Forum menu
If the email said that, yes. And if it wasn’t just a standard reply to all requests for absence. Actually, even then, that would be disappointing and lacking humanity.
You've met our Tory overlords and their approach to Education in England, yes?
The more education systems I work with internationally, the more extreme the English system seems to me.
wife in today .
Her faculty have not got a classroom nor workspace and thus a machine in the school to work on.
there was an idea of using their own computers for in school socially distanced staff meetings and work ..... she has been using my Lenovo desk top at home ...... so with no space in school and it not being portable and the school network being unable to cope with external IT equipment ... that hasn't flown - shes not alone in this issue.
IT sanctioned chromebooks are being sourced.
First meeting of the day was conducted at home where our computer can log in - then she drove to school and will be returning for a further meeting later.
Amazed it got to the 13th hour before this has been identified as an issue.
Sorry been away....
ajantom
You do realise these emails aren’t personal, they’re sent to every parent.
They’re aimed at the persistent offenders whose children miss a day a week or more, but to seem ‘fair’ they have to send to all.
Yes so why not allow a kid with 100% attendance for 4 years go to his grandfathers funeral?
How is that "fair"
Work it out…39 school weeks a year, so 9.75 weeks missed a year. So over 5 years he missed nearly 49 weeks of school.
Did he do badly in his GCSEs? **** yeah!
But you are assuming a correlation... I barely attended the last 2 years and most of the subjects I took I didn't study at school at all. I got all A's except history where I got a B+ which was actually one of the subjects I actually studied at school.
I didn't even take physics, chemistry or biology (wasn't allowed) but I got A's in all of them at GCE.
You are such an idiot I don’t know where to start. But I do pity your offspring if they have to put up with you spouting this shite every day.
My offspring has to find a way to make money in a global economy.
Whatever he does it will need to be as cheap and as good or better than his Indian, Korean or Chinese peers.
The whole point of universal education for everyone is not to do the parents job (literally and figuratively).
Rather just because your parents do one job they could teach you, school should give you the chance to learn to do something else.
Meanwhile the "job" of parents is to give their kids a non academic education... this is NOT the "job" of the education system and isn't what the majority pay taxes for.
After centuries of the masses being told how to behave by the Church(es) this is now being supplanted by the education system.
Yes so why not allow a kid with 100% attendance for 4 years go to his grandfathers funeral?
How is that “fair”
I have never before heard of a child being refused time off to attend a close relatives funeral. That's a failure of a school, not the system.
his is NOT the “job” of the education system and isn’t what the majority pay taxes for
Yes. It is. You can pay to take your kids to a school not paid for by taxes if you want... but you'll find that they will also, if not more so, focus on the "non academic education" of your kids using your fees. Schools are more than you seem to think they are, and they always have been. You're out of step with the world, deal with it.
reading through some of these comments is really sad. Stevextc sounds like an absolute moron and can't see the value creative subjects have on the world. Kids who want to engineers, graphic designers, musicians, clothing designers need to be nurtured at a young age.
The lack of value placed on creative subjects is shocking it was all I was good at when I was at school. And only place teachers bothered to give me any form of encouragement the end result im a product designer having worked for some of the biggest companies in the world.
ajantom and colournoise I really hope they dont stop your subjects the classes you offer are likely some kids only good part of the school week (it was for me any way), but I have little faith in this Tory Gov.
I have never before heard of a child being refused time off to attend a close relatives funeral. That’s a failure of a school, not the system.
That is the system.... it's KPI's and "we will reply to your request within a week"
Stevextc sounds like an absolute moron
My qualifications say otherwise...
Yes. It is. You can pay to take your kids to a school not paid for by taxes if you want… but you’ll find that they will also, if not more so, focus on the “non academic education” of your kids using your fees. Schools are more than you seem to think they are, and they always have been.
No it isn't where is the mandate to brainwash kids as a trade off for an education?
This is exactly what the churches did....
You’re out of step with the world, deal with it.
The UK and specifically England is not "the world".
17.4M people think/thought its a unicorn emblazoned 1970...that being born in a country confers an automatic right to a standard of living. [don't even bring in Trump]
It's the world that has changed; it's not 1970 any more and fields full of unicorns don't exist if they ever did.
Today's and tomorrows kids will be competing in a global market where British exceptionalism holds no weight.
