The main problem with education in the UK is that it is so variable. I live in an area where to local authority has made such a hash of childrens services that it has been taken over by a government appointed "task force". The school that my children attend however is held up as en example of good practice.

I am planning a trip to Nova Scotia soon to look at schools (elementary and high schools) in preparation for our move over there. One thing that I find difficult is the lack of published information about schools. In the UK we have performence tables with number s of A* to C grades, levels achieved at KS2 and 3, value added scores and ofsted reports.

Does anyone know what performance data is available in Nova Scotia for the different levels of school. Also is there as much variation between schools and areas as we have in the UK.

I intend to look at independant schools as well as state school. Does anyone have any experience of independant school in Nova Scotia.

Too many questions in one go I suppose, but any info would be helpful.

Ok guys - it's my soapbox time

I wouldnt consider our UK location as inner city - we are about 7 miles outside the Centre of Manchester - and have made this point becuase of my comments that follow.

We have a range of schools in our area including state, catholic and Independent schools - some have good and some have bad reputations. We as parents try and choose the school which best suits our childrens needs - some kids are artistic yet not academic and therefore need to go to a school such as a school which has been awarded an Arts College Status. Our choices then get taken away from us by the local education authority and the child gets put into a school what isnt suitable and therefore will be unhappy for 5 years of their life.

Take my 12 year old.

Last August got job offer from Canada for my hubby and then she started at her second choice school. For the first month my daugter could barely sleep and hardly ate to the point that her trousers were hanging off her body - and she is not a fat kid to start with.

The schools attitude was well it's not our problem that she doesnt like the food in the canteen send her with some butties (BAD ATTITUDE !) so did the packed lunch thing for her and the situation did not improve. Pastoral Manager was well its your fault as she knows that she is going to live in Canada ! Concerned we sat her down and tried to get her to see that she didnt have to put up with the school just keep your head down and get through it - the education committee of the local authority would not move her as they knew we were going to live in Canada.

My daughter has been reduced to tears so often being told that she is ugly fat thick and all sorts of things by pupils in the school and when I asked for help the school did nothing at all.

In the end she ended up not even speaking to me and went to the doctor as we decided that she had gone into a depression about the way school life was. This made us decide that she had to leave the school and the only way that this could be done was to send her out to her dad who is in Canada on a WP.

Whist at her Secondary school she witnessed extreme bullying, teachers on an ego trip, F words being used by both teacher and pupils,pupils throwing chairs at teachers and bullying from a teacher - oh yes she was bullied by a teacher for having a note to excuse her from PE when she injured her ankle !

She has now been in Canada and in school for 5 weeks and what a difference in my daughter - rings me every day to say how fab everything is at school. She just did her end of year Grade 7 exams and got fab results and cant get over the difference in the kids in her class.

What is the difference ????


Respect - you can breed respect in your child and it doesnt cost a penny and alot of parents who sit on their arses all day doing nothing breed disrespect into their kids by the way they live and then this feeds down to your own child :curse:

Rant over - night

gaynor
x

Completely agree that it is down to respect. one of the major problems I have is that Pupils think I'm being Sarcastic When I'm polite. I was always brought up to Say please, thank you etc. I have actually had pupils complain to my line manager that I " was taking the P***"- my Crime? I had said "thankyou" when they returned Some equipment!

well the day before Phil flew out to Canada Hannah was crying in class and one of the pupils asked the teacher to come and make sure that she was ok.

So he asked Hannah what the matter was and she said she was just a bit upset as Dad was going to work in Canada and she didnt know when she was going to see him again - which was the truth.

He turned around to Hannah and said "Get over get on with it and stop whining !"

So if there are teachers in our schools in the UK who disrespect pupils this way I understand why some pupils can play up to it - am not saying it would be right. But my daughter has been taught to respect elders and teachers etc. so she sat there for the rest of the lesson cried the 2 mile walk home !

I felt the education system or the school or the teachers (maybe all three) failed my kid because he was ignored at school. This was because he was not a trouble-maker, bright but not brilliant, simply did nor stand out in any way, so he was ignored.

When his marks dropped off, nobody gave a S**T to be honest, and we as his parents were not even told before it was almost too late. His maths teacher eventually told us he was doing badly because he did not attend classes, and "if he can't be bothered why should I" ...... Nobody thought to enquire what was wrong with the lad, who had obviously shown potential before.

In the end, he had to retake his first year of A levels, with extra tuition from a private, very good but VERY expensive tutor, (thankyou grandparents!!!!!) and he ended up just missing two A grades by 1 or 2 marks!

So now he has just been accepted into his second year engineering degree course at University of Calgary and it is frankly NO thanks to his secondary education in Britain!

