Curly

womanofdulwich Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I can't help but think its trying to suss out what > kind of parents you are - if you are clean and > have books on shelves etc- but that's just me, It's all to do with a guy called Bronfenbrenner. He is a theorist who has had a big influence in Early Years education. He suggests that children do better when there are strong links between home and school and the home visit is just one idea from that which allows the teacher to see how the child behaves in their home environment (as Number 2 says). It's a real shame that schools think they can make it compulsory when it's supposed to build relationships, not regulate them.

Carbonara Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Curly - why don't you set the timer so that it > doesn't finish cooking until you know you will be > ready to get up? > Ours is always ready to but by the time we have > had a cup of coffee and got dressed. Thanks but it's a devil to cut if it hasn't cooled down enough. I do want to start using it again though, at least I know what's gone into it - no horse meat, etc!

We used our Panasonic one (recommended) for a year but my other half got fed up of getting up early to take it out. You have to take it out straight away when it has finished otherwise it goes hard and chewy. Then you have to give it an hour to cool down otherwise it is impossible to cut. They need to design it so the bread is ejected at the end!

Have they got someone to replace her at Fairlawn yet?

There's loads of stuff to do with children all over the Island. I would recommend Blackgang Chine or Robin Hill for a long day out. The Garlic farm is a great place to go to have a meal and look around - it's free. Bembridge is posh, whilst Sandown is not, so it depends on what you are looking for. I wouldn't bother with the steam train - waste of money.

I've just had a quote for chimney lining. It was ?1000. How does that compare?

Hi snsn, I have an Early Years Degree. It's natural that you want to help your child develop those valuable skills for school and life. What other posters have said is very true about letting children play and have fun and the Foundation Stage is designed to support children to learn literacy and numeracy through play. The skill is in knowing how to teach pitched at your child's interests and level of understanding and parents' do not always know how to do this. I have pm'd you with my details about how you can get extra help for your child and some training for yourself at the same time. If anyone else is interested they can pm me too.

I think bouncers are very restrictive in terms of a babies' movement and gross motor skill development and would only use them for short periods of time, if at all. In contrast, a gym mat allows babies to move more freely and exercise their muscles. Babies spend so much time strapped in car seats and prams so any opportunity to allow them free movement to roll over and to strengthen those neck muscles is good.

I found something interesting things on the IOE website including this: http://www.ioe.ac.uk/newsEvents/33035.html A controversial book which argues that racism in the English education system is still restricting the academic achievements of countless minority ethnic children has won the UK's most prestigious education research award. Racism and Education: Co-incidence or Conspiracy?, by Professor David Gillborn of the Institute of Education, University of London, has been named as the outstanding education book of the year by the Society for Educational Studies. Professor Gillborn will receive the ?2,000 prize at a ceremony in London tomorrow (Thursday, November 5). In his book, published by Routledge, he dissects the effects of racism across the education system ? from national policies to school-level decisions about exclusions and ability grouping. The principal victims, he contends, are black pupils. They are more likely to be placed in lower-ability groups, more likely to be entered for lower-tier GCSEs that prevent them achieving the top grades and, as is well documented, far more likely to be excluded. "There is compelling evidence that the over-representation of black Caribbean students in exclusions is the result of harsher treatment by schools, rather than simple differences in behaviour," says Professor Gillborn, who also won the Society's book prize nine years ago. He acknowledges that pupils in all the major ethnic groups in England are much more likely to achieve five or more higher-grade GCSEs than they were 20 years ago. However, he points out that black pupils and children of Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage have not caught up with other ethnic groups. "The history of education in this country suggests that the 'assessment game' is rigged to such an extent that if black children succeed as a group, despite the odds being stacked against them, it is likely that the rules will be changed to re-engineer failure," Professor Gillborn says. He realises this claim will sound literally incredible to many people but cites the example of baseline assessments, which used to be set on entry to primary school. In 2000, Professor Gillborn and Professor Heidi Mirza discovered that black children in one very large authority were achieving the highest grades in these tests. That form of assessment has, however, been replaced by the Foundation Stage Profile, which is dependent on teachers' assessments at the end of the reception year. Following the change of assessment method, young black children are now said to be underachieving. "I have no evidence that the changes in England were manufactured deliberately," he says. "However, the changes are clearly racist in their outcome. A new assessment system for five-year-olds appears to have erased, virtually overnight, the only part of the system where black children were relatively successful." Professor Gillborn says that he is often told that the academic success of "model minorities", namely Indian and Chinese pupils, demonstrates that the English education system is not racist. He rejects this argument. "Although Indian and Chinese students undoubtedly face racism, sometimes of the most vicious kind, it is not the case that they are just as likely to come from poor backgrounds as black students or other lower-achieving ethnic groups," he says. "Indian students are the most likely to be educated privately: at twice the white rate and five times the rate for black students." Race inequality in education persists because social and education policy has never seriously prioritised its eradication, Professor Gillborn concludes. "Rather, policymakers have paid more attention to social control, assimilation, and pandering to the feelings and fears of white people," he adds. "Most shocking of all, in key respects the contemporary situation is as bad, and in some cases worse, than anything that has gone before."

It's not the Child benefit change that I'm worried about - it's the change to Working Tax Credits. I have just received a letter saying the threshold has been cut and so I'm no longer entitled. I was getting ?40 per month and this will make a significant dent in my income. The government seem to have made this change more quietly than the change to Child Benefit and has come as a complete surprise and is effective from next month.

I must be part of the 1% then. I would agree that the pastoral care is amazing though. Kingsdale is a marmite.

In the absence of Southwark's fully published GCSE results, this is Lewisham's. Scroll to bottom of the page for the results: http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/news/Pages/Lewisham-GCSE-results-2011.aspx Askes have not seemed to recover from last year's shocking 20% drop. Conisborough College seems one to watch with significant increases and an association with Colfe's independent school. Addey & Stanhope have jumped up but there's 'no hope' of getting in.

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Southwark haven't posted the borough's GCSE results either this year.