Children's TV in a state of decline

I've been saying this for a while - children's TV is nowhere near as good as it was when I was a child. Think back to all the brilliant programmes you watched when you were younger - He-man, Thundercats, MASK, Cities of Gold, Willy Fog & 80 Days Around The World, Count Duckula, Trapdoor, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, Inspector Gadget, The Real Ghostbusters, Dogtanian & the Three Muskerhounds and Defenders of the Earth to name just a few. I can remember all of these so vividly. Well apparently, Ofcom don't feel that today's children's programmes are very good in comparison.

The Daily Mail reports that youngsters are being fed a diet of imported cartoons and repeats. Shows made in the UK and premiered on a domestic channel account for 1% of the output. Cartoons make up 60% of programming and 83% are made abroad.

Ed Richards, Ofcom's chief executive called for a national debate on tackling the fall in quality. "This comprehensive study highlights the decline in homegrown commercial children's TV production and the revolution in young people's media consumption. Parents are understandably concerned and we now need a national debate on what measure, if any, can or should be taken."

Evening meals are being eaten later and later...

The Daily Mail reports that dinner time in the average home has slipped to 7.47pm because of longer working hours and changing lifestyles. This is two hours later than ten years ago.

58% of the people surveyed siad that their increasingly busy lifestyles are to blame. More than a quarter said the main factor was the increase in working mothers, while another quarter said it was because of longer working hours.

The survey, for Jacob's Creek wines, also appeared to reconfirm the theory that the traditional family meal, with parents and children around the same table to eat and chat, is disappearing.
Only 36 per cent said they ate at a table, with a mere 21 per cent saying they used meal times as an opportunity to chat to their family. Twenty-nine per cent admitted to eating their meal on a tray in front of the television. One in five said they watched the night's soaps while eating, while 8 per cent said they logged on to their computer at the same time.

The poll also found that by the time the average person has finished cooking, eating and clearing up and is ready to enjoy the evening, it is 9.38pm.

I thought this was really interesting research, and I guess it has implications for us as teachers. Of course, it means that our own lifestyles are affected and that we often end up working late into the night as a result. But it also means that children must now be going to bed later than ever.

Virtual Learning Platform

Today I attended a course where we were shown how to set up a Virtual Learning Platform for our school. The link will take you to my work very much in progress.

We are using UniServity. The company aims to provide schools with,
"An easy-to-use set of online teaching and learning tools for pupils, teachers and parents. Primary schools can create an ‘interactive playground’ in which pupils can take ownership of their own learning areas, participate in collaborative projects with other children all across the world, and become autonomous and empowered learners.

The cLc has enabled schools to produce the most innovative and inspiring examples of how a learning platform can transform the way a teacher teaches – and more importantly how your children learn!"

This really does look amazing. The possibilties are endless! I was sat at the course thinking, "Wow!" Then I quickly came back down to Earth when I remembered how much work will be involved setting the site up. It does look reasonably straightforward, just time consuming.

Has anyone else set up a VLP?

Pupils borrowing only one book a term

Children are missing out on reading for pleasure because schools are failing to spend enough money on library books. The average pupil borrows just one book a term because school libraries are so underfunded and underused. Library budgets have been cut to allow for an increase in spending on computers and ICT facilities.

According to a survey for Booktrust, 61% of primary schools are failing to provide the recommended number of books for their students, spending £8.04 per head on books, instead of £10.

The research also showed that it is difficult for children to borrow books with half of primaries closing their libraries at break and lunchtimes.

Heroes Season 1

I purchased the Heroes DVD on Amazon a few weeks ago. Lisa and I have been hooked! It's brilliant! It is completely gripping and extremely clever in the way everything fits in. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but the entire series is awesome and the finale is fantastic! I can't wait for the new series to start on BBC2 in the new year!

Packed lunches haven't improved

Despite all the effort by the Government and celebrity chefs, the quality of packed lunches have not improved since 2004.

Research by the University of Leeds revealed that nearly half of packed school lunches did not contain any fruit. Of the 1300 pupils, aged 8 and 9, in the survey, 68% had a cake or biscuit in their lunch bix and 12% had sweets.

Sandwiches were in 85% of lunchboxes with 37% of these made from white bread. Brown bread was used by 4.6% and 3.4% used wholemeal bread.

The researchers concluded that there has been no improvement in the nutitional quality of packed lunches since a similar survey in 2004.

Quiz Busters

Quiz Busters is a great website where you can design your own quizzes, based on the Blockbusters format. There are also lots of games ready prepared for you to use. The games would be great to use in a plenary to assess the children's understanding. Best of all, the resources are free to use!

20% of pupils come from an ethnic minority

Statistics from the DfCSF reveal that a fifth of England's school children now come from an ethnic minority, compared to 11% in 1997. In primary schools, 21.9% are ethnic minority pupils. 447000 primary pupils do not speak English as their mother tongue.

White British children are now outnumbered in primary and secondary schools in 29 of the 150 local education authority areas, including Leicester, Luton, Slough and most London boroughs.

There are concerns that the increasing number of pupils with English language difficulties is putting a strain on resources.

Damian Green, the Conservative immigration spokesman, said it is important to know how many immigrant children starting in British schools can speak the language. He added, "If they can't and they are being taught in overcrowded classrooms, this makes it much harder for teachers to do their job."

Boy with nut allergy is banned from school

A pupil at Howden School in East Yorkshire has been banned from school as he has a nut allergy. The headteacher was concerned that none of his staff was trained to cope if the 11-year-old had an allergic reaction, so he banned the pupil on grounds of health and safety.

Head Andrew Williams said staff were working towards an acceptable solution. "My main concern is to ensure that we meet the healthy and welfare needs of all students in our care."

