HAVING read the article in Tuesday’s Examiner about the large number of detentions issued by Colne Valley Specialist Art College I felt a need to write in support of the school.

As an independent exams invigilator for a number of years now I can understand why the school has taken this stance.

Over the years the number of pupils turning up for what should be to them an important GCSE examination without even a pen or a pencil has increased enormously.

Before the examination the pupils are reminded to bring the equipment they will need in order to be prepared, yet on the day I would say that in a hall of over 100 children almost a quarter arrive without even a pen or a pencil.

The rule that was brought about by the school is, I am sure, a response to such apathy. I believe that it is in an attempt to get all its pupils into the right frame of mind to coming to school and to learning.

Would you go on holiday without packing your suitcase beforehand or plan a meal without making sure that you have everything you need?

Come on parents. How do you expect them to get a good grade in an exam without the basic equipment?

Take some responsibility to support the school instead of telling your children to ignore the detention.

It is your children who will lose out if they are ill-prepared. It is your children’s future that is at stake.

Surely if they cannot be responsible enough to take the basic equipment to school then it is your duty as parents to support the school into helping them to become responsible adults.

Pat Bell

Fixby

Shame on parents

SHAME on those parents who criticised and – far worse – told their children to ignore detentions imposed at Colne Valley Specialist Art College.

The school had warned parents and carers not once, but twice of the consequences of their children turning up at school without basic equipment.

One mother argued that the school ought to be focusing on “more important things, like truancy and disrespecting teachers.’’

But how disrespectful is it for parents and pupils alike to fail to comply with the school’s expressed wishes and then flout the subsequent sanction?

In isolation, detention for forgetting a pencil or a sharpener may seem draconian but not when it is set in the wider context of a serious problem where many pupils have been routinely arriving at school without essential tools and consequently disrupting the process of learning, not only for themselves but also for others.

Perhaps now pupils will make sure their school bag contains those essentials and perhaps parents will remind them of their responsibilities.

But I won't hold my breath.

Stephen Hirst

Skelmanthorpe

What’s all the fuss about?

I’VE absolutely no idea what the fuss is about regarding the issuing of numerous detentions at Colne Valley. If you fail to turn up to school without the basic kit it causes disruption and wastes time.

There was plenty of warning issued with a letter home on the day they broke up and a text reminder during the holiday. If you receive a simple instruction of ‘bring the following or you will be punished’ what do people expect?

Our son was told what he needed. He didn’t get a detention but had he received one we would have considered this quite apt as he was repeatedly told of the consequences should he fail to comply.

Peter Lloyd

Linthwaite

Pupils’ wrong attitude

PEN, pencil, rubber, ruler, diary and calculator. What a boring list!

‘Don’t know if I can cope or want to bother. Best just turn up and let school sort it. Think mum would agree even though we have had two reminders.’

Is this really the mindset of some pupils at Colne Valley Specialist Art College? (Examiner, April 17) Pupils who appear unable or unwilling to take to school the most basic of items necessary for their studies.

What does it say about their attitude to school or their preparation for life after school? What of their future employment prospects?

If you were an employer, how would you judge their approach to their studies?

Thankfully, it appears that not all are the same. To the many who presented themselves complete with the items and prepared for study I say well done to you and keep it up.

It is just a shame that valuable teaching time no doubt will have had to be diverted from such as you to deal with the difficulties created by your less well prepared fellow students.

To those of you who fell short this time I say stop playing the sympathy card, stop making excuses, acknowledge that what you are being asked to do is not difficult and just do it. You owe it to your friends, your school and yourself.

To the school I say continue to try to improve the attitudes and standards necessary for effective work and study.

In years to come many of your students will thank you for doing so.

J M

Oakes

Massive waste of time

CONGRATULATIONS to the head of Colne Valley for making her stand against sloppy attitudes from her pupils.

In my teaching career the amount of time wasted from having to provide basic writing materials to pupils who could not be bothered to bring their own must run into months if not years.

Add to that the financial cost of pens, pencils etc that you never see again as many pupils regard it as a permanent loan. Making a note of every borrower and chasing them all up at the end of the lesson adds a further 10 minutes!

Indeed, a colleague once remarked that when he went to teach at a ‘middle class’ school he had finished his first prepared lesson 20 minutes early because he had nothing to do at the start except start teaching.

Of course when any action is taken to stem this trend out come the parents of all the children who can do no wrong.

They themselves have not taken any responsibility in the matter. They have ignored more than one notification of action, yet they support their little darlings against a school trying to set and maintain the sort of standards which will be demanded later in their careers when to be without the right equipment may lead to sacking – or death.

To be fully equipped is the requirement so where’s the problem?

The soldier doesn’t leave his rifle on the battlefield because that is the only place he uses it, the paramedic doesn’t leave the defibrillator behind because he didn’t need it yesterday, the firefighter doesn’t leave his axe behind because somebody will open the door of the burning house for him.

No, parents and children, just accept what is required of you and stop making excuses for your own inadequacy. The school is trying to prepare your children for life.

Alan Starr

Golcar

Teachers and striking

RICHARD Bulloch was clearly stressed when responding to my criticism of his anti-teacher views – or he did not take the trouble to read my letter carefully enough?

He does not respond to my question asking him if Britain should ban teachers from striking as in many countries which are dictatorships such as Saudia Arabia, Bahrain.

I’m sure Mr Bulloch is enjoying his retirement on a teachers pension that the unions campaigned for over many years. As a headteacher I’m sure he benefited from holiday pay and sick pay which the teaching unions fought for over many years.

Richard Bulloch makes a virtue of large class sizes which are detrimental to children’s education. The teaching unions have campaigned and still do for smaller class sizes which benefit children’s education.

Richard Bulloch claims that comprehensive education has been a failure.

His elitist views would hold back thousands of working class children from reaching their potential.

Before comprehensive education, most working class children were written off and regarded by the establishment as factory fodder.

I am from a working class background and thanks to comprehensive education went on to become the first person in my family to go to university.

I eventually went on to get a doctorate in History. Under the old tripartite education system, which actively discriminated against working class children, I would never have got to university.

The so called ‘underclass’ he contemptuously refers to is nothing knew. It has been a permanent feature of capitalist society over the last 200 years.

To blame comprehensive education for creating the so called ‘underclass’ reveals his ignorance of British history.

Dr Dylan Murphy

Marsden

Bird box vandals

WHILE walking around Digley reservoir recently I noticed a Yorkshire Water employee fixing a bird nesting box to a wall between Bilberry and Digley and it crossed my mind at the time that it would probably have been better located away from the eye of Joe Public.

But as I got closer to it I realised that it was set quite high off the ground and concluded that your average vandal wouldn’t walk around with a set of step ladders.

However, I underestimated the total ignorance of these people as I noted while doing the same walk the other day that the imbeciles have managed to smash it off the wall by dropping a large rock onto it from above.

In the unlikely event that these brainless individuals can read or write, perhaps they could explain via this letters page – why? Why expend the energy of walking to the far end of Digley to perform their acts of vandalism.

What goes on in these people’s minds is beyond my comprehension.

Tim Radcliffe

Homlfirth