very happy and was well respected by the school. The second always said she hated it and certainly did much less well. The interesting thing is that the school really wasn't able to help the second daughter. They did make efforts. But they just didnt "get" her. She didn't fit their mould well enough. They made stupid suggestions... If I hadn't experienced the school through my first daughter, I know I would have thought the school was really unhelpful. But I actually think it was just a mismatch.
Reply ID 62923
quote:I had the same experience with my own two boys, who both went to Sele. For one it was an impressive success, for the other, a total disaster. Same home, same parenting, same school, just two different children.
Originally posted by sarah_lewis
It is so hard to generalize about schools. So much depends on the child. I have two daughters who both went to the same school. The first was very happy and was well respected by the school. The second always said she hated it and certainly did much less well. The interesting thing is that the school really wasn't able to help the second daughter. They did make efforts. But they just didnt "get" her. She didn't fit their mould well enough. They made stupid suggestions... If I hadn't experienced the school through my first daughter, I know I would have thought the school was really unhelpful. But I actually think it was just a mismatch.
Reply ID 62924
I went to Richard Hale, a few years ago now so it has probably changed. My only criticism looking back would be that if you were a high achiever, in sport or academically then you were given a lot more attention than an average student.
Reply ID 62925
quote:I did at parents evenings Rachel (quite a few times) and wrote points on the reply slip of school reports and then finally I went into the school to meet the Head and Deputy Head. I will admit that during the meeting neither tried to make excuses (they were on very shakey ground) - they could see that the school had let my son (and us) down...to use the quote 'we admit that your son flew under the radar because he's a good lad who has never drawn attention to himself'...and some changes were made but in my opinion it was too little too late and the reason it had come to my attention so late was because of highly misleading school reports. I will make the exception of his English teacher (also the Deputy Head) who quite clearly made a real effort to help my son the next school year so much so that my son wants to buy him a present as a thank you. I understand that no 2 children will have the same experience. All I said was that I now wish my son had gone to RH because knowing my son's personality (very easy going/laid back and quiet) I feel that he would have been encouraged, motivated and understood better there. It is my personal experience/opinion based on what I have seen both in my son and his friends who went on to RH. I have said before on here that my husband has employed 2 young lads from RH in recent years and he says 'they are the best 2 graphic designers we have ever taken on. Both are confident, well rounded, hard working, pleasant and polite individuals. Very nice young men'. As Sarah mentions above, it was partly a mis-match in my opinion, but I will not excuse the school for a number of oversights and errors.
Originally posted by Rachel
My son and daughter did well at SB. But no kid can sail through 7 years of secondary education without a hitch. If you have a problem, Millie, talk to the teachers, the head of year or the head teacher, all of whom I found to be very approachable and keen to put things right.
Reply ID 62928
Millie you said: I have complained up at SB for every year that my son has been there regarding lack of homework, inaccurate school reports, inconsistent teaching, missing marking etc. Millie you also said: and some changes were made but in my opinion it was too little too late and the reason it had come to my attention so late was because of highly misleading school reports. Sorry I'm just a bit confused ?? you said that you complained because of inacurate school reports every year and then you said it had come to your attention so late and because of misleading school reports. Millie my 2 Daughters go to Simon Balle 1 year difference and I'm also in the process of investigating at Simon Balle why 1 of my 2 Daughters is doing quite well and the other is not. Both of them have the same maths teacher so I can't put it down to teaching methods so I may just have to accept that 1 has it and the other does not but accepting that fact will be difficult to grasp because my expectations were set very high for her and I was convinced she would do realy well. Both of my Daughters chose Simon Balle my wife and I left that decision entirely to them and they are both very happy there. My Daughter who is doing realy well seems to have a similar personality as of your Son but I can't explain why boys need more motivation and to be handled and pushed differently as you said in your post. The only thing I can think of that it may be a distraction of the opposite sex for some boys and some girls in a mixed school.
Reply ID 62929
quote:I complained year on year on his school reports regarding the repeated comments that he did his homework well and on time yet in the 5 years he had been there I witnessed him doing an odd hour maximum every once in a blue moon. It seemed to me that he had little or no homework for his entire time at SB (he is due to go into 6th form this September). The other issues were not every year but, for example, last year (the first of the 2 GCSE prep years) his English set had no permanent teacher - instead a steady stream of supply teachers. When I asked my son what they did in the lesson it was invariably very little (no teacher actually in class) or they were left to watch a video. Remember this was the year I was suddenly made aware that my son was a predicted D in English. The misleading school report comment was primarily in relation to the report we'd received prior to the one saying he was failing English. In this earlier report (only a few months before) his English teacher had given my son an A grade together with wonderful comments regarding his grasp of Shakespeare and essay writing. Naturally I assumed (as did my son) that my son was doing very well in the subject with no cause for any concern. When I read this out to the Head and then showed her my son's most recent Shakespeare essay she could do little but agree that it did not sound like the same child. Furthermore she also had to agree that had my son really slipped so far in English and so rapidly that I should have been made aware of it well before now. This lead me to wonder how accurate a lot of his previous school reports had been. I felt that falsely praising my son like that let us all down. The teacher responsible had since left. This really is the tip of the iceberg - there have been several other issues. My son was revising for his mock sports studies exam and when I looked at his work none of it had been marked and a lot was wrong. His mock maths GCSE grade was out by appx 2 grades because his teacher had failed to include one whole paper - I was assured that this would be corrected but my son tells me nobody ever told him his new predicted grade i.e it wasn't adjusted. I really could go on and on. Yes his school reports were often inaccurate and misleading or maybe embellished but a lot of this knowledge came with hindsight (we had similar issues with maths - high grades in all reports and then suddenly predicted a D). If you can imagine I lived with the homework issue etc because on paper and in his reports it seemed like my son was an A-B grade kid...leading us both to assume that he must just be naturally clever and sailing along nicely. To find out this was not the case practically overnight was a shock. I felt that both my son and I had been mislead. What I will say is my son has been happy there but I think that is more to do with the fact that he knows he got off lightly on the work load front when he talks to his friends at RH. My son is predicted to pass 11 GCSEs this year although I suspect they will be C grades. I feel that he was allowed to just get by whereas had he been pushed and motivated (in the way his English teacher has done this year) he would have achieved higher grades. I appreciate that I should have been pushing him too but when you are repeatedly told that your kid is doing great (notwithstanding no homework etc) you tend to relax and sit back which is what my son clearly did too. I want to reiterate that I wish my son went to RH based on my son's personality type and the experience we have had at SB...I appreciate that not everyone will have had the same experience and for some it is still considered a very good school. Maybe the story would have been exactly the same had my son gone to RH, I shall never know, but I have been left with the impression that the school does know how to push lads along. I recall looking at the results for both schools a few years ago and if you removed the girls figures from SB it was clear that boys were not doing so well at SB compared with RH and that it was the girls results that were keeping SB higher. I wish I'd followed my hunch then.