Staffroom

A report in the TES describes the way that staffrooms are not used the same any more.

Their survey that more than half of teachers spend less time in the staffroom than they used to. Many said they are too busy with planning, clubs and break duties. Sound familiar?

Others complained that the staffroom is more like a workroom, with desks and internet connections that distract from banter and relaxation. Some were even forbidden from eating lunch there. Of 5000 teachers, TAs and head surveyed, 44 did not even have their own central staffroom.

80% of people interviewed said that they visited the staffroom at least once a day, with half saying they went to chat. Some said it was important to go to a 'management free' zone where they could escape from pupils for a few brief moments. 72% of heads said they spend less time in staffrooms than they used to.

The new staffroom in our school isn't finished yet. We plan to turn it into a staffroom without any clutter, resources or computers. We are going to try to ensure it remains a room for the staff, where they can relax and switch off. We will have a separate PPA room for staff to work without distractions.

Has anyone else got any thoughts about this survey?

Primary Teachers are better trained?

A Becta survey has revealed that primary teachers are vastly better trained in using technology than secondary teachers. Virtually every primary teacher had received some training, as opposed to only half of secondary teachers. 80% of primary teachers had attended a formal training course whilst only 1/3 of secondary teachers had done this.

The survey showed that confidence levels were high in primary schools and 80% of teachers thought they were effective.

Erm... Hope for nervous speakers...

According to the Daily Mail, experts at Stirling and Edinburgh universities have proved that 'disinfluences' (um, er, erm, ah) actually help to make us better understood.

Volunteers were asked to listen to a series of sentences, including a number which had disinfluences. They then carried out a series of tests to measure how much the listeners could remember. Inserting the 'ers' had a significant effect on how well the subjects could recall what was said.

Neil Stevenson, deputy director of education and training at the Law Society of Scotland, said, "We're sure some of our members will be delighted that their ums are now seem as a sign of clear communication."

Erm... sounds good to me!

How to silence unruly pupils

The Daily Mail reports on an interesting piece of research. backgroud noise may help unruly pupils pay more attention in class. Scientists found 'white noise' helped children with ADHD concentrate. The same was true for children with no behavioural disorder but who under-achieved at school.

In contrast, brighter pupils, without ADHD, were put off by noise and performed better in silence.

Researcher Goran Soderlund of Stockholm University, who led the study, said: "The discovery is surprising, since previous research has indicated that children with ADHD are easily disturbed in distracting environments."

A group of 42 children aged nine to 13 took part in the first test, half of whom had ADHD.
They were read a list of 96 verbal command sentences, such as "roll the ball" or "break the match". They were then asked to recall as many of the sentences as they could.

Those without ADHD remembered more sentences when the task was carried out in silence.
But those with ADHD did better when subjected to white noise - a whooshing sound similar to the static from a radio tuned between stations.

A possible explanation for the findings, published in the journal Psychological Review, involves
dopamine, a neuro-chemical that helps control brain activity. Low achieving and ADHD children are deficient in dopamine, said the scientists. For them, noise appears to stimulate the brain just enough to make it function better.

But the brains of children with normal levels of dopamine may be over-stimulated, lowering their ability to concentrate and remember.

Does anyone have any experience of this in practice?

Txt spk

I loved Eats, Shoots and Leaves and enjoy reading anything about how the English language is evolving. I thought this article by John Humphyrs in the Daily Mail was quite interesting. It's all about the way the Oxford English Dictionary is removing hyphens from a lot of words, because people are too lazy to use them when sending text messages!

National Motto

Every school and public building in the country will be emblazoned with a new 'national motto' under Gordon Brown's drive to encourage patriotism and Britishness.

Could it be happening...? Could I actually be agreeing with Gordon Brown...?

The 'statement of values' summing up what it means to be a British citizen could even be written on UK passports and birth certificates as a way of engendering a sense of national pride. Ministers want the motto to reflect the national identity and be as commonplace as America's 'In God We Trust' or the French 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity'.

Insiders said the motto will be chosen by a 'citizens' summit' of 1000 people for it to be 'truly representative' of Britishness rather than be imposed by ministers or dreamt up by a team of highly-paid consultants. Members of the public will be asked to come up with five or six word slogans, perhaps based around ideas of fair play or national pride.

I think this is a fantastic idea. I have long thought that British people lack patriotism. How many times do you hear an American say, 'God Bless America'? Americans love their country. How many times do you hear Briton say, 'God Bless Great Britain'? It's about time we all started to believe in our country, and a motto could make some difference in building a sense of national pride.

There are bound to be countless joke mottos that are suggested, but I hope people take this seriously.

Should classes swap each year?

There is an interesting article on the TES website about whether children should be swapped around in their year groups at the end of each year or if they should move up through the school together. At the moment we don't swap the children in our school. They do mix for sets in Maths and English. I can see the benefits although I can also imagine the disappointment if good friends are separated. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Pupils want to ban sweets and burgers

An NUT survey syggests that most children want unhealthy food banned from schools. More than 2/3 of 8 to 15 year olds wanted to ban crisps and sweets and also stop burgers too!

More than half of the 270 participating children also wanted a ban on the advertising of foods such as crisps, sweets and burgers on televesion. Almost 3/4 wanted a restriction on fastfood companies setting up websites that targeted children.

I'd love to meet these children that don't want sweets, crisps or burgers!

Yahoo Year Six Teachers Group

I have discovered a group in Yahoo for Year Six Teachers. It seems quite useful and people seem to be sharing some good ideas. I hope to contribute a few resources to the site in the next few weeks. It looks like a good way to share thoughts!

