YakiYaki

This is a drawing that Corin did, some time ago, whilst I was sat talking to my Nana on the telephone.

Conversations with my Nana are usually lengthy. Although, she usually stops the conversation at around 58 minutes, quite abruptly, before she starts getting charged for the phone call. Conversations often begin with "Oh hi love, are you busy?" to which I reply something like "I'm in the middle of cooking tea/marking coursework" and she ignores that response and carries on anyway. I love my Nana...but she's always been a talker....must be where our Val gets it from!!!!! Teehee

James got a fabulous parents evening report last night. Really settled in at his school, making good progress, doing some fantastic work, including a presentation to his class about TANKS which his teacher said was absolutely fantastic. He's popular with the other children, who all want to work with him. So its fine.

Was just a bit annoyed with his teacher (didn't say anything at the time, just stewed on it today) as I asked her what Key stage level he was working at - he is Year 4, its 2 years since he did his KS1 SATs and its 2 years till he does his KS2 SATs - I know what he got at KS1, and as pupil progression is my 'thing' at work, I know where he would be expected to be at the end of KS2 if he progresses by at least the 'average' rate. So I asked her the question "What level is he at at the moment". He response was "We have that information, but we don't share it with parents". WHAT?!?!?!!? How. She then made some comment about "I know you're a teacher and so you will want to know that sort of thing, but we don't share it with parents".

SO I re-phrased, asking if she would be prepared to suggest that he was on track to achieve at the end of KS2, at the level I would expect....and again she wouldn't commit.

All she would give me, when I told her what levels he had achieved at KS1 (which I was a bit annoyed about as she told me she didn't know what his results were from KS1 as he had come from another school, BUT, his previous primary school would have shared those results when his records transferred, and we shared them with the school when we signed him up!) was that he had definitely progressed...I should bloody well hope so after 18 months!!!

So, I am doing a bit of digging...my boss's wife is a Dep Head in a Primary, so I am finding out about what they do in terms of sharing levels with parents, so that I can speak to the Headteacher at James' school to find out what the school policy is and try to get some sort of commitment about where he is at - just out of principle. IF they share this information at the end of the school year, thats fine - I'll be happy with that, but if that is the case, we should have been told that last night.

Year 11 photographs today - went well - kids were really co-operative, we managed to get 2 perfect group shots (140 kids and 15 staff) so we were allowed to have the final shot as a 'fun' shot....when the photo arrives in school it will have me on the front row, sat between the Headteacher and the Head of Upper School/Year 11, with their ties in my hands looking like I am strangling them....Lord only knows what the kids were doing behind us :-)

Doctor WHo and snuggle time on the sofa.

Will catch up on commenting later :-)