School appeals

[subman101]

I wopuldn't demand a place for one kid at the expense of another.

Are you saying that you would not fight for your own children?

 

[Space cat]

I wopuldn't demand a place for one kid at the expense of another.

Leaving aside the immigrant/race rant that's going on here (and also the spelling mistake), I have to agree with joe-90 on that one. If you can't accept the premise that nobody matters more than anybody else - ie to do as you would be done by (I think Jesus said that) - then you have two other options:

1) Rules imposed by some higher authority, not necessarily of your choosing.

2) Descent into anarchy.

Take your pick!

 

[handyman77]

My child matters more to me!

 

[subman101]

My child matters more to me!

Of course, and nobody would hand on heart criticise you for wanting the best for her (or was it a him - I forgot )

Two points to remember are that:

1/ All normal parents, regardless of background want the best for their children

2/. Suppose for the sake of argument (if we must), that a johnny foreigner moved to the UK along with his wife and partner and young child. They get jobs locally and contribute fully to the country, creating wealth and employment for some within the local community. Along comes a member of the indiginous population who has never done a day's work in their life and has no intention of doing so. Under your suggested op criteria, these chavs should be entitled to get into the local school before the more deserving family.

 

[joe-90]

What about a Roma Gypsy family with ten kids and never contributed a button in their lives?

 

[Alarm]

How about the children who are accepted are able to actually speak the English language so everyone else is not kept back by them being told everything several times?

It should be a prerequisite that they are able to communicate in our language.

 

[JohnD]

You mean you want to set up special schools for teaching youngsters to speak English to a certain level before admitting them to mainstream schools?


Obviously there'd have to be an entry exam or assessment for all kids since some of them will have been born and raised here. Geordies for example (joke)

Do mainstream schools have a facility for TEFL?

 

[joe-90]

How about the children who are accepted are able to actually speak the English language so everyone else is not kept back by them being told everything several times?

It should be a prerequisite that they are able to communicate in our language.

Now that I DO agree with. These kids are draining teacher resources and it's got to stop. Teachers are there to teach English kids in English - not teach Polish kids English.

 

[Alarm]

Nothing wrong with the idea.
That way they may get a better education and not hold others back.

In some schools in inner cities the "English Language" is the 2nd one of over 75% of the intake.
Not too good a percentage for a smooth running educational system IMO and many others.
Even at our sons primary, it was expressed at many PTA meetings. Although the ratio was a lot smaller there were drawbacks becoming obvious.

 

[subman101]

I like the idea of prerequisite knowledge being required prior to entering a mainstream school. Perhaps these could include specialised units whose purpose is to modify antisocial behaviour - thus a child can only enter a mainstream school if they can cooperate fully with their peer group and supervising adults who work within schools.

Also, maybe there could be specialised units for a whole host of potentially distruptive events - for example "catch up" evenings for pupils who have been absent for any length of time and any reason.

 

[gangman]

Went through an appeal for my daughter for secondary school. Her brother was already at the school but because of his dyslexia was on a statement so we had no sibling link.

We used an expert, £1600, who came up with some good arguments, school funds, class size etc. but to be honest one of the reasons we won our appeal was through sibling link. We wanted to use this angle but our expert said it was going nowhere as that was the rules in the school.

Another parent in the initial meeting, who was in the same position as us said his child was being discriminated against as other kids could have their siblings in the school. This guy was prepared to chase this point and I think the school realised this was one they could well lose.

As to paying for an expert, I would do it again. With my daughter there now it means my other daughter will have a link and further down the line so will my other son. For us it was well worth appealing as the school is exceptional and has been so good for my eldest. A good school is so important to life chances and you need to do what you have to if it's important to you.

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

Ok he may get in the school but me personally I would not want my kids going there while the teachers are trying to communicate with the non speaking english kids the education they should be receiving is getting left behind and this will go on for many years....think about moving away...I would if I was in your position, the school near here what my kids went to is semi rural with 100% speaking english recieving a good education.....no time wasted on trying johnny foreigner trying to grasp the english language

 

[subman101]

Not being very helpful sub!

Nor indeed is the subplot of this thread.

 

[Alarm]

But it is relevant.
Why fight to get into a school if it turns out the language barrier is going to detract anyway with certain policies being forced on schools?

 

[JohnD]

Must be a problem for English-speaking children in Wales too. I wonder how they cope?