ICT Blogging Plans

Subject:		Focus:		End product:		Notes:
ICT		To produce a blog website		A blog website with photos, videos and text		In this project the children will be setting up a live website and so they will need to be given a code of conduct for using the sites appropriately. All passwords and usernames must be recorded so that any unsuitable material can be taken down immediately.
Date	Learning Intention & Success Criteria		Targeted support for the lesson	Activity and Differentiation				Resources
				New teaching	Main Activity		Plenary
	Learning Intention: We Are Learning To use email Success Criteria: I can send an email and have an online chat			A code of conduct must be discussed with the children regarding use of email and websites. Explain that all email address accounts must be only used in school and websites can only added to in school. Any offending material must be removed immediately.	The children should go to http://mail.google.com/mail/signup and create an email account. They should enter their username and passwords into a Word document so that we have a record. Usernames should take the form "wclpsjohnc" The children will be given the email address of the teacher (not their personal account, of course!) and be asked to send the teacher instructions of how they opened their email account. This will then be printed to go into their ICT book. The children should send emails to each other and use the chat facility to speak to another member of the class.		Remind the children about the code of conduct. Look at the Learning Intention for the lesson and decide whether they have achieved it.	Teacher's email account
	Learning Intention: We Are Learning To set up a blog Success Criteria: I can set up a website			Explain that the children are going to create a blog. 'Blog' is short for 'web log' which is like an online diary. It can be used for all sorts of things – you don't just have to use it like a diary. Show the children the example of UK Music Review. The more original the idea, the better.	The children will go to www.blogger.com. They will create a new blog account. Once again, the log in details must be recorded. Before any new posts are added, we need to work on the layout. Go to customize and template to do this. The children should add a short description to explain what their blog is about. Click on add a page element. The children should add a picture of the school or a picture of a hero. They should add a newsreel to show news related to the content of their blog or about their favourite football team. They should add a video reel for the same thing.		The children should share their blogs so others can see.	List of ideas for blogs
	Learning Intention: We Are Learning To add posts with text pictures and videos Success Criteria: I can add posts to my blog			Discuss what the first blog post should be about. Demonstrate how to add a post. The children need to know how to change font size and colour and how to spell check.	The children should add their first post to their blog. Demonstrate how to add a picture to a post. The children should add a picture to their second blog post. The children should be shown how to add a video to their blog. They can choose from a selected set of videos. They should add a video to their third post.		Again, allow the children to look at each other's blogs.	Carefully selected videos
	Learning Intention: We Are Learning To add lists to a blog Success Criteria: I can add a list to my blog			Show the children how to add a list of links to their website	The children should add a list of links to their favourite websites. The children should add a Top 10 list to their website.		The children should add comments to other people's blogs.

Primary targets to raise achievement of all pupils

The TES reports that new targets for primary schools will conbine maths and English results and highlight how much progress pupils are making. The change, which will come into effect in 2009, means schools must do more to improve all pupils' marks - and not just those on the borderline.

Schools will now have to set targets based on the proportion of children progressing across two levels within four years.

The revised targets indicate the Government's increasing determination to close the gap in achievement as fears grow that the pooreset pupils are being left behind.

Primary heads are unlikely to wecome any change to targets that focuses on English and maths because it would put them under pressure to narrow the curriculum.

School Website advice

I am currently making arrangements for the relaunch of our school website after our amalgamation. Hopefully the site will be up and running by half-term. I will let you know when it is online. In the meantime, here is a good website with ideas for how to maintain your website (and also what not to include!)

Primary Resources Interactive

Primary Resources have added another site. Primary Resources Interactive is a new webpage with links to a selection of their online activities.

There is a small but very useful selection online at the moment but more are to be added soon.

Primary Music Teacher

I found this site, recommended by Primary Teacher UK. Primary Music Teacher is a website full of free resources for teaching music.

Plenary Games

Quiz Busters is a useful site for plenary games. There's an interesting version of Blockbusters which will prove to be fun to use in class.

Make your own comic strip

I have discovered this fun and useful website where you can make your own cartoon strips. They can be printed out or emailed. I think this would be good for storyboarding ideas, homework challenges or for cross-curricular work.

Makebeliefcomix.com

One week gone already

Doesn't time fly! One week has gone already. My Lucozade addiction is in full swing and it's like we've never been off!

The amalgamation of our junior and infant schools has been interesting so far. Of course, the county would have you believe that amalgamating a schools is all about improving standards by having an consistent education all the way through primary school. In reality, everyone knows it's to save money. Their support has been poor and they seem to have the idea that the amalgamation will just happen without any problems. They go on about the educational benefits and I understand these. What they don't make you fully aware of and don't really provide any where near enough support for is pretty much everything else.

For instance school dinners. Our poor Year Sixes have been left with 5-10 minutes to eat their dinner whilst everyone gets used to providing dinners to around 240 children. The logistics of bringing the infants over to the junior building are difficult. What about the admin? New letterheads and the least of the problems. How about a telephone system that won't work? Computers that do not have the same data? Not being able to order things properly because the new school 'doesn't exist'? The massive operation to give out the new uniform will go on for a few more weeks yet (and that's without the new ties which haven't arrived yet!)

So far its been good fun but very chaotic. I have to give my first ever assembly to the infants on Tuesday! I am quite nervous!

Better diet, better results

Children who shun junk food in favour of fruit, vegetavles and oily fish do 11 per cent better in exams, a study claims.

Patrick Holford, visiting professor of mental health and nutrition at Teeside University carried out the research, funded by the organic food firm Organix. More than 10,000 children were included in the survey which found that unhealthy diets were linked with poor performance as well as bad behaviour.

Professor Holdord said, "The brain is 60% fat. Children who eat good fats, from raw nuts, seeds and oily fish, double their chances of high performance."

