The Free schools are to draw funds from the government based on a fee per student. It is essential these schools have a full compliment to make ends meet. The operating and payroll costs would have set in the budgets assuming a 80 per cent occupancy but some are falling desperately short of their targets. This poses an awful conundrum. No erstwhile teacher will want to work for a reduced salary or even nothing. The chances of the free school taking off during the first critical years will be severely impaired if the better teachers abandon ship and leave. Schools Freed From Educational Authority Could Flounder

The scheme has a further vulnerability. Set up by interested parents they will inevitably have a finite interest. A concern is the whether these parent’s will maintain the operational energy  after their children have moved away from the school, and the headteacher retires. Many a parents group or parent-teacher interface folds when the driving force moves away or their children leave the school. Although their are supposed  safeguards the fallibility of the free school structure is yet to be proven.

The schooling journey of a child is 15 years. This critical time is made perilous enough with government initiatives, many of which fail or are heavily criticised by the teachers who are required to operate them. As the clock moves on interruptions to this valuable learning time lost can never really be recovered. Let us hope that the Free School experiment does not implode and leave countless children stranded by parents who were led to believe it to be a good idea or a solution to the failing local state school.

Parents have long sought the smaller class and good teacher. Indeed Independent schools consistently  promote class size to teaching resources as a key performance indicator. This critical ratio of teaching focus on children appeared  paramount in any measure of achievement but surprisingly the effects of class size are not that clear. Our assumptions that a child in a small class learns more  is refuted by  research that highlighted the crucial influence in learning is the skill of the teacher and the way the curriculum is taught.

The classroom with 15 students seems little to benefit compared to the a class of 30 children with a great teacher.  Yet a further influence often overlooked is the level of parental involvement that is more prevalent in the smaller class size. The teacher has more time to liaise with parents, who in turn do not feel they have to join a lengthy queue to speak to the teacher. But the research rates  teachers prowess as the key feature in any learning programme. Structured teacher training, a clear and well-sequenced curriculum,  regularly evaluated and solid teacher support are  four of the “seven pillars of wisdom.” For decades, class size was largely a function of a community’s population. Class size grew as more children were crammed into existing schools.

As we move within economic recession and the  inevitable cancelled school rebuilding programmes we will need to cram more children into existing facilities. Around 300,000 additional primary places will have to be found over the next 10 years to meet population expansion. If the research on class size is correct we will have no option but to invest in improving the quality of the four pillars of educational  wisdom and especially concentrate on the skill of teachers. This may improve their overlooked standing in society,  give children a better chance and, hopefully,  through more effective education make the recent riots in the UK a one off event.

Of one concern is the possibility the youngster involved may thereafter struggle to live up to their achievement and spend the rest of their lives failing to improve on the performance and slowly disappear into obscurity like the one hit pop star. Perhaps this is sour grapes, I was never good at sport and defended my ineptitude by disinterest. You are looking at a guy who discovered rugby has serious side effects to your health. If you have the ball it is clearly your turn, why then should some lout take it away. And such aggression! Having been whacked in the head yet again my education on school games day (I use the term loosely) was both a concern to me and an embarrassment to the games teacher. I was banished to the environs of Stretch Poole, an uncannily tall gentlemen who ran the sailing club.

Thereafter I was to enjoy the delights of learning to sail, regrettably in a dinghy called a Cadet. Aptly perhaps named as a training craft it had a large flat decks providing ample comfort for the helmsman but we junior trainees had to serve our time as crew. Stretch Poole also had the opportunity to teach me modern foreign language French in class. A task at which he failed miserably. Promotion to helmsmen in the sailing club being inextricably linked to linguistic achievement meant I was to be come the longest serving crew, and at my age!