UK "support" is done in India .. "UK made" products made in China and a sticker stuck on to say "Made in the UK" and wherever Dyson wanders... and the disaffected are complaining that furriners are taking their jobs.... (using their Lorean/Chinese made phone/computer)
Sorry Stevextc, the system has flexibility built into it, same as employers have flexibility for time off for funerals for close relatives. That example is a headteacher not having the balls to use their common sense.
No it isn’t where is the mandate to brainwash kids as a trade off for an education?
Who said brainwash? ALL schools provide for the development (and safeguarding) of kids beyond the academic curriculum, and always have, and always will. Your parallel universe where this isn’t the case doesn’t sound like a great place to grow up.
That is the system
It’s a poor system at that one school. I presume you ignored it and took your child out of school for the day anyway? Any parent would have in those circumstances, I hope.
Edit: just as many parents will face the difficult decision this winter about their child’s attendance if classmates and/or teachers fall ill. Some schools no doubt will try and discourage children staying at home in those circumstances… these conflicts over attendance will become amplified… and some schools will get it very wrong in the eyes of some parents. If in doubt, do what you consider best for your child, as their parent. Don’t bother holding a grudge against the school where they haven’t got it right… what’s the point?
Trying to get vaguely back on topic........
Schools will reopen OK in the next week in England, there will be the odd hiccup,it wont be until flu season that there will be problems
Testing is all over the place, home tests only returned 14% of results within the 48hr target according to latest data!!
A cold winter will be tough
Sad (but not surprised) to see the narrative anyway being set up over the weekend and in today's papers that any outbreaks in schools will be the teachers' fault for not following the rules 'in their coffee breaks'.
Just more ammo for Cumjob and Gove's ongoing ideological assault on teachers...
Fingers crossed this works at all. My two (along with many other) where back for 3 days then off immediately. Testing came back as negative so they clearly caught the standard ‘back to school’ cold. So months of planning, hand washing, one way systems etc etc couldn’t stop a cold running through a school? I assume we will just be living with local closures and spells of self isolation measures from now on
Incidences of colds and viruses are down across the board due to lack of social contact, unfortunately I suspect that as soon as schools go back colds and flu will rip through schools like a shart through single-ply toilet paper (if you'll excuse the metaphor 😉 )
So every time the pupils, my colleagues, or I get a cough or anything more than a mild sniffle we'll have to isolate and get tested. I can see schools being closed more due to frequent staff absence rather than actual Covid itself.
Who said brainwash? ALL schools provide for the development (and safeguarding) of kids beyond the academic curriculum, and always have, and always will.
They have not nor is the UK "The World".
My own personal experience was from a church school to C of FE.
I thought it was normal to have teachers tell you what to believe/think and would have not taken my A levels had I had to carry on in the school.
College was simple, subjects and time table... you attended or not.
Outside the UK this was one of the first changes in former communist countries after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Your parallel universe where this isn’t the case doesn’t sound like a great place to grow up.
On the contrary there is a universe where kids can be kids without worrying about interference from teachers who are somehow now tasked with their safeguarding.
This might feel "normal" just like it somehow being the job of banks to verify your identity ... or like supermarkets are normal.
This is not in any way saying teachers shouldn't care about the kids... it is saying it's not their responsibility to interfere and if they don't they are to blame.
To illustrate perhaps:
Sorry Stevextc, the system has flexibility built into it, same as employers have flexibility for time off for funerals for close relatives. That example is a headteacher not having the balls to use their common sense.
I wasn't told "No", I was told it would take 1 week to assess.
Very few heads have the balls to stand against the CC... who funds them. Simply look at how many are standing up with Covid.
This shouldn't even have been a question... because frankly I had more on my mind at the time than emails threatening me with fines.
I started off phoning the school office (before we even had the date) who told me to fill out a form ....
It’s a poor system at that one school. I presume you ignored it and took your child out of school for the day anyway? Any parent would have in those circumstances, I hope.
It wouldn't be a day without tiring him out... 700 miles of driving (in total) stop with my mum but that's really not the point. I should be able to take my kid to his grandfathers funeral without asking permission.... without emails threatening fines...etc. just like if at the end of the year we want to go away early...