Synthetic Phonics 'works miracles'?

The Daily Mail reports that children who struggle with reading can make dramatic progress in just a fortnight when they are given traditional lessons. The study, carried out by Civitas, has shown that primary school pupils increased their reading ages by nearly two years in as many weeks when they were given intensive 'synthetic phoniocs' lessons.

Synthetic phonics involves teaching the letter sounds of English and how to blend them together to work out unfamiliar words. Civitas claimed that this system has the potential to end the 'apartheid' between the educational haves and have-nots, and putting a stop to the 'thousands of children consigned to the educational scrapheap by the failed reading schemes promoted in the schools over the past decade.'

Does anyone have any more information about how synthetic phonics might affect teaching in Year Six?

Remember The Milk

The new school year will bring with it all sorts of tasks that we need to do. Well Remember The Milk is a new way of keeping on top of your to do list. Jobs can be added to your easy to manage task list and you can view this anywhere. I have already begun to use the site and I think it will help me over the next 12 months! Here is a site with instructions for using this application.

Keep failing pupils back a year

The BBC reports that David Cameron, the Tory leader, is proposing that failing students should repeat the last year of primary school. He said the move could form part of a "genuine schools revolution" improving literacy, numeracy and discipline.

But Schools Minister Jim Knight said the proposals for pupils to repeat a year would only stigmatise children who needed extra help. "They would also increase class sizes and make it impossible for teachers and parents to plan ahead," he said. "We need to intervene early rather than holding kids back."

And a government spokeswoman said Mr Cameron's claim that 43% of children leave primary school unable to read, write and count properly was "quite wrong". The Tory leader's intervention came as Schools Secretary Ed Balls urged schools to concentrate on the basics. He admitted government reforms had "not delivered for every child".

100 Literacy Framework Lessons

My Year Six colleague and I are beginning to try out the new literacy framework this year. We are using this book for inspiration. It looks really useful and it includes a CD-ROM with lots of useful resources. I know I will refer to it a lot this year.

New year, new challenges

Well I can't believe the "Summer" is over. I think we've had about two days of sunshine in the last five weeks. I wonder how many people completed all those jobs we'd planned to do in the holidays. I know I haven't. I've done lots of them. I guess that five weeks sounds like a long time at the beginning. But by the end you really could do with one more week...

I have been in school 8 days over the holidays. I've mostly been tidying up my classroom after a hectic final term. I've also put up a few displays (I will try to get some photos online soon) and prepared for the new class.

As from tomorrow our school is a primary school due to our amalgamation with our infant school. There are bound to be many challenges of bringing the schools together. I am a little anxious about what we have to do this year but also really excited! It will be so different. I will be teaching 3 and 1/2 days each week and so thinks will feel strange.

For any one out there that is reading Year Six Teacher blog rest assured that I will continue to write about news, ideas and lots of random things that I find interesting. I thank anyone who reads the site especially anyone who leaves comments.

11-year-olds drinking twice as much as 5 years ago

Drinking among children as young as 11 has nearly doubled in five years according to the Daily Mail. NHS statistics show that a fifth of secondary school pupils admit to drinking regularly. Although this is down from a quarter in 2001, the quantity of alcohol consumed by children aged 11 to 13 who do drink regularly has shot up from less than 6 units a week to more than 10. The NHS also suggests that their survey underestimates the amount of drinking by youngsters.

8200 pupils from 288 schools in England were questioned in the Autumn term of 2006. More than half thought their parents did not mind them drinking, as long as it was not too much. Two per cent said their parents let them drink as much as they liked. 26% said they had been given the alcohol by a friend and 23% were given it by a parent.

Doesn't anybody care what their children do any more?

Writing standards fall at KS1

Writing standards among seven-year-olds in England have fallen for the second year in a row, the latest figures show. Some 80% of children reached Level 2 in school writing tests - a fall of one percentage point on 2006.
There was no change in maths, science or reading this year, with some 90% achieving the required level in maths, 89% in science and 84% in reading.
Schools minister Andrew Adonis said he was pleased with the results but called for more efforts to drive up standards. He congratulated pupils and teachers for their hard work.
He added: "We know that children who reach the expected level in reading, writing and maths at seven years old have a much better chance of leaving primary school with a solid foundation in literacy and numeracy skills. While there has been real progress over the last 10 years, we need to continue to push for year-on-year improvement because it is vital that all children gain a thorough understanding of the basics. That is why we are doing much more to support early reading, writing and maths."

In all subjects a higher proportion of girls than boys reached the expected level. In writing particularly, girls were further ahead with 86% achieving the writing standard compared to 75% of boys. And among seven-year-old boys, 84% were judged to be on track in speaking and listening, while girls were ahead with 90%. Lord Adonis said that from September phonics would be central to the teaching of early reading for all children.

Liberal Democrat education spokesman David Laws said it was a national disgrace that "one in four boys don't even have the most basic writing skills aged seven. These figures will be very disappointing for ministers as boys continue to perform far worse than girls, and improvement overall has stalled or in some cases is even going backwards. Shadow schools minister Nick Gibb said the results revealed a lack of progress in raising standards in the "three Rs" which was "hugely concerning".

Isn't it wonderful when an 'education spokesman' describes the children's efforts as a 'national disgrace' and 'hugely concerning' without ever offering any suggestions as to how this could be improved. Children and teachers deserve a pat on the back for continually striving to raise standards.

Class Displays.co.uk

I recently contibuted some photos to Steven Moore's Class Displays.co.uk website which shows photographs of displays in each subject and in each year group. It's a very useful site and I have used to gain ideas for a French display which I'm going in to school to set up tomorrow. The site is well worth a look! Just think what could happen if every teacher sent in just one photo...

