[plumseverywhere]

My kids are back to school today, no more moaning, peace and quite at last , well at least till 4pm.

...and its 4pm the first few days back that feel like all hell has broken loose when they first go back    I dreaded the baby starting school and yes, the days are long and quiet but soon as I have them all home bickering and being hyper about who did what (and snitching on each others antics at school) its chaos!![size=78%] [/size]

[jonkil]

2 LOOOOOONNNNGGGGG weeks left 
Is there a banging your head against a wall smiley?

[Lesley Silvester]

Like it.   

[Rosadollymixture]

My daughter goes back to school in a couple of weeks.  I've really enjoyed the holidays because she hasn't been on the phone with tales of what her class have been up to.  She's a teacher

[Welshcob]

Not back to school for another 3-4 weeks back in Italy where I come from!

I used to love it when I was a kiddie myself and I know for sure my mum wasn't impressed with driving us to the stables all the time 

Now I'm almost ready to have my own children , I know they'll complain why we don't live in Italy and I'll be glad we don't!!! More peace when they get back to school 

 

[goosepimple]

Our kids are in a country school of 52 kids total with only 2 classrooms.  The P4 P5 P6 and P7's are all in one class - a table for each year and they have 2 teachers teaching at the same time in the one class.  Eh?  Hope it sorts itself out soon, kids are saying its chaotic at the moment.

[Anke]

Our kids are in a country school of 52 kids total with only 2 classrooms.  The P4 P5 P6 and P7's are all in one class - a table for each year and they have 2 teachers teaching at the same time in the one class.  Eh?  Hope it sorts itself out soon, kids are saying its chaotic at the moment.

That's weird - two teachers in the room at the same time? Ours have joint classes as well (only the P7 this year on their own), and I have always been very pleased with the arrangements. It means much more teaching by ability and mixed groups, stretching mine every so often more than would have been if they all were the same age/class. But it doesn't always work, and probably not with P4 right up to P7...

[goosepimple]

Yes its Westruther School Anke - they used to be at Ancrum a few years back which was a similar size but 3 classrooms which helped.  Our school attendance role has just jumped from 35 to 52 over the past year so it suddenly seems very busy.  Seemingly the 2 teachers thing worked really well at Channelkirk (Oxton) school so we are being open minded for the time being.  My eldest is in P7 now though and so want her to have a good grounding before secondary.  See how it goes....

[Lesley Silvester]

My children went to a school with a roll of just over 20 children in two classrooms.  One teacher had P1, P2, p3, the other had P5, p6, P7. P4 went into the smaller of the two.  It worked very well and I felt my children did very well there.  At one point, the numbers went down to 18 and not much prospect of increase so one teacher had to leave.  That left the head teacher to teach all seven years in one room with visiting teachers to do art, music and PE.  We started to worry that it would close completely.  The children already had to travel 7 miles each way into the next village for school and would have had a much longer journey over hills that were sometimes closed in bad weather so we relieved when more families moved into the village.  When we left the island, the roll had gone up to 31 - the most it had been in years.
 
Incidentally, when I told my family that we were moving to Scotland, my then SIL, a teacher in England, said that they would get a good education as the Scottish system was better than the English.

[ppd]

  Talking of small schools, my daughter goes to a local school with only 9 pupils (was only 7 last year) and getting a very good education. I have to say that 52 pupils of various ages and two teachers does sound chaotic. Small schools are great unless the numbers get too high, I suppose

[goosepimple]

Yes its been great up to now but getting busy does have its problems.  Kids are saying things are settling down now but when I've been in to do gardening club it always seems chaotic, even when there were about 20 kids less than there are now.  Trying to put pressure on the Head Teacher to get the nursery into a Portakabin.

[Oneeyedhen]

Our school went from 40 something to 63 the year my son started. Its split over 3 classroom and pretty cramped but they seem to be getting on well with it all. They have lots of teachers and classroom assistants, I've lost count.
My little girl just start school last week and I'm still missing her constant chatter, well a little!!
Are any of you "stay at home mums"? I feel a bit like I'm the only one on the planet at the moment 

[plumseverywhere]

I'm a stay at home mum Oneeyedhen. When my 4th and youngest daughter started school last year I felt rotten!! We'd had such a lovely time at home just the 2 of us, I was bereft!
It gets easier.

[Greenmoor]

I'm sort of a stay at home mum.  My three boys are 8, 7 and 5.  When the youngest started school last September I volunteered a couple of afternoons a week at his old nursery school in the village.  In January a member of staff left and they offered me some paid hours, so I now work three mornings a week and have started a college course so that I'm qualified.  I have a feeling once I've finished my course I'll be asked/expected to do a few more hours.  It's literally the only place I could work at the minute because she lets me come in after I've dropped the boys off at school so I have no childcare to organise.

[Oneeyedhen]

Thanks plumseverywhere. I only have 2 kids but like you I've enjoyed having Catrina around this last year. I just have my labrador, 25 various poultry and a farmer to keep me going during the day now  .
I have put my name on the list at school for 'helping out', I thought that might open a few doors. Not too wide though