Free School Meals for all KS1 children.

My brother's triplets start school in September. I can't believe that they are going to be 4 in June and heading off to the heady heights of big school. You can imagine how pleased my brother and his wife were when they heard the news that they wouldn't have to be paying three lots of school lunch bills. However, I am not sure the triplets will be so chuffed to be faced with the offerings school provides...

As someone who works in a school the whole idea of free school meals for all raises quite a few questions. Initially I thought "Great! What a good idea!" but then I thought about the practicalities and reality of life in school and changed my mind.

Proponents of the plan say that children with a hot meal in their tummies at lunch time perform better, are better behaved and achieve better results academically. Well, that's got to be good, surely? It would be good if it was achievable, but is it?

Schools have an hour and ten minutes to get their children into the dining room (if they are lucky enough to have one and not just a shared space for assemblies, gym etc), serve them, have the children eat their food and be ready for the afternoon. That's 70 minutes to get them all in and out. I know that my school just manages to do this by using staggered sittings, but if they were faced with more children  to get through ... would they be able to do it? Lunchtime becomes a conveyor belt of children .... in, eat, out ....  as quickly as you can.

When I was a child I had the luxury of sitting at a table with the table laid, proper plates, a teacher or older child to serve our food. We would have time to talk and learn table manners from the older children. Now the students are given plastic prison trays with their food slopped on - main meal and pudding all on the same tray. Huge numbers of children don't know how to use a knife and fork and don't eat half the food. The waste at the end of the lunch hour is massive.

And that's another problem... If the children were given beautifully cooked meals consisting of fresh ingredients, interesting flavours, good quality products, then that would be amazing. But that doesn't happen, does it? School cooks, I am sure, vary in their abilities from school to school, but I don't think that anyone (despite Jamie Oliver's efforts) could claim that every school was lucky enough to have superb cooks offering Oliveresque menus. I see the ingredients that are delivered  for our kitchens and the main driver is money. The mince is cheap, frozen ... the quality of the food is not what I would choose to eat and I certainly wouldn't want my children eating it.

When my son was at Primary school he had school lunches, but used to come home tired, bad tempered, and damn hungry. He was used, at home, to eating good quality, tasty food, cooked from scratch. All of a sudden at school he was faced with sauceless pasta, gristly meat and tiny portions. My brother's triplets eat well at the moment. They enjoy all sorts of food - from fish to olives and from hummus to gherkins. But if faced with school food are they really going to enjoy it? My son changed to packed lunches because I knew that I could fill his lunch box with fresh, healthy, tasty food that he would definitely eat. The change in him was immediate and amazing. He had energy, was happy and was full of enthusiasm.

Another problem is the lack of kitchen facilities. Our school has a large, well equipped kitchen, but many schools to do not. Kitchens will need to be refurbed, equipped and extra staff brought in to cook the food. When and how will this happen?

Will every child have a HOT meal? That was what Nick Clegg wanted ... but will it actually happen?

If all of these problems could be overcome then I would imagine it would be great. If children could be given a hot, flavoursome meal, made from scratch from decent ingredients, which left them feeling full, satisfied and ready for the afternoon then that would be wonderful. But is that going to happen? I very much doubt it. As a parent I would rather give my children a packed lunch than have them eat school meals. My apologies to those of you who work in school kitchens because I know you work very hard but you work under massive constraints of time, equipment and set menus over which there is little room for manoeuvre. How you will cope with even more children I really don't know.

In an ideal world this plan would be lovely, but the world is not ideal is it? Schools are not restaurants and the minimum amount of money is spent per child therefore you are not going to get great quality food. It is mass catering with the aim of providing food as cheaply as possible and serving it as quickly as possible to get the children through and out the other side. The supporters of Universal Free School Meals whom I have heard speak about the plan have great intentions, but their intentions seem to be based on unachievable ideals. I question whether giving free meals to all KS1 children will actually increase academic achievement. I hope it does. I hope, come September, that the school system will be filled with chirpy, rosy cheeked children, sitting at their tables with full tummies and keen minds.

However, I really don't think this is going to happen.

Maybe we should spend money improving the quality of school meals generally and think about those children who already receive free lunches. Surely their need is greatest and improving the food they eat would help them?