Resource Websites

Over the next school year I plan to collect links to websites for different subjects. Please send in your ideas so I can add them to the Year Six Teacher Delicious site. I plan to publish a list of sites at the end of each month.

The focus for September is Art.

The Lost A-Team

I found this video on YouTube. I really want to watch Lost!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

What a great ending to the series. I have loved reading the Harry Potter stories and I think this was a great way for the stories to end.

I wasn't too keen on the '19 year later' ending. I think it would have been nicer for the reader to imagine what happens next. But I thought the battle was incredible. I can't wait to see what this looks like in the film. It will surely put Lord of the Rings to shame.

Fantastic!

Rhys Jones

Whilst we were away we saw the news about the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones from Liverpool. I felt sick when I heard. Poor Rhys was the same age as the children we teach in Year Six. He was just about to start in his new school. I can't even begin to imagine how his parents, family, friends and his teachers must feel. It churned my insides to think what if it happened to a child I have taught...

The evil person behind this wicked murder must be caught, and I think we can count on the people of Liverpool to make sure this happens.

My heart goes out to Rhys' family and friends.

Palma Nova

I have just returned from Palma Nova where I've had a brilliant week with my partner, Lisa. each year our holiday is the one week where I switch off and do absolutely nothing!

Palma Nova has some good beaches where we spent a lot of our time. We arrived on Saturday and had the rest of the day to spend on the beach. I was able to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows... (more on that later). In the evenings we usually went to a place called Stadium where we saw some good tribute acts (Rod Stewart and Queen). We visited Golf Fantasia where we played 54 holes. This is well worth a visit. The Western Water Park was good but the queues were really annoying. Best of all was the Pirates Adventure. We went to see the Uncut version. If you ever have chance to see the Pirates show then go! Apparently it is going to be touring the UK soon.

The weather wasn't always good but we really enjoyed ourselves and it was great to relax!

Mojorca

In a couple of hours I'm off to Majorca for a week! Speak to you in 7 days!

KS3 SATs Results

There is quite a debate going on at Primary Teacher UK about KS3 SATs results.

There has been a lot of focus in the news about the KS2 finally hitting the SATs targets that were set for 2002. Well the BBC today writes about the KS3 results.

The proportion of 14-year-olds in England reaching the required standard in maths tests fell slightly this year. 76% reached Level 5 or above, against 77% in 2006 after a three-point rise over the previous year.

There was an increase of one percentage point in the proportions of pupils meeting English and science standards, to 74% and 73%. But the government had set a target of 85% reaching Level 5 in English and in mathematics by this year.

Within the English results, there was a six percentage point increase in the share of boys meeting the required standards for reading but a drop of two percentage points in writing.

Some 65% of boys met the standards for reading compared to 78% of girls, while 80% of girls met the standards for writing compared with 67% of boys. Boys' writing was highlighted as a particular concern when the primary school results for 11-year-olds were published last week. In English overall, 80% of girls made the grade compared with 67% of boys.

In fact girls out-performed boys in each of the core subjects. Some 76% of girls and 75% of boys met the mathematics standard, and 73% of girls and 72% of boys meeting science standard.

In information and communication technology (ICT) 74% of pupils met or exceeded Level 5.

Whilst the news about the KS3 results sounds like a mixed bag, what amazes me about the whole report is the statement, "the government had set a target of 85% reaching Level 5 in English and in mathematics by this year." If targets are being set at 85% to be Level 4 in English and Maths in Year 6, why is it that pupils are only expected to improve by 1 level in the next three years? Something just isn't right here. Year 2: Level 2, Year 6: Level 4 and Year 9: Level 5? The average rate of progress should be to improve by 2/3 of a level each year. In my book this means that the target at Year 9 ought to be at least Level 6.

Can anyone shed any light on this issue?

QCA ICT Schemes of Work

I have prepared an overview of the QCA ICT Schemes of Work at my resources website. Hopefully it is accurate, but let me know if it isn't.

As you know, I am not a fan of the QCA scheme at all because I think it is at least 5 years out of date. Here are some of the things that the scheme doesn't include: Instant messaging, blogging, Wikipedia, social networking, podcasting, web page design, transferring music to MP3 player, editing photos (Photoshop), Windows Movie Maker, Flash animating and Photo Story. The Internet is barely mentioned in the QCA scheme.

Does anyone have a new scheme of work they would recommend? Has anyone already addressed these omissions in school?

It is my plan this year to begin to create a new scheme of work in ICT which is more up-to-date. Help would be really appreciated!

Walk to school... or else!

The BBC explains that a report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy is suggesting that Exclusion zones should be set up around schools to force parents and children to walk to class.

The report blames over-use of cars for fuelling the "twin crises" of global warming and an obesity epidemic. Researchers found the amount of walking fell from two hours a week to just one when households started using a car. They say banning cars around schools would instil good habits early on and call for "concerted action". The IEEP study says that if people walked one more hour a week - the typical difference between those who own a car and those who do not - it could mean a reduction in average weight of up to two stone in a decade. And the additional walking could displace at least 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from cars.

As long as the ban doesn't apply to staff then I'm wholeheartedly in agreement with this!!

Let parents buy bargain uniforms

The Daily Mail reports today that schools have been warned to scrap exclusive deals uniform suppliers or face prospecution. Children's Minister Kevin Brennan said that get-tough policy was to ensure poorer pupils are not prived out of places at certain schools because they require an expensive uniform.

Mr Brennan said schools should allow parents to take advantage of high street offers by scrapping requirements for clothing to carry a specific logo or trim which must be bought from more expensive suppliers.