Some parents are just a nightmare to deal with, aren't they. Joking aside, I agree with you about the fines... but I'll wager you haven't had to pay one.
without emails threatening fines…etc. just like if at the end of the year we want to go away early
Ah, now we get to the crux of the matter. They didn't approve your term-time holiday either did they? 😉
Sad (but not surprised) to see the narrative anyway being set up over the weekend and in today’s papers that any outbreaks in schools will be the teachers’ fault for not following the rules ‘in their coffee breaks’.
Just more ammo for Cumjob and Gove’s ongoing ideological assault on teachers…
This is the crux.... and specifically the whole point of blaming the people who got passed the responsibility.
Our local park is full of kids and parents busy transferring whatever they have without any precautions just ready to send them all to school.
I can guarantee it will be "the teachers fault" when outbreaks occur in schools from our blame dodging government not the ****less parents.
We know teachers will get the blame for closures... I'm more worried that they'll also get the blame for schools not being ready for mixed or at home learning when it comes to that... this government will pivot from "all kids full time at school" in England to something else entirely, overnight, and expect schools to make that shift without funding, guidance or preparation... you don't need to be able to see the future to expect this coming down the line this winter.
Our local park is full of kids and parents busy transferring whatever they have without any precautions just ready to send them all to school.
I can guarantee it will be “the teachers fault” when outbreaks occur in schools from our blame dodging government not the ****less parents.
TBF it seems outdoor transmission risk is very very low
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.04.20053058v1
But I guarantee it will be teachers/union's/Starmer who get the blame
Some parents are just a nightmare to deal with, aren’t they. Joking aside, I agree with you about the fines… but I’ll wager you haven’t had to pay one.
Not counting Covid he has a 100% attendance record for 7 years.
This is my objection .... he's well enough ahead and never missed a day and in the "interests of fairness" the one time he's treated like a kid barely attends etc. because no-one has the balls to actually say which kids it would adversely affect and want to keep their KPI's up.
It's not his job (as it were) to make up the KPI's of kids who don't attend... but who the teachers daren't say. Nor is it his "job" in a wider context to attend classes for PHSE or learn how to cook etc. just because some parents are poor parents.
Him and probably something like 80%+ are effectively doing all this because of the small minority.
That is one thing but in a global economy and job market when he leaves education he will be competing against peers from countries where school is primarily about qualifications.
Being frank how many comnpanies care about PHSE?
I worked for an Indian company (actually one of the nicest companies/employers I worked for) and all they care about is qualifications and ability to learn.
TBF it seems outdoor transmission risk is very very low
I'm pretty sure that doesn't factor in totally ****less behavior like sharing drinks...
Sadly that common sense thing.... not happening in our park.
Kelvin
We know teachers will get the blame for closures… I’m more worried that they’ll also get the blame for schools not being ready for mixed or at home learning when it comes to that…
This is because Boris and Ilk watched too much Star Trek...(example)
Chief Eng: "The di-lithium reactor is offline"
Captain "How long"
Chief Eng: "12 hours if I don't run a safety test"
Captain : "You have 2 hours - Make it so"
Of course this type of command structure where physics can be put aside only works on TV episodes... Boris and his ilk think saying "make it so" is actually good management... and "impossible" means someone isn't trying...
We saw this over Brexit... blame everyone but false promises but this is just exploiting the existing mentality.
So every time the pupils, my colleagues, or I get a cough or anything more than a mild sniffle we’ll have to isolate and get tested. I can see schools being closed more due to frequent staff absence rather than actual Covid itself.
I can see that going the other way actually.
There'll be a build up of pressure to work through "mild symptoms" because " it's only another cold..."
There’ll be a build up of pressure to work through “mild symptoms” because ” it’s only another cold…”
And then we will really be ****ed.
There’ll be a build up of pressure to work through “mild symptoms” because ” it’s only another cold…”
I'm not so sure this year - not sure many employers will want to take that chance, certainly schools
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/24/seventeen-teachers-at-dundee-school-contract-covid-19The fact that this is happening in Scotland which has much lower cases is a bit of a worry for those areas of Englandshire currently under enhanced measures.
I’m not so sure this year – not sure many employers will want to take that chance, certainly schools
Schools may not (in an ideal world). The parents of pupils on the other hand... (assuming isolation results in statutory sick pay for the employed, or no income at all for the self employed and zero hour contractors).
