Blog fatigue evidently well set in

Two months, near enough, since my last entry. I actually came here today with the intention of deleting it all, but - to hell with it, I'll carry one for now. It's good practice.

So, in the intervening two months, Daughter has turned five. It's possible that education (NOT school!) is now compulsory, or it may be that it's compulsory from next term; I'm not entirely sure. It's academic anyway. It does mean that having her exclusively in age 5-6 clothes (or, ahem, bigger) no longer means I feel that we are raising a giant. Also that lots of things which are aged 5+ come within scope (although 5+ often means Yr 1 and up, which is often beyond her) ... and then I have to pay for her to go swimming, or on the bus. Boo.

Ongoing Free Milk Saga
This is also supposed to mean that she no longer gets free milk at school. She's indicated that she only drinks the milk because she is made to, and I asked her teacher whether some of the children over five don't have the milk (I was worried she may feel left out) and indeed some don't, so I didn't sign up to pay for the milk. However she says she still gets milk - perhaps they're making up for all the milk she didn't get at the beginning of the year?! I'm not sure if this is a bad thing, as it stops her drinking water, or a good thing, because she wouldn't drink the water anyway.

School Dinners
The new school dinners start next term. Various people (me included) have put some money in the online system already, which has distressed the catering company (or is it the payment company?) who are convinced that we don't understand, and have made the school secretary phone everyone and tell them it doesn't start till next term. I might have to go in one day and have a school dinner. They had better be bloody good, considering they cost more - oh yes, they cost 10p more to parents, but cost only 5p more to make! They also put more responsibility onto the school for processing payments than previously, so the school is looking at actually employing someone to do the administration. Time for my 'local authority is mad' tag, I think. Really, it's such a rubbish situation, you're supposed to be responsible for the finances of your school (head teacher and governing body being 'you') but the local authority gets to make decisions that reverberate through the money. Weird.

SATS
Okay, that's milk and dinners covered. What else? SATS. Still a couple of years off for us, and that's just SATS-lite, the Key Stage 1 ones that are based on teacher assessment. IF they exist by then. The school, meanwhile, has it's Key Stage 2 results. Aggregate percentage of 298 at Level 4 (the expected level) - that's 100% English, 100% maths, 98% science. In a school of 60 per year group, that means every single child achieved what they should have done (or more) in English and maths, and ONE child underachieved in science. This puts the school tenth in the county (which is good, btw, I had to explain this to Husband, there are a LOT of primary schools in the county). TENTH, with ONE child having failed to make the grade in ONE subject. It doesn't quite add up, does it? Meanwhile the top two schools in the country have aggregate scores of 293 at Level 5. Which, depending on the size of the school, could potentially mean one child failing to OVERACHIEVE in one subject. Okay, 'overachieve' is a bad term - failing to excel. Nearly all the children in a school excelling in the basics of education.

Is that realistic?

Does it demonstrate that the school is excellent?

Does it demonstrate that the school's catchment is extraordinarily privileged? That it is selective, either openly or subvertly? Does it actually demonstrate that SATS are complete bollocks?

I incine towards all three. All four in fact (over my two paragraphs). Perhaps not #3, but definitely the others. #1 and #2 so often go together, after all. And are SATS bollocks? Daughter's school believes that two children should NOT have achieved Level 4 in English and maths. They don't even believe their own good press.

Chances of SATS in this form surviving until Daughter is of the relevant age? Negligible.

Secondary Admissions
Onto more horrors of early 21st century education. Secondary school admissions. A little over half of Year 6 (34 children) got into the two nearest state comprehensives. A further eight got into the next three nearest state comps - that's a good result for the two who got into the good one, but a disaster for the remaining six, who got into two schools which have been under special measures in the past, and, well, they're out now, but not exactly in a phoenix-from-the-ashes fashion. Two are going to a co-ed comprehensive faith school (Catholic/CofE, how weird is that?) leaveing sixteen going to grammar schools (one co-ed, two girls' and one boys' school), and just one going independent.