He warned that schools which continue to sign exclusive contracts with selected outfitters could find themselves under threat of prosecution by the Office of Fair Trading. Government guidance would be published in the autumn which will make it clear that uniforms must be affordable and sold in a range of outlets.

New car

Thought I would treat myself to a new car! A Renault Megane. Should be picking it up on Thursday. Can't wait!!

Absolutely Del.icio.us

I know I am very late in catching on with this but I've been exploring Technorati, Digg and Del.icio.us today to see if I can attract extra visitors and increase the amount of comments left at Year Six Teacher.

This Del.icio.us thing looks good - I will try to add links to useful and interesting websites to this.

Heroes

Wow! I am really getting in to Heroes, the new TV programme on BBC2. As you will be aware I am a crazy Lost fan. I needed something to replace it. It turns out that Heroes is that programme.

We are now up to episode 4. Hiro and Aldo spent the episode cheating their way to winning money in Las Vegas. Until Hiro reappeared at the end to meet Peter Petrelli. A brilliant ending. We see more about Niki's alter-ego who meets up some bloke in a lift. She was forced to seduce Nathan Petrelli in order to get out of debt with Linderman. Claire's father spent the episode being creepy and hanging around with some mysterious guy who is told to 'go deep' as he touched a screaming Matt's head. Claire wakes up on the autopsy table, closes her rib cage and makes a run for it. After learning that the lad who tried to rape her in Episode 3 has done this before to another girl, she takes him for a drive and crashes into a wall on purposes. After waking up with Simone, Peter Petrelli went to visit Mohinder who wasn't altogether convinced that Peter was there with a genuine unusual ability. Peter says he only has powers around other people with special powers - Nathan and Isaac. He goes to visit Isaac but Isaac is high on drugs and painting more creepy pictures of the future.

Next week I will watch the BBC2 and the BBC3 episodes so that I don't miss out when we go to Majorca the week after next. I can't wait! (for the holiday and Heroes!)

Four in ten 11-year-olds don't make the grade in three Rs

Four in ten children leave primary school without a basic grasp of the three Rs, national test results have revealed.

Official results published yesterday showed a slight rise in the proportion of pupils making the grade in reading, maths and science.
This year, 80 per cent of pupils made the grade in English - reading and writing combined - and 77 per cent in maths. But this still means nearly a quarter of a million pupils will move up to secondary school next month without having mastered the skills of reading, writing and maths. Ministers were forced to admit they had "further to go" as it emerged just 60 per cent of all pupils - and 56 per cent of boys - reached the expected level for their age in the three Rs combined.

As teachers' leaders demanded the scrapping of national testing and targets, Schools Minister Lord Adonis insisted the regime was here to stay. However, he revealed the Government was reviewing the current target for 85 per cent of pupils to reach expected levels in English and Maths."We are in discussions at the moment about where we go next on targets," said Lord Adonis. "No conclusions have been reached yet but we do expect to see year-on-year progress." He hailed the "best ever" set of results for state schools.

Meanwhile, Steve Sinnott, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "The national test results conceal the downside of tests, targets and tables. "We surely must be able to come up with a better system than one which encourages the hot-house pressures of teaching to the test at the expense of the rest of the curriculum and unrealistic national targets."

Isn't it great - the results improve and yet people still aren't happy.

Very funny!

Worth watching!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAVVVMcTShQ

Pupils should supervise lunches

A recent reports suggests that older pupils should become paid dinner supervisors in school canteens and lunchtimes should be made longer not shorter. The School Food Trust suggests that lengthening the daily lunch break would allow pupils to relax, eat properly and recuperate for the afternoon's lessons. It also says that teachers should sit among pupils and communicate using coloured cards to avoid having to shout.

The booklet 'A Fresh Look at the School Meal Experience' is really interesting and it has lots of practical ideas for making lunch times a positive experience for everyone!

UK Music Review

I have created a blog where people can review the latest music releases called UK Music Review. Add comments and let others know what you think!

Boffin Squad

The Boffin Squad is a new website which helps primary pupils identify their areas of intelligence and help them to choose the career path that they may follow. The website features colourful characters all with different backgrounds, hobbies and degrees of intelligence. The idea of the site is to change people's ideas about cleverness. The creator of the website, Ian Fisher, says, "Every single child is a boffin. Every single child is good at something. But they may not know it because they don't score highly in what we label key skills."

SATs Targets reached five years late!

The Independent reports that primary schools will reach an important target for national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds this summer - five years after the original deadline for attaining it. The percentyage of children reaching the required standard in both maths and English tests will rise by between 1 and 1.5% this year. This would mean that for the first time 80% were reaching the required standard in English and 77% in Maths. The targets set for 2002 were 80% for English and 75% in Maths. As these targets were not reached that year Education Secretary Estelle Morris resigned!

Whilst this news is fantastic, results still fall short of the aspirational 85% set in 2006!

INSET Day

Just as one year has left, we spent the morning of our INSET day preparing a diary of events for the next entire year. How quickly will this one go?!!

With our amalgamation there are exciting times ahead. I'm really looking forward to being part of it!

Leavers' Assembly

We held our Leavers' Assembly today. The children were sensational! Some of the children read their favourite memories of Year Six and the whole school. Everyone was given a part in our History play where the children explained what they learned this year in History. We also had a humorous sketch to show some of the amusing things that happened in our visit to France. We are so proud of the children and how much they have improved and matured this year. I wish them the best of luck for high school and the future.

It always amazes me how kind and generous the children and their parents are. Lots of brilliant gifts! Thank you everyone!

