unwanted anderson brochures

[shetlander]

I want my sons to grow up slowly and safely

 

You're not of the view that they will be able to if they attend the AHS then?

 

Although I’m not convinced that the brochures may have been the best (or the most cost effective) way of providing Scalloway parents with the kind of information that they may have been after about the AHS, I can’t help but think that some of the messages being conveyed by some parents in this whole debate is potentially more damaging than the actual reality of moving will ever be, should it come to it.

 

I attended the AHS for four years (the first two of which I could have chosen to stay at my local junior high) around twenty years ago when the roll was around the same as the combined AHS/Scalloway roll would be now - and that was before the ‘new’ science block was constructed, before the hostel was open to all pupils at lunchtimes and before the recent (albeit as I understand it limited) improvements were made to social areas in the school. Without question, it was more crowded than the small junior high I had come from, I was in bigger classes than I ever had been and the social and dining areas were less than ideal, but at no time were I or my parents ever of the opinion that it was any way inferior or that I received a generally poorer school experience than I would have if I had stayed where I was.

 

I can only assume that the parents of the 135 pupils (or 45%) living in the Scalloway catchment area who have chosen to send their children to AHS in S1 over the last six years have been of the same opinion.

[Shoogler]

^^^

Agree with that. Like I said above, there is a lot of anti Lerwick/AHS hysteria and it will NOT help to win the arguement. Put up the postivie benefits of the SJHS and the junior high model otherwise the case is lost.

 

Incidentally, a number of pupils in the Scalloway catchment areas go to AHS in S3 (or S1) if their parents work in Lerwick as it is easier for the family to organise logistically. The problem we have in Shetland is there are too many jobs with SIC ort the Trusts and the Lerwick 'commuter' belt gets ever larger - that's a whole different topic of course but does have an influence on the schools strategy.

[Fatal Paper Cut]

I fail to see the point in having a junior high in Scalloway when the AHS is only 7 miles away and can offer a far wider curriculum.

 

It'd make far more sense (and save millions in the long term) to have two large high schools - The Anderson and Brae. Bus bairns back and forth and put the bairns from the outer isles in hostels. Kids who live on the mainland shouldn't really be taking up hostel spaces.

[Guest Anonymous]

folks I was at school with that used the hostel from first year tended to do better than most at their education and handled going to college a lot better than most so why would a parent deny their child this head start in life except through a selfish need to keep their kids to themselves for longer.

 

copied from the papa stour thread as I thought it was relevent to both

[Guest Anonymous]

The reason for my sons not attending the anderson are purely personal reasons. ( I want my sons to grow up slowly and safely )

 

this has to be one of the most hysteria laden posts ever on shetlink and that is saying something, and also fits with my previous post quite nicely

[Fatal Paper Cut]

folks I was at school with that used the hostel from first year tended to do better than most at their education and handled going to college a lot better than most so why would a parent deny their child this head start in life except through a selfish need to keep their kids to themselves for longer.

 

copied from the papa stour thread as I thought it was relevent to both

 

I stayed home as I didn't wish to go live in the hostel. Went to college and handled it without any problems. Different strokes for different folks really.

 

But the hysteria in this thread is ridiculous.

[crofter-amy]

Surely well brought up bairns have as good a chance to do well what ever school they go to, bussed in or staying at a hostel.

[Guest Anonymous]

my point being amy that the kids that went to the anderson and used the hostel learned a lot sooner than most how to cope with their indipendance.

[Frances144]

But the hysteria in this thread is ridiculous.

 

I think when it comes to your bairn's education, as a parent, you care passionately about their future and what effect decisions made by others will have theme.

 

While it might appear as "hysteria" to some, what you are seeing is the "Mother Tiger" syndrome. I have this. I cannot stop it and I would do anything to see my kids are alright.

 

Some bureaucrat sitting in his desk at Hayfield House plus the non-existent (already rather proven their track record) Councillors deciding where your kid is going to be educated does not really help one, as a mother, to think that my child's best interests are being met.

