It's a perfectly reasonable question.
You don't have to come from the "I weren't there so I don't care" school of history to ask it.
I suppose Henry 8th is the best known Tudor King. he has a certain celebrity status. If he were in the Big Brother House for a special monarchist edition he would either get voted out very early on or be retained for his sensationaly selfish and oafish attitudes to life and his fellow human beings.I imagine he would appal and fascinate us simutaneously.
However, the cult of celebrity is not one we wish to encourage at school.
None the less, if destiny had decreed that we should have a real King Arthur and had spared Henry's older brother England would not have become protestant. We would have avoided frequent punch ups with Catholic Ireland and France and - as John O Farrell puts it - a future Ian Paisley would have spent his campaigning energies organising a zebra crossing outside the new Asda on The Falls Road.
Had Henry fallen for an ancestor of Germain Greer instead of Catherine of Aragon our patriarchal system for determining the line of inheritance might have been challenged over four centuries early during fiesty debates in the royal antechambers.
This would have saved much royal squabbling and intrigue across Europe and help us side step rule by many a feckless male who ignored the counsel of a wise older sister.
We might have retained a religious, artistic heritage to rival the Italians had henry not coped with his own credit crunch by confiscating most religious works of art to supplement the royal coffers.
Scotland and England would not have come to be ruled by a single monarch.Our zany unwritten constitution that allows the British to have four chances of sharing the glory of winning the world cup, which must seem very unfair to every other competing nation, would have never come to pass.
If the first Tudor monarch, Henry 7th, had listened to Christopher Columbus when he dropped by to ask for money to help open up a little venture he had planned in the far east the good people of Latin America would be the good people of Anglo Saxon America.
History is full of potential "What if.." debates. This what makes it fun.
People say that the only reason to travel is to return to your own country and see it as other see it for the first time.
Perhaps you don't need to travel. A journy in imagination through time will take you back along many a branching road. A glimpse down each of those paths not taken will help you return to the present more aware that chance rather than destiny brought us to this present state. The Tudor period offers us more chances than many other periods to see how drastically different life could have been if...........
For children the over arching lesson must be -Take nothing for granted. Be ready for change while planning and hoping for security and watch out for fallen branches!
sister.
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Summer Shakespeare at St Katharines School
I went to a Technical School back in the 1960s and 70's.
These schools were created during the Wilson years and were part of the drive to set Britian aglow with the "White heat of technological revolution."
At A level the subject choices were science, science or science or maths. If I had heard the name Shakespeare at the time I would have guessed he was a leader of the rebel tribesmen in Zulu - a film that was big at the time.
When I was first introduced to a Shakepearean text it left me cold. The meaning of the verse is impenetrable at first reading and the meter and flavour of the words is subdued on the flat page.
I learned to appreciate Shakespeare much later watching it performed on stage. When you return to the text with images and characterisations in your mind it can live again in your imagination.
This is why I've believed for several years that the best time to capture children's interest in Shakespeare is when they are at primary school.
Primary children lack the prejudices and inhibitions that I and many others developed through adolescence. Young children learn the meaning of the words by acting them out. Shakespeare contains more action and passion than any soap opera.
Any child with a sense for the beauty and utility of language will be aware that they are swimming in a sensual sea of hidden depths, undercurrents and metaphors even if they don't grasp where these currents are taking them.
This is our hope as we embark on rehearsals for our play. It will be called The Life and Smirks of William Shakespeare. Parts of it are funny links to draw in some of the most famous characters and speeches of The Bard. Much of it will be the words of The Bard himself in the mouths of babes and sucklings. There will be little editing of Shakespeare's words.
We are aiming for a Shakespeare in the park feeling. Part of the play will take place outside whatever the weather.
The production will probably happen during the last week of term.
Next time you find yourself behind a St Katharine's child in the queue at the new Tescos in Hungerford you could also be behind Henry 5th, Prospero, Richard 3rd, Romeo or Juillette who might drop into a speech to "summon up a muse of fire "- given the right kind of cue.
These schools were created during the Wilson years and were part of the drive to set Britian aglow with the "White heat of technological revolution."