It's a worry. We have yet to get any idea whether Daughter might be grammar school material. The nearest grammar school has a very good reputation and results (not always the case, I believe one grammar school has been put in special measure recently, and elements of Husband's grammar school education left a lot to be desired*) but I don't always hear good things about it. I'm also ideologically opposed to selective education, but hey, I'm ideologically opposed to faith schools as well, so am clearly a big fat hypocrit. So what do we do in a few years? Sit tight, hope for the best, either that the demographics work in our favour (because if Daughter was in Year 6 this year, it'd be the grammar if she qualified, or one of the ex-special measures schools, I know this for a fact)? Move house? Actually we plan to move, but we really didn't want to go far. Cheat?

Most of all though, it makes me sad to think of all the tiny boys and girls in Daughter's year, how in just 6.5 years they'll be off in separate directions, the lucky ones will go with fewer than twenty of their peers to good state comprehensives, or with a handful of peers (not necessarily friends, or children they can even stand, of course) to a grammar school, or on their own to a private school. The unlucky ones will be off, perhaps even on their own, to failing schools. It's very different to when I was a child, when/where pretty much two primary schools fed into one secondary.

And Daughter, how is she?
Oh yes, besides the Big Picture, the little picture, the small blonde picture of contrariness. She is fine. She is sight reading more and more, which is a relief (there is a limit to the number of times a person can hear the word 'and' being sounded out without wanting to scream), and getting a grip on some more rules of the mad English language. Her spelling is somewhat less bonkers, but still rather endearing. Hence 'hape bersday' on a card to her friend (phonetic spelling probably works a lot better when you actually pronounce things correctly, but where's the fun in that?) Socially she seems alright - her teacher is pleased to see her making friends with one little girl, as they are 'a good match'. Not sure what this means. Little girl's mother not sure what it means either. Also not too sure about the flirtatious way in which she addresses the boys. I think we're in for trouble later. Major amounts of psychological energy taken up with wondering when her wobbly teeth will come out - she has two new teeth visible behind them, one VERY visible, and is beginning to look a little like a shark.

* the drunk chemistry teacher for one, and the failure to teach the correct texts for English lit for another

No election required

I appear to be a parent governor. There were three people proposed for three posts, so I'm in. One is carrying on from a previous term, so it can't be too bad. Can it? I've been to talk briefly to the head, and spoken to the chair of the governing body on the phone - we are meeting next week.

So, that's quite exciting. Eek!

I've also had sight of the second booklet (because it does exist, it's just a little behind where it should be), having emailed its author. I suggested I could take a look at it, as a fresh pair of eyes. I made a few suggestions, but it's really very good, useful.

What else? Oh, the milk saga. I tried to call the Cool Milk agency, but got no answer, so convinced myself there was no way that the registration had worked (someone else said they'd had an email on registering) and tried again. Still no email, so later I managed to get someone on the phone. Indeed, neither attempt at registering online had done a blinkin' thing, so I did it over the phone. I now have an email, and Daughter IS getting milk next week. It's a good job she's not five until March, if she was a September birthday we'd have missed the limited free milk at this rate!

I'm holding off on volunteering to help in class, for the time being. I don't know yet how much time being a governor will take up, but the first meeting is in a couple of weeks, and is at 4pm, so will either involve Husband coming home early, my parents taking the Daughter for a couple of hours, or perhaps one of the neighbours having her for an hour or so, just to fill the gap between me going to school and Husband coming home. So I may not want to introduce extra complications into life right now.

A foray into the school office

Well, not INTO the office, but valuable time spent poking my head through the hatch. I don't actually know who I spoke to - you see, if I was any good at schmoozing and networking I'd have made sure I knew exactly who it was - but she was enormously helpful and lovely.

