HearFromYourMP

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• Posted by Jim Pragnell, 11:37, Sun 21 November 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #

  I don't think that schools should be given complete freedom to exclude pupils for ill discipline. The process must be controlled by the local education authority to ensure consistency throughout the area.

  The expansion of popular schools is linked to the issue of grammer schools, which I believe (anecdotely) are not allowed to expand or have new ones built without going through a tortuous public consultation process. I would prefer that grammer schools be phased out but here in Kent that is most unlikely to occur without going through an equally tortuous political process. In the meantime we have the situation where children can pass the 11+ exam but cannot find a grammer school place locally. This is intolerable for the families concerned and our politicians must find a way to end it.

• Posted by Victor Southern, 11:48, Sun 21 November 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #

  Dear Michael

  There is much good in this but it is not an unalloyed benefit.

  Certainly we would like to see less red-tape all round, schools and other types of enterprise but there have been cases of maverick and totally incompetent heads in the past so they cannot be free of scrutiny and control in every way.

  The idea of allowing good but oversubscribed schools to create more places is also good up to a point. Once a school tops about 700 or so pupils it becomes progressively less cohesive; the head has to have several layers of support management. Consequently, a titan school cannot maintain the same quality as it had when smaller. The same strictures affect all organisations so it is a myth that large enterprises are cheaper to manage than smaller ones - the reverse is probably true.

• Posted by Elizabeth McLaren, 14:41, Sun 21 November 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #

  This is a very difficult area, and education is something on which we all have an opinion. I agree that there is too much form filling, and also too many exams at every level of schooling. In my view, one of the main problems is discipline which is a notoriously difficult subject. It makes good sense that the Head Teacher and his/her teachers should have more say in their own school and I'm sure there is a mechanism in place to check on these decisions.

  I do disagree with the previous comments about grammar schools, and want more, rather than less, of them.

  In all, I agree with your comments and hope that any measures can be put in place sooner rather than later.

• Posted by Michael Thompson, 18:05, Sun 21 November 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #

  Sevenoaks is under-provided for in the number of grammar school places available to children who have passed the 11 plus. It would be great to have a grammar school in sevenoaks. Boys often find it hard to obtain a selective place particularly from north Sevenoaks unless they have extremely high marks. It is also hard for girls but not quite as much, statistically.

• Posted by Atinuke Aruna Sokoya, 10:51, Mon 22 November 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #

  I think to some extent schools should be freed to apply relevant and appropriate discipline in the school where necessary. Children should be thought how to take responsibility for their actions. I believe a disciplined child would have culture and grow up to be a disciplined parent, collectively we build a peaceful and harmonious society for everyone.

  Practically ministers have no ideas how difficult it is to teach a child who is allowed to continously get away with unacceptable behaviour. They need to wear the shoe to know how it feels.

  I also believe more local grammar schools should be provided for easy access to children and peace of mind for parents. There is no enough reason why 11+ students should be struggling to get a school place. There should always be an opportunity for every child to aspire and achieve regardless of their academic capacity. children should not face lack of placement because they did not have high score.

• Posted by James McBrien, 12:54, Mon 22 November 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #

  As faith, education and the family are the bedrock upon which society is formed, I believe that there are two things that need to be addressed:

  1. Allow faith schools the freedom to choose who they accept and avoid going down the quota route. i.e. if it is a Catholic school, first and foremost it should be for Catholics

  2. Actively campaign for an end to mandatory "sex education"- in the time that it has been introduced it has not fulfilled what it claims it set out to do i.e. reduce teenage pregnancies/reverse the breakdown of families. If anything it has actively encouraged these trends. Our children are precious and should not be forced to be subjected to this.

• Posted by John Humphrey, 16:29, Mon 22 November 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #

  As an Old Juddian, I naturally support grammar schools and am still annoyed that the introduction of the Knole Academy in Sevenoaks seems to have been conceived as a back-door way of converting the Sevenoaks area to a comprehensive system. I think we probably do now need a grammar school in Sevenoaks (or, rather, two single-sex grammar schools and not a mixed school, please!) so I think the Conservative Party stance on grammar schools needs to be revisited. I can understand why Mr. Cameron does not want to reintroduce grammar schools in areas where they have been abolished (as the next Labour administration will abolish them again!) but we really do need the law to be changed so as to allow additional grammar schools to be opened in areas like Kent that still have them. That would avoid the nonsense of considering the opening of annexes to existing grammar schools in neighbouring towns as a means of getting round the ban on new grammar schools. Two such schools could be created in Sevenoaks by putting one on the Knole west site when it closes, while the site for the other would be created by closing the oddly-named Sevenoaks Primary School and redistributing its current and future pupils around the various other primary schools in and around Sevenoaks. The Sevenoaks Primary School is far too big for a primary school.

• Posted by chris whitaker, 15:49, Thu 25 November 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #

  The need for reform within the education system is very apparent particularly around discipline and the ability for Head's to have more freedom in setting budgets and making more choices around the curriculum. I do have a related question though - why are School Sports Partnerships being abolished at a time that the obesity levels in the UK have reached epidemic proportions? Removing the link between schools and the sporting community is going to mean a very big vacuumn is created and sport will disappear off curriculums. The days of the Geography Teacher running the cricket or netball classes have gone and with no support structure in place it will vanish. Who is going to pick that up? Expecting your local rugby or cricket club to supply coaches into schools is unrealistic.

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