What's making you happy today?

[Clodfobble]

When does the school year start again for you, Sundae? We're already more than halfway through summer vacation here, and mentally preparing to start up again near the end of August...

[Sundae]

We're back in school on 6 September.
Summer holidays are generally accepted to be 6 weeks, but sometimes they are a little more and sometimes a little less.

One of my class told me today that it was 45 days - I haven't counted it myself. The same child told me his mother had died and after I found that not to be true I've always been wary of accepting his word.

[Clodfobble]

Oh, that explains it.* Summer vacation is 10 weeks here. We also have 1 week for "Spring Break," and 2 weeks for the holidays in winter.


*"It" being why the US is at the bottom of the list in math, science, literacy, and pretty much every other metric among developed nations.

[DanaC]

So are you working with the same teacher next year?

[monster]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Oh, that explains it.* Summer vacation is 10 weeks here. We also have 1 week for "Spring Break," and 2 weeks for the holidays in winter.


*"It" being why the US is at the bottom of the list in math, science, literacy, and pretty much every other metric among developed nations.

Whereas they have 1 week in october, 2 weeks at christmas, one week in spring, two weeks at easter and one week in may. In additoin to th 6 weeks in summer. Comes out pretty similar in the end.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by DanaC

So are you working with the same teacher next year?

I'm working with the cupcake teacher
I've been with Mrs Banana in the mornings with Tiger all school year, and Miss Cupcake in the afternoons with Mars since February.

I'm moving up the school with both of them (this year at least). I will be with Miss Cupcake in the mornings with Tiger, and a new teacher in the afternoons with Mars.

Tiger already knows Miss Cupcake because he comes into her classroom during assembly some days, to read with me. So as well as taking home a "My Class Next Year sheet for the holidays, he is already comfortable with his new teacher. Also the classroom is right next door to his old one and shares a cloakroom area and toilets.

Mars has a more difficult transition. I've also done him a sheet, and he has spent 3 afternoons in his new classroom, but he will now be in Key Stage 2 in a different area of the school and with different play and lunch times. He is less anxious than Tiger, and acts out displeasure/ distress immediately rather than internalising it. This works for him in school, because he gets immediate attention, but reaction is still poor care. The good thing is that the morning TA in that class has a son who is on the spectrum and specialises in children with behavioural difficulties. She's not assigned to him specifically, but she knows the difference between bad behaviour and autism.

[DanaC]

God. Everything gets so complicated for the autistic kiddies. Scary enough moving from familiar classes to unfamiliar ones.


Glad you're not stuck with banana flavour lady next year :P

[ZenGum]

Yes about the autistic kids.

Down here, the education department recently changed the special needs transport schedule for an autistic lad with NO NOTICE AT ALL, didn't even warn his mother in advance.

Kid had what was described in the media as an "autistic meltdown".

The education department have since publicly admitted that they got it wrong. It takes a lot to make them do that. Seriously, guys, "special needs" should give you a clue.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Oh, that explains it.* Summer vacation is 10 weeks here. We also have 1 week for "Spring Break," and 2 weeks for the holidays in winter.


*"It" being why the US is at the bottom of the list in math, science, literacy, and pretty much every other metric among developed nations.

I think a big part of "it" is that the US is still a haven for immigrants, and immigrants don't speak English well, so they don't learn or test as well. There is a lot of talk in my city of closing the acheivement gap, but nobody is willing to admit that it will never be closed as long as a new batch of ESL kids comes into the system each year.

[ZenGum]

That probably is a factor in literacy, but Australia and Britain have high levels of NESB migrants too.

The fact that some of your school science books even mention creationism probably doesn't help.

[Aliantha]

I think the problems in education across the board in Australia and most likely other western countries, is the amount of bullshit bureaucracy and administration work required by teachers. I also think that teachers trying to teach who don't speak english properly is a setback for the students right from the start and it really is the biggest irony of all time.

eta: I'm not against teachers from other countries teaching here, but it's stupid that a teacher with an accent so thick it's difficult to understand them, or who can't even put their pronouns in the right place should be teaching high school OP students.

[ZenGum]

The biggest single factor in educational outcomes is .... the parents.

Poorly educated parents --> poorly educated kids.

Fast forward 20 years (or 10, or 2, sometimes :p ) and those poorly educated kids are now poorly educated parents themselves.

Rinse and repeat.

[Aliantha]

That's true and I agree. It's so very obvious when you look at the kids my boys are in classes with now. Their parents don't have an education beyond yr 10, and so they have a negative attitude to education instilled in them from the start of their school lives. It's very sad, and it's getting worse due to the larger and larger numbers of parents who are educated, choosing to shun the public system.

In another 10yr or so, I suspect it will become uncommon for anyone wanting to go to uni being enrolled in public schools during their senior years. There is only 1 OP english class for yr 11 at Aden's school and that's being taught by an idiot teacher. The maths B teacher (1 class again) is from India, and can't speak english properly, and has had complaints from numerous parents about his inability to impart the knowledge in a way that the kids can understand due to his poor language skills.

[Lamplighter]

Please suffer a ? from a Yank...
How are the public schools funded in Australia ?

I was in Melbourne and Syndey once for ~ 27 minutes on a business trip,
and over dinner my host was telling me that, unlike the US
where (real estate) property taxes are the key source of school $,
that parents do everything they can to pay tuition so kids can go to private schools.
Therefore, the privates are much better than the publics.
Is that anywhere near being the case ?

[Aliantha]

My opinion is that it's getting to be more and more the case here. Funding doesn't come from a specific tax though. It just comes out of the government pool of funds from general taxation (from what I know. I may be wrong) It is my understanding that the way all sorts of public amenities are funded is much different over here than in the US.

I've spoken about the failure of public schools in Australia quite a lot over the last few years, and it's a difficult issue regardless of which side of the coin you're on. Dazza and I want to support the public system by keeping our kids in it and contributing to the social capital going into the school, but there aren't anywhere near enough parents with similar levels of education and intellectual ability doing the same, which makes it a bit of a losing battle. Most people in similar situations as us choose to send their kids to private schools simply because the child will get a better education there, and the parent wont have to worry about helping the child with homework etc because tutoring is covered in large part by the school through various avenues. Most private schools offer greater opportunities in sports and the arts also which is a big draw card for many parents.