Nor is it his “job” in a wider context to attend classes for PHSE or learn how to cook etc. just because some parents are poor parents.
Teaching cookery skills has been part of the curriculum, for probably 100 years! I'm not sure why you don't think that is an important part of education? Its one skill at school that every student is virtually guaranteed to actually use at some point (not the specific recipe - but the basic how not to get food poisoning, how to make something edible). I'd also suggest is far more than some parents who haven't taught their kids how to cook; often because they themselves were never taught well in the first place. We are in a nation with an obesity issue where people where queuing in cars for a mile to get to a McD's when lockdown lifted. I can actually think of few more useful things to both the individual and the country to teach in a school (sadly its often done badly)! Since you seem obsessed with education purely being about training people for work - I'm not sure how you would expect people for discover careers in the food sector if it wasn't for a bit of school exposure? Many of the most core skills are highly transferable too - reading detailed instructions; planning your time; understanding basic quantities and costing; being organised and cleaning up afterwards; working with others; knowing when to ask for help.
I'm not certain what aspects or PHSE you don't think are useful for him to learn either, or that you assume you can definitely teach better than a professional, or that most parents are well equipped to educate their children about. PHSE varies widely around the country and has evolved over the years. Many of society's issues, are exactly the sort of things PHSE is aimed at addressing; the threads on here about relationship issues, employment problems, CV writing, parenting challenges, mental health are all things which seem to be in the general area that is covered in these sort of topics at my children's school - much broader than the sex and drugs ed that was done at my school. More recently there's a lot of emphasis on team work, customer service, leadership and personal development.
Him and probably something like 80%+ are effectively doing all this because of the small minority.
20% would not be a small minority. I expect that its nothing like 80% who would cover everything this touches on without the school leading the way. Even if it is, do you think that 1/5 children should be left to suffer because their parents are not as good as you at parenting? or do you think that the school can play a role in helping to bring up the life chances of that 1/5 to give them something closer to the excellent chance you think your son will get from you? In doing so does it help your son understand that not everyone in society has parents like you.
That is one thing but in a global economy and job market when he leaves education he will be competing against peers from countries where school is primarily about qualifications.
Being frank how many comnpanies care about PHSE?
I assure you, that having been looking at potential school leavers recently (as well as being a regular employer of new graduates) that qualifications are not what differentiates them. There are literally dozens of people applying for the jobs with the same qualifications, maybe even better ones. The differentiators are usually the stuff outside the "traditional" curriculum. Their communications skills, their teamwork, their confidence, their ability to talk to me as "an old git" without looking terrified. The reality is, that even with 1st Class Honours Graduates, they know very little about what we do and its going to take them a year working with us to become proficient. We turn away candidates more often for the sort of skills covered in PHSE and "cooking" type lessons, than for their technical abilities.
Stevextc, I don't understand what you have against DT, food, art classes going on in school? If it wasn't for these classes I would have achieved even less in school and I find your disregard for them offensive. Are they the only ones you failed at school or something and ruined your perfect grades? disregard for something that isn't a traditional subject is shameful. There is more to life than teaching kids core subjects.
I really thought people with your views died out years ago... generally alone with Thatcherism. I guess you think a degree in art or design isn't a "proper degree" either.
I feel sorry for your kids if you have any my parents both creatives (florist and joiner) pushed me to do what i love and embrace creative subjects.
The fact that this is happening in Scotland which has much lower cases is a bit of a worry for those areas of Englandshire currently under enhanced measures.
Although its worth noting that: 1. Dundee is not far from the current hotspots in Scotland, esp. as its a special school so will have a much larger geographic catchment area than a mainstream school; 2. The nature of special educational needs is such that social distancing is often inherently harder, and will have a much higher staff-student ratio with typically more staff in close proximity; 3. of about 2500 schools only a handful have reported cases amongst staff and pupils - and as far as I know this is the only one that has closed.
Nor is it his “job” in a wider context to attend classes for PHSE or learn how to cook etc. just because some parents are poor parents.
This is another disgraceful flippant comment. How can grown ups lack any sort of social understanding or the ability to see wider context! Just because you don't teach your kid to cook doesn't make you a poor parent. Up until my early teens I had a single mum parent she didn't teach me to cook because she was at work trying to run a business and feed two kids. FFS! No wonder our next generation is doomed to fail when people have views like this.
