2014- 2015 A New Curriculum….something to look forward to.

Well I was only going to write about MFL (Modern Foreign Languages), but too many things have happened since the first day of September.

Last Friday I went for a pizza with my wife and her friends. Six 3 ½ year old girls and their mums! 

As you can imagine being the only man on the table, I was quite “challenged ” having to  engage in conversation with small children and trying to hold it all together after a long week where I had been with children all day.

In between children screaming, laughter and flying pieces of pizza, I was picking up the colouring pencils from the floor when I heard one of the mums talking about schools and education, OFSTED Reports, and the big expenses of private education.

This was my heaven sent opportunity to stop being the nanny and to be able to join in to the adult conversation for at least five minutes.

After a couple of glasses of wine the mums had started chatting about the eternal subject “which schools would they apply for in September”. I thought I would share their absolute shock when they heard that there was a new curriculum and that this meant essential changes were on there way. The table went quiet when I mentioned the inclusion of Modern Foreign Languages, which could be “ancient or modern” ones. They all went on to their mobiles and started searching when I mentioned the changes in Geography, History and COMPUTING!!!! The discussion went on and on and some of them texted later to ask where they could find more information about this and asked what schools were doing about it.

Anyway, what this shockingly festive moment confirmed to me was that generally parents have got all the best intentions of securing their children the best education they can. However there is little digestible and relevant information for them.

That motivated me to write this brief blog and reflect on what kind of media should we use as teachers to communicate between us effectively, certainly emails are good but going through 25 emails where we all agree on something, can take time from a teacher’s already busy day.

 I have always thought that a staff blog can be immediately accessible, for us to communicate, catch up and reflect on what has been going on. It is quite simple to use and can be also very quick.

For instance I wanted to share with you, how excited and enthusiastic the children have been about MFL this year, which for me has been a big incentive and has kept me very motivated to go through the inevitably tedious hours of planning and marking.

Have a look and enjoy.

Mr Santillan (Spanish Teacher)