tom nimmo wrote: I probably won't join the discussion Bob as all it is doing is creating two opposing camps and lots of bad feeling. I don't think the school DVD helped really as it seemed to me to highlight disorganisation within the school. Surely someone can plan classes so that pupils are not going from the first to the seventh floor without stopping at the floors in between.
I believe discussion is a good thing Tom as it helps prevent ignorance and allows people the opportunity to change their minds. I can never understand people who say that they admire Margaret Thatcher for not listening to others.
I also feel someone should defend PHS against your accusation of it being 'disorganised'. School timetabling is a black art Tom and significantly it is usually a teacher with a Maths degree that is given the task.
To give you an idea of some timetabling restraints, I would doubt very much, for example, if PHS can timetable all of a junior year group to be in the same subject at the same time - staffing levels usually prevent this. For instance, it is very common in Secondary schools to timetable English against Maths, meaning that half of a year group will be at Maths, while the other half are at English. Additionally, pressures on accommodation can mean that classes attending the same subject are taught in various parts of the building, outwith the subject dept.
Another factor is that S3 classes and above will be divided up into their subject choices outwith their 'core' time, so you will have some pupils at Science, while others may be in the Social Sciences or Music etc. I could add many more factors, but please just accept that you cannot timetable around the location of subject areas; you cannot avoid having pupils scattered throughout the building and moving constantly up and down stairs.
The main thrust of the argument seemed to be that pupils were not getting enough exercise yet one poor girl complained that climbing all those stairs was really tiring.
I was saddened to hear folk mock the young girl on the DVD who said the stairs were tiring. Parents of secondary pupils will know just how heavy those rucksacks they carry around school are, but perhaps others don't. Pupils have to lug all their jotters, textbooks, pencils, pens and outdoor clothing (why do you think so many young people refuse to wear jackets even in the rain?!) from one class to another. If they have a bottle of water, or a PE kit, or a packed lunch and/or a snack, then that also has to be carried around the building with them. Add in confined spaces full of jostling pupils and an eight storey building and I would defy most adults not to feel tired in such a situation.
