PUTTING PVI RIGHT
John Brookes (Letters, 21 October) was correct to point out the blatant discrimination against the private, voluntary and independent sector. He forgot to mention that children's centres also get notice before their Ofsted inspection. They also have the support of a qualified teacher who is paid for by the local authority.
Teachers and headteachers are paid a salary that takes into account working during the school holidays. If they are unable to complete their self-evaluation form during term time, then too bad. This is yet another example of discrimination.
Most of the private, voluntary and independent settings ask staff to do paperwork in their own time, which is unpaid, and they also do not pay them when they attend training courses. I believe that a sector that employed more men would never be able to get away with this expected unpaid work.
We offer the Government highquality subsidised nursery education and merely ask for this to be recognised. I believe that a simple answer would be to have the same notice of inspections, equality with the self-evaluation form and to not have to pay any VAT or business rates.
Perhaps then we would stop feeling so disgruntled and we would also begin to worry less about our settings' future financial viability.
Lynne Tasker, Small World Kindergarten, Ipswich
- Our letter of the week wins £30 worth of books.
FREE TO WRITE
Did you all know it was Everybody Writes Day last month? No? Well, it was - on 21 October. Don't feel too bad, it would seem you are not alone.
Everybody Writes Day, as organised by the Department for Education, is an annual celebration of writing in schools. Primary and secondary schools collapse the curriculum for one whole day to celebrate writing in all its forms ... or not, as the case may be!
We asked three children from different schools whether their school had recognised Everybody Writes Day in any way and got the same blank, glazed-over stare from all three.
Granted, our research is far from scientific, and we're not suggesting that everyone should have known it was Everybody Writes Day. Unless you are in a profession concerned with writing or education, there is no real reason why you should. However, for those who are in education, such as headteachers and teachers, isn't it their duty to seek out and recognise days such as these?
Is the problem that the Department for Education did not publicise the day adequately, meaning that teachers weren't aware? Or, perhaps more worryingly, were teachers aware of the day but decided not to recognise it, due to there being no benefit as far as league tables and Ofsted were concerned?
Did they decide to overlook it because it meant ignoring the curriculum for a day and losing a day towards exams which, ultimately, could affect the children's results and, more to the point, the school's results?
We are not criticising the teachers here; it is the system that seems to be flawed. Why must so much importance be placed on results and league tables when, in fact, they mean very little - merely that the children memorised the correct information?
Everybody Writes Day is supposed to be a day when children are set free to be creative and to learn about the English language without the normal classroom pressures which are so often put on children. It is supposed to be a way of showing the next generation that, yes, the English language can be complex and difficult, but it can also be a fantastic expressive tool to communicate, excite and fascinate readers, tapping into opinions and emotions that they may never have realised they had.
We understand the pressure that teachers and children are under nowadays, but in our opinion, it is events like Everybody Writes Day that should serve to relieve some of this pressure while still being a productive and valuable exercise that engages the mind.
Charlotte Freestone, The Words Workshop, Milton Keynes.
SEND YOUR LETTERS TO ... The Editor, Nursery World, 174 Hammersmith Road, London W6 7JP letter.nw@haymarket.com 020 8267 8401.