Pates

[FluffyCat]

The GCSE syllabus these days is so prescriptive and narrow that it is hard to see how you would drag it out for 3 years without boring the more able students stupid.

I think the point of the 3 year GCSE course was to cover in depth whilst still allowing loads of time to do other 'off curriculum' activities and enrichment. Thus they probably won't be spending any more time on the actual GCSE work than any other school, but they might be doing other stuff that is fun and informative but not always GCSE related...

Of course I may have completely missed the point - I'm sure someone will tell me if I have

[aargh]

but maybe I am missing something.

Yes, I agree with fluffycat. The way Mr.Fenton put it, the GCSE work is the same, but because it is stretched out you can intersperse it with all those other goodies (like those Amber mentions) which make them whole human beings. The idea is that the GCSE work takes up two thirds of the timetable and other stuff takes up one third of the timetable. Think of it like a string of black beads. If instead you stretch them out on an elastic, you can fit extra coloured beads in between the black ones.

In Amber's model you would get a year of extras then 2 years of GCSE studiousness.
In the Pates model you get 3 years of GCSE studiousness relieved and expanded by also 3 years of extras.
It's not about looking excessively deeply into your subject (unless that's fun), it's about broadening our DCs with things they would otherwise not get a chance to do and doing it in a natural mix so that the study and fun coexist for 3 years.

Common sense and research both show that variation helps effective work.
E.g. when I ran a public library, my staff would have been somewhat perturbed if I had timetabled them to do 1 month on counter duty followed by 2 months of nothing but shelving books all day.

[Amber]

In Amber's model you would get a year of extras then 2 years of GCSE studiousness.

Flattered as I am to have a model attributed to me, if I did actually have chance to get involved in curriculum design, it would look very different from both the standard and the Pates courses. Our country has children specialising far earlier than almost anywhere else - given a free rein I would certainly move away from that rather than towards doing it at an earlier age. And I would not have any kind of selection, and they would spend lots of time outside (and cooking, Milla ) and the syllabuses would be widened rather than narrowed...etc.

I was only reacting to the idea of an early specialisation, rather than offering any kind of thought-through viable option for replacing it.

[aargh]

Sorry Amber, I just meant what you had written as an option for year 9 in your post and didn't know how else to put it.

they would spend lots of time outside (and cooking, Milla ) and the syllabuses would be widened rather than narrowed...etc.

That's sort of what Pate's are aiming at.

Admittedly they have the selection first.
I too am not convinced by selection. My Dad was the HMI with national responsibility for environmental education - used to rail against the 11+. It was even worse in those days, and much more devisive and labelling.

When he taught (geology and biology) he used to haul his classes off on merry jaunts into the forest or hills, sometimes off in his boat (a large cruising catamaran) to visit ruins, life and rocks on islands in the Firth of Forth - imagine the risk assessment you'd need today. Back then no-one batted an eyelid It was however very much down to what teacher you got and not everyone has a boat big enough for their class.
Before he died he was involved in a project to make a more creative curriculum and improve school grounds for more creative playtimes and educational use, e.g wildlife areas, orchards, fun landscaping, outdoor classrooms. 20 years later and some of his work is finally seeing the light of day.

As for when to specialise - I still couldn't make up my mind at 17. I switched A levels, then changed 6th forms twice

[Amber]

Sorry Amber, I just meant what you had written as an option for year 9 in your post and didn't know how else to put it.


I too am not convinced by selection.

1. It's OK, I kind of liked it.
2. The countries with the most equal outcomes in education do not have selection at all. The achievement of the highest remains high; the achievement of the lower ones is increased.

But I sense I am straying just a little off topic here.

[Sabanna]

Another lovely touch by the school. My DD is in Y7 and it's her birthday tomorrow, today a handwritten card arrived from Mr Fenton wishing her happy birthday and saying he hoped she was enjoying Y7.

I know this has nothing to do with how well she will be educated there, but just feel that social touches like this are fantastic.

[aargh]

At the Thursday re-invite he said that he invites birthday children to tea and cake in his office and uses the oportunity to see how they are doing.