Agenda 2019

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/01/primary-school-maths-grammar-nicky-morgan-education#comment-47016794 Primary school pupils face new maths and grammar tests under Tories   Why is this latest "set of punitive policies" labeled as a new initiative from the Conservatives? Teaching children multiplication tables and how to read by the age of 11 is not new, neither is it unique. Some years ago, more in fact that I care to remember, I attended the Ruby Street Primary School in London. The classroom of 1B, my first year class under Miss Cox, had posters around the walls with "Times Tables" on each of the posters ranging from 2 to 12, which had to be learned. Every child in the class (classes usually had 48 or more children at that time) had to learn by heart each of the tables and then had the daunting challenge of standing in front of Miss Cox, (and the assembled class) and reciting 2x2=4 and so on through to 12x12=144. Not all at t...

  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sixyearold-schoolboy-suspended-for-having-mini-cheddars-in-his-lunchbox-has-now-been-expelled-9109722.html Six-year-old schoolboy suspended for having Mini Cheddars in his lunchbox has been expelled      Colnbrook C of E Primary School     Riley Pearson expelled from Colnbrook School after breaking school "policy"   Sheer lunacy, which demonstrates how some school "administrations" are becoming obsessed with the "healthy eating" political correctness and the illusion of their own importance. The boy is 6 years old and did not fill his own lunch box. In addition, his four-year-old brother's place in nursery has been withdrawn. The people who are responsible for this stupidity are the ones who should be excluded.If they have a problem with the contents of the lunch box, they should take on the parents. Destroying or at least seriously disrupting the education of a 6 year o...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/may/17/primary-schools-supersize Number of primary schools with more than 1,000 pupils has risen by 60% in past three year     It wasn't so long ago that we were being told that there were too many primary school "places" and that some should be closed and the teachers made redundant. This "wave" of children will soon be seeking secondary education places and then university places. Some people have been critical for years of the lunacy of successive government closing schools of all levels , with the preposterous logic there were too many places for the existing demand and that advances in new technology and efficiency savings would ensure a higher standard of education. (Everyone knew of course that it was all about the government saving money as is usually the motive). The chickens now seem to be coming home to roost. Big is usually not better.