Monthly Archives: November 2013

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“We must view parents and teachers as partners in education. Why? As philosopher George Santayana simply said, “A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.” When both groups are inspired to facilitate learning, children are the winners.

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Teachers in China have the highest levels of public respect, according to an international study comparing their status in 21 countries. Teachers in the UK were in 10th place in the global index which was compiled by the University of Sussex professor Peter Dolton. The study was based on surveys of 1,000 adults in each of the countries. This examined public attitudes to professional status, trust, pay and the desirability of teaching as a career. The study confirmed the high status of teachers in China, where there is a strong cultural emphasis on the importance of education. “Teachers are revered,” says Prof Dolton.

A large majority of adults in China believed that students would respect their teachers – in contrast in the UK, only about one in five adults believed that students showed their teachers respect in school. And while teachers in China were compared with doctors, in the UK they were more likely to be bracketed with nurses and social workers.

A reminder that Parents’ Evenings are on Tuesday 12^th and Wednesday 13^th November. In addition to meeting your child’s teacher there will be: Sports Coaching in the top hall, dancing and art/craft workshops in the lower hall. As usual we will be serving snacks. See you there!

A message from Dan Hewins and Nicky Collett who ran last week’s Leicester competition. Many thanks for supporting your teams to take part in the Sainsbury’s Leicester School Games U11 Table Tennis competition that we ran at Knighton Park Table Tennis Club yesterday afternoon. For those of you that attended I’m sure you will agree that there was some great skill and sportsmanship on show from the players, and lots of big smiles from children enjoying the experience.

 Congratulations to the Abbey teams who won both competitions (the boys won 28 matches and the girls won 30 matches) and will represent Leicester at the Level 3 county finals.

Our players were: Boys – Om P, Sham M Jaylan C and Yahya Y.

Girls – Rahima M, Pooja T, Priyasha P and Krisi W.

Teachers and other professionals who fail to report child abuse suspicions should face prosecution, the former director of public prosecutions says. Keir Starmer said that under a “mandatory reporting” law, those who failed to act could be sent to jail.

Keir Starmer said “There are just too many examples of cases where those who have suspected abuse have not really done anything about it and the perpetrator has either got away with it or, worse still, been able to perpetuate the offending”. While statutory guidance has been issued previously urging professionals such as teachers, doctors and social workers to report child abuse, failure to do so is not a crime.

Mr Starmer said a criminal penalty would “focus people’s minds” and said there should be “immunity for individuals if they did report”. He said the penalty for failing to report abuse could be a short jail sentence or a fine.