Author Topic: Special Award of the Week  (Read 52589 times)

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Offline SteveH

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #60 on: September 17, 2019, 12:09:52 pm »
Now this seriously above and beyond...................             

The incredible moment a stadium full of Japanese fans sang the Welsh national anthem has been praised by rugby fans.

Wales rugby team have received a remarkable welcome by the city of Kitakyushu
Around 15,000 local fans queued to get into the Mikuni Stadium and witness the team training, which officials later confirmed was the largest audience in the stadium's three-year history.

The support of residents took an even more heartwarming turn when, moments before the session began, the crowd of thousands began singing the Welsh national anthem.

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/rendition-wales-anthem-15000-japanese-16926723

Offline SteveH

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #61 on: September 20, 2019, 04:30:55 pm »
Reading this article has me fuming, it is an utter disgrace, and I suspect their petty actions will seriously knock his confidence for some time, these days they should be grateful for someone who looks forward to going to school, I repeat an utter disgrace.

The furious parents of a 12-year-old boy say their son has been told to stay away from school until his hair grows back.

Cody Holbrook's mum and dad say they were told he would otherwise have to be put in isolation away from his friends.

The trouble started when he had his hair cut on Thursday last week. His mum Mandi said nothing had been said to him about it the next day when he went in to his school, Ysgol Friars in Bangor .

But on Tuesday this week the Year 7 pupil, who has learning difficulties, was apparently told it was his hair wasn't acceptable because it was shaved shorter on one side than the other.                         ref DP

More...https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/parents-fury-son-12-told-16951922


Offline Ian

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #62 on: September 20, 2019, 06:27:18 pm »
There are so many reasons why schools behave as they do about uniform and presentation. For starters, it's about control. Put kids in a uniform, create hard and fast rules around the wearing of that uniform and the school is half way to taking control of the child in terms of their behaviour.

The other reason is fear; schools are in a competitive situation. They become obsessed with the reputation their school has and know that a part of that is determined with how smart the child looks out of school.

None of this, of course, has anything whatsoever to do with how well the child is educated. But there's a wealth of evidence that suggests a good education for children is really the last thing on most schools' minds.

To return to uniform and hairstyle the head teachers in schools need to realise that hairstyle has nothing to do with how a child learns. A child likes a particular hairstyle, often because their pals have it, often because someone on the TV has it. And there's nothing wrong with that. After all, most headteachers don't buy clothes because they like them: they buy clothes to wear in school because of the effect they will have on the staff and pupils. So why a child shouldn't be able to do the same is an interesting question.

I don't believe school uniform has a single positive advantage for a child; there might be some marginal effect in terms of the school, but none for the child. Same goes for hairstyles. School heads need to ask themselves what would be the effect if children were allowed to wear what they wanted?  Or to have their hair in any way they wanted? Where is the evidence that it would harm learning?  They'll have a job finding any - because it doesn't exist.

Of course children should arrive at school clean. That's a matter of good health and socialisation. A child that's dirty or smells will have a very bad time at school because kids tend to round on the child who's 'different'. But uniform really has no place in school. And the school has no right to dictate what hairstyles are acceptable. Of course, popular schools do, because they know how desperate parents are to get their kids in. But the whole British attitude towards schooling is worrying.

This case, however, involved Ysgol Friars, and that school and its head teacher Neil Foden - have something of a chequered history.  In 2018 the school had paid a biology teacher £8000 compensation for being "handed a “patently unjustified” and “outrageous” suspension by his headmaster. "The Daily post said "Ysgol Friars head Neil Foden and his senior colleagues were provoked by the “antagonistic approach” of the teacher Simon Wilson but they responded in a “petty and vindictive” manner, an employment tribunal heard.

The judgement comes days after another tribunal, taken by teacher Elandre Snyman, described the Ysgol Friars boss as “autocratic” after he wrote a reference for Elandre Snyman and included that he’d been investigated for malpractice - but didn’t add that he’d been cleared."


The independent tribunal who reviewed the case ruled “We expected schoolteachers to lead by example. We doubted whether any of the central characters would endure such petulant behaviour from pupils so we were truly astonished, and concerned, that things got so far out of control. We expected far better behaviour from teachers."

Sadly, many school senior management staff see themselves as god-like creatures and can become very petty in their dealings with staff.  It's a major issue with the way many teachers go straight from school into University and then into teaching, without ever having worked in a non-educational environment.

Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline SteveH

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #63 on: September 21, 2019, 10:18:33 am »
Sad to hear, he is now having a detrimental effect on the children, these days they need all the encouragement they can get, good

example in this mornings DP article..... An eight-year-old Conwy boy has become the youngest known person to climb Wales' 15 highest

mountains in less than 24 hours.               https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/boys-just-broken-snowdonia-mountaineering-16934663

Offline Ian

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #64 on: September 21, 2019, 11:42:48 am »
Impressive.  Our two, when they were six and eight, did six peaks - essentially the Carneddau - in a day but that little chap's done better.  Glad to see they had him roped with a good Kernmantle rope.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Jack

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #65 on: September 21, 2019, 12:10:35 pm »
I don't believe school uniform has a single positive advantage for a child;

Surely it stops some kids from being bullied for not having the latest Nike or Adidas trainers when all their parents can afford is a pair of £4-99 plimsolls from the bargain basket at Poundstretchers? If they are not being bullied they are in a better position to be educated.

Offline Ian

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #66 on: September 21, 2019, 12:20:03 pm »
That was the argument for enforcing school uniform since WWII, but there's no evidence it achieves that. Partly, that's because bullies will always bully and if it's not about clothing it will be about personality, physical size and so on. But there's been a lot of research in countries that don't impose uniform at all in schools, and they seem to have higher achievement standards than the countries that insist on uniform, at least in the West.

So the imposition of uniform isn't based on evidence; it's simply based on opinion.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline DVT

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #67 on: September 21, 2019, 04:29:57 pm »
I wonder what hairstyles are accepted by that school ... to be honest, that lad looks extremely smart.

I could understand it being a bit of an issue if he turned up completely shaven or with a Mohican or one of the other odd styles that are deemed fashionable *by who?) these days.

Offline rhuddlan

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #68 on: September 21, 2019, 04:42:52 pm »
I disagree about the comment "it's not about uniforms ...
I speak from personal experience ,albeit many years ago.
I attended a prep school in the 60s as a day boy and had to wear short trousers a blazer and cap when out of bounds. Can you imagine the ridicule the humiliation levelled at a 13 year old  whilst having to wait for a bus outside the Local secondary modern. Uniforms can lead to the worst levels of bullying by ritual humiliation.

Offline SteveH

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #69 on: September 21, 2019, 05:10:12 pm »
Quote
Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #67 on:  DVT Today at 04:29:57 PM »
QuoteSplit Topic
I wonder what hairstyles are accepted by that school ... to be honest, that lad looks extremely smart.
I could understand it being a bit of an issue if he turned up completely shaven or with a Mohican or one of the other odd styles that are deemed fashionable *by who?) these days.

Could not agree more, which is why it annoyed me so much.

Quote
Posted by: rhuddlan
« on: Today at 04:42:52 PM »Insert Quote
I disagree about the comment "it's not about uniforms ...
I speak from personal experience ,albeit many years ago.
I attended a prep school in the 60s as a day boy and had to wear short trousers a blazer and cap when out of bounds. Can you imagine the ridicule the humiliation levelled at a 13 year old  whilst having to wait for a bus outside the Local secondary modern. Uniforms can lead to the worst levels of bullying by ritual humiliation.

I have been there, even have the T shirt, a very similar situation, that uniform was the same as ours, the difference, I was at a Glasgow secondary modern, with 2000 pupils, and to top it off, can you imagine a 6ft. 4in. skinny 13 year old, talk about a boy called Sue, I toughened up very quickly.

I wonder if the teacher was a bully at school ?


Offline rhuddlan

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #70 on: September 21, 2019, 07:42:51 pm »
Did you get bullied by the local prep school boys then?
Your final question is rhetorical.

Offline Ian

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #71 on: September 21, 2019, 08:09:12 pm »
I got a lot of abuse from the local Secondary Modern kids when I got into the Grammar school. They knew because of the uniform I had to wear.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline SteveH

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #72 on: September 22, 2019, 09:40:05 am »
Did you get bullied by the local prep school boys then?
Your final question is rhetorical.

There was no prep or grammar school near where I lived, the bulling was within my own school, the first term was a bit of a nightmare, being so tall , but things settled down after I joined the athletics team.

Offline SteveH

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #73 on: October 04, 2019, 06:34:36 pm »
I don't know about "Special measures" but definitely special award for the (                    ) who came up with this ...........

Pill bottles filled with sweets were handed out to school children at a science fair - sparking concern from parents.
Ysgol Llandrillo-yn-Rhos pupils were given the bottles filled with Skittles at an NHS educational stand at Venue Cymru's Big Bang event in Llandudno yesterday.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) said they were being distributed as part of "a demonstration on how medicines are counted and dispensed in pharmacies."
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/concern-children-given-pill-bottles-17034073

The pill bottles have now been taken away from the event stand and BCUHB has apologised for the "error of judgement".
They added that they have since "reviewed" their approach and assured parents "this will not happen again."

Offline Ian

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Re: Special Award of the Week
« Reply #74 on: October 04, 2019, 06:41:20 pm »
"an NHS educational stand "


You really have to wonder...
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.