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Students' poetry

23/9/2014

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Showcasing students' creative work is something I don't do often enough. The exam-oriented nature of much tuition can be an excuse - another is the hurry of life. Here then is something that is not exam-oriented - a Year 8 student's poem - and which by no means adds to my work to display - as a post has pretty much been done for me. 

The creative theme was First Day at School. I gave the student Roger McGough's poem of that title as a springboard:   

First Day at School
A millionbillionwillion miles from home 
Waiting for the bell to go. (To go where?) 
Why are they all so big, other children? 
So noisy? So much at home they 
Must have been born in uniform 
Lived all their lives in playgrounds 
Spent the years inventing games 
That don't let me in. Games 
That are rough, that swallow you up. 

And the railings. 
All around, the railings. 
Are they to keep out wolves and monsters? 
Things that carry off and eat children? 
Things you don't take sweets from? 
Perhaps they're to stop us getting out 
Running away from the lessins. Lessin. 
What does a lessin look like? 
Sounds small and slimy. 
They keep them in the glassrooms. 
Whole rooms made out of glass. Imagine. 

I wish I could remember my name 
Mummy said it would come in useful. 
Like wellies. When there's puddles. 
Yellowwellies. I wish she was here. 
I think my name is sewn on somewhere 
Perhaps the teacher will read it for me. 
Tea-cher. The one who makes the tea.

Jessica's poem is as follows: 

Miles away from home,
What is there for me to come?
Bus after bus,
Child after child,
Bell after bell.
I’m finally here.
The moment I’ve been waiting for all my life,
Without any fright I step into the big light.
People so big and so small,
It just makes me feel tall.
A bell goes,
I’m ready to start.
A journey ends and another begins.
As I step into the classroom,
I feel so alive,
I’m surprised I can’t hear myself cry.
The teacher steps into the room full of happiness.
She steps into the classroom with white shoes,
Wearing a dress to impress.
This is my day, to open doors.


Teenagers' poems are like condensed diaries. I hope Jessica doesn't lose this record of her talent. A day may come when she looks back at her past skill, and wonders at it: 'I don't believe I wrote that. I couldn't do it now'.  On the other hand, who knows? the poetry may continue to flow, and go successfully on ... 

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New format for the Kent Test

9/9/2014

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Picture
Least concerned about this month's new shorter Kent Tests will be the children sitting them. They will just be glad, I expect, to have the day over with - after months and months of preparation and practice. 

I was asked by a  TV journalist recently whether the publicity given last autumn to the changes in the pipeline had significantly affected parents' views on coaching for the Test? The new Test is supposed to be 'tutor-proof', to render it fairer to families who cannot afford private tuition. My answer was that I had noticed  little difference either in the nature of what parents demand, or in the number of enrolments. 

Because the Kent Test (both old and new) assesses aptitude for Grammar school largely through progress demonstrated in language and maths, it follows that sensible supplementary teaching in these areas through Year 5, and practice over the summer holidays prior to Year 6, is bound to have a positive effect on more enthusiastic children.

Whether or not the magic average of 120 marks needed to go on to grammar school is achieved in the Test, the Maths and English learned in the process will not be wasted, and the child who has undergone the character-building discipline of preparing for the 11+ will be that much fitter for secondary school, whichever it turns out to be.

If the two main changes to the Test are first, in confining it to one day, and second, promoting the importance of the English paper,  the selection of the most academic children for grammar school will, I am sure, be unaffected. 
Selection at the borderline, on the other hand, will always be contentious, whether papers are shorter or longer, and emphasize or not English skills such as spelling and punctuation.  
     

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    Peter Whisson, owner of Tuition Canterbury. "I write this blog as a periodic 
    snapshot record of my 

    involvement in education - and hope that the posts may be of interest to others."

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