Today I've mostly bin...

[MBH]

I used to make my own way to and from school from about the age of 8 or 9 but lots of kids can't do that these days.

I probably got myself to and from school from about that same age. Middle school was about a mile away (but probably felt longer with shorter legs ) and high school was probably 2.5 - 3 miles.

My guess is that most kids DO have schools within walking distance of home - the problem might be that they don't go to them. [I honestly don't know of ANY questions about where I was to go to school at any stage of my education]

[Bunnylump]

Well, I quite deliberately sent my two to the nearest comprehensive school. And I don't think anyone could say that they didn't do very well for themselves on it. Yes, they had to put up with the oiks as well as the lovely kids, but IMHO that's just good preparation for life. They both learned to be independent, and that if they didn't work then nobody else was going to bail them out. Dibble's had terrible trouble with some of the privately educated young people at uni - who expect everything laid out for them on a plate and seem incapable of using their own initiative. Anyway, I'll shut up now because I'll get political.

NEWAY

Today I've mostly bin...

having my Dad and his partner for a meal and then took them to the 24th Pepper foundation show.http://www.peppershow.com/showinfo2012.htm This was quite a biggie because this is the first time Dad's partner has been here. Yes, I know they've been together for 22 years, but there was history. Anyway, apart from the fact that she didn't stop talking for the entire day, all went well.

The show was really good. Both K and D were featuring heavily, K played sax on about 12 numbers (things like Sir Duke and Sledgehammer, and a James Bond medley etc.) and piano on Tears for a Rose. D has been mentoring the "Pepper fusion" band, which was originally supposed to be all youths, but they didn't get any drummers applying, so he had to do it!! K was in the brass section, which I have to say were completely brilliant. There was rather a surprising finale of "Barcelona" by Queen - featuring Donald on tubular bells!! They've just got to do this tomorrow, Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday and Saturday. I suspect K (who is teaching full time) will be like a dead thing when she's finished. Although apparently, she told the kids in her class (7 and 8 year olds) that she was going to be in the show, and loads of them have convinced their parents to take them to see it ON THE LAST NIGHT, at a cool £20 a head, with no concessions...no pressure then...

[clvrlad]

well i could look out my back window at hit my high school's windows with pellets from my air rifle....if i wanted to

and my middle school was 5mins to home on foot well when i wasnt reading

yes i walked to school
in fact i managed to save some pocket money up and with three friends we "didnt arrive" at bywell junior school but caught a bus to leeds city centre had a wander around the busy town centre before eating out packed lunches and heading to to the train station to go home
the ticket seller said "wait a minute"
at which point the British transport police nabbed us
and delivered us home
happy days

[LAT]

I'm not sure it is necessarily private/state school that makes the difference but the whole attitude to life and experience. My two have met kids at uni who went to the local state school just round the corner from where they lived, but had never been away from home and had absolutely no idea how to organise themselves. So it seems much more likely down to parenting and the children's own character.

I do sometimes wonder if the fact that mine both left home pretty well straight after uni and only come home to see us occasionally now, means I've done somethng wrong or something right.

[giraffe]

Our catchment school, which is so bad that it is only 50% full and I know no one whose children actually go there, is 3 miles away down a very steep hill. Not sure it's all that walkable. The sought after school in the neighbouring education authority is also about 3 miles away, but not walkable as I wouldn't want the children to walk across the motorway slip road. When we moved here they were about to build a new secondary school within a mile, but 15 years later and they have cleared the land, but it has now been shelved. There is now supposed to be a catholic school coming to the site, but that will replace the heavily oversubscribed one on the other side of town, so I can't see it having places for local children.

[Bunnylump]

I do realise that in some areas there are enormous differences in schools. My friend who lives in Sutton Coldfield said that there was a choice of the grammar school or schools which get something like 25% a-c. So of course everyone shoves their kids through training to pass the 11+. But it does strike me that the failing local schools are NEVER going to improve unless some of the brighter pupils go there. However, of course I can completely understand why people wouldn't want them to achieve a better standard by practising on THEIR children. We are lucky here in that, although some schools are better than others, there aren't any catastrophically failing ones, and there are lots of schools. That said, our school is horribly over subscribed, and every time another appeal is passed, there is another hopelessly overcrowded classroom. Some of the classes I support in don't even have a chair I can sit on.

