UNCERTAINTY...

I said it was going to be uniform but I think maybe Dyslexia instead.

Most parents would do anything for their children but spotting the tell-tale signs of dyslexia, is probably a bit beyond what most of us can achieve. Schools should be more aware, looking for the signs, offering support & advice for parents. I know that the education system has been 'on-side' with dyslexia for a relatively short period of time but still, parents aren't expert enough, or in some cases pushy enough. I have heard of dyslexia not being diagnosed by public schools nor until relatively late in education i.e. university; how many have slipped through the net, without the extra help that they were 'entitled' to; and not achieved what they could have done - go on, I know Richard Branson managed in spite of the problems to create a multi-million pound business empire. We are having one of our children tested for dyslexia, paying for a private assessment, because the school, even on pushing, didn't offer to organise it, suggesting instead a trip to the GP. Has anyone been to the GP recently to try to get something like dyslexia diagnosed?

Just sometimes it really annoys me that we are expecting our nine-going-on-ten year olds to adapt to a new school, manage a full time-table of different subjects in different classrooms, and make progress by so many points in each year. Then come home and still be a child.

It is & always will be too much. Unfortunately, Bedfordshire decided, under influence, (not actually drugs or alcohol) that its middle schools were worth preserving at the expense of its children. Maybe in years to come the children could sue the Council for screwing up their education....

Then, of course, further torture, after four years at middle school, straight into upper school, no time at all to choose GCSE courses & adapt to new teachers. Should've bitten the bullet & moved to Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire or anywhere but Bedfordshire.

Don't get me started on uniform, that's for the next edition of Mutterings. Or maybe I'll pick one of my other irritations.