Hi everyone,

I thought to just add some personnal experience to this subject.
I have had the opportunity to shadow my own child in an elementary school in Cambridge. Met quite a number of staff and teachers. OH! by the way we have had to move from Cornwall where our family journey began for our son's therapy;..this was because schools in Cornwall and Devon just simply wouldn't want to know of any "Independent "programmes/therapists coming into their schools to help kids needing some form of differentiated support. So....some friends of ours informed us that Cambridge could potentially be a bit better and some children were able to go to school on a part time basis with support at least initially,...somenthing Cornwall just wouldn't entertain....so we gave it a try....only to be ....well disappointing as the struggle to have any form of differentiated curriculum just proved to much and with no future either!! ...As a result of that we looked outside the box and continue to seek a place where differentiated programmes do exist and kids potential isn,t just going to waste!!!....hopefully and we are confident that in Canada we have found just that!!!
In sum education in the UK is in these crucial situatiuons, presently reflecting a desperate need for some sort of development in professional and specialized programmes for teachers, which would include greater emphasis on special needs kids.
Whilst the "inclusion dream" goes on for our mainstream schools here at home, the reality as far as i can see is that, so many children are simply struggling to manage in the bewildering environment of all these large schools! As a consequence some will etiher face being bullied or segregated to special units.
Furthemore and this is only my personnal opinion, i also have the distinct impression that regretably our government's creation of the "new kind of school" ideology geared to increase academics, has significantly made it even harder for children with extra needs to survive and stand a chance to adjust.
We'll hopefully will be in a position where we will be able to reloccate again and its our biggest wish to enable our child to develop all his potential, work towards an independent, happy and healthy life in a supportive an nurturing environment.
Bottom line, it seems to be that our schools in the UK just are so dependent on their position in the league tables, that it will always be hard to find one likely to welcome those who will be somehow lower achievers!!
That's one side of our state of education. I,m hoping not to have to stress to much over this for much longer ....fingers crossed!! By the way, here is a nice quote, funny enough from "John Wayne" .... and he says:
"By working hard old man, i hope to make somenthing good one day. I haven't yet, but i am pursuing it and fghting for it ... Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean.
It's perfect when arrives, and it puts itself in our hands.
It hopes we've learned somenthing from yesterday!!
Kind Regards,

Carla

My son was the only one of my 3 children to attend school in Australia. Before that, he attended his first year in the UK. I often questioned the Teachers teaching on a few things, to their resentment, and they didn't like answering to me. My son was doing well when in Australia. I thought generally the schooling was a little slower, but IMO that's better as the kids seemed to get a bit longer to grasp the concept of the idea they are being taught.

When we returned to the UK, my son was put through a test at his new school, to see which level he would be at, and therefore which set he would be in for each subject. He came out top in every test and was then placed in top set for every class.

Within a month, I had his teachers asking me to attend meetings as he was falling behind with his work It turned out that he 'understood' the Aussie schooling ways and couldnt cope with the UK teaching methods anymore, i.e :

Australia = 1x9=9, 2x9=18, 3x9=27 etc. (it forms a pattern easy to work out, each answer adds up to 9 etc. When we left my son knew all his times tables by heart.

UK = 1x9=(1x10=10-1)=9, 2x9=(2x10=20-2)=18 etc

Even I questioned the Maths teacher on this one, and was told in no uncertain terms that the Governments guidelines for teaching are strict and should not be altered for any one student. I was shocked.

That was 3 years ago, and my son has still not regained his confidence in school, is still misunderstanding methods (looking at his work, I am too !) and his times tables is still a challenge to him

He is now in the bottom sets for all subjects, even though all his teachers say he is the perfect student and tries so hard to 'understand'

And this is UK schooling :curse:

I'm with you there

I hear so many stories of the same thing now.

I now have my 2 daughters at school and quite frankly they too are ignored, because they are 'average'. They don't have special needs, aren't rude, aren't disruptive, dont have problems at home, etc etc

Only the 'Special' kids get taught it seems

I've heard of this method of teaching them to kids, it's not good is it. It stems from the fact that some people in the DoE have decided that rote learning is bad so you cannot teach the kids their tables anymore as that's all it is rote learning. I'm sorry but that rote learning has stood me in great stead, and I'm sure everyone else who learned their times tables like it. All these new fangled teaching methods are just garbage thought up by people who've never spent time in the classroom.

It is unfortunately true though that teachers are not given the ability to alter how they teach these things, the government sets what and how and that's all there is to it. Rubbish system.

Just remember one thing about kids now in the education system. They are not being taught useful skills. They are not being educated for the benefit of the children. They are being taught how to pass exams, that's it. Kids have to pass exams and schools have to meet targets, there's nothing more to it. Education for the childs benefit no longer exists in the British education system I'm afraid, government has seen to that.

Talk about over-complicating things. I am hopeless at maths at the best of times but I at least learnt my times tables. I wouldn't have stood a chance using this method.

wow - it seems he was listening everytime I cam home and ranted at him - thanks dear



hehe two and a half weeks to go!!!!!