Originally posted by Dell Boy
Millie you said: I have complained up at SB for every year that my son has been there regarding lack of homework, inaccurate school reports, inconsistent teaching, missing marking etc. Millie you also said: and some changes were made but in my opinion it was too little too late and the reason it had come to my attention so late was because of highly misleading school reports. Sorry I'm just a bit confused ?? you said that you complained because of inacurate school reports every year and then you said it had come to your attention so late and because of misleading school reports. Millie my 2 Daughters go to Simon Balle 1 year difference and I'm also in the process of investigating at Simon Balle why 1 of my 2 Daughters is doing quite well and the other is not. Both of them have the same maths teacher so I can't put it down to teaching methods so I may just have to accept that 1 has it and the other does not but accepting that fact will be difficult to grasp because my expectations were set very high for her and I was convinced she would do realy well. Both of my Daughters chose Simon Balle my wife and I left that decision entirely to them and they are both very happy there. My Daughter who is doing realy well seems to have a similar personality as of your Son but I can't explain why boys need more motivation and to be handled and pushed differently as you said in your post. The only thing I can think of that it may be a distraction of the opposite sex for some boys and some girls in a mixed school.
Reply ID 62933
p.s I'm not going to check or reply in this thread any more as I don't see why I have to justify repeatedly what is simply my opinion. I can only base my comments/thoughts on my/my son's personal experiences. However, if anyone wishes to continue the discussion in private feel free to email me...I just don't want to air my grievances in public as most of this has been taken up with SB directly.
Reply ID 62934
It's a very complex graded structure in mock exams getting a C in a higher exam paper is better than getting a B level in the lower paper so maybe that is where the confusion began do you know what paper your son was entered at in each subject? I can clearly see your concerns and I hope your son does well in his exams. Mock exams are taken in year 9 after the pupil decides on what subject's they wish to take in year 10 and before they decide the teacher can only predict a grade for the pupil this is my concern. However my youngest Daugther loves the subject French language but she is dissapointed with her predicted grade so she has decided not to take the subject. My eldest Daughter decided to take subjects where a lot of the overall G.C.S.E. markings are on coursework because she can't simply handle exam pressure. In my opinion the exam systems is over complicated and needs to be modified. Edit: just seen your above post sorry.[:I] Ps. I hope you choose the right school for your Daughter the wife and I did consider Presdales but like I said we let our children choose the school they felt more comfortable with, taking all in consideration and not being persuaded by "but my friend x is going to that school so I want to go there".
Reply ID 62951
quote:Ha ha ha - I remember you from school - my how you have changed [:D] If you really know how a woman's mind works, you might want to share this with the world - you could get rich of that one [:p]
Originally posted by James007quote:Simon Balle is a great school. It taught me how to spell properly and conduct myself professionally towards others, open doors for the female, walk kerbside for a lady and simply learn about the way a woman's mind works. Rihcard Hale is a very good shcool, and I will not codnone aynone to thnik ohterwise. It is olny now tath I wihs I had been palced at Rihcard Hale. Edn of lesnos!
Originally posted by Millie
I've said it before on here and I'll say it again, I so wish my son was at Richard Hale instead of Simon Balle.
Reply ID 62966
quote:[?]
Originally posted by Kitty Katquote:Ha ha ha - I remember you from school - my how you have changed [:D] If you really know how a woman's mind works, you might want to share this with the world - you could get rich of that one [:p]
Originally posted by James007quote:Simon Balle is a great school. It taught me how to spell properly and conduct myself professionally towards others, open doors for the female, walk kerbside for a lady and simply learn about the way a woman's mind works. Rihcard Hale is a very good shcool, and I will not codnone aynone to thnik ohterwise. It is olny now tath I wihs I had been palced at Rihcard Hale. Edn of lesnos!
Originally posted by Millie
I've said it before on here and I'll say it again, I so wish my son was at Richard Hale instead of Simon Balle.