No wonder our next generation is doomed to fail when people have views like this.
Luckily we teachers tend to ignore views like his, and just get on with teaching their kids to be nice, well rounded individuals.
I'll reiterate what I said earlier in the thread...it would be a sad, joyless, grey world if we only taught what Stevextc wanted.
The use of face coverings in corridors and communal areas of secondary schools is set to be introduced in Scotland.
The government is in the "final stages" of consultations with teachers and councils about having pupils wear face coverings while moving between classes.
I wonder what happens in classrooms that makes them not needed?
I wonder what happens in classrooms that makes them not needed?
Magic. Or alternatively its because those kids will be kept together throughout the day with the masks being when different groups might mix.
Or alternatively its because those kids will be kept together throughout the day with the masks being when different groups might mix.
Unless my school is doing things very differently thats not the case. Year group bubbles that move around at the same time
Unless my school is doing things very differently thats not the case. Year group bubbles that move around at the same time
We're splitting the school into 2.
Years 7 and 8 will stay put, and teachers will go to them. They will also have an earlier start and finish and an earlier lunch.
Years 9-11 will move around to lessons as normal, later lunch, and will have different breaktime/lunch zones to stop them mixing (haha!)
Unless my school is doing things very differently thats not the case. Year group bubbles that move around at the same time
I'm not sure exactly what that means. But I believe the rationale is either:
(a) you want to be able to identify the people most likely to be at risk from exposure if a pupil is tested positive. The register in a class provides a mechanism to trace and test contacts; but once in a busy corridor etc - the whole school is potentially mixing - so all need tested - face coverings provide the basis for justifying only testing the classmates.
or
(b) an element of the media has (rightly or wrongly) being waiving their arms in the air in protest at social media images of crowds in schools and they have to be seen to do something; but wearing face coverings all day is probably not too effective for either learning or controlling the virus so its more important to look like you do something.
if your school has found a practical way to stop the entire school moving around between subjects and at the start / end of the day - you may have achieved something we have not.
Teaching cookery skills has been part of the curriculum, for probably 100 years! I’m not sure why you don’t think that is an important part of education? Its one skill at school that every student is virtually guaranteed to actually use at some point (not the specific recipe – but the basic how not to get food poisoning, how to make something edible). I’d also suggest is far more than some parents who haven’t taught their kids how to cook; often because they themselves were never taught well in the first place. We are in a nation with an obesity issue where people where queuing in cars for a mile to get to a McD’s when lockdown lifted. I can actually think of few more useful things to both the individual and the country to teach in a school (sadly its often done badly)!
Which is it?
I certainly had no cooking classes in school...
I most certainly didn't need school to teach me.
Yet despite this "We are in a nation with an obesity issue where people where queuing in cars for a mile to get to a McD’s when lockdown lifted. "
It's obviously not working is it? (**=Voltaire letters)
Since you seem obsessed with education purely being about training people for work – I’m not sure how you would expect people for discover careers in the food sector if it wasn’t for a bit of school exposure?
Non of the chefs I know (very well) had any exposure at school.. one just didn't want to shoot people any more and retrained. This argument is like saying we should teach kids to make cocktails at school or we would have no barstaff.
Many of society’s issues, are exactly the sort of things PHSE is aimed at addressing; the threads on here about relationship issues, employment problems, CV writing, parenting challenges, mental health are all things which seem to be in the general area that is covered in these sort of topics at my children’s school – much broader than the sex and drugs ed that was done at my school. More recently there’s a lot of emphasis on team work, customer service, leadership and personal development.
20% would not be a small minority. I expect that its nothing like 80% who would cover everything this touches on without the school leading the way. Even if it is, do you think that 1/5 children should be left to suffer because their parents are not as good as you at parenting? or do you think that the school can play a role in helping to bring up the life chances of that 1/5 to give them something closer to the excellent chance you think your son will get from you? In doing so does it help your son understand that not everyone in society has parents like you.
I'm not claiming to be "good" at parenting ... I'm saying its my/our business and not that of the school. This is the whole problem that teachers think there is their way and a wrong way.
It's just not working though ...
I assure you, that having been looking at potential school leavers recently (as well as being a regular employer of new graduates) that qualifications are not what differentiates them.
Which is probably a large part of the reason the UK isn't competitive in a global market.