Summer came and I was enlisted to playing cricket in school games. This too had repercussions. Again it involved a so called sport that can hurt. Clearly there is no need to bowl the ball quite that hard and having discovered it was made of metal seriously affected my commitment to hit the damn thing. Stretch and I therefore became re acquainted on the boat hard. The thought of spending the summer games on the river had mixed blessing. Magnificent, or mega to use the vernacular of the time, now referred I believe to as banging, it provided the introduction to delights of the sport. Stretch summonsed the sailing fraternity to announce the summer allocations of helms and crews. My legend ability French clearly let me down again thus my love of sailing was tempered only by the thought once again of the crew facilities on the Cadets. This entailed crouching in a contortionist position in the tiny well left in the middle occupied predominately by the centre board or dagger board casing as it was named. When squatting became unbearable, especially on windless days, seating for the crew comprised of of parking ones derrière – not all was wasteland Stretch – on the 2 inch wide casing clearly never conceived to accommodate buttocks. The crew suffered badly in these tiny craft. But my moment of glory was to come.

The wind was blowing steadily, the tide had turned and the waves all conspired to providing that extra dimension of drama. Having just rounded the marker buoy the helm set about the course change to the next buoy and fell overboard. We crew were trained to let go of everything and the craft would nudge up into the wind and effectively stall, going nowhere. This was to allow the helm to swim back and climb aboard. But he was already being rescued by Stretch in the rescue launch. And I thought this is it Owens minor.( my brother and I were at the same school which relied on the use of surname only. Brothers were thus allocated the distinguishing major or minor suffix.) Without a rearward glance I shifted neatly onto the side decking, what bliss, what comfort. A slight change in course, corrections to the mainsail and jib setting, lifting both the rudder plate and jamming the dagger board at 30 degrees to reduce drag, sliding my backside aft to lift the nose out of the water and learning out at full tilt and with the wind and waves combining the little cadet rose up on the plane. The fastest set up for any sailing craft.

Scooting down the river Orwell at full tilt I thought yes this is it! Cheered on by all the sailing club Stretch began chasing in the launch. The nett difference in speed being about 1 knot I calculated I had around 20 minutes of free time before retribution caught up. The torrent of French expletives, well you always learnt these first, emanating from Stretch was phenomenal. I don’t think he repeated any in the non stop diatribe. My parents matrimonial status were doubted; it counted in those those days, my life in French classes were to become hell and my days as a crew were to be limitless. But I deemed not to look back or acknowledge any instruction. My moment of glory had arrived.

The fuming Stretch and the smiling rescue team finally overhauled the cadet and drew alongside. Feigning complete shock that he had been advising me to stop the errant helm was dumped back on board and told in no uncertain terms to take the boat back the club. As we landed I was initially greeted by a mixture of cheers and congratulations, followed after one Stretch’s icy stares to cries of dead man walking.

Crewing on the Cadets suited me well enough I suppose. Mathematical calculations used by half the school thereafter calculated the speed and distance declaring me the youngest “helmsman” in the club to achieved the record speed in a Cadet. The claim met at the time with abject rejection by Stretch as being a completely unauthorised achievement, but has always served me as a reminder to grasp the opportunity, and it has served me well.

Whether the advert had an educational link or not seemed immaterial. Many advertisers merely seizing the seasonal opportunity to promote their wares. The positive elements to many that soon kids will off the streets is countered by an opposite force – increased traffic as we choose to use cars to ferry kids to school. Shops heralded the process with essential teaching and schooling resources being paraded alongside uniforms, stationery, and  the of course the ubiquitous Oxford set of maths instruments supplied in the same tin box 40 years after its introduction!

The Back to School slogan hovers over the idyllic existence of a school child on the long summer break.  Returning to school means enforced routines, falling light levels as autumn approaches, odd smells from damp children, the appearance of the magic sawdust bucket for the odd vomiting child and the exchange of a cricket and athletics markings for football and rugby posts.

