Hello there - Hey Arnold


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Intelligence has nothing to do with the ability to read, spell or write. I taught adult literacy for some years and was often amazed at the resourcefulness of those who left school totally bewildered

Jill you’re right about being dyslexic. My hubby was diagnosed in the Army, never at school where he came out with zero qualifications. His 4 brothers and the care and foster homes he was in reckoned

HEY ARNOLD,,   The Westminster Bank / builders was Thomas they had a showroom with merchants at the back and also built houses around Arnold. Thomas also built the garage and shops at t

Well, as you are pushing me, I reckon the children with higher 11 Plus grades were admitted to the Grammar School.  But that’s only an assumption.  The Grammar School was most definitely the better school academically.  The worst thing to ever happen to the British school system was for Comprehensives to be brought in, in my opinion.   The grandchildren of our neighbour in Poole are pupils at Poole Grammar School, non-fee-paying.  There are still Grammar schools in other counties too, how did they manage to keep a selective system in those areas?

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I suspect the answer is politics. Didn't Tony Crosland have somewhat to say on the subject?

 

The 11+ was intended to gauge intelligence (tough cheese if you happened to be dyslexic). What was really needed was a test of guile...something most 11 year olds (in my day,anyway) hadn't yet developed.  Otherwise, I'd have looked at my 11+ paper, fashioned a model DC9 out of it and launched it across the classroom. Academic result, Fail. Psychological result, five years of sheer misery swerved!

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A Technical school taught you a trade. My hubby went to People's College Technical school and they were taught woodwork, metalwork, plumbing and brickwork along with their regular subjects.

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2 hours ago, LizzieM said:

Well, as you are pushing me, I reckon the children with higher 11 Plus grades were admitted to the Grammar School.  But that’s only an assumption.  The Grammar School was most definitely the better school academically.  The worst thing to ever happen to the British school system was for Comprehensives to be brought in, in my opinion.   The grandchildren of our neighbour in Poole are pupils at Poole Grammar School, non-fee-paying.  There are still Grammar schools in other counties too, how did they manage to keep a selective system in those areas?


I blame the Minister for Education who was in place at the time. ;)

 

Certainly, none of the pupils of either school were happy with the merger. Although it did bring a halt to the legendary snowball fights between the Grammar and the Tech.

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Jill you’re right about being dyslexic. My hubby was diagnosed in the Army, never at school where he came out with zero qualifications. His 4 brothers and the care and foster homes he was in reckoned he would never get anywhere in life but if ever I needed anyone in a crisis, like a fire for instance,  I would count on him as he is just so instinctive and practical. We are like chalk and cheese (West Bridgford Grammar School gal me till that also turned comprehensive) but because we are so different, it really works and we have the same crazy sense of humour and love each other to bits. 
 

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Intelligence has nothing to do with the ability to read, spell or write. I taught adult literacy for some years and was often amazed at the resourcefulness of those who left school totally bewildered about how they were supposed to make sense of text that was constantly moving around! The strategies they developed in order to hide the fact that they couldn't read or write were astonishing and it was very upsetting to listen when they spoke of their shame and lack of confidence caused by parents and teachers who just didn't understand why they couldn't do what everyone else could. Some were very successful business people and had made a success of their lives. Others had been badly affected by a disability that their teachers either didn't know about or whose existence they denied.

 

IT has made a huge difference to those who suffer with dyslexia and, with early diagnosis, there should be no need for anyone to go through the torment of writing out spellings ten times. It was not only frustrating but completely pointless.

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I remember a boy in my class at windley school who really struggled with reading & writing being regulary told by the teacher he was stupid, if a child is told this often enough they start to believe it & stop wanting to learn to avoid the shame of getting it wrong & being ridiculed in front of the whole class,

it was also 1 of mrs davy maths teacher at the mannings favourite phrases if you got an answer wrong YOU STUPID GIRL as jill will probably remember all too well.

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Also jill you kindly sent me a post yesterday with a brilliant description of 1 of her maths lessons which i couldn't reply to at the time & i now cannot find again, i thought it was in the manning thread but cant see it there, did you post it elsewhere or have i done something wrong? am still trying to find my way around the site thankyou.

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It was in the Forest Fields thread which is where I initially put a lot of Manning memories.  Your mention of Davy putting her feet in the desk drawer reminded me of it. Despite being catapulted under the desk on numerous occasions, she still did it. Obviously slow to learn!

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4 minutes ago, philmayfield said:

There were a few teachers, although well versed in their academic subject, were complete loonies in real life.

Maria Davy wasn't well-versed in her subject but she was a complete loony, judging by her behaviour!

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Thankyou for the pointer jill, the forest fields thread is in the old maps of nottingham section so explains why i couldn't find it, was starting to think davy was right about me being a stupid girl smile2

i did try the search facility on here but it just threw up hundreds of posts with either forest or fields in them, & yes mrs davy was a stark raving mad!!

 

She should never have been allowed to work with kids she would have been more suited to commandant in a concentration camp;).

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Mrs Davy was not right about anyone being a stupid girl. The fact that we were at the school in the first place rules that out. You needed an IQ of at least 120 to gain entrance...or so they said.

 

Good maths teachers, as we've bemoaned on here before now, are as rare as rocking horse droppings. Poor ones aren't very plentiful either. That leaves the truly appalling! I think she fell into the latter category. 

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The problem isn't confined to maths teachers, sadly. Any subject will fall foul of this stumbling block if the teacher isn't an effective communicator and/or has no love for what they are teaching.

 

 I've said before that my native love of history was almost destroyed by abysmal teaching at Manning. The first year was excellent but it went downhill rapidly after that, ending with Mrs Hobson (who RadFordee may remember), the laziest teacher I've ever met. She just dictated from her college notes.  Missed her vocation, that one, should have been a plumber. Excellent small bore.

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If a trainee hasn't learned, then the trainer hasn't trained. A maxim followed in the armed forces and good training departments throughout industry which also applies to schools. A pupil might not like a subject but a good teacher should be able to find a way to put a basic understanding across. Obviously if there are learning difficulties they should be able to identify them. Maths left me cold and I can't understand to this day why, for the life of me, why some teachers find algebra sexy!

 

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The more I read about Manning, the more I appreciate my time at C le W !!  I didn’t actually dislike any of the teachers and was quite fond of a few of them.  Several of my teachers were friendly with the students and interested in their lives as well as being excellent at teaching their subject.  This of course is just my experience and that of my friends.  

I suppose it may have been because it was a brand new school (only first and second years when I started) so there were only a few teachers and no ‘traditions’ to uphold…. ?
 

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@MargieH  At least you can see that it wasn't just me making it up. I did have very high hopes for my education before I commenced Manning but I found it to be a place where staff were more interested in enforcing petty rules than in giving good lessons. It was also, to a large extent, a place where, if your face fitted, your time would be less painful. My face didn't fit. I'm not a team player. Never was, never shall be. That made a huge difference in people's attitudes towards you

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@MargieH you are probably right in that c le w being a new school more upto date & fresh ideas, i think the biggest problem with the manning was that they were still using the same methods & a lot of the same equipment as in the 1930's when the school opened dont know if jill agree's with my theory or not, and yes the did have a lot of petty rules jill, i used to enter through the side gate on leslie rd in the mornings & there was always a teacher posted there 12 inch ruler in hand waiting to grab a girl who,s skirt looked a centimetre too short or shoes a millimetre too high.

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