Gareth's Back!!!!! this week ...........

[cairo]

Really enjoyed watching this last night. Suddenly felt extremely glad that DS1 is at an all-boys school where they can indulge their natural competitiveness.

Was a bit surprised that there was so much stress on the importance of fathers reading to boys. What about the boys who don't have fathers / father figures in their lives? Surprisingly, they didn't show any of those in the programme. I can't believe there weren't any.

A lot of what Gareth was doing (building dens outside, going on long walks, introducing competitions, winning medals/badges) looked very similar to what the scouts does, to me.

[KS10]

I love Gareth!
I loved the bit in the first episode where they sat him down and told him his work with the boys had affected their behaviour, but not in a good way.

It would be great if kids could have academic stuff in the morning and practical / creative / sporting activities in the afternoon.

[doodles]

A 20+ month improvement for one boy in an 8 week period - Mr Malone was certainly doing something right. I really admire the head for going out on a limb and taking on the challenge especially as some of her staff were not totally convinced about it and she admitted that she had a "wobble" part way through.

I know it was a bit of a, perhaps, light-hearted experiment but I certainly think that this approach needs to be investigated further. Before people jump on me, I know that it won't be possible to carry out the whole extreme "experiment" in other schools and settings but there surely must be bits that can be picked out and replicated. Surely parts of it would be better than nothing.

[pheasantchick]

I was also impressed with the improvements. I guess its because the lads were enjoying school and all the activities and this motivated them.