What is it with these heads that can’t stop crossing themselves and averring that they are not going to tell six-year-olds they are failures? As if any teacher in their right mind would declare a child a failure if they didn’t pass a test, any test. If anyone is declared a failure, it ought to… Continue reading Another head teacher takes the pledge
I had to smile the other day. I was listening to programme on Radio 4 reporting on the Home Affairs Committee, which happened to be hearing evidence about an inquiry into drugs by the police, when who should pop up but Russell Brand? Regardless of the content of what Mr Brand had to say, and… Continue reading Brand? but by no means bland!
The infamous illustration that was censored by a school! Follow the discussion at http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/1432936-why-wont-school-let-pupils-see-these-pages-of-Oxford-Reading-Tree-book?pg=1
In a piece supoosedly arguing ‘against a phonics versus books stand-off’, yesterday’s Guardian gave space again for Phoebe Doyle, described on their pages as a former primary teacher who now writes on education, parenting and health issues’, to bellyache about how phonics is being used in school. She had previously written ‘Boy-friendly practice is just… Continue reading Hey Phoebe, leave those phonics teachers alone!
In the next two hundred HFWs in Letters and Sounds, I’ve calculated that a further sixty-two are again easily decodable. This makes a total of ninety-four out of the three hundred listed which are commonly occurring words but which are easily decodable and should never be taught as ‘sight words’. At Sounds-Write, our approach has… Continue reading More on high-frequency words
With thanks to LW-B
In memory of Christopher Eric Hitchens, 1949-2011, writer and permanent oppositionist.
Time for some R&R
The widely heralded increase in the schools budget is, it turns out, not what it at first seemed. The Financial Times this weekend (30th/31st October) spelt out the reality behind the rise.The resource budget, which is used to fund day-to-day running costs will, it appears, rise by 0.4 %. However, the increase in the numbers… Continue reading The truth behind the ‘rise’ in the education budget