At A level the subject choices were science, science or science or maths. If I had heard the name Shakespeare at the time I would have guessed he was a leader of the rebel tribesmen in Zulu - a film that was big at the time.
When I was first introduced to a Shakepearean text it left me cold. The meaning of the verse is impenetrable at first reading and the meter and flavour of the words is subdued on the flat page.
I learned to appreciate Shakespeare much later watching it performed on stage. When you return to the text with images and characterisations in your mind it can live again in your imagination.
This is why I've believed for several years that the best time to capture children's interest in Shakespeare is when they are at primary school.
Primary children lack the prejudices and inhibitions that I and many others developed through adolescence. Young children learn the meaning of the words by acting them out. Shakespeare contains more action and passion than any soap opera.
Any child with a sense for the beauty and utility of language will be aware that they are swimming in a sensual sea of hidden depths, undercurrents and metaphors even if they don't grasp where these currents are taking them.
This is our hope as we embark on rehearsals for our play. It will be called The Life and Smirks of William Shakespeare. Parts of it are funny links to draw in some of the most famous characters and speeches of The Bard. Much of it will be the words of The Bard himself in the mouths of babes and sucklings. There will be little editing of Shakespeare's words.
We are aiming for a Shakespeare in the park feeling. Part of the play will take place outside whatever the weather.
The production will probably happen during the last week of term.
Next time you find yourself behind a St Katharine's child in the queue at the new Tescos in Hungerford you could also be behind Henry 5th, Prospero, Richard 3rd, Romeo or Juillette who might drop into a speech to "summon up a muse of fire "- given the right kind of cue.
Sunday, 15 March 2009
You decide!
I had an interesting conversation with a Mum the other day. Most of you will be aware of the fact that I frequently wear a homemade badge with the words 'You decide' written on it.
She hadn't ascertained its purpose. She had quite reasonably assumed that it indicated indecisiveness on my part.
I thought I had better clarify its purpose here. It isn't there to tell the world that I want to avoid responsibility. It's there on my lapel to get the children to think about taking on responsibility for themselves.
All of us are frequently asked questions by children that shouldn't need asking.
I don't mean questions like "What if....?" or "So is that like...?"
These are just the kind of questions we are constantly trying to get children to ask.
The badge is there to deflect questions like "What shall I do with this?" or "Where does this go?" These questions are usually asked by a sweet child holding up a bent paper clip or a rubber while standing next to the drawer marked rubbers.
Our job as teachers is to work ourselves out of a job. If we have earned our corn the children will blossom into independent learners as they step out to meet life. Being independent means being organised. We have to encourage the children to try to do things for themselves from the earliest opportunity.
At a school where I used to work we used to take a vast herd of children swimming at the same time as another school. We emerged from our different dressing rooms to line up for coaches simultaneously. Comparing the queues was interesting. My children often came from large families and had working Mums. The other school had an army of Mums who had the opportunity to come along and help at swimming. Their children looked prim and neat. They had stood obediently with their hands in the air while being powdered dry and reshod. Our class was comparatively dishevelled. Collars were askew, shirt- tails dangled, dresses were on backwards. What didn't show was the comparative independence of spirit of my children. They had nobody to call on for assistance. Many were emotionally resilient as a result.. Some were trained to look after themselves by sharing a house with several brothers and sisters. They battled to drag socks over wet feet, stumped off to look for lost shoes among damp clothes and some of them were learning to work as a pair to wring out their wet costumes.
A comparative glance at the two queues showed the opposite of the truth. The best looking children were the ones being denied a learning opportunity!
It is the rugged, independent attitude of mind that was developing in my damp infants what we want to bring to the fore in our children at St Katharine's. We want them to do things for themselves. To help with this our aim is to provide an organised environment where everything has a place and we all know where it is. Keeping things organised isn't an adults only job.
Children love to ditch responsibility on us. "Shall I draw a margin?" "Shall I give this to.....?" "The painting water is spilled! What shall we do?"
When I shrug and point at my badge I'm telling the children that they are faced with a learning opportunity. They usually grimace and look dissatisfied, but never the less they stump off and resolve the issue.