Maybe we should spend more thought on the children who come into school having had no breakfast, with dirty clothes and no support. Maybe we should think about the children whose parents have to fight for specialist help because they won't be statemented until well into their school career. Maybe we should think about the classrooms with no pencils, paint or glue sticks by the Spring term - whose teachers have to go out and buy them with their own money....just a thought.

Celebrate Teaching Assistants ... we might not be here for much longer.

I received an email yesterday from my union. I am a member of Unison and the email was to tell me about a day - 29th November 2013 - a day to celebrate Teaching Assistants. Now why would they be wanting to do that? Why celebrate Teaching Assistants? Well, the reason is because if the UK Government has its way there might not be any Teaching Assistants in schools in the future.

Unison is fighting to save Teaching Assistants. The Government has decided that Teachers can do the job of Teaching Assistants. We are an expensive luxury.

So, let me tell you a little bit about my day and you can decide whether I am an expensive luxury and whether my Teachers can do my duties instead.

I am paid, as are my colleagues, from 8.50 am. I actually arrive each day at 8.25 am and start to prepare for my day. I help my Teacher welcome the Year 1 children and look after any of them who are upset or wobbly that day. I am there for any parent who wants to chat. If a parent needs to chat to my Teacher, I take the children in so they don't have to stand in the cold.

I have organised a rota for myself, (in my own time,) so that I can fit in all the children who need extra help. Working from information collated by my Teacher I have organised the children so that all of of them can reach their potential. By 8.50 I have started 1 to 1 work on phonics, handwriting, reading, number work.At 9.05 I bring out my 2nd group for 15 minutes, catching up on phonics, High Frequency Words. During this time the Teacher has taken Register and is into the Phonics session.

All the time I am listening to the lesson in the classroom, ready to go in if needed, because there are children who have Special Needs and I might be needed to sit with them. In Year 1 children very rarely have been statemented yet so there is no funding for 1 to 1 support. Therefore the General T.A (me) has to be there for them.

By 9.15 the Literacy Lesson starts and I either sit on the carpet with particular children to support them or spend time writing up my interventions so far that morning ( because I have to provide evidence of the work done with the children). Then I start checking reading books. I either change them or initial that the record has been checked. When the children go to their tables to work I go with them. I know which table because I have spent time (my own time) reading the Teacher's detailed plans, emailed to me each week.

Most of the time I work with the children who find school tricky. The Teacher and I alternate daily with the groups so that she spends time with all the children. There are children who find it so hard to sit still, concentrate, form letters. I am there to encourage, push, support, explain.

Its amazing the number of ways you can find to explain a single thing! And its amazing how many children find the simplest thing (to you and me) impossible to grasp. If I or the Teacher wasn't sitting with them they would not know what to do, how to start. One of my greatest skills is patience. To find yet another way to explain something, but to do it with kindness and humour is what I love to do. And at the same time as I am helping this child there are another 5 on the table who need me too.

Of course the Teacher could sit with them ... but what about the other 25 five year olds?

By 10 am its time for Assembly and I keep a group back to read with. I read with every child in the class at least once a week, assessing their skills and giving them tips and encouragement as we go along. Whether that child gets lots of support at home and loves to read or receives minimum support and finds reading hard, hard, hard -  I find the way to help them achieve their best, help them enjoy reading. The joy of seeing a child move up a level or get excited about a book is just wonderful.

After break (10 minutes) I read the story while the Teacher reads with another group (they try to read with every child once a week too).

Then its Maths and the same sort of support as I have given in Literacy. My last group goes out with me at 11.50 for a quick recap on numbers - formation, number lines, counting. Then at 12 its time for home ...

But we don't go home do we? Most T.As in my school stay and get the jobs done that they couldn't do in the morning...like changing reading books, putting up displays, changing the roleplay area, filing ... Its a rare day that I go home before 12.35 and some days I stay until 1pm, an hour over my paid time. Obviously this is up to me. Its my choice that I stay, but then that's the sort of people T.As tend to be. We don't do our job for the money, we do it because we love it, love the children.

An ordinary morning is what I have described above. I haven't told you about my playground duties, my chats with children whose parents are breaking up, whose granny has died, who have seen their dad beating up their mum... I haven't told you about the chats with parents who are worried or don't "get" phonics. I haven't mentioned helping children who have wet themselves or been sick everywhere or had a massive nose bleed.