No I didn’t relish school days. Coupled with attending boarding school for a large chunk of my schooling added a further downer.  But I’m not alone.  Clinical psychologists explain that many children feel apprehensive when returning school – especially if it involves a move up to a new secondary school.  Adverse reaction to the new larger environment, the physical scale of the new school in class size, and numbers of teachers can be frightening. Children  move from the comfort zone of their old school where they were top dog with years of experience. The obvious outward signs are children who become anxious and find it difficult to fall asleep, feel sick, cry easily and have gone off their food.  These are clear signs of anxiety triggered by the unknown.  We also suffer from the syndrome as adults in a new environment so it is not age related. They say the condition is the reason why so many adults remain in jobs they dislike.  The thought of changing job or career is beset with the unknown.  We opt to stay put.  Maybe the emotion stirred by seeing our children in some distress activates latent emotions and concerns in adults.  But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The clingy child whose life is devastated by attendance at the new school slowly adapts to the new environment.  Day by day the angst dissipates.  By day seven things are inevitably easing.  By day fourteen they start to feel comfortable.  The trick is to reassure the child that their feelings and concerns are very natural and that most children feel concerned at the start of term and especially at a new school.  Giving comparisons to their feelings become positive in their previous class, year and school helps to reassure that the anxiety will ease.  Self awareness of the symptoms and comparison with past experience will help to reassure.

Not every child can be expected to favourably respond, but the majority do.  As parents, seeing the situation and concerns through the eyes of a child can help quell the fears of this unknown territory, especially relevant in the move to secondary school.

And once we have consoled our children, perhaps it’s time to look in the mirror and reconsider that move we need to take to reorientate our job and career. A staggering 80 per cent of adults are in jobs they dislike, But a move and that new challenge is as just as daunting as that experienced by the child and the new school. Time to reflect on applying the guidance given to your child and allay your own fears and make that move to enhance your opportunities. You know the one -  you have always put off because of your concerns over a move to a new company with a new environment, new people and the feeling of being new and isolated. We have a lot to learn from children!

Educational travel games are available in many forms.  Playing cards, board games, puzzles and quizzes generally have a huge advantage – no batteries!  Designed by educationalists rather than video game developers the key ingredients are  having fun whilst stimulating the learning process, ideal for bored children and to offset the “are we there yet?”questions.

There are many games to play in the car like I-Spy or the first to spot a truck with a company name beginning with an “A” then successively through the alphabet.   The range of educational games suitable as travel companions has extended over the years perhaps keeping pace with our more extended journeys.  The variety of subjects covered is growing all the time; in fact it is difficult to find a subject in the national curriculum that does not have a travel game associated with it.

The essential benefit of the freedom from school is to allow you time to spend with your family.  Educational games are essentially a fun way to use the time together to include a little learning in disguise and conversation without putting your children in front of video game where they watch in silence.

Those wet days or the long journeys we all love as parents can have their moments. You have run out enthusiasm for yet another round of I spy; the clues have become just too ridiculous! Ideally you want  games that are fun easy to play and have  educational content.

“No one really wants to think about school during the holidays so the best the travel games have a hidden content; learning in disguise as we call it” says Alistair Owens MD at keen2learn. The latest range just added to keen2learn are decks of cards called Fun Decks. Packed in flip top tin they can be played for minutes or hours; the rules are simple, based  on the curriculum  and  they are used in schools to great effect. Now parents and grandparents can play these games knowing  they are encouraging learning with the children. A wide range of literacy games are available covering everything from irregular verbs, understanding inferences to  synonyms all as a decks of 56 cards.

For the kids who believe it’s impossible to have fun without ear phones the educational game Bunja is ideal. It uses MP3 technology to incorporate a range of maths games. Bunja has some very clever aspects; it learns how the child is performing and adjust the level of questions  up or down in difficulty. It also lets parents and teachers check on a child’s performance with a summation feature.  The game rewards the child with a chapter of an interactive story set in the jungle. Each time a set of questions is answered  they can  interact with the next chapter of the story.

