"I disagree"

It was Mstr A's open evening tonight. The school is trying a new format, and instead of having 30 x 10 min meetings with individual parents, where the teachers say the same things 30 times, and answer the same questions 30 times, The teacher gave a 30 min presentation, invited general questions, and offered us the chance to briefly discuss individual concerns at the end.

It worked quite well, and I'm sure it was a better use of the teachers time. I've certainly got a better idea of how the day works than I get from asking Mstr A at the end of each day:-) They are definitely a lot more pro-active in trying different ways of learning than the old school, and I'm confident that Mstr A is learning more, and behaving better. Phew!

I did nab the headmaster at the end of the session and discuss the "send you kids to school in a taxi" letter. I explained why I thought it was wrong to send children to school in a taxi. he "disagreed".

he disagreed that taxi drivers were not "all very good at taking care" of children. He disagreed that Taxi's were not the safest vehicles to travel in. He disagreed that Child Protection procedures do not advise putting single children in cars alone with single adults. He disagreed that parents would see the newsletter as a reason to stop taking their kids to school themselves and start sending them in taxi's. he disagreed that it was encouraging children & parents to drive to school rather than walk/cycle. he disagreed that it would encourage more cars in and around the school.

He did agree to pass my details on to other parents living locally to see if we can work together to sort out a walking bus/share the travelling etc.

It's a start.

I disagree that there is any reason for Mstr A not to cycle himself to school each day. But obviously i am wrong! Despite national radio congratulating a 7 year old boy for cycling himself to and from school today!

I also briefly chatted to Mstr A's class teacher. I've got some new research & techniques for tackling Mstr A's volume control (from my Ed Psych sister), which he agreed to help me implement. Mstr A is (mostly) doing his work now, which is fantastic, but he still often decides not to, which is problematic - especially as Year 2 is a SATS year. He has not made any particular friends:-( But the school are still pushing the Ed Psych service to keep the case open, which is good.

A bit of a mixed bag really. At least he & I both agreed that regular meetings will be beneficial, and I said we'd organise oe for soon after the 1/2 term hols.