Of course the Teacher could do all these things too. She gets into work at 7.30 and stops for lunch at 12.55 ( 15 minutes break ... soooo lazy!!) then works through until 5.30 when she goes home sorts life out for her own children and then carries on with school work. The thing is though that if she did my job, the things I do, then when would she actually be teaching? Or maybe we should just forget about all the small groups I take out, forget about reading with the children?

There are Teaching Assistants in my school who work 1 to 1 with children who are autistic or have long term illness, children with behavioural problems who, if left to their own devices could be dangerous both to themselves and other children. Without their T.As these children would be lost. As it is, their parents have to fight for help. How could they access education without the care and 1 to 1 support of a Teaching Assistant? T.As deliver physiotherapy programmes, Speech and Language interventions, administer medication...

Teaching Assistants are the unsung backbone of the education system. We work for just over minimum wage and we work because we choose to give our best for the children in our care. In my school the T.As are hard working, intelligent (many are Graduates) and very caring. Often it is the T.A who has the time to sit and listen to a child, who picks up on the underlying problems a child faces. We are part of a team, with our Teachers, trying to create an environment where children can learn and enjoy learning.

Teachers work incredibly hard already. If we were not there to do the things we do then I really hate to think what would happen to the children who need us. Teachers cannot physically do their own jobs and ours. Its impossible. I despair at the short sightedness of the UK Government and their plans.

If you have a child in school then please celebrate how fortunate they are, not only to have Teachers who work their socks off, but also Teaching Assistants who do their best to support, care and guide. It has been a long time since all we did was wash up paint pots.

Tonight, Algebra, we beat you!!! I am a Good Mummy!!!

I think that I can safely say that this evening I have been a good Mummy. You may think that I am blowing my own trumpet here, and you would be right, but it is a rare occasion when I can genuinely say "Tonight I have been a brilliant Mum!"

I will take you back to about 40 minutes ago when I was safely snug on my sofa, tapping away at my laptop, confident that my daily chores were over and all I had was a quiet evening ahead of me before toddling off to bed.

Along came Son #2 at that moment with the worried look that I recognise as the accompaniment to an extreme lack of completed homework. The problem, it seemed, was Algebra. He had no idea how to do his maths prep and wanted me to help. Me ... Algebra .... My first reaction was to send for Son #1 who is far brainier than me when it comes to the demon Maths. Unfortunately, due to what turned out to be either a complete lack of understanding of said homework or, more likely, a pressing engagement with YouTube, he decided it was beyond him too.

photo courtesy of Amplify.com

It is at this point that a mother shows her mettle. A girl either writes a note in her son's planner expressing total ignorance of all things mathematic or she heads upstairs to the Mac in an attempt to at least show willing ... In a fit of positivity I took the latter option and with beating heart trudged towards almost certain humiliation.

Having discovered that the homework was due in tomorrow (obviously) and that the time was now 9.20 pm I gave the requisite speech on doing homework immediately its given so any problems can be ironed out and then looked at the screen before me. My heart sank as I saw what appeared to be hieroglyphics ... How on earth was I going to sort this out?

With a sigh I suggested we both do the online tutorial in an attempt to understand anything at all. Gradually, before our very eyes, the mystery of Algebra unfolded. We followed the lesson and then tentatively attempted the homework sums. It was like walking along a balance beam ... neither of us were quite sure how we were doing it, but we seemed to be understanding what to do. The screen started to glow with green tick symbols ... Each time we hovered over the "Mark your Work" button we held our breath and bit our lips ...

And blow me down with a feather if we didn't get it right!! When I say "we" I mean my son because it was he who decided on the answers, but I was checking them in my head and knew he was doing the right thing.

In the space of 20 minutes we went from being complete Algebra duffers to a couple of excited nerds giving High Fives to each other as yet another green tick appeared. There can't be many people who bond over maths ( not in my Arts dominated world anyway) but tonight we bonded like bilio!

As we said "Good Night!" and he padded off to bed after a huge hug and a giggle I knew that tonight I had been a good mum. Tonight I had entered an unknown land with my boy and we had emerged triumphant together. We may not actually ever be able to do it again, but this time we beat you Algebra ... we beat you!!