And LAT, I'm not saying that my son can organise himself for one minute (he's useless ) but the difference is that he doesn't EXPECT anyone to sort out all the things he does wrong or to organise all the things he should have organised and hasn't...

[giraffe]

Yes our local one is one where they only have a 25% pass rate, and there are lots of better schools (Lets face it there are few worse) that people can send their children to. My children all passsed the 11+ for grammars, but they weren't coached. The ones that are coached just struggle once they get there.

[LAT]

Oh I agree with that too. It is one thing to let a child do a couple of practice papers but a rather pointless exercise to do too much coaching for any entrance exams. If a child hasn't got enough natural ability and intelligence then they will struggle in a highly academic environment.
There can also be a lot of difference between schools, especially in terms of how they treat the older pupils. Some still treat them as though they are children who need to be guided and looked after at all times whereas others treat them as young adults who need to be prepared for the real world and encouraged to take responsibilty for themselves.

I personally think that targets and league tables are a large part of the problem. But that probably is too political so I'll shut up!

[Bunnylump]

League tables? Just don't get me started. While I was a governor for the primary school, they brought league tables in. And because OUR school wasn't prepared to cheat, we ended up right at the bottom. It didn't take into account that we had 20% of the children from a local Kasmiri Pakistani community, who were EAL and had extended absences to visit family in Pakistan (I'm talking about 3 months at a time). Lovely kids, but not a hope in hell of them passing the exams at KS2. The headteacher went to a headteacher conference, where they were all commiserating on the school's ranking. She was told "why don't you just fix the exam papers before you send them off? We all do." Which I think sums it all up how useful they are.

[LAT]

I could say a lot more too but I did promise!

Today I saw the Red Arrows flying over our house. We went out onto the ranges nearby to get a better look and just as we got out there a group of 6 flew over our heads followed by a lone plane. I exclaimed "YAY" and opened my arms as I saw them at which point the lone plane did a complete sideways flip. Now since the crowds at Farnborough airshow could not possibly have seen that from where they were I can only imagine the pilot did it for my benefit.
It would only have been seen by me, my OH and one other chap who was out there practising his golf swing.

The rest of the display was more for the benefit of the crowd but we still saw quite a bit of it. We see them every other year when they hold the airshow and I never tire of their display. It makes up for all the traffic disruption we get with road closures and diversions making getting around quite awkward at times.

[Bunnylump]

Great!

Can I please just announce to the world in general that my daughter is NOT pregnant. The "announcement" and crazy photos are the creation of my stupid son, who has got onto my facebook profile.

[Laura]

Aw! Have you been fending off excited messages all afternoon?!?!?

[Bunnylump]

Yes!! He is such a git.

[Bunnylump]

The kids did a "flash mob" in the quad at break today. It was really good!!

[Laura]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a "flash mob"?

[Bunnylump]

Where they suddenly appear in a crowd, the music starts and they all start dancing in formation, then melt away again as if nothing happened. I think you can have singing flash mobs as well.

[Laura]

Cool!

[MBH]

Plenty of fun examples on Youtube (I wonder why this one caught my eye?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgguEZCE3Dk

but the idea has older roots - I like this earlier example of harmony from chaos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2iQ8THWz5k

[LAT]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a "flash mob"?

I'm glad you asked that - made me feel not quite such an ignorant old fogey!

[clvrlad]

dont worry they're so last year

and its not just singing dancing

"a group of people who organize on the Internet and then quickly assemble in a public place, do something bizarre, and disperse"

OED goes further and discribes them as a "unusual and pointless act"
usually organised via social media

http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/8-4-12/69052.html is one based in london

the most famous one i could think of though is american

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo