Croft Carnival Committee excludes part of it's own community

[ColonelMustard]

What is a school if not it's pupils? A school is part of the local community. Therefore the children who attend that school are, by default also part of that local community irrespective of the geography of their home.

With this in mind, how then, can The Croft Carnival Committee see fit to exclude 42% of the children who attend Croft Primary School and quite probably a similar, if not higher figure, from St. Lewis's Catholic Primary School from entering the draw to be the Carnival Rosebud, Princess and Queen? Without these children, the village would struggle to keep it's schools open.

I also think it should be pointed out that this is the 21st Century, and equal opportunities is a concept that most of us are familiar with, so why not open the competition up further and introduce Carnival Kings, Princes and Paiges?

By my calculations (and my maths is fairly good!) only 27% of children attending schools in Croft are eligible because of exclusion by gender or geography. The fact that Croft Primary School management appeared to endorse this parochialism by forwarding a letter to ALL the children at the school which stated clearly that if they lived outside the village they were to be excluded. How hateful! Have they never read "The Sneetches" by Dr. Suess? They are busy nurturing a "them and us" culture within the classroom and at the school gate. Unpleasant? I should say so!!

[Eagle]

I think living in Croft is a reasonable qualification just as living in Birchwood is a reasonable qualification for the selection of Birchwood's Carnival royalty.

[kateoflymm]

so why not open the competition up further and introduce Carnival Kings, Princes and Paiges?

By my calculations (and my maths is fairly good!).....

 

Your maths may be good but your spelling isn't. There's no i in page.

 

Lymm May Queen and Rose Queen have to have lived in the village for at least 3 years. Seems reasonable to me.

[Peter T]

What Eagle and Kate said.

[Dizzy]

I guess kids don't see it quite that way and may feel left out...

 

but then again the titles of 'Carnival Rosebud' and 'Carnival Prince' etc etc do sound a bit odd and may not help their street cred in their later years (ie over the age of 10)

[Eagle]

I don't think the kids have problems with it, it is only the odd social climbing parent that gets a bit miffed.

[Dizzy]

Probably right there actually Eagle

[Sha]

I agree with Eagle, Kate & Peter.

 

Also, Schools used to be a big part of a local community, merely because it was where all the local kids were educated.

Nowadays a lot of schools have a large percentage of pupils from outside the area so they are not really 'community' schools.

How often do you see schools these days actually actively involved in the local community? The idea of 'schools being part of the community' Is I think these days merely used by schools when they want the local community to support their fundraising events.

 

I think we need a return to the catch-ment area qualification for entry, then we'd get a return of the real community school.

 

We'd also get rid of all the school traffic congestion/pollution, leading to lower asthma rates. Beneficial for the whole community!

If people are concerned that the school in their area is not good enough why don't they do something about it?

Every school should be a good school and every kid should have an equal chance, not just the kids whose parents have the means to ferry them all around the town.

 

As for local Rose/May queens whatever, I think not only should they live and go to school in the area, they should be nominated for having done something of merit in the local community!

[observer]

That makes sense to me Sha: but you'd have to get Gov away from this obsession with "choice", and the perception, generated by league tables, that if little Jonny gets into "the best" school, he'll somehow do well, regardless of how thick or bright he is!

[Sha]

Didn't this 'obsession with choice' originate from Cherie's desire to get her kids into the school she wanted, and then to deflect criticism husband Tony gave all parents (with the means to exercise it) 'choice'.

Resulting in total traffic chaos for the whole country

 

League tables? just another pathetic box ticking exercise.

Success should'nt be measured merely by academic skills but by the development of our young people into worthwhile and fulfilled human beings.

 

The greatest amount of learning is gained in the home.

Perhaps if parents concentrated on teaching their children the joys of caring and sharing rather than grabbing and grasping for themselves, it may make them more receptive to the formal education they receive at whatever school they attend.

 

It might also be an idea to educate parents on health and safety issues, Dragging their children around town and creating all this pollution is not ensuring a better future for them.

However good an education they get it won't compensate if they all end up with lung diseases will it?

[Eagle]

Another local interest thread hijacked.

 

Will a moderator move it to the political thread to prevent unexpected boredom.

[Egbert]

I agree that village carnival queens, etc, should reside in the village. I also wonder what it has got to do with the school - surely the carnival committee makes its rules.

 

I suspect the problem here is that Birchwood, as a relatively new part of the borough, created by shipping people in from Manchester and Salford during the "New Town" area, has not really acquired its own sense of community yet. It has not been helped by the way the district was developed.

And why are there so many Birchwood children going to school in Croft anyway?

[observer]

Just getting to the nub of the issue and addressing the cause; rather than twittering on about the symptoms Eagle!

[Eagle]

Obs, rather then get to the nub of the issue you have totally ignored the gist of the thread and as usual have hijacked it for your own demented purposes.

 

WTF the government or choice of school has to do with the organisation of village events is purely some nonexistant connection that you are wont to make as part of your continual ranting.

[observer]

Parading your ignorance again Eag: it's about school catchment areas; once upon a time they ensured only "local" kids went to the "local" school, thus meaning the school was a "local" community school; this all changed when "choice" came along - get it now?!

[Eagle]

Nope, we are discussing local galas and the like you are discussing catchment areas and school choices which matter not to selection committees. It doesn't matter which school the Princess, Queen, Witch, et al go to they must live in the village; in some cases they must attend the local church. Your much laboured 'choice' doesn't apply.

The Glazebury Gala Queen, by nature of age, attends usually Culcheth High School but is a member of Glazebury Parich Church and guess what, the Government isn't to blame.

[inky pete]

Parading your ignorance again Eag: it's about school catchment areas; once upon a time they ensured only "local" kids went to the "local" school, thus meaning the school was a "local" community school; this all changed when "choice" came along - get it now?!

 

Nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not schools have formal catchment areas. This was happening well before all of the "choice" guff came in.

 

The two high schools in Lymm used to have all the kids from High Leigh, Little Bollington, Grappenhall and Thelwall - but the Lymm May Queen and Rose Queen always had to be from the village. Lymm girls who went to schools outside the area - Loretto, Alty Grammer, Manchester High etc. - were elligible.

[Peter T]

Talk about Grumpy Old Men, as a neutral (aren't I always?) I don't see that observers post is hijacking the thread. I see it as more of a reason why the topic arose in the first place.

The norm has been tipped on it's head, and the fact that parents are "selecting" where their children are educated, has changed the old ways.

Most villages have rules about these things, but the newbies always want to change them.

 

Slightly off topic, but dotting the eyes and crossing the tees, are important when informing folks about what can and cannot happen. So, if you ever write a constitution, make sure that the information is there. It can save a lot of heartache and arguments.

[kateoflymm]

[quote name="inky pete

The two high schools in Lymm used to have all the kids from High Leigh' date=' Little Bollington, Grappenhall and Thelwall - but the Lymm May Queen and Rose Queen always had to be from the village. Lymm girls who went to schools outside the area - Loretto, Alty Grammer, Manchester High etc. - were elligible.[/quote]

 

 

That still applies, Pete. It's residence that counts, not where they go to school.

[Eagle]

It is indeed residence that counts despite the hijackers turning the topic to politics and education neither of which concern the event organisers.

As you know I neither live in Birchwood or Croft but the same rules apply in my area and have applied for over 100 years, is that norm enough.

 

Peter, the fact that you agree with observer doesn't make him right, does it?

[observer]

If "residency" was the critia for school a catchment area, the two would be co-terminus or is that tooo simple.

[inky pete]

But that's my point, the catchment area for a school of any size would have to cover more than one community. So you'd still get different kids at the same school elligible for different community events.

 

Exactly the current situation which prompted the original post.

[Sha]

Eagle,

If you re-read the initial post you will see it contained a little more than just the issue of Rose queen selection.

ColMustard wrote;

"What is a school if not it's pupils? A school is part of the local community. Therefore the children who attend that school are, by default also part of the local community"

 

Nowadays many children attend schools outside their own local area, due to the govt's policy of 'parental choice'.This does not make them part of the community.

 

merely in response to the initial post!

[Peter T]

 

Peter, the fact that you agree with observer doesn't make him right, does it?

 

Of course it does.

I'm always right except when I am wrong.

[ColonelMustard]

Just to get back to the original point (and apologies for my poor spelling, Eagle!)

My point was, the fact that when the Carnival committee invited Croft children to enter the draw to become Carnival royalty by direct mail shot to their homes, this was never an issue. The children from outside the immediate area (and their parents too, in fairness) didn't feel that this was anything to do with school. But this year, they requested that the school do it's leg work and sent the invitation home with ALL the pupils at the school. This caused excitement and then disappointment amongst many little girls who not only come from Birchwood but Culcheth, Winnick, Glazebury and Leigh (and a good job too, as many schools like Croft, without these extra pupils would be unsustainable and would face closure).

(As for why children end up in schools outside their catchment area - the reasons are varied. My own children could have gone to the now excellent Locking Stumps Primary School (under the most exellent Headship of Mr. Littler,) but at the time of entry, the old headteacher was being investigated for his involvement (and has subsequently been arrested and imprisoned) in child pornography.)