The results of my enquiries:
- Daughter is still not on the milk list, but might be for next week, I need to check again after pick-up today (so much for a slick online process; it's over a week since I registered her)
- I have a school timetable, it is identical to the LEA's (fine) but does seem to have only been distributed via the end of term newsletter, which would again be fine if Reception parents without older children had been sent a copy
- the Reception parents' meeting is on the 17th, again this was in the newsletter, and we are supposed to be hearing about it soon - this is pretty short notice for anyone who needs to arrange babysitting cover in order to go (eg single parents or anyone whose partner is away)
- there is no second booklet, despite the note in the first booklet that says there is a second booklet to come!
- apparently we should have been sat down when the children visited last term, and told about various practical things like milk and PE kits, but this didn't happen - this is 'should have been' as in 'this used to happen' rather than 'this should definitely have happened'

It seems that part of the problem is that there are very few parents as utterly clueless as we are, and the induction procedures have maybe got a little slack for that reason. Over half this year's Reception intake are siblings (official siblings, ie siblings of children further up the school) and at least two children are younger siblings of secondary age children, so while they are not siblings in intake terms (ie get preference over non-siblings) their parents HAVE been through the system before.

It sounds like the website is out of date because the woman who does it has been busy doing network stuff instead. I may have inadvertantly not-quite-volunteered to help out. Will see if anything comes of that.

And if I want to help out in class I need to talk to the class teacher (even though it'd be the opposite class, as that's the policy in Reception). It wouldn't be until after half-term, and I need to be CRB checked (I knew that, and I've been 'done' before, so no big deal).

Free milk, and a free rein on packed lunches

Conversation with my neighbour re milk has been preying on my mind. She mentioned how last year she was the only parent who'd not paid for milk for her son at school, and he went two weeks without it and it was a bit shaming. This year she'd got it into her head she had lost an invoice for her daughter's milk, and got her husband to call the school. Talking to me, she decided she probably hadn't had an invoice, because they won't have milk while they're part-time.

Okay, I went away and thought 'hang on, they're in for alternating mornings and afternoons, and they have milk in the mornings, so surely they WILL have milk while they're part time?' Today I was looking in the prospectus for something else, and it says they're entitled to free milk until they're 5, forms can be collected from the school office.

Argh.

One - when trying to figure out what I need to do for the start of school, an obscure paragraph in the middle of the prospectus is not my first port of call.

Two - getting things from office = not so practical when school is more-or-less closed for six weeks.

I know schools are not literally shut for the six plus weeks of the summer holidays (my mum was a teacher) but I wonder if they forget that we don't ALL know this, and that even parents who do realise this DON'T know when there will be people in school who might be able to answer questions. And supply forms for free milk. I feel we've been rather left hanging for the summer, and think a little extra contact wouldn't go amiss.

On the plus side, the milk people have a freephone number, and even better, a website (coolmilk.com) so I didn't have to drag myself and Daughter (not dressed yet) the enormous distance (200 yards?!) to the school for a form. Apparently they may well not deliver on the first day of term anyway, so she may not miss out on much.

Another bonus was talking to the other Reception teacher, so I got info without making a blithering prat of myself to Daughter's teacher (I always make a blithering prat of myself over the phone). She was very helpful and reassuring. Best thing of all ...

... there are NO rules about what can go in packed lunches. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's nice to be treated like a responsible grown-up (even when you secretly suspect you're not one at all). Yes, she said they encourage a healthy lunch, but no absolute bans. The one thing she said was not to send too much, and to remember that at first she will come straight home after lunch!

I am much reassured. So homemade flapjack will not be classified as an unhealthy cake and be banned, and the occasional Mini Roll (mm) might just find its way in there. Excellent.

Daughter has actually had a practice packed lunch today. She had:

- one round sandwiches (Laughing Cow on Best of Both bread)
- teeny packet Mini Cheddars
- carrot sticks
- apple
- cereal bar
- banana milk

We concluded that a whole round of sandwiches was too much (although she often will eat this much if she's starving and there's not a lot else on offer); carrot sticks went mostly untouched (tough - they're still going in); not much apple was eaten (will look out for teeny apples, and send grapes or suchlike when possible); couldn't open cereal bar (pre-open it); banana milk barely touched the sides.

Daughter declared this an excellent packed lunch, and wants exactly the same every day. Laughing Cow sandwiches every day, even though she'd originally requested ham (but we didn't have any in). No pitta, no bagel, no roll or wrap, just white(ish) sliced. I told her she'd get bored. She begs to differ.

We then practised packing it all up again and not leaving the Klippit (on the Mini Cheddars; she can't open packets), ice pack, box (carrot sticks) or sandwich wrap behind.