Don’t get many of these around here. It’s a FORD. It’s about the only time my car gets a wash….
You can see the houses still have sandbags up against the front doors. These days this lovely village sadly suffers from floods way more frequently.
Parked up in a traffic queue waiting to cross a storm damaged bridge, I unfortunately got to listen to the NEWS. MOST Unfortunate as it involved listening to the Government Education Minister trying to explain why more and more pupils are not attending school. Record numbers. Apparently it’s down to a number of factors,
Bad parenting
Immigration
Really bad parenting
Not enough discipline
Truly awful parenting
Benefits culture
Liberal politics
Moral standards
Monumentally bad parenting
Not enough Parents being fined for letting the Country down. Well over a quarter of a million parent fines just isn’t enough….
I guess I am one of THOSE parents the system has a problem with. Well as ONE of those parents I was surprised that the School System and Government Education Policy wasn’t mentioned. No mention of school budget cuts. No mention of the complete collapse in Special Education Provision and Support. No mention of NHS Mental Health Services struggling to cope with the huge numbers of young people crying out for help. No mention of rising class sizes and overcrowded, unhealthy classrooms. No mention of crumbling school infrastructure. No mention of rising teacher workload and stagnant pay. No mention of increasing Government control of what is taught, how it’s taught, how it’s assessed. No mention of the fanatical focus on exam results and discipline. No mention of the drive towards Victorian Education Standards.
That’s a large ELEPHANT in the ROOM.
A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. 
🩶🩶
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❤️❤️
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Well said! That was such a great piece of writing, I almost stood up and cheered.
I’d add Ofsted and School League Tables into the toxic cauldron too…but, we educators are told, parents love those? Xx
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I tried to speak to ofsted once about a clear mistake they had made on a school assessment. They weren’t interested. Not interested in pupils or families or teachers.
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This post needs to be in a newspaper for everyone to see.
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Not sure our newspapers are keen on these views getting aired these days sadly
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Yes, there are a lot of elephants in a lot of rooms, not only in the U.K… Terrible. Beautiful village though…
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Too many elephants
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I’m sorry your area is having problems with flooding! Hopefully your place is okay? I hear you and echo your concerns on all the madding issues with UK public education, and as you know we’re no better…probably worse, off.
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One day the right people, with the right skills and experience will start to shape education. ❤️
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The public school system in the states is probably no better. There are monumental changes that need to be made, I imagine, on a global scale. I am glad you are speaking up towards this needed change.
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So much damage has to be fixed.
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Sounds like the US. We get the added bonus of pornography books for our little ones. Our gov is SO concerned for children’s sexuality.
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That’s crazy, sometimes I’m lost for words
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Government officials don’t want the truth. They have to be heard alluding to problems but blame must be placed elsewhere. It’s no different here. If people could stop arguing and insulting one another and instead sat down and had proper exchanges of ideas…God forbid. I didn’t think I could become more cynical. Those floods are dreadful.
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We don’t have a functioning government any more.
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I watched the house of commons discussing SAND. It was eye opening on the increasing needs and the decreasing ability to mean those needs.
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p.s. Special educational needs and disability (SEND)
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Yes that was my omission
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I always miss of the D. That’s really bad in my part. But those taking the decisions are so clearly the wrong ones
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Everything is always the oarebts’ fault, duuuuh.
I’m SO over politics.
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It’s so self serving these days
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A very big elephant 🐘 .
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Very very big one
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😂
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😊
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Somewhat blinkered
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We’ve been dealing with record high tides and coastal flooding in our Northeast. Sounds like your Government Education Minister needs a wake up call. I’d come over there and give him a sound scolding but I fear it would fall on deaf ears and might land me in trouble.
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That was some storm you had.
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Sure was.
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It’s a nightmare for so many. Was listening to a lady on the radio. Her house was badly flooded 3 months ago, the repair work took thousands and was completed just a few weeks ago. They have been flooded again this week.
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So sad.
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❤️
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I wholeheartedly agree.
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Thank you
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It all does seem to be ignored, the needs of our children. Most everyone in a position of power is the least helpful.
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Wrong people, at the wrong time are in charge of education
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Sounds like those damn large elephants could take the place of the sandbags unfortunately. 😔
It’s a shame that education has to be handled by politicians. It becomes all about getting votes rather than getting the right thing done.
It must be so frustrating and more people need to be held accountable.
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That’s the problem. Too many people thinking about their political careers get to dictate our children’s future.
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Well of course silly, it’s NEVER the Governments fault!
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The only times its not the Governments fault, and they want to “stand up for the parents” is when they want to hurt children =D
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It’s now often labelled unpatriotic if you say anything against the government now.
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Its so weird =/
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Never
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The really sad thing is, and this seems to be global. The opposition isn’t any better. They yell “We need to vote the Tories out if you want to see change”. Then Labor go and agree with everything the Tories are doing.
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It’s like they try to outdo each other on being strong…
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They do! Its odd!
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Interesting perspective on education challenges. Do you think a holistic approach addressing various factors could lead to improvements?
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It is definitely worth a try. We should be trying to open every door to try.
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i find it incredible that your country sees children not attending public school as a negative. In the U.S., homeschooling has continued to grow and thrive and is finally being seen as a hugely positive thing. It’s like, many have waited for decades for the government to back off and allow it in the general population ( you used to have to hold a college degree to teach your own children at home and jump through a zillion hoops and red tape). They finally have, and the homeschooled kids i know and hear about far exceed the ones educated in “the system” in every way..
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Over the lockdown many schools put in place really good online schooling packages. But they were forced to switch it off by the Government to make sure all pupils were forced back into classrooms.
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thats just insane….i may not like our government much here, but thats one thing they have come around on..hope yours does soon too..hugs!
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Thanks ❤️
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I no longer live in the UK but, sadly, I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said.
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It’s getting worse sadly, got so much worse last few years.
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You have to worry for our kids.
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You so do.
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Yeah, a bloody big elephant isn’t it? 😦
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