Dear  Mrs Double-Glazing

Dear  Mrs Double-Glazing

We all love our children and want the best for them, that seems perfectly natural and laudable to me. I have to draw your attention to one thing though. There’s an old arabic saying, ‘Every beetle is a gazelle in the eyes of its mother’; but when you teach 200 children and look after a tutor group with all the pastoral responsibilities that brings, from a teacher’s view many a gazelle can feel like a beetle!

In state education, we teach everyone and anyone. I now appreciate and am grateful to private education like never before for taking away from me, people who generally feel they deserve a bigger slice of the pie.

Here is a series of e-mails that have been exchanged over the last six months between myself and a very caring but over protective parent about her daughter. Bless her!

All names and personal details have been changed.

Hello Mrs Double-Glazing

Apologies for not replying earlier to the letter you sent me, this is the first time I’ve had to draw breath. Phoebe has made a very good start to the year, I’m very pleased with her attitude and commitment to do well. Higher level maths is a big step up and I want to impress on all year 10 students to be prepared to constantly practise the topics we are covering.

I pride myself that I am very proactive in contacting parents throughout Year 10 and 11. I have got into the routine of e-mailing to all parents, schedules of extra revision classes, exam (mock) timetables and general advice. (I might say sometimes, generally to little response)

My main reason for writing is to lay the foundations of selected pupils in this ‘quasi’ higher set having the opportunity to do an additional GCSE Statistics this year. I intend to offer extra lessons after school one night a week later on next term. The course comprises a coursework component, done in the Spring, and a written exam in June 2015. Some pupils will perhaps justifiably consider for their career choice they don’t need to do this course while others are not capable.

I think Phoebe would do very well in this GCSE and I would like her to do it.

I’m interested to hear your views on this.

Kind regards

John Walker

From: Caroline Double-Glazing  [mailto:caroline.doubleglazing@gmail.com]
Sent: 09 February 2015 10:09
To: Walker J
Subject: Re Statistics Homework

Dear Mr Walker,

Thank you for your most helpful outline. Phoebe may come and find you to make sure she is on the right track.

She chose Winter Olympics, Ice Skating and collected the data to show which Country performs best by displaying all the data in different ways and finding average scores. Can you steer her in the right direction?

I can get graph paper or anything she needs to make charts, even A3 graph paper to put all the data to see at a glance and compare. Am I giving her the right support?

Thank you

Caroline Double-Glazing

From: Caroline Double-Glazing  [mailto:caroline.doubleglazing@gmail.com]
Sent: 04 March 2015 08:01
To: Walker J
Subject: Re Statistics

From: Caroline Double-Glazing  [mailto:caroline.doubleglazing@gmail.com]
Sent: 25 March 2015 15:47
To: Walker J
Subject: Re Orthodontist appointment

Dear Mr Walker,

Phoebe has to have her 6 week appointment at the Orthodontists tomorrow at 2.30pm in Chigley. I tried to have it done during the holidays but he will be having two weeks off with his children and this is our last chance.

She is now talking about a test. Is this a Statistics test? Could she complete it at home On Show My Homework during the holidays?  I know she will have a maths lesson with you first thing if you could have a word with her.

There is always two events at the same time! and I am sorry to be taking her out.

Kind regards,

Caroline Double-Glazing

Dear Mr Walker,
I felt sorry for Phoebe tonight, she came so upset and disappointed over her 9/20 result.
Apparently, as soon as the test finished she realised she dropped 3 marks over a mistake she knew the right answer to. She also had very bad stomach pains that day and would have come home but of course she couldn’t.
I understand the course work will be part of her final GCSE  mark but was this test also part of her GCSE mark? How will it work? If that is the case she must work extra hard to get a decent grade now? Such a shame as she grasped all the course work so quickly and was helping a few of her friends. We were secretly hoping she will end up with a decent grade. so if there is any advice you can give that would be so helpful.
Thank you

From: Caroline Double-Glazing  [mailto:caroline.doubleglazing@gmail.com]
Sent: 22 April 2015 07:24
To: Walker J
Subject: Re Coursework improvements

Dear Mr Walker,
I am very concerned about the knock in Phoebe’s maths confidence after receiving her results.yesterday. She must have been having a bad day.
If it is impossible for some pupils to resit the test, please can she at least have her course work back to make improvements and do the Spearman’s Rank diagram that she was supposed to do and perhaps gain a few more marks before she goes into the exam?
Please look at any possibilities of a few more marks from somewhere.
Thank you,
Caroline Double-Glazing

 On 22 April 2015 at 15:23, Walker J <JWalker@bogcomp.shire.sch.uk> wrote:

Dear Mrs Double-Glazing

I have spoken with Phoebe today. The 9/20 was a disaster and a great shame as Phoebe has worked so hard on her project. It can’t be re-sat. If Phoebe were to improve the write-up of her sampling procedure she could perhaps attain 2 more marks for that component of the project. That would bring her up to to 27/40 = 13.5/20 = 6.75/10  = 67.5% for the coursework component (worth 25%) of her GCSE Statistics course. That’s good enough to achieve any grade with a good written exam in the summer.

Hope this helps to allieviate the pain

John Walker

Dear Mrs Double-Glazing, we all love our children…..

February 28, 2016