MyDaughter blog 
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Girls will be girls...?
Friday 15 April 2011
Categories: Careers, Girls' schools, Media Influence, Role Models
Ofsted has criticised mixed schools in particular for failing to encourage girls to think about entering careers other than the traditional ones. Guardian 12/4/11 These jobs, including beauty therapy, childcare and hairdressing, generally have lower pay scales and fewer opportunities for progression. However Ofsted said that girls in single sex schools, especially those in selective schools, had more positive attitudes to non stereotypical careers. In these schools girls didn’t view any...
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Silver linings and the rise of 'Gramping'
Thursday 7 April 2011
Categories: Family Relationships, Parenting
There is little doubt that times are getting harder and little evidence that they will improve in the near future, so it’s to a relief to hear some good news. And I think that the results of Netmums’ latest survey is really good news. Apparently more than three quarters of the families surveyed will be holidaying with grandparents in tow this year (gramping!). This finding is further reinforced by Eurocamp’s announcement
that “extended family group” bookings have risen three fold... -
Reading is for pleasure not for duty...
Friday 25 March 2011
Categories: Literacy, Parenting, Role Models
It sounds such a good idea – Michael Gove’s pronouncement that every child should read 50 books a year, (Daily Telegraph 21/03/11) roughly one a week allowing a couple of weeks off for…good behaviour? But is it? And is it feasible?
I am not convinced that we either could or should try to make our children read a specific amount.
Firstly the “could” part: while reading is undoubtedly good for you this fact alone will not enable you magically to transform your child into an avid...
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Encourage curiosity and watch your children grow
Thursday 17 March 2011
Categories: Arts education, Extra curricular, Parenting
Put culture and young children in the same sentence and there will be some who respond with ‘there’s plenty of time for that’. That’s because there’s a tendency to view culture as something serious, worthy and perhaps a little heavy-going – in short not the sort of entertainment that the average primary school child is likely to appreciate.
Culture, though, is about far more than going to the theatre to watch a three hour Shakespeare play, sitting through a ballet or visiting...
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The youth of today...!
Friday 11 March 2011
Categories: Education, Media Influence, Parenting, Role Models
The glorious Joanna Lumley, one of our National Treasures, has spoken. She is not happy about how we are raising our children. In this week’s Radio Times she contrasts her strong “moral compass” with the apparent lack of any such device in today’s young people. She says that “Nowadays, children find it laughably amusing to shoplift and steal. We smile when they download information from the internet and lazily present it as their own work.” Ms Lumley contrasts this with her time...
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Get ready to celebrate International Women's Day!
Monday 7 March 2011
Categories: Careers, Media Influence, Role Models
Today, UK girls have the same educational rights as boys. But this hasn’t always been the case. While some schools were established as early as the 1700s, it wasn’t until the mid 1800s that girls’ education really began to change. The campaigning actions of women such as Frances Buss, Dorothea Beale, and Emily Davies – who founded Girton College in Cambridge – led to events which resulted in the establishment of a series of higher, or secondary, girls’ schools to equal the...
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The joys of blogging!
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Categories: Homework, Literacy, School curriculum
So Heathfields Primary School in Bolton have added blogging to their curriculum, even for five year olds. The initiative started in the snowy weather when, in an attempt to engage learners who were stuck at home, a blogging platform was set up on the school’s website and the children were asked to go into the back garden, measure the depth of the snow and report back. Children love to have a mission, and they enjoy communicating, especially with each other. This snowballed (!) and once...
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Tigers and tantrums...
Sunday 13 February 2011
Categories: Education, Family Relationships, Parenting
Amy Chua has issued a strident challenge to the prevailing style of parenting in the western hemisphere. In her book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother she writes about how she raised her two daughters along traditional Chinese lines. She set herself up as a benign dictator; she knew what was best for her children and forcefully imposed it. She controlled every aspect of their daily lives, dictating everything from the academic grades she expected of them (nothing less than As were acceptable)...
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School libraries RIP? The debate begins . . .
Thursday 3 February 2011
Categories: Literacy, Technology & the Internet
For many, books are to be equated with learning: after all to be “well-read” is to be educated. Thus I am conscious that, for some, it is heresy for a headteacher to even consider the question. No true educationalist could consider a school without a library. However, at risk of blowing all my educational credentials in one go, I feel that someone has to be brave enough to ask the question.
The more I think about it, the more I find myself questioning why we are still spending money on...
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Subject choice - are some subjects more equal than others?
Thursday 27 January 2011
Categories: Careers, School curriculum, Teenagers
The sudden introduction of the English Baccalaureate has brought into sharp focus the issue of which subjects pupils “ought” to study. In fact the E Bacc is not a new qualification but an umbrella ‘measure’introduced by the government to assess the performance of maintained schools and to make sure that all pupils study a broad and balanced curriculum at aged 16. This is a laudable aim, but the jury is still out on the details of the subjects included. Many teachers are concerned by...