School Cookery Lessons Stink.

My son cooked cottage pie at school today. "Good!" I thought " An easy dinner tonight!" How wrong I was!!

I really have no idea how his cookery teacher ever got a job passing her cookery skills onto the next generation, because she clearly has none to pass ...

Cottage pie should be a delicious, tasty meal of beef mince cooked with onions, maybe garlic, seasonings such as salt, pepper, herbs, and then perhaps some carrots, tinned tomatoes - all topped with creamy buttery mashed potato then baked in the oven until golden brown and a little crispy on top. Each family will have their own variation - perhaps cheese on top of the mash ...

photo courtesy of glasgowguide.co.uk

My son's version consisted of fried mince, chopped onions and carrots from ... LAST WEEK ... when they practised their knife skills ... and instant gravy. It was then topped with a thin grey layer of mash.

I took one mouthful and really couldn't eat any more. It was gross.

We do quite a bit of cooking in our house. My boys are quite capable of cooking several meals including cottage pie and this travesty of a meal was revolting. My son said that as he cooked it he knew it needed seasoning and suggested that if he had used various ingredients, seemingly unheard of by his teacher, it would have been better.

What sort of cookery teacher, what sort of person, used carrots and onions that have been sitting around for a week?? No wonder people these days rely so much on instant meals, take away food. I see it as part of my job as a mum to teach my boys to cook and thank goodness I do.

They know how to whip up a cake, cook sausages, pasta. My eldest son can make pastry and won a cooking competition with his chicken pie a couple of years ago. He was 12. It doesn't have to be rocket science. I always cook from scratch, using the best ingredients I can. I try to cook vegetarian meals each week as well as meaty meals and yesterday they wolfed down a hearty stew of root veg, beans and pasta. I know I complain sometimes about their eating habits, but they are actually pretty good and I am proud of their ability to follow a recipe. We like tasty, healthy food and my boys know and appreciate food that tastes good. They might complain sometimes, but faced with a choice of grey, week old cottage pie or a version that actually tastes good and is made with good ingredients, they are not fools.

So why are they being taught such rubbish at school? Its not a new thing. I remember my own cookery teacher at school turned out tasteless slop week after week.I learned to cook from my mum and did my best to ignore the school lessons. But what happens to those children who don't have mums who enjoy cooking?

Perhaps its a prerequisite of secondary school cookery teachers? If you are absolutely incapable of cooking anything tasty and have no idea about how to create a fresh, delicious meal then you get shoved into Home Ec.

Jamie Oliver had a brilliant campaign over school dinners. Maybe I need to start a campaign to teach our children how to cook? Clearly if I rely on my son's teachers things are going to go horribly wrong. Oh, and maybe I should think of buying shares in the local chip shop?

Worries about my son in Secondary School.

I am walking a thin line with my son at the moment .He is 12 and he is clever.He is lovely and talented, kind and funny. He is also really rather lazy...

He has managed to achieve straight 'A's throughout his first year at Secondary School and I have praised him for that.The thing that really gets my goat is his attitude towards work. His 'work ethic' is just non-existent.He does the bare minimum with his homework, rushes it, leaves it to the last minute.

I have tried everything I can think of to get him to take some care. I have stood over him while he worked.I have let him just get on with it. I have bribed him. I have shouted at him. I have helped him and bailed him out.I have tried to explain that you only live once and if he starts to drop down it will be hard to climb back up...

I can hear you saying...'Well, the boy gets straight 'A's... what are you worried about?' I understand what you are saying.... but I want the best for him.I don't want him to wake up one day and decide to work hard, but realise its too late...

I know that he is using about 40% of his potential. Yes, he has been chosen for the Gifted and Talented programme, but if he spent some time and care on his work he could achieve more... actually enjoy it more.The times I have sat with him and gone over an essay I see the pleasure in his face as he tells me about the subject and his thoughts. He gets excited about learning.

Part of me wonders if I have sent him to the right school. Would he have achieved more at another school? Should I have sent him to an all boys school? No. I knew those schools were not right for him. I want him to be happy at school. But I also want him to be stimulated and motivated.Hopefully next year when he is streamed in other subjects he will be with other bright pupils and be motivated by like minds...

All I can do is support him and encourage him. He has so much to give... I just don't want him to give it all away.