my beautiful girl

[di]

It is so hard. Before DD went up to Junior School, I heard so many bad tales. I really struggled with whether to send her there so she could stay with friends or uproot her and move to a 'better' school. Turns out to be an excellent school. (IMO)

The reason I mentioned looking into becoming a governor. It's what I did. There were a group of mums always moaning and waiting for the school to let their child down, I decided I'd prefer to be a doer and give it a shot. Honestly, if you saw or met me, I don't think you'd put me as your 'typical' school governor...but then, you wouldn't any of our body.

I really enjoy it, it's not only given me a better insight into what the school does, but also gives you a voice to challenge, encourage and come up with new ideas.

All that said, I have heard that governing bodies aren't always so friendly. I would look into it though...you don't ave to commit, but you could have a lot to offer.

[di]

Somebody should make covers that can be wrapped round the ORT so the other kids don't know what band someone is on.

Totally agree.

[julesapple]

I was like that - I read Swiss Family Robinson in primary school, I remember my friends trying to read it and finding it intelligble. I also consumed things like Enid Blyton (Malory Towers, Famous Five etc.), Swallows and Amazons etc. - the only problem was that I ended up with the vocabularly of an upper middle class 1940s child. "Gosh!" was a favourite, as was "jolly good!", calling people "bricks" and saying "hello!" to objects/events.


I read 'Five on a Treasure Island' last weekend and it's still spiffing.

It's not a bad thing, as many people write as they speak. I read all of those books, long with Sue Barton Nurse series, The Chalet School books ( I was so bored with my school and so ignored at home that I was desperate to go to Mallory Towers) and I ended up speaking like that too. My parents' friends thought it was wonderful and one couple asked if I went to elocution lessons. I found that, once we moved to Scotland, I was streets ahead in English because I did write with a Glasgow accent (no offence, I loved Glasgow and miss it still, 27 years later)

I read all of these books to my children, despite criticism from their teachers, and it's done them no harm. It's quite good social history in a very light sense. My DD picked up the differences in lifestyle of the main characters from Arthur Ransome's 'The Picts and The Martyrs', and the working life that the farm boy, Jackie, led when she was about eight. I did quite a lot of explaining to all four about how different life was back then. It made them think.

Jules

[Creemteez]

I remember my sisters telling me that I should read The Narnia books when I was about six. I picked up The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and never looked back - been bestest friends with them ever since! Still have a little "dip" every now and then!

[julesapple]

Lost count of how many times I've read all of Arthur Ransome's books. I think I re-read them every year. I so wanted to be Susan....

Jules

[boosmummy]

Well ive just been to the see the new school, which is my old primary school. Its a nice little school, the classes are mixed so year 1 and year 2 are together which i think would be good for bootsy, they have a creative curriculum and a thematic approach to the learning in the afternoons.

It is a catholic school, boo isn't christened and i wasn't planning on having this done until she could decide whether she wanted to, this isn't a problem, they have holy communion in year 4 as well as confirmation which to be honest would be a good age for boo, to decide if she wanted to.

any thoughts of mixed classes?? xx

[julesapple]

In a mixed class, surely there's more scope for a very bright child? One would have thought that if a Yr 1 child was bright, she could be sat with the Yr 2s? I'm a bit out of the Primary school way of doing things now that #3 son is almost 15.

Jules

[Two_Sheds]

any thoughts of mixed classes?

I'm in the special needs class for extra numeracy & literacy support: they're years 3-6 inclusive. Some of the older children feel "babyish" being with the youngsters, but we're a small friendly group and encourage them to work together, with the older ones acting as examples or mentors (hahaha ~ good intentions anyway)

[Hilary B]

When I started school they were still using the Janet and John books, and I had already read them, so after 1 term I was let loose in the school library. One of the first books I fell in love with was "The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge, and then there were the Green Knowe books (I now have the set of 6, purchased from ebay about 2 years ago) and of course, Narnia.
I learned to read by having my bedtime story read and the reader pointing to the words as she read them, I can still remember snippets from "The tale of the lost baby mouse" ('Tails and whiskers,' said the lost baby mouse, 'these stairs must lead up to the moon!') which my big sisters tell me was the ONLY story I wanted.
In those days (and for some time after) Enid Blyton was the inspiration to many people seeking presents for young readers....

[Mikey]

My daughter is just a little older than yours BM, but she has loved reading the Rainbow Magic group of stories about two girls who are friends with fairies, there is the arch enemy jack frost and his goblins. She's been reading them since she was 5 and still likes to borrow them from the Library from time to time.

We've also been reading 'Dirty Bertie', a fantastic collection of books about a boy who is very good natured, but prone to picking his nose, and getting into mischief. They have me laughing out loud when we read them together.

DD loves audio books and our local library has a whole host of books on little mp3 players, or cd for the car. We get through a lot of books, but I think it is often the best form of education as they can learn so much about the world in a controlled environment, and their imagination is greatly improved as a result.

She was a stubborn reader until they started covering read write inc in school, and she played on reading eggs on the computer, at home. She hasn't looked back since, and leapt 4 reading brackets in the space of a couple of months.

[Creemteez]

Does anyone remember the "Armarda Ghost Books" I think that Armarda was the publisher and there were seven or eight of them. All short stories buy different authors - I particularly remember one called, " A Pair of Hands" about a sweet little girl-ghost and another which I think was called "Pride Goes Before a Fall" which involved a rather unpleasant rich family and a spectral rider....
Funnily enough was looking for these on Amazon last night but they didn't have anything that fitted that genre.

[julesapple]

I remember them. Like this one?

Some of the stories stuck in my head. I remember a girl in my Higher English class at school in Scotland, who got an A+ for a ghost story we had to write, and I knew she'd copied and shortened it verbatim from one of the Armada books. They weren't widely used up there I don't think.

Jules

[Creemteez]

Wow! Jules! That's the one with the scary horse-rider in it! (The cover is a bit of a give-away, innit!) Am SO-O-O-O-O-O tempted to put in a bid!!!!

[boosmummy]

well after all that, she isnt going anywhere just yet. We had a chat last night she doesnt want to move school, so im going to keep her there.

One of the childminders this morning at school made a good point and said wait until shes in year 2, its a new teacher who is better etc.. and a lot of parents have had issues with her teachers the moment over the years, so this is the way im going to do it i think xx

[Two_Sheds]

I'd agree with that. This year's almost over already