[Majlis]

Originally Posted by mikeyddd

The two posts you are comparing both quote 2 differnt time frames so the result will be different

Does the timeframe matter when you have no source for the allegation - the BBC link seems to imply that the figures were plucked out of the air irrespective of timeframe

[Sniffle774]

Originally Posted by Jilly

and Labour sold 139 so your point is?

That they missed some and the Tories are finishing off the job ?

[Annsyre]

Originally Posted by Ethel_Fred

Almost 2,000 academy schools are free to sell off their playing fields without any independent checks

Nice little earner. What else are the Academies allowed to do on a whim without any oversight?

And of course Free schools don't have to provide sporting facilities or even playgrounds

I hadn't realised that we had so many academies.

Almost half of all secondary schools and 5 per cent of primary schools are academies, with many more in the pipeline.

Do you have a link to the information that Free Schools do not have to provide sporting facilities or playgrounds?

I wonder what he link is to selling off playing fields and getting our largest ever haul of Olympic medals.

[Judge Mental]

Originally Posted by Annsyre

I hadn't realised that we had so many academies.

Almost half of all secondary schools and 5 per cent of primary schools are academies, with many more in the pipeline.

Do you have a link to the information that Free Schools do not have to provide sporting facilities or playgrounds?

I wonder what he link is to selling off playing fields and getting our largest ever haul of Olympic medals.

I don't think it's true that there are 'many more' in the pipeline. In the area where I live there was a rush to convert to Academy status when there were significant financial inducements available. These have now largely disappeared and because 85% of schools said they only converted for financial reasons the flow is now a trickle. In my area less than 1% of primary schools have converted and less than 20% of secondary schools. We have not had a single new Academy conversion being put forward in the last year.

It's also not true that Academies can simply dispose of playing fields. The majority of convertor Academies have been transferred on the basis of a 125 year lease and the Academy trust has to obtain permission to any disposal from the landlord ie the local authority. It's different for free schools which have freehold ownership of their sites. It really does need looking at to ensure proper consistency between different categories of schools.

Free Schools will have to ensure they have adequate outdoor space for play and PE but as they don't have to follow the national curriculum they don't actually have to teach PE at all! And there are now going to be no regulations governing sports pitches since the government abandoned them for all schools. It's a sorry state of affairs.

[RecordPlayer]

Originally Posted by Jilly

and Labour sold 139 so your point is?

Both parties are wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right.

[RecordPlayer]

Originally Posted by Nessun Dorma

Not in my experience. I have yet to see a true example this.

In primary schools today, everyone's a winner. There are no losers. goodness knows how the pupils are going to cope when they start secondary school.

[Judge Mental]

Originally Posted by RecordPlayer

In primary schools today, everyone's a winner. There are no losers. goodness knows how the pupils are going to cope when they start secondary school.

Where is your evidence for this?

[Sniffle774]

Originally Posted by RecordPlayer

Both parties are wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right.

That never words here don't ya know. The other sides wrongs are always worse...

[RecordPlayer]

Originally Posted by Judge Mental

Where is your evidence for this?

My daughter-in-law, who told me about the lack of competitiveness at my grandson's school on sport's day.
No matter what position a child finished in a race, for example, he/she won a prize. Everyone... received a prize. (my grandson didn't end up in any of these positions either but my daughter-in-law is trying to teach him about fairness - that not everybody's a winner or has to be good at sports.
The idea of upsetting children who don't win is really absurd and unhealthy. I've no idea when all this started.

(A couple of friends have also mentioned this new trend.)

[Judge Mental]

Originally Posted by RecordPlayer

My daughter-in-law, who told me about the lack of competitiveness at my grandson's school on sport's day.
No matter what position a child finished in a race, for example, he/she won a prize. Everyone... received a prize. (my grandson didn't end up in any of these positions either but my daughter-in-law is trying to teach him about fairness - that not everybody's a winner or has to be good at sports.
The idea of upsetting children who don't win is really absurd and unhealthy. I've no idea when all this started.

(A couple of friends have also mentioned this new trend.)

I don't think it is a 'new trend'. Very few school have entirely non competitive sports days although some primary schools have team events where everyone gets something. Which is fair enough because the aim is to encourage young children to enjoy physical activity for its own sake (for its health and wellbeing benefits) rather than only being interested in the one person that happens to win the race.

My own children attended schools where the winner got a certificate but everyone taking part got a small prize - a lollipop or something - by way of a reward for taking part. And this is no different from competitive sports such as football where you get a competitors medal.

There is plenty of time for children who are particularly gifted at sports to compete with each other from the age of 10 or 11 - it's not essential for 6 year olds in my opinion.

[Nessun Dorma]

Originally Posted by Annsyre

I hadn't realised that we had so many academies.

Almost half of all secondary schools and 5 per cent of primary schools are academies, with many more in the pipeline.

