Current deputy at Pates appointed as new head teacher

[Tolstoy]

"other things" are down to parents.

There are things that require more than one can achieve at home e.g. I don't think I can quite manage a junior United Nations or an Orchestra.
It depends what you define as useless.

Obviously not but that's what clubs are for. Plus plenty of schools seem to manage to run orchestras without having to drag GSCE courses out over three years.
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[aargh]

I still think non-exam stuff (which includes subjects they are interested in but not taking to an exam level) should be incorporated as part of their all round education. I am all for clubs, I run several myself, but they don't do everything for everyone. For example, I can only have 12 pupils in each of my Filmmaking clubs.

I have no idea whether a 2 year or 3 year GCSE is better but I do think the current system is very narrow in what is taught even within the GCSE subjects. I think we had this debate on a different thread a while ago.
The solution should not be for subject content to be determined by the requirements of current GCSE format (and the type of answers it demands); but put the other way around - the GCSE format should be determined by what is best for achieving a full understanding of the subject.

Should we be turning out well educated thinking beings or tram-lined parcels who know how to answer specific types of question in a set format? Which is better for society and the economy as a whole? Which is better for the DCs? The Government do not care so very much as long as they can measure things and pretend that their latest strategy has improved matters. Governments like things to be simple. Education is not simple.

[Amber]

Should we be turning out well educated thinking beings or tram-lined parcels who know how to answer specific types of question in a set format? Which is better for society and the economy as a whole? Which is better for the DCs? The Government do not care so very much as long as they can measure things and pretend that their latest strategy has improved matters. Governments like things to be simple. Education is not simple.

This is the nub of the issue and will not be solved or addressed by well-meaning (or even not well meaning) initiatives from individual schools. Governments don't so much like things to be simple as they want to look as if they are doing something. Education is an easy target. Lessons are never learned from other countries or even from our own. It is entirely depressing in my view and the advance of neoliberalism throughout the world will do nothing to improve matters.
We're all doomed.