Open meeting at Great Yarmouth Town Hall in response to the 45 hour school week proposed by Greenacre Primary School.
Picture: James Bass
Photo gallery: Headmaster fails to attend heated meeting over 45-hour school week
Sam Russell
Saturday, July 14, 2012
6:30 AM
Dozens of parents attended a public meeting last night where concerns were aired over a planned 45-hour primary school week.
Open meeting at Great Yarmouth Town Hall in response to the 45 hour school week proposed by Greenacre Primary School.
Picture: James BassGreenacre Primary School, in Great Yarmouth, is planning to introduce the radical timetable when it becomes an academy in September, with homework time and extracurricular activities built into the longer school day.
But concerned parents believe keeping year five and six children in school until 6pm each night will tire them out and harm family time, and that the long day should be optional.
A public meeting was held at Yarmouth Town Hall last night, with more than 60 parents hoping to discuss their worries with headmaster Bill Holledge and millionaire sponsor Theodore Agnew.
But neither turned up, and Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis also declined an invitation.
Open meeting at Great Yarmouth Town Hall in response to the 45 hour school week proposed by Greenacre Primary School.
Picture: James BassThe trio said they had prior commitments, with Mr Lewis sending an aide who read a statement on his behalf and Mr Holledge circulating a document answering some frequently asked questions about the plans.
Mother-of-one Valli Catchpole said: “I’m disappointed the headmaster was not here to voice his own opinions.”
Kerry Robinson Payne, Nelson ward councillor and a former Greenacre pupil herself, added that parents have told of their frustration at the lack of direct communication.
She said. “Bits of paper with things written on aren’t the same as being present, and I think lots of frustration would have been alleviated if they were here.”
Rex Parkinson Hare, county councillor for Yarmouth Nelson and Southtown, told the meeting: “The governing body has made a mess of this as they did not call a public meeting.”
He assured the assembled parents they could legally take their children out of school at 3.30pm even when the school day runs to 6pm.
A statement from Mr Holledge confirms this, but states parents must then sign a form acknowledging that they are withdrawing their child from the “additional opportunities which the school is offering” and that they appreciate that their child “will not benefit from the full broad and balanced curriculum that the school is committed to providing.”
After opting out youngsters cannot opt back in until after the October half term, which angered parents.
Councillors are seeking a meeting with Mr Holledge and Mr Agnew to put across points made at last night’s meeting.
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8 comments
If this headmaster can not meet face to face a bunch of parents he should not be in charge of the school and for Brandon Lewis not getting involved is another matter because he will probably will not be a MP after the next general election on the performance of this government to date.
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Dave
Sunday, July 15, 2012
The only thing that will sort out Greencre's ills is a change to the high rates of unemployment in Great Yarmouth - this is just another Gove-inspired vanity project and Mr.Holledge should be ashamed of himself for not having the courage to face his critics.
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Dogberry
Sunday, July 15, 2012
A ludicrous suggesting, such move will make children tire earlier. To say it will improve the schools league performance, rather than equipping youngsters with what is needed, is wrong. Pupils learn best in the mornings, attention spans fall after lunchtime and it is questionable whether 45 hours are within EU learning directives. Whatever pupils and parents decide should be taken into account, above all, ending to Mr. Gove's moral crusade using education.
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ingo wagenknecht
Saturday, July 14, 2012
As child in Caister in the seventies I lived with a family that chose to smoke. I have no problem with choice but this left no family money spare for my passion of horse riding. To overcome this I got on my bike after school every day the Caister stables were open and helped out the adult staff with removing and cleaning tack, checking the horses and leading them out on to the field for the night - for the return of an occasional ride. I learnt enterprise and working for something I wanted at an early age and I would not have appreciated this if it was just given to me as a 'programme of high class activities'. Are the activities proposed by Greenacre School a solution or will this just lead children to expect something for nothing. I know that I would not have forced my children to attend school until 6pm in the fear that this would take away their choices as they grow and develop and the result would be children that consider education as something 'done to them'
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siouxsie
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Some very good points. This is a town where parents care passionately about their children's education. Daisy Root has it spot on. How strange that Michael Gove the education minister, a person who appears close to the private interests of 'free schools' is quoted as once saying: "the only sustainable ethical foundation for society is a belief in the innate worth and dignity of every individual." We have also had the political philosophy of 'Localism' thrust upon us from afar. Simply a case of do as I say rather that as I do. The Education system has for far too long been politically interfered with and lack of investment in Yarmouth schools is the primary reason for poor performance. it seems like only yesterday when we failed to persuade Gillian Shepherd that school libraries should not removed as a cost cutting exercise due to the forecast of a reduction in pupil numbers.
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Nick
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Excellent post Daisy Roots. I'm just wondering how EU Working Hours Regs may apply? (Or not, of course.)
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micklynn
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Well,since the government has passed another swarm of free schools for Norfolk, more parents face the prospect of the school their child currently attends being taken over by a vested interest group with possible changes to the whole staff, management style and organisation -mostly using tax payers money and possibly , in the case of academies, putting money in the pockets of private companies. All very well if you don't care about how a school is staffed or whether it is controlled by people with bees in their bonnets and if you are able and willing to take your child to another school. Some comments on Greenacre have pointed out that it was a failing school. So it was-mostly because for too long it, like many schools in Norfolk, was probably underfunded for the job it had to do. Yes many of the pupils will need extra help with academic subjects, and yes many would benefit from extra curricular activites but it is wrong to tar all pupils and all parents with the same brush. And wrong that someone with money, cosying up to government, can make this high handed decision to make the school day quite out of the norm for a state school. Some have pointed out that it could provide extra child care for working parents-school is not for child care. But no one seems to have considered that not all workers have 9-5 jobs, that some might like to collect their children from school and share an evening meal before starting a night shift-NHS workers for instance. Then we have the teaching staff, already burdened with lesson preparation, record keeping ,old and new assessment tests to satisfy Government demands for statistics, umpteen staff meetings and parent evenings and now an 8am til 6pm day in school-what of their childcare arrangements and the accepted current professional working arrangements?
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Daisy Roots
Saturday, July 14, 2012
This should be optional and funded by Government if it is that good, not private money as is the case here. There's no such thing as a free school.
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bedoomed
Saturday, July 14, 2012