New houseparents' accommodation on the back avenue

[nastymum]

I am glad to hear it is changing . A lot of things are hard to do but if they are worth while then you do them anyway and even hardened smokers would agree that is desirable to try everything you can to stop pupils smoking on school premises not least because of the fire hazard. I am not happy that some staff turn a blind eye to it and I don't see how any parent can be.Where do you draw the line ? What else would you effectively ignore because you think it is too hard to police? You will find it much harder to police what goes on if you drive the children away from the areas near the houses. What you say Mrs C gives me no confidence at all .

[cstegerlewis]

As we have move on to smoking in school, my view is a bit different. I don't think there was probably a single smoking venue within the ring fence that wasn't known of by at least one master or member of staff, and I am sure there were plenty of discussions about them. The vast majority of them were so blindingly obvious it would be negligent of the staff not to know about them! However I think the key to effective deterrence was the random nature of certain masters visits and dog walks, whch meant you always had to be on the lookout for it.

However punishment was never that great, except for serial offenders (or should I say those who were dumb enough to keep going to the places where probability of detection was very high!). I smoked regularly in school and had several near misses, but was never caught, I think there is a tolerance of the behaviour as far as the inevitable learning experience of people in such an environment. The obvious problem with draconian behavior and rule is the old Prohibition Argument, the more you ban it the more ingeniuos the methods of circumventing the situation.

[blondie95]

going on Mrs C's point, there are about a dozen smoking dens i can think of and i left 5 1/2years ago so goodness knows how many they may be now-to have staff guarding them at all times of the day when kids go off and have a smoke would be a complete waste of resources. No matter how hard the school comes down on pupils they will smoke, as will children who arent at boarding school who have parents come down on them hard about smoking-they will if they want to do it find a way round it! Think about all the sneaky things you did as teenager that you would have gotten into trouble for either at CH or by your parents!

Bullying is also not tolerated at CH and is punished by the schol however no matter how hard the staff etc try to stop it it still happens because the bullies become sneaky and do it at the times when it is not posible for staff to be there-such as in rooms and after lights out!

[Mrs C.]

You will find it much harder to police what goes on if you drive the children away from the areas near the houses. .

Are you talking about smokers here, or pupils` activities in general?

As I think I said in a previous post, the vast majority of pupils didn`t use the back ash for anything other than ball games and water fights.
Any less open activity , which you seem to be implying by refering to smokers and anything else that may go on ... will go on anyway . That`s life.

The school will know /already knows about and deals accordingly with it, I`m sure.


Can any of us who have children honestly say that we have known the whereabouts and activities of our offspring 24 hours of every day?
I believe we can not reasonably expect any school to do much more than we do as parents. Unless we want them to be more or less imprisoned!

Kids break the rules, adults break the rules. That`s life . We have to deal with it .

Just as the tarmac has gone . It`s happened, probably after a great deal of discussion, whether anyone likes it or not. To coin a phrase " get over it"

And if anyone has concerns I would respectfully suggest they contact the Head or Deputy with these concerns.

(I seem to have ruffled a few feathers too, Matt!)

[ben ashton]

It`s happened, probably after a great deal of discussion, whether anyone likes it or not.

It's the probably that worries me.

More open and accountable discussion in general would be welcome in my eyes. And if this includes financial investigation of owgc's time in a certain job, then even better.

[HerrSchnauzer]

It seems, Mrs C do not remember childhood or the expirience of play.
Did you never run around outside and play witha ball, I hate to say this, my dear woman,
but the children should not have their childhood interrupted by 'whether someone has a garden'
or not. It doesn't last forever you know.

[nastymum]

Hooray!

[HerrSchnauzer]

Hooray!

Thank you.

[Great Plum]

IO knew my post may ruffle a few feathers Janet, that's why I explictly said it was my opinion at the start to make sure that no one else in my family would be drawn into the discussion...

Do you know by the way, if the school are going to replace the lost play areas?

[HerrSchnauzer]

The school may quite possibly tell the children to go and play upon
the Big Side where ther is a lot of space but a lot of mud. Also, most of it is banned from being played on because of Cricket boundaries and the like.

[Mrs C.]

In the original plans, as far as I remember, there was due to be a hard surface area designated for play.
More than that I do not know.
A point I have made more than once.
I don`t want the children to lose their hard surface area any more than the next person - but it has happened - for the moment at least.
And we have to accept that school has made that decision and therefore any criticism should be directed at the powers-that-be - not at me for expressing my own views!! thank you.
Have you voiced your concerns, Nastymum? And others who seem to think it is the pupils "right" to play right outside staff homes? If school decides otherwise, it has to be accepted
If I were still in the flat I would invite you to come and stay with me for a week - and then maybe you`d understand what I`m saying.


If HerrS is so concerned about depriving children of outdoor play and thereby having childhood interrupted, perhaps boarding school is not the best place to be.
It`s not exactly a "normal" life after all, is it?


In the same vein, why should staff children have to grow up dodging balls and hearing appalling language every time they set foot outside their front door or when they`re trying to sleep at night ? Don`t they deserve some sort of a childhood too?
Obviously not.
And staff obviously do not deserve to have some privacy . They clearly don`t do enough for the pupils.

End of rant .


.

[Ajarn Philip]

Getting a bit difficult for Mrs C not to take this personally, especially when she gets comments like "my dear woman" (welcome to the forum, by the way, Herr S - looking forward to lots of positive input).

I think Mrs C has demonstrated more than adequately on many occasions how deeply she cares about the school and the students. Something she's omitted to mention in this particular thread.

Isn't it time to put this one to bed now?

[midget]

I agree. It's getting close to personally offensive.
Maggie

[blondie95]

I also agree, Matt and Mrs C both said it was there opinion as have I. There will never be a solution that suits all and im sure if the pupils themselves were conncerned they were loosing out they would voice their opinion...when i was dep they suggested monday night be in house night as well as sunday which resulted in a large number of senior pupils congregating on quad after prep to ilustrate the fact they want to go out to see people from other houses.

[sejintenej]

In the same vein, why should any children have to grow up dodging balls and hearing appalling language every time they set foot outside their front door or when they`re trying to sleep at night?

(Italics = my change to the quote)
Mrs C: I don't think anyone is having a go at you - we all understand your position here and in the school whereas the decisions on building, play areas etc. are made far far from your front door.

What concerns me far more are that pupils are failing to have regard for others and are using what you call appalling language. These are things that any sensible parent expects a decent school to correct, correct and correct again until you don't have the justification for writing it. That comes down to the headmaster and how he enforces decent behaviour