[Fatal Paper Cut]

No - I'm pretty sure it's hysteria. Shetland spends a huge and completely unsustainable amount of money on education for the size of the islands and the population. We've been through the school closure consultation process - what, 3 times in the last few years? And still people respond as if the closure of a school will mean the death of a community.

 

There is no particularly good reason that justifies a large Junior High School in Scalloway. Lerwick is only 7 miles away. That to me, is a huge waste of money.

 

It cost more to keep open the secondary department in Skerries then it does to send on child to Eton. That is completely unjustifiable.

 

We can't possibly keep spending such a huge amount of money on education. When will people realise this?

[kittybee]

I am simply voicing my personal opinion, and sharing it with all you other shetlink folks.

This is my opinion as a mum of three who has concerns about my children moving school.

some of you feel the need to pick my views apart, and call it hysteria.and some of you dont.

You also are all entitled to your opinions, and im glad to see you all feeling so passionate about the subject.

have a nice day !

[Para Handy]

I fail to see the point in having a junior high in Scalloway when the AHS is only 7 miles away and can offer a far wider curriculum.

 

It'd make far more sense (and save millions in the long term) to have two large high schools - The Anderson and Brae. Bus bairns back and forth and put the bairns from the outer isles in hostels. Kids who live on the mainland shouldn't really be taking up hostel spaces.

 

You would save even more if you, closed the AHS and bussed them to the outer schools.

And not build the new School in Lerwick and sell the ground of the old School for housing

It is all about saving money?

So what difference what direction the bus start and stop at

[NewMagnie]

Its probably reasonable to surmise that the cost of the AHS brochures is chickenfeed compared to keeping two large secondary schools so close together open at the same time, but never mind...

 

That said - is it really that case that we need the AHS or SJHS anymore anyway? In these days of telecrofts, unlimited broadband and an apparent surfeit of overeducated graduates going into teaching because their non vocational degrees don't qualify them to do as much as sweep up - is the big school dead?

 

Now, I'm speaking as an ex hostel boy (early eighties - clearly the golden days of the Janet Courtney) and I wouldn't want to knock the socialisation opportunities my days 'neath the Knab afforded me, but that aside, is it really the case that this is the best way to educate kids.

 

(Bob - the hostel kids often did better because it was the more academically inclined types from the rural JH's that went to da big schule - the hostel itself was not, as I recall a particularly nurturing environment from an educational point of view.)

 

I'm not an advocate for home schooling - I know a few home schooled kids - their prospects terrify me speaking as a parent - but what about local learning hubs that can supplement the work of the rural JH"s? What about expanding the role of those schools along a community learning model, taking them beyond offering survival level standard grades and jam making nightclasses?

 

If we're serious about the costs, how about looking at opportunities for doing away with these antiquated behemoths altogether?

[shetlander]

You would save even more if you, closed the AHS and bussed them to the outer schools.

And not build the new School in Lerwick and sell the ground of the old School for housing

It is all about saving money?

So what difference what direction the bus start and stop at

 

The difference is that it would be logistical madness to bus significantly more pupils from Lerwick to other (potentially multiple) locations than the other way round. Put that forward as a suggestion and I daresay the disquiet currently being expressed about the closure of Scalloway and Skerries would pale into insignificance.

 

In any case (and aside from additional transport, staffing and running costs) none of the Junior Highs have the capacity either on their own or between them to accommodate an influx of 800 odd pupils without significant expenditure on expansion, if indeed the physical constraints of each of the sites would make expansion possible.

 

We can't possibly keep spending such a huge amount of money on education. When will people realise this?

 

I think most folk in Shetland do realise it - unfortunately (but understandably given the emotive nature of the subject) they are not the voices who shout the loudest. As long as councillors continue to back down in the face of public opposition regardless of how universal it might be, decisions are never going to be made for the greater good.

[Guest Anonymous]

new magnie i purposely said that those i knew that used the hostel from first year they had no choice but it certainly seemed to do them some good. now maybe it could just be that the inbreeding (or thorough breeding as the whalsa folk like to call it) in the smaller islands produce brighter kids but i would say it was the earlier cutting of the apron strings that benefitted them