Children understandably don’t like homework thrown in their face especially during holidays. But the benefits of practising what they are learning through educational games has a huge impact on their ongoing capacity to learn . Making it fun where all the family can join in helps loose the schoolwork stigma. Nothing new,  teachers do this in the class and all the games on the keen2learn site are used extensively by teachers.

Over the last six years the cost to parents of a child’s education up to the age of 21 has risen by a staggering £20k to a total of £52k. There is some relief; in the last year the rate of increase has slowed to 1.6 per cent. But is this investment good value for money when we hear of failing schools and the huge number of children floundering in maths and numeracy?

Judging by this week’s Channel 4 TV “Dispatches” documentary “Kids don’t count,” the answer is probably not. Despite the huge cost increase to parents, and a government investment over the past 10 years costing billions, many of our primary schools are still failing to deliver in maths. Over 1500 schools are currently classed as failing. Twenty per cent of all children have inadequate competency in maths to cope with secondary school. In all, 30,000 children a year are failing in maths at primary school level. Worryingly the results in primacy school have been shown to reflect the probable performance at GCSE.

The government focus on numeracy was designed to give children 50 minutes of maths a day. Unfortunately this is largely taught by teachers without maths qualifications doing the best they can. Frequently the schedule is overridden, time tables are not learnt and fractions, which elude many teachers, are untouched. Consequently children drift. Practise exercises, the essential ingredient for learning retention are frugal. To cap it all new learning is suspended for 25% of the school year whilst children rehearse for the SAT’s test.

Whilst schools continue to be judged by target performance achievement they will understandably focus on this objective and defer new learning. The consequential gap that emerges is almost impossible to recover in school but this is an ideal opportunity for parents to step up to the plate. Playing maths educational games at home is a fun way to complete the lesson practice. They can lighten things up at home, allow parents to get practically involved and help a child to moving forwards throughout the year – especially during the SAT’s hiatus. Playing say maths games as a board game, bingo or CD-ROM revision quiz is fun, instructive and matched to the national curriculum. But watch out – you may get to enjoy them and learn a stack of maths yourself.

The Dispatches TV documentary focused on Barton Hill primary school in Bristol. The likeable Headteacher knew he had a problem with maths – both with his teaching staff and his personal ability. He called on a retired man specialist, Richard Dunn, to teach both children and teachers in how to get excited about maths. An objective achieved with impressive results in tests taken by the children. Unfortunately his efforts were curtailed during the SAT interregnum. His 16 weeks programme displaced for nine weeks whilst the SAT rehearsals took place. If only he was uninterrupted continue goodness knows what the final results could have been.

Richard summarised the national situation on maths saying “Parents should be worried about how maths is taught in school. Bringing maths alive will make all the difference to visualising maths.” The DCSF had already drafted specialist teachers to provide one to one maths support for struggling children but the revelation that 30,000 children needed assistance is a huge task. Without the support of these maths specialists and assuming they can be found, children failing in primary school can look forward to a similar fate in secondary school.

As adults, 25 per cent of us have maths and numeracy skills equivalent to an 11 year old. And 75 per cent of all adults have maths skills that are lower than GCSE. This is causing significant concern with employers who inherit the problem and find it essential to train new staff in maths. MacDonald’s and Sainsbury’s are part of a long list of retailers who run their own academies to teach maths to employees. A task they object to but have little alternative. The billions of pounds invested by the DCSF in maths education has predominantly been a waste of time and money. Notably only the UK makes maths compulsory up to the age of sixteen, most other countries extend maths on into higher education.

Children who failed numeracy in primary school will struggle significantly in secondary school unless there get a really strong maths teacher in the first year of secondary school. As secondary school teachers believe the problem should have been resolved in primary school the skills gap could fester. This could take some time to resolve so despite the increased educational cost to parents there is an essential need for them to step in the ring. And with the educational games and teaching resources now available they certainly have a very real and enjoyable chance to make a difference. After all 80 per cent of a child’s achievement in school is influenced by what they do at home.