Schools – The Bell Bookshop

Exam nation

Emma — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Exams, grades, league tables, Ofsted reports. All of them miss the point of school and together they are undermining our whole approach to education.

‘An essential read – as entertaining as it is insightful – for anyone who cares about the way we treat young people’ Observer

What is school for? Drawing on his twenty years as a teacher, hundreds of interviews and his experience on the UK Government’s Social Mobility Commission, head teacher Sammy Wright exposes the fundamental misconception at the heart of our education system. By focusing on the grades pupils get in neatly siloed, academic subjects, we end up ranking them and our schools into winners and losers: some pupils are set on a trajectory to university – the rest are left ill-equipped for the world they actually face.

Wright’s entertaining and hugely important book shows that schools are – and should be – so much more than this. With wisdom and humour, balancing idealism and pragmatism, he sets out what a better way would look like and how we might get there.

‘Brilliantly illuminates the realities and blindspots of the system’ Jeffrey Boakye ‘Deeply absorbing…Wright deserves the highest marks’ Financial Times
‘Such a compelling read, no matter your outlook’ Telegraph
‘Extraordinary and brilliant . . . the book education has been waiting for’ Laura McInerney, co-founder of Teacher Tapp

Boy

Emma — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We all have our moments of brilliance and glory, and this was mine.

This beautiful edition of Boy, part of The Roald Dahl Classic Collection, features official archive material from the Roald Dahl Museum and is perfect for Dahl fans old and new.

So, enter a world where invention and mischief can be found on every page and where magic might be at the very tips of your fingers . . .

The Roald Dahl Classic Collection reinstates the versions of Dahl’s books that were published before the 2022 Puffin editions, aimed at newly independent young readers.

A revolution betrayed

Emma — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

There are few subjects these days that cause parents more stress than their children’s education. In his new book, Peter Hitchens describes the misjudgements made by politicians over the years that have led to the increase of class distinction and privilege in our education system. This is of course the opposite of what was intended, especially by former Minister of Education Shirley Williams and Margaret Thatcher, her successor in that role, who closed down many more Grammar Schools than Williams. Given that the cost of private secondary education is now in the region of £50,000 a year and the best comprehensive schools are now oversubscribed, parents are spending thousands on private tutoring and fee-paying prep schools in order to get their children into these academically excellent schools. Meanwhile hypocritical Labour politicians like Diane Abbott send their children to expensive private day schools. Hitchens argues that in trying to bring about an educational system which is egalitarian, the politicians have in fact created the exact opposite. And what’s more, it is a system riddled with anomalies – Sixth Form Colleges select pupils on ability at the age of 15, which rules out any child who does not have major educational backing from home and academies also are selective, though they pretend not to be. This is an in-depth look at the British education system and what will happen if things don’t change radically.

A Revolution Betrayed

Emma — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

There are few subjects these days that cause parents more stress than the education of their children.In his new book, Peter Hitchens describes the misjudgements made by politicians over the years that have led to the increase of class distinction and privilege in our education system. This is of course the opposite of what was intended, especially by former Minister of Education Shirley Williams and Margaret Thatcher, her successor in that role, who closed down many more Grammar Schools than Williams. Given that the cost of private secondary education is now in the region of £50,000 a year and the cream of Comprehensive Schools are now oversubscribed (William Ellis, Camden School for Girls, The Oratory, Cardinal Vaughan), parents are spending thousands on private tutoring and fee-paying prep schools in order to get their children into these academically excellent schools. Meanwhile hypocritical Labour politicians like Diane Abbott send their children to expensive private day schools. So, what alternatives – if any – are there? Peter Hitchens argues that in trying to bring about an educational system which is egalitarian, the politicians have created a system which is the exact opposite. And what’s more, it is a system riddled with anomalies – Sixth Form Colleges select pupils on ability at the age of 15, which rules out any child who does not have major educational backing from home (heavy involvement by working parents or private tutors, for example) and academies also are selective, though they pretend not to be.This is an in-depth look at the British education system and what will happen if things don’t change radically.