I am so angry..... really angry.

[JoM]

Maybe domestic science lessons should be a compulsory part of the national curriculum.

I think there are so many curriculum requirements that have to be fitted into a school week now that it'd be difficult to fit a beneficial food tech, as it's now known, lesson into the timetable.
My son is just finishing his second year at secondary school and they do food tech as part of the craft subjects. In fact he seems to have done more of that over the two years than any of the other subjects in that group, ie art and woodwork/metalwork. It's supposed to be a term of each but it's not worked that way. Anyway....
He's not actually made anything that will be of any benefit though. We've had apple pies, crumbles galore, coleslaw, Dutch apple cake, cookies of various kinds, fairy cakes, plain scones, cheese scones, cherry scones, cheese and cherry scones (I know!!)...but when just one hour a week is allocated to this subject they're very limited as to what they can prepare and cook in that time. The lesson is scheduled for last period of the morning and quite often runs over into lunchtime. In the time it takes to make and bake these things though surely they could make a soup of some kind?
Thankfully he's learning from me at home, as did his older brother who will have a go at cooking anything from scratch which is a good thing as he hasn't had a single food tech lesson in his time at the school.

I went into Iceland the other day, I needed cheese and it's the only town centre supermarket, and while I was queuing I looked around and the conveyors were filled with processed c**p. The people in front of me paid £52 and it was all frozen ready meals at £1 a time, frozen pizzas, bag upon bag of oven chips and looking at them you could see what eating this junk does to you

[cromwell]

I take the point about the national curriculum Jo.
Recently I was thinking about when I was at school. In the rugby season we did PE on Mondays, rugby training Tuesdays and Thursdays, double games on Wednesday afternoon and PE of Friday; and a game on Saturday.
I doubt children these days get that much physical activity at school as there is so much that all governments have shoehorned into the national curriculum.
Food tech should be in there and something else should be out, imo.

[Kaz]

Citizenship? Personal and Social Education?

[Workingman]

They could probably remove some subjects. but cookery as we knew it will not be making a comeback. There are too many rules set against it for any school/teacher to entertain it: General Health and Safety, Food safety, allergen problems, cross-contamination, vegan/vegetarian, not to mention the Halal/Kosher/Couldn't care less how it died religious requirements.

It is far easier to work with inert ingredients such as flour and sugar or to get pupils to "design" the perfect sandwich or pizza topping.

[JoM]

I take the point about the national curriculum Jo.
Recently I was thinking about when I was at school. In the rugby season we did PE on Mondays, rugby training Tuesdays and Thursdays, double games on Wednesday afternoon and PE of Friday; and a game on Saturday.
I doubt children these days get that much physical activity at school as there is so much that all governments have shoehorned into the national curriculum.
Food tech should be in there and something else should be out, imo.

My son has PE on Tuesdays and Wednesdays but he says that by the time they've got to the changing rooms, changed, had valuables bagged and locked away, sorted out equipment etc they have about 30 minutes of actual PE and then it's back into the changing rooms to get back into uniforms.
At his junior school, in his last year - SATs year - PE was frequently cancelled so that they could do extra maths or literacy. It's not good is it when you think of how many children are driven to school and just about everywhere else, therefore getting hardly any exercise.

Citizenship? Personal and Social Education?

Absolutely! What a waste of time those subjects are! They're now lumped together and called C+ at Joe's school

[Kaz]

Complete and utter politically correct tripe!

[Workingman]

When Cromwell and I, maybe Kaz, went to school we did a limited number of subjects in depth in order to do 'O' levels or CSEs. I only took seven exams; my son and daughter took eleven! Hell, at primary we didn't have subjects, as such, we had the school day.

Nowadays pupils skim topics, too many, and then get examined in all of them. There is no time for physical education, no time for useful life skills, just exam after exam after exam. That might not be so bad, but the exams are nothing more than tests. There is no longevity to cognitive learning any more, it's quick in and that leads to quick out.

Pupils do not get an education any more, they get information. The trouble is that they have no idea how to apply it.

[TheOstrich]

That's interesting comment, WM.

My primary school was actually pretty organised into subject lessons, but it was a private school and the reputation hinged on getting pupils into one of the top local secondary schools. Oh yes, we did 12 times tables back then as rote, Mr Gove ....

At secondary school we had two PE lessons a week (which may have been in the gym, or swimming) but this reduced to zero at around age 14 or so, because the push was on for the O Level exams. However, we also had a "House" system and at least one afternoon a week was devoted to training and House games (rugby union was my code, none of yer northern stuff, tennis, cricket, cross-country - plus a few more esoteric games like Eton fives).

