Chittani,
Or mm-'s recent comments about how illiterate and innumerate St James kids are (hmm ... voice of common sense ... 20th best school in the country = possibly doing something right?
It is shame that SES members, teachers may feel intimidated to post on this BB. It has not been my intention to do this with any of my posts. I have always tried to come to this BB with the perspective of a parent at St James. Perhaps teachers, governors don't like to post here because they can't deal with the truth and they believe that hopefully by not saying anything at all the black cloud that hangs over the SES and St James will simply go away. I know if I were a member of the SES or a teacher at St James I would like to take part in this BB, and have my point heard. It just seems that heads are hung in shame and saying nothing at all is more damaging than making a point. Of course there also exits the possibility that they merely have nothing to say or add because they don't have a leg to stand on.
I am sure that there are many happy parents at the school but there are also many who are deeply unhappy and who are pulling out. We all know how well the girl?s school have performed in league tables this year. League tables however change from year to year, only last year the girls school was 65th.
I don't really know what the purpose of St James or the SES is, or what this group is trying to achieve in the long term. Obviously the school does well in the senior school, without these good results people wouldn't send their children to the junior schools. It's a bit like dangling a carrot, you know that if you stay the likelihood of your child doing well is high..but at what price? Personally I don't relish the thought of losing my child to a mind control cult.
It is a fact that many junior school children are academically behind their peers in other private schools. I know of children in class three of the junior school whose reading skills are well below average. You would expect a child by this age to read fluently, surely. This problem does not only apply to this class but is a running feature of the lower junior school as a whole. My point was that surely if a child can read a complex Sanskrit letter then reading the English alphabet should surely be a piece of cake. Similarly the Vedic maths system used in the junior school does these children no favours. Many cannot apply logic to solve simple mathematical problems, I can tell you of the case of the majority of an upper junior class being unable to take away 1 from 1000. Parents forking out nearly ?3000 a term surely have the right to expect more.
As a parent at St James I welcomed this BB as it was one of the only places where information could be obtained and perhaps where two sides of the coin could be shown. True many posts reflect the anger of those subjected to abuse at the hands of some of the teachers at schools run by the SES and many reflect those like myself who through no fault of our own are caught up in the web of lies spun by those at the schools themselves and the group that runs them.
The one theme that runs through the posts of SES members on this BB is that the schools today have changed. As a parent at St James I can say that while on the surface things may have appeared to have changed for the better, the distinctive attitudes and spirit of the SES remain.
However much the schools or the SES try and deny it, the teachings of the SES run throughout the school. While children at the schools thankfully do not have to go through the horrendous and brutal corporal punishment regimes that existed all those years ago, there are still to this day instances where children are not treated well. I know of at least one child who has been smacked with a ruler a few months ago, there are also instances where children are intimidated and psychologically damaged as a result of the belief system that is taught, in many cases without the consent or knowledge of parents.
It is also true to say that the schools have acknowledged that they do have a problem, firstly by calling a meeting with Donald Lambie and secondly I am told by now being in the process of producing a booklet for parents, which will inform them of the SES and what is being taught at the schools. The meetings, which took place with DL, were a complete waste of time; nevertheless it is a way forward.
Sadly for parents with older children this is a little too much too late. Personally I wish the school had been more upfront years ago.