Year 6 SAT's

My eldest is just about to take his year 6 SAT's.  Over the past couple of weeks we have had tears, tantrums and complete meltdowns.  He is terrified he won't be able to achieve the level he has been targeted to achieve. Ever since year 2 he has worried, every May he has worried about what level he is and could he do better.  My son works hard, he does his homework, listens to the teacher and wants to learn.
As a teacher I know how much pressure there is to get children to the 'right' level but as a parent I just want my son to do his best, for himself, for his school and for his teachers who have worked hard throughout his time at school.   Credit must go to every teacher not just the year 6 teachers.  However, I think that there is something seriously wrong with an education system that causes this much stress in children from such a young age.  What is worse still is the fact that while teachers have their pupils best interests at heart they also fear the wrath of ofsted if the pupils don't make the expected levels.
Worse still I have three more children to go through primary school alongside the eldest getting through secondary school.

Escape into a Painting - Resources - TES

Plan using mindomo for a project using Bruegel's painting of children's games.  The plan incorporates, art, history and philosophy. Escape into a Painting - Resources - TES

Prezi slide show about The Queen - Resources - TES

Prezi slide show about The Queen - Resources - TES
A Prezi slide show about The Queen.

Problem solving - Resources - TES

Problem solving - Resources - TES A powerpoint for year 2 developing problem solving.

Ofsted

http://www.literacymatters.com/ofsted/

An overview of the new Ofsted framework.  They offer training online (at a cost) that takes an hour.  I have been involved in webinars through various online training I have taken part in through eTwinning and The National College for School Leadership.  Both have been fantastic but have not been at any additional cost.  I think that accessing learning through the web is fantastic but I think that it needs to be recognised that people are taking part perhaps in the evening having taught all day so sometimes some face to face learning during the day is nice as well.

At the farm

The last day of the Easter holiday we decided to go to the farm for the afternoon.  In total there were 14 children.  The children all had a great time feeding the animals, holding the pets and going on a tractor ride.  For a small farm (Stonehurst in Mountsorrel) we managed to keep all the children entertained for the whole afternoon and they didn't want to go home.  The rope swing in the barn was a big it with all the children but they all said their favourite part of the day was when they got to hold the baby rabbits.

Writing a story using the IWB - Resources - TES

Writing a story using the IWB - Resources - TES