Anyone baffled by what the grandchildren are up to at school?

[charadam]

My granddaughter "went up" to secondary school in September.

Since then, she has required around £120 in supplements for trips, clothes, books etc.

+ between 2 and 3 hours homework per evening.

All this in less than 3 months.

The school does not actually call itself Dotheboys Hall Ltd - but .................

I wonder what the rest of you are seeing in your areas.

 

[adrian0100]

My granddaughter "went up" to secondary school in September.

Since then, she has required around £120 in supplements for trips, clothes, books etc.

+ between 2 and 3 hours homework per evening.

All this in less than 3 months.

The school does not actually call itself Dotheboys Hall Ltd - but .................

I wonder what the rest of you are seeing in your areas.

Well my two are in year 2 and reception and their school asks for donations evey 4 to 6 weeks and then send shitty reminders if you dont pay so I took the formentioned donation letter into the school and the shitty reminder in and said to the lady in the office I would like to see the head her response was rather arsy ow your ellie and maxs dad you know you havent paid your donations ow I know thats why im here! Then im told ill have to wait 2 weeks to see the head but I can speak to her if I wish! Ok can you please explain the meaning of a donation well yes its avoulantry gifts of money of goods ok so can you now explain your rather rude demand letters if its a donation it not mandatory to pay no answer ill see if the head can see you and walked off! 10 minuets later your have to make a appointment to see the head she is very busy lol still waiting for a answer

 

[teyhan1]

What gets to me is the hot school meals lark.
I work, my wife works. We get no benefits so do not qualify for 'free' school meals.
We get sent continually school menu's. I personally make their lunches every day with fruit, yogurt, sandwiches. They are both skinny and not fat (like me ).
One day I got a phone call from school saying that my oldest was hungry and was I putting enough in his lunch box, and was I having difficulties. 'No' I replied 'if they don't eat their fruit then they get less the next day to ensure they do eat their fruit' I told them. Bloody cheek. They're nutritionally balanced the garb says. Yeah it may be but I don't know if they're bloody eating the bad stuff and leaving the good.
Then the company that does the hot meals markets them through promotions. Getting the nippers to lean on their parents by saying that 'if I get hot school meals all term then they'll give me a gift pack'. If they promote like that again then I will be making an official complaint.

 

[RDG]

The Secondary school my eldest two go to is "a Company Limited by Guarantee" ! Getting to meet and speak with the Head Teacher/ Mistress / Managing Director can be just as laborious as Teyhan's war of attrition with his flippin' fox ! except at photo opportunity type events.

 

[bobjs]

my best one this year was,

your child is in the top 10% of her class in all but 1 of her 10 subjects, can you come to the school next week so we can have a chat about what we plan to do this term.

me the wife and the wee one in question get smarted up (this for me means holding in my gut and combing my hair), we attend to be presented with inedible snacks not enough seats for those who are coming to sit in before we are all pestoooooooned with paper asking for help with the schooling of our kids.

so when they had explained what they want to do to enhance our children's chances of employment etc when they leave school, they asked for questions.

I said what happened to the IPOD's my other daughter and others were promised when she joined ? we were told these will help them complete their homework and enable them to take it back to school. log on download it ...job done,

they never got them did they ?, and we........now............have both the kids using our laptop and old desk top pc to do their homework on at least 3 times a week for about 2 hours each.........how about you pay something towards my electric bill/broadband bills so my kids can have 3 roasted spuds on a sunday instead of just the 2,

bob.

 

[teyhan1]

The Secondary school my eldest two go to is "a Company Limited by Guarantee" ! Getting to meet and speak with the Head Teacher/ Mistress / Managing Director can be just as laborious as Teyhan's war of attrition with his flippin' fox ! except at photo opportunity type events.

Cheeky.
The wife's in Iraq again this week. So my war will not be won this week. And we worked out that in the next 6 weeks she will be at home (therefore allowing my war to continue ) for just 2 of them over Xmas. She has to go to Iraq again then Beiruit then Mexico in the New Year. I will however keep you informed of my laborious task.

 

[charadam]

I'm only a grandparent.

We are fortunate to see our grandchildren every day, because my daughter and her partner both have demanding careers and we step into the breach after school.

I had no idea of the complexity of modern secondary school life or of the costs.

I think, however that the worst aspect is the culture of expectation being instilled into the children.

 

[teyhan1]

I'm only a grandparent.

We are fortunate to see our grandchildren every day, because my daughter and her partner both have demanding careers and we step into the breach after school.

I had no idea of the complexity of modern secondary school life or of the costs.

I think, however that the worst aspect is the culture of expectation being instilled into the children.

In what way? My oldest hits secondary in 2 years

 

[fairacre]

My granddaughter "went up" to secondary school in September.

Since then, she has required around £120 in supplements for trips, clothes, books etc.

+ between 2 and 3 hours homework per evening.

All this in less than 3 months.

The school does not actually call itself Dotheboys Hall Ltd - but .................

I wonder what the rest of you are seeing in your areas.

PRIVATISATIONThe Government has stopped giving money to Local Authorities and now give it direct to schools for them to spend it on what they see fit.Just pray your child does not need additional services i.e. special educational needs, education psychologist, education welfare officer, school nurse, careers advisor, counsellor etc. etc. In at least one ACADEMY i know of the teachers get paid a bonus for pupil achievement and attendance if that is not a business I dont know what is.Oh and don't take your kids on holiday in term time or you will be fined.ATB

 

[Brithunter]

PRIVATISATIONThe is.Oh and don't take your kids on holiday in term time or you will be fined.ATB

Unless of course one goes to Pakistan or India for a few months for a family do then it's OK!

 

[Bomag]

Its even worse in Wales, 1st year at secondary was 1 lot of homework every other week. 2nd year (which is now) is 3 lots a week, and most of that seems pointless and is done in school. The English is done on the laptop and printed out, which means less writing and therefore worse handwriting, the remark from the teacher was "have you seen Doctors writing, that's poor too"
As for the fees asked for different trips, etc., don't even get me started, the last trip we had to pay to "cover teacher costs" which stunned me as the trip was during school hours!!

 

[Richard Parsons]

£120. Is that all?

 

[fairacre]

Unless of course one goes to Pakistan or India for a few months for a family do then it's OK!

Or if you are travellers

 

[GWILLI]

Im in Newport and have twins.
as well as double school uniforms and kits, I also need to buy another laptop so they can both do homework in the evenings
of which there maybe 2-3 hours and detention if they don't do it on time. im all for laying down the rules but gets a bit much sometimes.
im dreading school trips not cheap and double expense...how the hell am I supposed to afford my shooting???(only joking)
they do a lot online but school does not provide laptops or ipads..down to the parents again!

have parents evening coming up soon so will be interesting to say the least

My granddaughter "went up" to secondary school in September.

Since then, she has required around £120 in supplements for trips, clothes, books etc.

+ between 2 and 3 hours homework per evening.

All this in less than 3 months.

The school does not actually call itself Dotheboys Hall Ltd - but .................

I wonder what the rest of you are seeing in your areas.

 

[Brithunter]

Of course as has already been pointed out their hand writing suffers greatly with them not writing only typing on a keyboard.

So much for progress .