There was never any hint of domestic science, citizenship or life skills, apart from Scouts or Combined Cadet Force on a Friday afternoon. I took 9 O Levels, and it was totally intensive study, not far off 10 hours a day, 6 hours a week with homework. And two years later 3 A Levels. Saturday morning school was in force until around 1967. It was that sort of boys school, I'm afraid, Oxbridge orientated. That I was nowhere near University material was "a poor show", and I was duly spat out of the system at 17.

I got an "education", as WM and Cromwell say, and exams were exams, not continuous tests. Whether or not I might have benefitted from being taught life skills is, in the event, a very interesting point, because if you didn't succeed academically, you were nothing. Thankfully, I was good at maths and so found a niche in the accountancy sector.

There was a girls school adjacent. This was, of course, before "career" was even mooted for women. I think the gals would have been taught much more about life skills at that school, but I don't honestly know as there was total segregation, including barbed wire and regular prefect patrols behind the bicycle sheds - and staggered arrival and departure times !!!

[debih]

When Cromwell and I, maybe Kaz, went to school we did a limited number of subjects in depth in order to do 'O' levels or CSEs. I only took seven exams; my son and daughter took eleven! Hell, at primary we didn't have subjects, as such, we had the school day.

Nowadays pupils skim topics, too many, and then get examined in all of them. There is no time for physical education, no time for useful life skills, just exam after exam after exam. That might not be so bad, but the exams are nothing more than tests. There is no longevity to cognitive learning any more, it's quick in and that leads to quick out.

Pupils do not get an education any more, they get information. The trouble is that they have no idea how to apply it.

I so agree with that comment WM.

S does two PE lessons and one dance lesson a week at 50 minutes each. But now she is going up to Yr 9 (old 3rd year secondary school - I still get confused about what year they are in in the new way of counting it!!) she has the option of doing two dance lessons and one PE (or the other way round). She has opted for this but does need to pass her dance exam to be allowed to do that (which the teacher expects her to do).

I don't have any major objection to them not doing that much PE on a personal level - my girls are really active and fit. But some of their friends aren't and really do need the PE lessons that school provides.

They have one tech lesson a week which is a double lesson (so two 50 minute lessons back to back). There are four tech subjects which are split across the year - cookery, sewing, metalwork and woodwork. I assume that when she gets to Yr 10 (so 14/15 years old) and they start to do their options lessons (the ones they chose to do alongside the ones they have to do) tech lessons can go by the wayside. However, they can choose cookery as one of their options so she could then be doing one double lesson of cookery a week.

So far, like Jo, I find that the things they make in food tech are pretty pointless - fruit salad, scones, crumbles galore, muffins. S was really shocked when she had her first lesson to find how many children didn't have any idea about cookery at all - didn't know how to use a sharp knife and just had no understanding at all. But they aren't taught the basics - no one teaches them how to use a knife properly (or sharpen it), how to peel and chop veg, etc. That's what really needs to be done - they need to first of all learn what utensils are what and what you use them for, understand what different methods of cooking are and then the basics - learn how to peel an onion, chop veg, etc.

But I am a huge believer that it really isn't the schools responsibility to teach the children to do this - it is the parents. Its just a shame that there are so many useless parents out there that the school have to take over and do it!!!

[debih]

At our primary school (which L only has 7 days left at ) we are really big into sport. As a school we are useless at it and never win any competition but hey, ho.

The junior teacher is super fit (in every way ) and used to be a sports coach before he went into teaching. We have also just had government funding of £6000 a year for two years plus £5 for child. This could be spent in anyway providing it was sports related - most schools bought equipment or paid into cluster things but we opted to use it for a new teacher. We had enough in the budget already for a part time teacher and just added the two together for a full time teacher for the next two years who will also be our sports co ordinator. We already know him as he has been in the school for part of his teacher training and comes back regularly to help out at things until he starts in September.

As part of the curriculum the children get two PE lessons a week (plus a swimming lesson for all Yr 4, 5 and 6 childre) but our school factor in more. They also have after school clubs - football, rugby, cricket and running club - which alternate throughout the year.

We are also big into our outdoor learning and the children spend the whole of Friday outside no matter what the weather (unless it is very windy as we are surrounded by trees). Sometimes they use the school grounds, sometimes they go into the nearby woods and build dens, etc and sometimes they go down to the local park.

They do two outward bound trips a year. They have just come back from one two night trip which they take the Yr 2 and 3 children on (so a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds) where they do den building, tracking, orienteering, etc. Then the Yr 5 and 6 children go away for two nights earlier in the year where they do abseiling, climbing, etc.

But I know we are in the minority as a school - very few other primary schools do so much activity.