"Could I Do Better" by Phil Beadle

Today the Daily Telegraph published the first of three extracts from Phil Beadle's book, 'Could I Do Better?' The featured article includes inspiration for how to develop the learning of children of differing intelligences - the mover, the talker, the thinker, the dreamer, the musical child, the mathematician and the wordsmith. It makes for interesting reading. The whole article is online at the newspaper's website.

Presentation Evening

Known in school as 'The Oscars', we held our annual Year Six Presentation Evening tonight. This is a lovely evening. Each child is given a certificate to reward their SATs results and they all receive one or two others to celebrate their efforts during the year. PE, Humanities, Maths, English and Science certificates are awarded, as well as prizes for sports stars, musicians and Road Safety Officers. We also have a Maths Student of the Years and and English Student of the Year. Afterwards, our school cook had prepared special cocktails for the children and grown ups and lots of photos were taken!

History: Out of order?

Children must be taught landmark dates in chronological order from primary school, to give them a common sense of British history and identity, Ofsted has told the Government.

Far from knowing the order of key events, such as the Battle of Hastings or the signing of Magna Carta, pupils have no overview of history and cannot answer the 'big questions' it poses. Not only are key events in British and world history overlooked, but without a sense of the order in which they occurred, students cannot make any connections with the periods that they have studied.

This is what we teach in history in our school (in order from year 3): Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Romans, Vikings, Tudors and Britain since 1930. I can't help think that we get it wrong! Do we need to teach about two ancient civilisations? Why can't we teach Victorians as well? It will be interesting to see what happens when we join up with our infant school in September. I'm looking forward to finding out where our new subject leader will steer the subject.

As far as our history in Year Six goes next year we will continue to teach Britain since 1930 but our focus will purely be on the Home Front and World War 2. In the past we have tried to cram in so much, but the children love our study of the war and I can't help feeling that we'd do it more justice if we focused on this period and its legacy for the year.

I'd like to create a sort of World War Two garden outside my classroom. I want it to include a miniature Anderson shelter as well as growing some vegetables. Does anyone have any ideas? The photo shows a victory garden I found on the internet. At the moment this is my only source for inspiration!

Grow a Pound Week - Spending the money!

On Tuesday the children made their decisions about how to spend the Grow A Pound Week money. They decided that they wanted to buy some recycling bins for the school. A wise investment, I think, and one which shows how much the children have matured this year!

They decided that their leavers' treat would be to go bowling! Somehow, in just four days a visit to the local bowling alley was arranged. We had a brilliant afternoon and they had a really good time.

Grow A Pound Week has once again proved to be a worthwhile activity and I would recommend anyone to try it. Please get in touch if you'd like further details.

Bonkers over Conkers

Headteachers who ban conkers and snowball fights because of injury risks were blasted by Schools Secretary Ed Balls yesterday. “We all want children protected from harm and abuse. But this does not mean we should wrap them in cotton wool," he said.

"You have to have as a society some common sense and that applies to the legal system. The idea that as a society people are not playing with snowballs because of a compensation culture isn't the kind of society I want to live in." He revealed that £2 million was paid out last year to children injured on school property.

He warned that kids are being robbed of childhood pleasures because of molly-coddling staff. Scores of schools refuse to let kids play traditional games or go on trips for fear of being sued.

It's about time that someone said it!

Sports Day

We managed to fit in our sports day today. A really enjoyable afternoon was completed when Dario Gradi came to present the winning team with the trophy!!

Work Experience for Year Sixes?

We arranged for a small number of our Year Sixes to go on work experience today. They went to the Infants and the local nursery school to work with the children. They loved it and I hope it has developed their interest in working with children even further.

I wonder - would it be possible to organise a work experience placement for all the Year Sixes. Maybe there are insurance implications for employers to take in 10-11 year olds. Does anyone else do anything like this? I can't help thinking it would be brilliant!

Grow a Pound Week - The results!

Last year we held our first ever Grow a Pound Week. It proved to be a great success as the children grew £60 into £400.

I was absolutely gobsmacked when the money was counted from this year's week. Would you believe that £59 was grown into £620!! How did they do it?!

The children were brilliant in running their stalls (one stall was even featured in the local newspaper). Now the two winning teams get to choose how the money is spent. They need to choose a leavers' treat and something to buy the school!

And more football!

We only went and won the football competition that I mentioned last week! We have an incredible side and I really can't wait to see how well they do next year!!

Wistonia University

So Wistonia University came to a close this week. This has proved to be a huge success and children, staff and volunteers have really enjoyed the experience. The newspapers came round today to take some photos so I'm looking forward to a report being in the Crewe Chronicle soon! On Thursday we will have our Graduation ceremony. Between now and then I've got tonnes of certificates to print out for the children!

Who says you wind DOWN at the end of the year?

Reports

Today we gave the children their SATs results and they were each sent home with their reports. The children have done exceptionally well and we are very proud of them.

It's always a relief to get the reports sent home - they are on your mind for ages!

More football

The problem with being the school football team manager is that if your team does well then the number of nights you have to devote to it increases!

Just when I thought all the football might be over for this year a new competition was announced for pupils in Y4 and 5.

Would you believe it but they won tonight's group stage! They couldn't stop scoring! This now means that we are through to the final on Monday!

Sharing Network Trophy

As a member of the Steering Group of the Primary Strategy Learning Network of which our school is included I wanted to organise something for the children to enjoy before the end of the year.

Over the last few weeks, therefore, I, and some of my Year Sixes, have been organising the Sharing Network Football Trophy, in which the five schools in the network entered teams of pupils in Years 2 and 3.

What an enjoyable afternoon! Particularly because I didn't actually have to do anything! As well as being something for the players to enjoy, to help promote economic well-being I arranged for the Year Sixes to run everything. They were the referees, the commentators and the score keepers. They distributed the refreshments, took the photos, manned the car park (with supervision) and presented the trophy! The children relished their responsibilities and did a fantastic job!