On Friday our celeration assembly will be about Mothers. Monday's assembly will be about mothers too. The children in Oak Class will not be making Mother's Day cards this year. This will be their opportunity to take the resposibility of showing that they love you on themselves. We shall do lots of reminding about what the purpose of Mother's day is! But what you get on the day will have been provided by their own initiative! Happy Independent Mother's day!
She hadn't ascertained its purpose. She had quite reasonably assumed that it indicated indecisiveness on my part.
I thought I had better clarify its purpose here. It isn't there to tell the world that I want to avoid responsibility. It's there on my lapel to get the children to think about taking on responsibility for themselves.
All of us are frequently asked questions by children that shouldn't need asking.
I don't mean questions like "What if....?" or "So is that like...?"
These are just the kind of questions we are constantly trying to get children to ask.
The badge is there to deflect questions like "What shall I do with this?" or "Where does this go?" These questions are usually asked by a sweet child holding up a bent paper clip or a rubber while standing next to the drawer marked rubbers.
Our job as teachers is to work ourselves out of a job. If we have earned our corn the children will blossom into independent learners as they step out to meet life. Being independent means being organised. We have to encourage the children to try to do things for themselves from the earliest opportunity.
At a school where I used to work we used to take a vast herd of children swimming at the same time as another school. We emerged from our different dressing rooms to line up for coaches simultaneously. Comparing the queues was interesting. My children often came from large families and had working Mums. The other school had an army of Mums who had the opportunity to come along and help at swimming. Their children looked prim and neat. They had stood obediently with their hands in the air while being powdered dry and reshod. Our class was comparatively dishevelled. Collars were askew, shirt- tails dangled, dresses were on backwards. What didn't show was the comparative independence of spirit of my children. They had nobody to call on for assistance. Many were emotionally resilient as a result.. Some were trained to look after themselves by sharing a house with several brothers and sisters. They battled to drag socks over wet feet, stumped off to look for lost shoes among damp clothes and some of them were learning to work as a pair to wring out their wet costumes.
A comparative glance at the two queues showed the opposite of the truth. The best looking children were the ones being denied a learning opportunity!
It is the rugged, independent attitude of mind that was developing in my damp infants what we want to bring to the fore in our children at St Katharine's. We want them to do things for themselves. To help with this our aim is to provide an organised environment where everything has a place and we all know where it is. Keeping things organised isn't an adults only job.
Children love to ditch responsibility on us. "Shall I draw a margin?" "Shall I give this to.....?" "The painting water is spilled! What shall we do?"
When I shrug and point at my badge I'm telling the children that they are faced with a learning opportunity. They usually grimace and look dissatisfied, but never the less they stump off and resolve the issue.
On Friday our celeration assembly will be about Mothers. Monday's assembly will be about mothers too. The children in Oak Class will not be making Mother's Day cards this year. This will be their opportunity to take the resposibility of showing that they love you on themselves. We shall do lots of reminding about what the purpose of Mother's day is! But what you get on the day will have been provided by their own initiative! Happy Independent Mother's day!
Oak Class: Homework week beginning 16.3.09
Mrs White has set
Spellings to learn for Friday.Literacy: A research homework.
Find, cut out and stick into your purple homework book a newspaper report that interests you.
Hand in on Friday.
Numeracy;
Everyone has a sheet about data handling. Different people have different sheets.
Hand in on Friday.
Mr Perry has set
A science sheet about the organs inside the human body with a labelling task and a few short questions.
There is also a cutting out and labelling task. The children have to make a jaw for a herbivore or a carnivore and write on their cardboard model the names of the teeth and their function. A paper template and the sheet of card are provided.
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Homework week beginning 9.3.09
Oak Class (Homework.)
Well done everyone for last weeks homework. The answers you gave to the questions on Materials were very good. Two children got full marks.Out of 25 many of you scored more than 20. Some children managed to get almost full marks on question papers that were all level 5, including some Y5 children.
Now we need to work hard at undertanding how to add deciaml numbers. Children having booster lessons need to work on multiplication of double digit numbers (73 x 24 for instance)
This week's homework is
Learn your spellings.
Numeracy - addition of decimals. For Mrs White
Literacy - do the worksheet on changing present tense to past tense in a diary extract.For Mrs White.
