I've been in school most of this week, getting ready for the onslaught of the new class next week, but today, I was a 'lady who lunches,' albeit briefly as I caught up with some of the staff from last year's school. It was lovely to see them again. They are the nicest staff I have worked with. But it was also interesting to compare notes as they too have spent the last few days in their new schools. Today there were tales of teachers who still didn't know what their topics were for next term, which meant that they were not able to do any preparation for next term during the holidays, and those who had been given 8 new pencils for a class of 24 (I kid you not!) and 18 rulers for the same class, which meant that the teacher concerned was planning to go and buy extra over the week-end.
And if all this sound just too far-fetched, especially when you hear the government trumpeting about how many millions, billions of pounds they spend annually on education, I can assure you that this is, all too often, how it is in the real world of education, the classroom.
Me? I'm just keeping my head down and saying nowt!
