Friday, 27 November 2009

A tale of two secondary schools


No pictures this time, apart from the one I promised to show. I'm just letting off a bit of steam, or I'll explode. Pop. ;-)

My secondary school could have been described as bog standard, really. In my first year there, a couple of the kids who had recently left, burned half of it down one night, and for a long time we were in 'temporary huts'. (Funnily enough my first school burnt down as well, and you can imagine the jokes about who was responsible!) The head was fantastic in my first year, but his replacement can best be described as earnest but only knew how to lead the school by shouting. A lot.

I was pretty dim. (Still am, really in terms of how I see myself.) My friends were A grade, I was C. I never felt good enough, and that has left me with huge self esteem issues my whole life. No matter, I have a good life and I'm very thankful for it, but like most people, my school years affected my attitude to life and I can't say it was necessarily good. It's something I've blocked all these years, but is coming out very strongly now. Why? Well, I had children, and it's true you relive your past when you see your children's struggles.

So, on to the next generation. I have two daughters, both at secondary school. But at different
secondary schools. Both are good schools, but they are different. On paper, one is one of the top schools in the country. One isn’t. In terms of what they provide and my daughters’ differing abilities, they are both, in many ways perfect. And I was one hundred per cent in favour of each
child going to that particular school. But some way in, here are my observations.

Let’s call daughter at the high-achieving school daughter A
And daughter at the other school daughter B.

A’s school had an amazing settling in policy. No homework for the first four weeks, aside from covering books. No homework in the first two years in any holiday whatsoever. Accent in the first term on bonding and settling the children as a tight group.

Consequently the children bonded fantastically, and work solidly as teams. There are few problems with bullying, and if there is any, it is handled immediately and effectively. Results, though there is far more to a school then results, as I’d be the first to argue, are amazing.

B’s school has failed a little on this, though I have to emphasize that the teachers themselves have been incredibly supportive. Homework begun in the first couple of weeks, there has been
a considerable amount, and consequently there was little chance for the bonding activities the other school excelled at. I think this is a huge mistake on the part of the school. These children have so much to adapt to, and our education system seems to forget this at times. They are merited for getting homework in on time, remembering books, etc etc. They receive a cross if they forget. They seem to receive a cross if the teacher is in a bad mood, or forgets who has done what. I'm not yet convinced about the merit system. A lot of the children I know in year 7 are very willing, very eager to please, and make genuine mistakes because of the amount they are expected to remember. The crosses have certainly worried some of the children in terms of what it might mean. The children sit alphabetically, because it ‘helps the teachers to learn their names’. This means that for those children who are sitting next to a child that they may clash with, lessons become a nightmare. My daughter is one of these children, and it makes concentration nigh on impossible in certain lessons. Will they stop the alphabetical seating? Nope! I had one lesson at school where the teacher insisted on alphabetical seating - my headteacher taught it, because he wanted to be involved. He was a genuinely appalling teacher, and the alphabetical seating put me next to a child who misbehaved the whole two years we were studying for our exams. I failed. Badly. Surprise surprise. Any wonder I'm concerned for my daughter?

Fights: I'm fully aware some schools have this on a daily basis. Our situation? School A has had not one fight since my daughter joined. School B has had two big ones that I know about this term - not a lot in terms of the wider picture, but again, the children at school A know there is a zero tolerance policy if a fight were to break out. At school B, it's accepted that this happens. So sad. My old school? Haha. Major fight every week, I think.

I still support my daughter's school, and I'm pleased she's there in terms of the situation with some schools at the moment. Our teachers do a fantastic job in increasingly difficult circumstances. Having a coffee yesterday, I coincidentally sat next to three teachers from school B who were discussing the huge problems with demands of the curriculum and the stupidity of having to teach year 9s what they already knew because that's what the curriculum demands and they have to be seen to be ticking the boxes. So their class is a little bored, I guess. I didn't introduce myself, as it was interesting to hear... felt like putting up the war time poster regarding walls have ears!

Personally, I feel we are trapped in a system that isn't perfect. I don't for a minute think my daughter has the self esteem issues I developed, because I'm not allowing it to start and having experienced it, I'm well empowered to know how to stop it. But unlike school A, I feel with school B I'm not being supported in this and there must be children who do fall away because of it.

Well, I think that's helped. If you've got this far, thank you for reading, and I really would value and welcome your comments.

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Meal time!


Stir fried veggies and noodles anyone, as cooked last week for one evening meal by my 13 year old. It was yummy (sorry for the poor photograph!).

Has anybody else been interested in this latest survey, regarding the meals us mums are meant to cook ALL THE TIME???

Here's the list of the top 9 meals UK mums are supposed to rotate.

1. Spaghetti Bolognese
2. Roast dinner
3. Shepherds Pie/Cottage Pie
4. Pasta dish
5. Meat and two veg
6. Pizza
7. Casserole/stew
8. Sausages and chips/mash
9. Indian/Curry

There's nothing actually wrong with the list. It all sound yummy, and more than reasonable as a rotated list given how busy parents are. But it got me thinking. Do I? Well, yep, I do bolognaise. And we love our roast dinners (surely that counts as three or four with the different meats used?!). And yep, give me a shepherds pie any day. And kids always love pasta. And yes, I cook the rest. But I also cook stuffed vegetables (peppers are a particular fave in this house), pancake pie (admittedly stuffed with bolognaise, LOL), lasagna, and my hubs does a lovely roasted chorizo/veggie thing we all love. Plus there's the stir fries of course. And there's no mention of fish - I love a good fish pie. And lots of vegetarian food. Plus all the things you can do with chicken wrapped and cooked in foil. The list is endless.

