BRACING…..
If one word sums of the Yorkshire Coast, then that word is going to be BRACING….. A few brave dogs braved the North Sea but not for long. I lost a game of chicken and had to endure ice cold wet feet. That woke me up.
On the way back WE talked school. Sadly a school that is increasingly ‘missing in action’ as the May Exams fast approach, like an out of control Freight Train.
The more I see, the more I hear, the more I realise just how bad school has been for Hawklad. Looking back to when he was going everyday. He told me that he use to bin most of his pack up school lunches for two reasons. At least once a week he never got the time to eat lunch due to work requirements – I’m not sure a child going hungry is the best way to create an enriching learning environment.
The other reason, the MAIN REASON.
“Dad I used to get so stressed by school, so sad, so unhappy. I truly hated that place, I was scared of it. The teachers didn’t seem to care, the never noticed me. I was never allowed to be myself. It would make me sick, too sick too eat….”
Speaking with his NHS specialist, they can’t keep up with the tidal wave of child mental health problems in school.
How can this happen.
How have we got school so wrong, so stress filled.
A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. 
This is so sad to read Gary. Perhaps home schooling is the right option for you guys.
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I think it is. It’s just he misses out on netting others his age.
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Perhaps when things get better, he can join a club like a history club or a gaming club! It could be online
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I do hope so
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🙏🏼👍🏼
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Devastating. We have got it all wrong in so many ways. The way we are trying to “educate” our children in places where stress runs rampant. So many children do not thrive in the educational systems we put in place for them to learn and grow. I’m sorry to hear your son had such a tough time.
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He was in a class of 30, sometimes more. Overcrowded, very old rooms. Like a Victorian setting, now the teaching is matching the Victorian theme
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That is so sad. That doesn’t sound like setting where anyone can thrive.
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I’m not sure it’s designed to let pupils thrive, I think it’s designed to just do a job at the cheapest cost
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Oh, Gary, this is just so sad. For Hawklad and you, hugely, but you can’t be the only ones. How could one of the very most important things society should get right – a quality education for its young people in a supportive environment – have gone so wrong? I can’t help but think that many teachers are as stressed out and discouraged as the kids. It’s just not supposed to be like this. 😥
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I was listening to a teacher on the radio today. She said she had lost her commitment to teaching because she is not allowed to teach now, she just has to follow a set programme designed by someone 100s of miles away.
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It’s just so sad … for the students, their parents, the teachers, and the country. This is just not how it’s supposed to be.
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It is sad
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☹️
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Schools aren’t any better, here. All they want to do here is provide pedophile/sex books to kids.
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It shouldn’t be like this
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I agree.
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🙏
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“We” went wrong when someone decided the only reason to educate kids was to turn them into workers. Granted it was long ago, but I was taught to be a person first, and then a “productive” member of society (the person I became had no use for society!) So maybe it was people like me who caused the changes. If true, I apologize!
But really, any education system that ignores the person and teaches children to be bricks in the wall is a society on the blink — and on the brink of collapse.
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It is exams and league tables now. Take the set offering, no flexibility. He liked languages but really struggled with the way the school taught it. We asked to switch to a different teaching approach. School refused and he ended up dropping the subject.
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So very sad, Gary. English schools have gone to pot!
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It’s what happens when you hand over control to those with a self absorbed agenda
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Yup. They don’t want thinking citizens, they want slaves and followers. Hopefully next election the followers will follow someone else. Brits gotta be getting tired of the same-old insanity!
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here in NZ, we started home schooling our kids, rather than have their education put on hold all the time with lockdowns, etc
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The lockdowns are so disruptive
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I wonder what schooling is like in Switzerland
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I like your thinking.
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Any thinking is good these days 😂😂😂
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Are you sure? Some thinking can be a right pain in the whatnots.
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It does, time to hide behind the sofa. It’s safe there
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It was really good about 7 years ago when I last asked. More investment. Much better classrooms.
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Words fail me actually Gary.
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A few weeks ago the school wrote out to parents to tell them all that the school was doing to get good exam grades. Page after page. Not one mention of chid welfare, happiness, fun. Nothing about where pupils struggling could turn to.
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Such a shame. I loved school but I’m equally sure there were kids who didn’t since one size doesn’t fit all.
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I think if I was a shoe salesperson and the education secretary came in to try on shoes, I would keep pulling out shoes three sizes too small. Tell ’em that it’s their policy in the schools and they need to suck it up and put their feet in. Maybe for a moment that’d learn ’em!
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😎
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You know what would happen. They would end up quickly getting new luxury shoes provided free for them. The shoe shop would be closed down.
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My nephew makes hand made shoes, fitted to the person’s feet and made some for my eldest. They last.
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Made to last is wonderful
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I think some will love school still but too many won’t.
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I think you’re right
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🙏
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An education really is worth nothing if it’s like this.
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It’s not. The individual child is discarded at the feet of those all important school league tables.
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We are always here to listen ❤
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Thank you ❤️
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I’m so sorry that school has been a stressful situation for Hawklad and you. It is truly sad and upsetting when schools don’t know how to accommodate and support our most vulnerable. Sending you both lots of hugs.
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Thankyou 🙏 Schools are now just about getting good exam grades to put into their league table results.
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Wow, that’s heartbreaking to hear from a child. It is so sad that the system does not provide more options for those children who don’t fit into the regular drawer. Basically, no kid actually does but is taught to fit in… although it is so stressful for Hawklad, he remains who he is… not bending.
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Over the last few years it’s got way worse here. Pupils are just seen as economic assets. Depersonalised.
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That’s a horrifing development when we look at others countries.
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It so needs to change
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I so hope 💖
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It’s shocking but I am glad you got Hawklad to tell you. How many other kids are struggling with no support? Dreadful.
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Too many. The system is failing them.
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I am so sorry. I know too well how your feeling. My daughter wouldn’t eat her packaged lunch as well. Because she didn’t want to have to sit and worry if she would be alone. Have an anxiety attack but it did upset me as the system I fought over and over. Such a fight that was. Hang in there as long as your son knows you in his corners all times he will be fine ❤️
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He has a better chance with you at home, regardless of how you think your doing. Thoughts of inadequacy never crosses the minds of the real thickies at the top.
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That’s the worrying thing, I think he does with me.
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Beloved, you could always give yourself more credit for the so-far-so-good.
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❤️
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That’s so sad 😞 It’s sink or swim, and so many sink. ❤️❤️
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Too many sink ❤️❤️
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😢 SO VERY SAD! And schools wonder why so many are turning towards home schooling! The answer is obvious!!
I did laugh about you losing the game of chicken! 😉 Keep smiling!
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Sadly the narrative is often that those who homeschool are somehow letting the country down. It’s madness
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Madness for sure!!
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As a teacher/tutor, I wish it was less demanding and set up in a more inclusive way. 😦 I hope he finds ways to incorporate his passions into his schoolwork.
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