Science - all children have work about pulse rates and/or the circulatory system. For Mr Perry.
Hand in day is Thursday.
Spellings tested on Friday.
Find the class play in the Children's Work section of the website. Look in the "Whole school Gallery" Learn your words and understand the story.
Keeping up to date.
Things to remember.
RED NOSE DAY
Save brown money for charity assembly 2.00pm on Friday 13th.
Red Nose Day depends on you being there and being ready for anything. Bring your video camera. Be ready to caputre your little darling in a pink tap dress with sequins on the sleeve, miming in sync with a ine of miniature Rockettes or doing keepie ups in their football strip with the complicated, vowel free name of an Eastern European imported footballer printed on their back at £1.50 a letter. It will add to your achieve of footage depicting your love for that competent, composed and charismatic child you raised . You can look back over it one day with a sentimental tear in your eye when they have forbidden you from dancing, performing or even standing quietly in the corner at any event which they are also attending.
Please help your child get their act ready to audition. Keep the act short. 10 seconds of juggling is worth a minute and a half of mumbling. Enthusiasm is more important than quality - and one last thing - all children can do stand up. So if they stand up - they get applause! (And brown money.)
Extra Football match against Shalbourne on Thurdsay 12th march. Away. Please help with transport.
No Knex and Lego club on Monday March 16th. The football club are playing away at Ramsbury that evening.
Hockey tournament postponed until March 31st.
Do you want us to supply an After School Club for your child.? Tell Mr Perry. At the time of writing only one parent has expressed real enthusiasm. We need at least 8 children to make the after school club viable.Please email me if you are at all interested.
E safety evening at Ogbourne School. 7.00pm Tuesday 10th March. All welcome.
We need two parent governors. Why not apply?
Sycamore parents.
Please make final payments for the Oxenwood trip on Monday 23rd March.
Mother's - It's Mother's day assembly on Friday 20th March.
Hazel Class
Trip to the fire station on Tuesday 10th March.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Number crunching.
Spring is come, the grass is riz.
Our new look website is the biz.
Here are some recommended websites. These should help us work together to improve our children's understanding of basic number.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/
This is an excellent website to look at at home.
It is very easy to follow. The maths games are fun.
You can play against your children or get your children to play against each other.
http://www.primarygames.co.uk/
is a dangerous website if you have things you should be getting on with.
I can waste hours shooting at multiple ghosts in the multiple hunter game or shape matching.
Ghostblasters is a great game for learning tables. Play it with a shaded 100 square showing all the numbers from one of the timestables filled in beside your child to give tham an advantage. Alternatively, when it's your turn you could only be allowed to shoot ghosts from times tables above 12.
I can't promise that the washing up will be done on time and to the appropriate standard if you introduce your children to this site.
If your child has a scientific turn of mind and you have cash to spare then http://www.echalk.co.uk/Science/science.htm might be a good investment.
Watch the newsletter for other suggestions about websites you can visit to help your children at home.
Look at the power point on the website to keep up to date with events in school!
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
You found it!
The idea behind creating this blogg is that you can always reach it through the website.Here you can find out what the homework for Oak class is this week.
You will find out what is worrying the head or other members of staff .
You will find out what we are proud of and get some idea of what is going to happen in the future.
During the holiday Oak Class should have
1) Completed 10 questions from each of levels 3, 4 and 5 for past SATS tests.
2) Written about how a meal is prepared in the Gambia compared with how we make meals in our homes
3) Made something with clean junk. Any item that is useful OR beautiful OR a toy can be made.
This is what Gambian children do if they want anything other than the essential of life. As the credit crunch bites this could be an option for next year's Christams presents.
You will find out what is worrying the head or other members of staff .
You will find out what we are proud of and get some idea of what is going to happen in the future.
During the holiday Oak Class should have
1) Completed 10 questions from each of levels 3, 4 and 5 for past SATS tests.
2) Written about how a meal is prepared in the Gambia compared with how we make meals in our homes
3) Made something with clean junk. Any item that is useful OR beautiful OR a toy can be made.
This is what Gambian children do if they want anything other than the essential of life. As the credit crunch bites this could be an option for next year's Christams presents.
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