I spent the day talking to the year sevens at St Cyres Comprehenasive School, Penarth nr Cardiff yesterday. The school is split over two sites, being an amalgamation of two schools. Eventually a new school will be built and everyone will go to the same building.
Both sites are certainly showing their age and, if they are going to be demolished, it’s obviously not worth investing much in the buildings. On the St Cyres site I was attracted by the old signs on some of the doors. This is a picture of the Library door – now it is known as the Learning Resources Centre and has as much space for technology as it has for books – reflecting the way we all research these days. The Polystyrene letters are very 1960s. They’ve been painted over several times and the letter A has been bashed, but the sign still works, even if the name of the room has changed.
I was amused by the sign that greets you as you enter the school. I mentioned it as a starting point for a story – maybe richer parents have started taking their children to school in helicopters?
I find it interesting visiting Welsh schools. They have been moving away from the pressurised English curriculum and constant testing for two or three years now. I do sense a different atmosphere in Welsh schools. Everyone seems more relaxed and happier and children are there to learn and not to meet targets. When will we go back to educating our children in England and stop this ridiculous pursuit of targets that are only there to produce statistics whose only purpose is to be massaged to make politicians look good?
I’m not saying that I sense green shoots, but the birds definitely think that spring is on it’s way.