**Voltaire letters...
My OH spent 12 years being forced to learn Russian, she hates it. As Voltaire remarked to Hume on Quakers ... trying to force them not to wear buttons simply ends up with many rebelling completely.
Joepud
I don’t understand what you have against DT, food, art classes going on in school?
You obviously did way better than average in English ...
Despite this a very large part of the UK population is unable to read and write English anywhere near your level.
A scarily large proportion of the UK seem to have managed to leave school after 13 years without basic arithmetic and English. We need to sort this before we add in optional stuff.
If we have the time and resources I have nothing against this but until the overwhelming majority of the population leave school writing as eloquently as you we are missing the mark.
Jumping back to Poly... it's all well and good teaching CV writing once people can actually read and write and think critically. I go back to the point it's simply not working.
Many of the most core skills are highly transferable too – reading detailed instructions; planning your time; understanding basic quantities and costing; being organised and cleaning up afterwards; working with others; knowing when to ask for help.
All fine and dandy, assuming the kids can actually READ and to arithmetic...
Jeez, I had cooking at school in primary on an as hoc basis and every year in secondary until I dropped it when I did my options - which was a mistake as I was top of the year in the exams 🤦♂️
This is another disgraceful flippant comment. How can grown ups lack any sort of social understanding or the ability to see wider context! Just because you don’t teach your kid to cook doesn’t make you a poor parent. Up until my early teens I had a single mum parent she didn’t teach me to cook because she was at work trying to run a business and feed two kids. FFS! No wonder our next generation is doomed to fail when people have views like this.
I'm not the one saying how its somehow a valid thing to waste kids time on at school.
Coming from a single parent family where my mum was working to support us two kids I just taught myself.
Do that today and some meddling teacher will find out the kids been cooking alone and have social services round.
I wonder what happens in classrooms that makes them not needed?
I wondered this, and came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to teach and learn if everyone was in masks.
Jeez, I had cooking at school in primary on an as hoc basis and every year in secondary until I dropped it when I did my options – which was a mistake as I was top of the year in the exams
It's not a mistake if you chose subjects that you wanted to do instead and they enabled you to do something else. Nor is it a requirement to go to culinary school anyway should you wish to.
@stevextc - this is the last time I will respond to your misinformed and shortsighted gibberish, after this post I'm just going to ignore anything you say.
*Edit - deleted, as nothing anyone says is going in, and you're obviously so impressed by your own towering intelligence that you don't need to listen to anyone else.
Can I just ask one thing? If you want to continue to bash schools and UK education can you start your own topic. This is meant to be a thread on reopening schools after lockdown, not a platform for you to talk shite.
Can I just ask one thing? If you want to continue to bash schools and UK education can you start your own topic. This is meant to be a thread on reopening schools after lockdown, not a platform for you to talk shite.
If we wish to fully reopen schools which will cost lives it should bone under the full disclosure of WHY.
Non of this bullshit about "vulnerable kids" and the rest of the bullshit because make no mistake this will kill people so little Johhny/Jenni can pretend to learn to cook or some other thing they will never do again after they escape school.
You obviously did way better than average in English …
Despite this a very large part of the UK population is unable to read and write English anywhere near your level.A scarily large proportion of the UK seem to have managed to leave school after 13 years without basic arithmetic and English. We need to sort this before we add in optional stuff.
If we have the time and resources I have nothing against this but until the overwhelming majority of the population leave school writing as eloquently as you we are missing the mark.
I failed every single GCSE apart from graphic design and thats no word of a lie every other grade was a series of Ds, Es and Us. Im one of the kids who left school after 13 years without basic arithmetic and English. For me (and many others) your "optional stuff" was vital to school life its where I was the most engaged and the only place I got any sort of encouragement from teachers. Your logic of taking that away would destroy so many kids lives and make school a truly awful experience. Imagine going to every single class and being the worst there, and in the lowest set for everything? its not ideal for your mental health.
I just don't understand how you can't see the value in investing in kids who will in the future contribute to the creative industry thats worth over 100bn in the uk also 3% of world GDP
Im so grateful for my design tech and multi media teachers who pushed me and told me uni was a possible for someone like me. Thanks to them I have worked for some of the biggest tech companies in the world and worked on campaigns for huge companies. The creative subjects are not optional they are a lifeline for so many kids at school and it makes me sad you don't realise that.