Milldale - A River Study

Would you believe it? The only day that it hasn't rained and we had rearranged our river study to take place that day! The weather did us a favour for the first time this year!!

Considering we only made the decision to have the visit yesterday the day went surprisingly well!

At 7.30 this morning I was putting up signposts to help parents to find the Scout Camp, and adding orienteering clues and notices for where activities were due to take place.

The bus took us to Milldale at 1.15 (taking a very long way round). Once there, the children were placed into groups whilst safety points were discussed.

The children were going to take these activities: orienteering around the grounds, poetry writing, a tree study (finding the height and age of the trees), sketching, investigating the speed of flow and finally studying the depth of the river and discussing erosion and deposition.

The children learned a lot about rivers and had a great day. I spend the whole afternoon in the river working with children on the last activity. It was cold but really good fun (apart from when I slipped and fell)!

We hadn't arranged transport to get home as we organised a barbecue and invited all the parents. So at 5.45pm parents began to arrive and an enjoyable day ended with a great chance for parents to chat and have something to eat.

After a mad panic to organise everything I thing we did a good job. The children (and parents) really enjoyed themselves so it was worth it!

And guess what! As I was driving home, it began to rain!

River study is back on

Despite a successful start to Grow a Pound Week I didn't really have time to enjoy it with the children. This is because this morning we went to do a final risk assessment to see if we could have our river study on our reserve date, tomorrow. Would you believe it? After all the rain the river actually was not flowing too fast. The depth was not too bad. I had to dangle from a log with a stick to check the depth and it was fine!

Whilst I am thrilled that the river study can take place after all, it now means that we have today in order to organise a whole visit. I was so convinced it would be cancelled, I haven't bothered with a lot of the preparation!

The worst thing is that by lunchtime we had made arrangements for the visit to be on. However, of course, a few minutes later it was pouring with rain again! I will let you know whether it's a disaster or not tomorrow!

Grow a Pound Week

Today we launched our Grow a Pound Week in Year 6.

The children have each been given a pound by the Friends of the School to form their own businesses. They have a week to 'grow' their pound into something more. The money they make will be used to pay for a leavers' treat and also to buy a gift for the school - a sort of legacy. Last year the children raised £400 which was raised on bouncy castles and ice creams for the Year Sixes and a bench for the school.

They were allowed to form companies of up to 4 people (so they would have £4 instead of just a pound). Last week they had to carry out market research to find out what people thought about their idea for a business. They then had to prepare a business plan and a presentation to give in a whole school assembly. The presentations often included PowerPoint slideshows but sometimes they included sketches, demonstrations or question and answer sessions.

Over the weekend the children went out to spend their pounds on prizes and materials. Today they arrived in school armed with cakes, biscuits and lots of other items ready to launch their stalls. The stalls are held each lunch time for a week. Of course the rain made it difficult today and the stalls were forced to go inside.

The children love this chance to show their entrepreneurship. I will keep you up-to-date with how much they grow their pounds.

Leavers' Prom

Our Primary Strategy Learning Network schools are working ever closer. We decided that we would hold a Leavers' Prom. One school agreed to organise it this year with someone else taking a turn next year.

It took place this evening at Wychwood Park Golf Course, near Crewe. The children enjoyed it greatly. There was a disco and a buffet with lemonade cocktails. A photographer was there to take photos of all the children looking smart. Each child was given a yellow rose (symbolising friendship) to take home. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Staff Vs Pupils

Well we didn't let the rain stop one of our other annual traditions. Last year I arranged a football match between the staff and the Year Sixes and it was such a laugh. We drew 0-0 and then lost on penalties.

After being dry all day today it started to rain at about 3pm. But we weren't going to let it stop us! We played in the pouring rain and had a great game. We ended up drawing 5-5 (we equalised in the last second of the game)! We then went on to win 3-2 on penalties!

It's a fantastic laugh and a great way for the children to help end the year!

River study cancelled

Well the rain has claimed yet another disaster - we were supposed to be taking the children to do a river study today. This time last year we were basking in heat on one of the hottest days of the year. Today we wallow in the wettest day of the year. How much water can there be up there?!

Updated ICT schemes of work

I am think ahead about changing our ICT scheme of work next year. The QCA schemes of work are years out of date and bear no reflection on the different ICT skills that are needed in 2007. Where is social networking? What about blogging? How about Wikipedia? Perhaps downloading music and podcasting ought to be taught now.

I was wondering if anyone has anything new and exciting that they use in ICT. In particular I am wondering whether social networking is used in the classroom.

Any thoughts?

Memory stick

I found a bargain on the net the other day. I wanted a new memory stick to save my work on and I discovered this bargain. £17.99 + £1.99 P&P for a 4gb memory stick. I bought mine from DVD.co.uk. There are some other memory bargains to be found too. Might be worth a look...

Girls' House Football Competition

Today we completed our Girls' House Football Competition! This has become an annual event which the children love and the parents really support. The girls play as part of their house team and they have played each other over the last few days. This year, our red team, Beeston won!

June's Poll

Thank you to everyone who voted in June's Poll. I was trying to discover how much teaching of English and Maths goes on after the SATs. The results were interesting:
5 times a week - only 8.7% of readers have 5 lessons a week.
4 times a week - 26.1%
3 times a week - 34.8%. This is how often I teach after the SATs. I think this helps to promote a varied and balanced curriculum.
2 times a week - 21.7%.
Once a week - 0%
0 times a week - a brave 8.7% don't teach English and Maths at all after the SATs.

The poll is going to take a month off in July. The next poll will begin in August!