Do you have a link to the information that Free Schools do not have to provide sporting facilities or playgrounds?

I wonder what he link is to selling off playing fields and getting our largest ever haul of Olympic medals.

I thought that the idea of "Free Schools," was to not to have follow any rules.

[Ethel_Fred]

Campaigners called for a parliamentary inquiry yesterday into allegations that Michael Gove overruled advice not to sell off a school's playing fields in return for the local Tory council funding a controversial free school in the same borough

[Sniffle774]

Source

Last night it appeared that the 2012 GCSE English results have been deliberately manipulated by changing the grade boundaries at the last minute so that more children fail or get lower grades.

The story began to emerge on the TES forums earlier yesterday.

It gradually became clear over Twitter that this was national situation and speculation began that deliberate political interference from the DfE was behind this.

IF this is true then is low, even by the standard of modern politics.

It works like this:

1. Government put up the “threshold” for intervention in schools to 40% pass rate A-C in 5 subjects including Maths and English from 35%

2. Government manipulate the exam boards to change the thresholds so fewer children pass English

3. Hundreds of schools now eligible for “intervention” and are forced to become academies run by chains favoured by the DfE

Yes it really is that simple and blatant.

The problem is Gove seems to forget that the collateral damage here is to real children. Whatever you think to GCSE exams moving the goalposts in the middle of the game seems a particularly cruel thing to do. Especially when the victims are our children.

[Ethel_Fred]

The parents were against it, the Government’s official advisers were against it

So what happened - the Education Secretary & the local council ignored them.

Good to see "localism" is doing so well.

[Annsyre]

Originally Posted by Nessun Dorma

I thought that the idea of "Free Schools," was to not to have follow any rules.

Not true.

[JoLuc]

And Gove is a Tory C***.
That is one fact that no one can deny.

[Nessun Dorma]

Originally Posted by Annsyre

Not true.

So, what rules do they have to follow, in the context of the subject being discussed?

[spiney2]

bring back 1930s style calisthenics ie physical jerks. this playing fields stuff is fesh air mania from the miasma ridden days of smog pollution. no need for it now.

[spiney2]

i dunno. boy scouts used to be into "tumbling" liternally. gymnasitcs display team wd spend all day building a 30 foot high human pyramid which then collapsed in late afternoon. a few broken bones but all part of the rough and tumble of life which people accepted in those days .........

[spiney2]

..... back then with victorian values women were forbidden to do sports. doctors knew it made their voices break and turned them into men ......

[Sniffle774]

Originally Posted by spiney2

..... back then with victorian values women were forbidden to do sports. doctors knew it made their voices break and turned them into men ......

Well in a week that we leant you cant get pregant if your raped who knows....

[WindWalker]

Originally Posted by Sniffle774

Source

IF this is true then is low, even by the standard of modern politics.

This deserves it's own thread to be honest rather than buried in here. If true, it really is underhand and duplicitous behaviour; they seem capable of going to any length in order to ideologically change established sections of society using austerity as cover. There is definitely something going on as many have voiced concerns over when and why the marking was suddenly changed, Gove of course claims to know nothing...

[Tassium]

These people aren't even bothering to be sly about it now.

Just blatant lies and scams.


Fixing the exam results so they declare a school a failure and privatise it.

[Judge Mental]

Originally Posted by WindWalker

This deserves it's own thread to be honest rather than buried in here. If true, it really is underhand and duplicitous behaviour; they seem capable of going to any length in order to ideologically change established sections of society using austerity as cover. There is definitely something going on as many have voiced concerns over when and why the marking was suddenly changed, Gove of course claims to know nothing...

Whilst it's not possible to prove that it is true there is very widespread belief within the education sector that because insufficient schools have converted voluntarily to Academy status to allow a tipping point to be reached, where the government could argue to convert the rest, that other means would have to be found to edge towards that tipping point.

It was clear from the way the Academies legislation was framed that they would try first to induce the more successful schools to convert by offering them 'freedoms' and hard cash. At the same time they would increase the potential numbers at the bottom end that could forcibly be converted - and that would leave those in the middle being squeezed. It hasn't worked the way they wanted. Very very few primary schools took the bribe. In my own area fewer than 1% decided to voluntarily convert - and until the floor targets were lifted almost no schools would have been subject to forcible conversion.

Now that the flow of voluntary convertors has dwindled to a tiny trickle Gove is having to concentrate efforts on so called failing schools even though there is scant evidence that Academy status has any bearing on school improvement.

I do think it's scandalous that assets held by the local authority on behalf of the local population are being vested in the hands of academy sponsors who may have no real interest in the particular community. They are being handed over free of charge meaning that councils can no longer achieve market value disposal for sites they no longer need in order to support investment in other local services.

The whole situation stinks to high heaven.