I always treat these surveys with a bit of healthy cynicism.


I thought I'd add a heart, just to fit in a pretty photograph! :-)

Thursday, 12 November 2009

Felt brooches and more fabric letters

I'm beginning to feel very Christmas-y this year, maybe because last year things rushed by and so I'm starting earlier this year so the same doesn't happen again. Or maybe it's all the Christmas fabric I'm playing with. Just look at this scrummy detail of Santa's sleigh.


Any guesses what it is? It's going in the Sew Happy shop later if I can get a decent photo of it, which is increasingly unlikely as all the pictures I've taken of this particular item are turning sideways. Inbetween the Christmas crafting, I've been busy crafting more letters, which I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with. But mostly I love doing them. I've done a few of these, which are different to the ones I usually do:



I think it's working pretty well. To be honest, it takes almost as long as the letters I do which are backed with felt... I was trying to find a quicker way. Fabric letters are beginning to pop up everywhere. Even Anthropologie has them. Here. I've also been doing lots more felt brooches, because they are fun and because I don't see them everywhere I look (maybe because I spend too much time browsing fabric shops!) ...


I'm trying to blog a little more often, but I'm finding it difficult to squeeze it in. I love reading all your comments. Thank you for taking the time to comment.

Thursday, 5 November 2009

Order out of chaos!


I've had a bit of a day of it today, in that everything I've done has gone wrong. Well, almost everything. My fabric letters (thanks to all those who have ordered these!) take time to do. Well, I'd spent 30 minutes to a letter N for a Christmas NOEL that my local shop has asked for, only to discover the above. Haha. I'm going to keep it to remind me how back to front things can sometimes get!

Earlier, and before I got the children off to school, I wanted to sew together the pieces for a doorstop I'd been planning a then pinned and unpinned repeatedly because I couldn't get the roof to sit right. Finally satisfied I'd done it, I sewed it up. Only to discover it was on backwards. Big growl. It's looking better now, and needs some stuffing. I owe a huge thanks to the wonderful Bloomin' Myrtle for her inspiration and vision in my making of this, because the windows were pinched from her lovely beach huts. If you are lucky enough to be on her blogshop link here when she posts a few items, snap up immediately. She is amazing.


But then things went better with my JOY fabric bunting, which I've popped into the Sew Happy blogshop. So something has gone well today!

Happy Guy Fawkes all!

Monday, 2 November 2009

Memories of summer


I love the run up to Christmas. I really do.


But the darkness of the evenings, and the early time it's hitting is really getting me down, more so than ever before for some reason.


So I wanted to remind myself of the lovely day I spent at the lavender farm this summer.


Now that was truly blissful.



I think I'm a summer gal at heart. : )

Sunday, 1 November 2009

Fun in the half term holiday!


We've just arrived back from such a lovely week. We badly needed to recharge our batteries, and we certainly found the way to do it. We met up with my lovely fellow blogger over at Hedgecombers and she really made our week. She's a fabulous friend, and not only did she and her OH take our three for an unforgettable bushcraft day (think making fires, shooting, ferrets, stew cooking over said fire, wood carving, pointed stick things (arrows! :-) ), making sparks ("That's not a spark, this is a spark!" LOL, and so much more), me and hubs were treated to a lovely stew around the campfire, in the woods, after dark. Yummy. And not only that, but they lent us their adorable canoe, so we could explore... right turn, anyone?!

All five of us fitted happily in the canoe, and thanks to the mildest late October weather for a long time, we stayed out on the river and exploring the inlets for a good 5 hours! This was our favourite place, as there was a fab village shop selling delicious homemade icecreams.


Later in the week, we found one of the best if not the best riding stables I've ever been to, and believe me, I've tried a lot. The littleys had to be led, which they were happy about as it's some time since they rode (3 years, I think!). But they had a brilliant time.

Lots of Arab in some of the horses, and all beautifully schooled and well behaved, and alert... so many riding school horses are bored out of their poor minds. It was refreshing to find that it can work.

And I found time to sew:


So all in all, a lovely week. I hope you all had fun as well. I'm now aiming to sew a lot, to stock the blogshop up for Christmas. I'm beginning to feel a little bit Christmas-y. Not long to go!

Thursday, 15 October 2009

Felted flower brooches


I am very excited. I've just ordered some fabric from the States, which I haven't done for a while, but all set in motion by the lovely MaryPoppins, who posted a picture of a gorgeous lavender fabric, which I just fell in love with. I've spent a lot of time trying to source lavender fabrics, and it is really difficult. But thanks to MaryPoppins and SewhotMitmot, I think my obsession has finally been sated. Or perhaps it's just been sparked!


I'll show you as soon as they land on the doormat - probably a while, because no doubt they will be held up in the postal strike. Meanwhile, I've been making these - I'm so pleased with them.


I've wanted to make felted brooches for a long, long time, always admiring those I've seen at craft fairs. More to come!