Cut out written homework to help unleash pupils’ imaginations Falling for sporting heroes who display passion or coolness under pressure
THE school around the corner isn’t always the same as proven by Loreto Primary School in Rathfarnham whose principal and staff are trialing a new no written homework policy for most of its classes.
With every passing year my memories of primary school get hazier, but some things are as clear as the day they happened: the cold of the PE hall, cartons of milk, the sound of fingernails on blackboards, the radiators, the day a classmate put the soft end of a pencil in his ear and ended up going to casualty.
There are hundreds more memories from those happy, carefree days. Coming home from school to a waiting parent was the norm then.
Today, in most instances, both parents are working and the child is at after-school where homework is done.
For some lucky enough to have a grandparent minding their child, there is the added dimension of little Jack or Emily spending quality time with a family member, but for most this isn’t possible.
The Government needs to look at education and see it as the most important catalyst for positive change in society. For too long we’ve been waiting on a technical university for the South East, but I digress.
The formative years children spend in primary school are hugely important in shaping Irish citizens of the future. I was delighted to hear about the trial at Loreto Primary School in Rathfarnham where pupils don’t get a free pass as teachers still require students to do spellings and tables though. According to a Prime Time report featuring a mother of a girl attending the school, her daughter is happier, her work isn’t suffering and her energy levels are better than ever. The only problem is she increasingly comes in wearing muddy clothes.
The imposition of homework on young minds after five or six hours in school seems cruel, especially in the late spring, summer and early autumn periods when children should be outdoors enjoying themselves, not stuck crumpled over a desk.
The quality of Irish teachers is something most parents are aware of and, in turn, are appreciative of. The perception of many parents is that everything their child needs to learn academically should be able to be taught during ‘school time’.
Home (or creche) time – especially for children aged under ten – should be about developing interpersonal skills, arts and crafts, and a cartoon here or there won’t do any harm. Naturally there is a reflexive trend these days to tie children to the routine of homework and after-school activities for fear they’ll disappear into a phone or tablet screen, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.
As a parent of two young children I’d love to have the time to sit down and do their homework with them, but as is the case for anyone working a busy job, this just isn’t possible. I’ll cast my eye over their neat handwriting and Maths book in between cooking, doing the washing, breaking up fights: all of the usual parental stuff that crops up. At Loreto in Rathfarnham teachers say there has been an improvement in the abilities of students. Childhood goes quickly and the early years should be spent developing imaginations, (something which our teachers do very well), but as the trial at the Loreto school has highlighted there may be another way, different from the school around the corner, that’s worth exploring more, along with big changes to second level education. ‘Don’t tell your mother but I think I’ve fallen in love.’
‘Oh, Da, who is it this time?’
‘Roisin Upton.’
‘Sure everyone loves Roisin Upton.’
I have never sat down and had a conversation with Roisin Upton, so this is a case of worship from afar caused by her mesmerising performance for Ireland in the recent Olympic hockey play-off. The poor woman played half the match with a fractured wrist and was then called to take part in the shoot-out when the game with Canada ended in a draw. The format was a one-on-one against the opposition goalkeeper, with eight seconds allowed for each attacker to run in from 23 metres and score. Our heroine failed to beat the eight second deadline on her first attempt but then had to go again when the first series of one-on-ones ended in a tie.
So it was that, in the most important match of her life, with thousands of people looking on, Roisin was given a chance to redeem herself. In circumstances where mere mortals would have been reduced to quaking incontinence, she nonchalantly bamboozled the Canadian keeper and hit home with a breezy 0.1 seconds to spare. Wow!
‘Don’t tell your mother but I think I’m becoming a bisexual.’ ‘Oh, Da, who is it this time?’
‘James McClean.’
‘Sure James McClean is mad.’
No, not mad at all, just a little over-enthusiastic at times. Love dawned during the Ireland versus Denmark soccer match with qualification for the European championships at stake. James was selected at left midfield but, with the game entering its final stages and Irish ambition hanging by a thread, he appeared at right back. Then centre midfield. Then up in the left corner. He was everywhere. When the going got tough he got going, as though drawing energy from the lingering hope of a watching nation.
His political views are a little strident to my taste. I might prefer him to tone down his tattoos. But on one matter, our hearts beat very much as one: sport matters.
* Professor Pop writes: It is no secret that Don Maclean’s touching and beautiful song ‘Vincent’ is about the artist Van Gogh. The songwriter form New York wisely chose not to use the surname in his lyric as opinion is divided throughout the English speaking world as to precisely how that name should be pronounced. Try Vango to rhyme with quango or Van Gock to rhyme with sock. Neither sits comfortably on the ear.
‘Vincent’ was a breakthrough for popular songs inspired by Impressionist and Surrealist painters. Others had toyed with entering the field, not least Leonard Cohen, the Canadian poet turned pop star. His 1967 classic ‘Suzanne’ was originally ‘Cézanne’ and the river mentioned in the first verse is the River Arc which features in the paintings of Paul Cézanne. However Coen bowed to commercial pressure, leaving us with an ode to a female muse rather than a hymn praising the post-Impressionist genius.
It is a little known fact that Rod Stewart nurses a fondness for Belgian Surrealism. Around the time that Don Maclean was grappling with Vincent’s tortured mental state, the Anglo-Scot contemplated taking his passion into the charts. ‘Wake up, Magritte’ were the three words he first committed to paper but the sentiment was somehow lost before it reached the recording studio and blowsy Maggie replaced René Magritte.
Once ‘Vincent’ burst on to the scene there was no need any longer for the genre to remain a secret, with such well known acts as Abba, Billy Joel and Simply Red joyfully nailing their Impressionist colours to the mast.
Unfortunately they all drew inspiration from the same source, lured to the landscapes of Claude by the silent ‘T’ at the end of the Frenchman’s name. So it was that Abba sang of ‘Monet, Monet, Monet’ and Joel of ‘Easy Monet’ before Simply Red declared ‘Monet’s Too Tight to Mention’.
It was over-kill, too much Monet, sending the movement back into the shadows from which it came.