Does anybody have any experience of Funding Circle?
Friday, 2 March 2012
Assumptions
Posted on 06:47 by Unknown
A poll of 3000 teachers run by the parenting club website bounty.com revealed that roughly half of teachers make assumptions about children based upon their first names. Their judgements are shown below and are pretty accurate. (Read my books for a description of the game Top Set- Bottom Set)
Naughty Boys Naughty Girls
1. Callum Chelsea
2. Connor Courtney
3. Jack Chardonnay
4. Daniel Aleisha
5. Brandon Casey
6. Charlie Crystal
7. Kyle Jessica
8. Liam Brooke
9. Jake Demi
10. Brooklyn Aisha
Now we move on to children assumed by teachers to be clever
Boys Girls
1. Alexander Elizabeth
2. Adam Charlotte
3. Christopher Emma
4. Benjamin Hannah
5. Edward Rebecca
6. Matthew Abigail
7. Daniel Grace
8. James Alice
9. Harry Anna
10. William Sophie
Pretty accurate, I'd say.
Please do not write in to say that your daughter Aisha is very well behaved, as I do not want to know. Buy a book on statistics instead.
Please do not write in to say that your daughter Aisha is very well behaved, as I do not want to know. Buy a book on statistics instead.
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Kristy Bamu
Posted on 14:07 by Unknown
Could the murder of Kristy Bamu have been prevented?
Yes, quite easily if our leaders had the slightest interest in regulating who comes into our Country.
Yes, quite easily if our leaders had the slightest interest in regulating who comes into our Country.
Fraudulent Applications and Catchment Areas
Posted on 00:16 by Unknown
Nottinghamshire headmaster Rob Mc Donough is advising the Government on how to stop parents making fraudulent applications to get their children into better schools that they do not actually live in the catchment area for.
It is an excellent example of Darwinian selection. The more a parent cares about their offspring, the greater the lengths they will go to in order to make sure that they get into a decent school. The child of such parents is likely to be similarly keen and entrepreneurial. A school with a bit more vision would adopt a policy of only taking pupils whose parents they suspected of lying and cheating on their application.
Finally, RIP David Rathband.
It is an excellent example of Darwinian selection. The more a parent cares about their offspring, the greater the lengths they will go to in order to make sure that they get into a decent school. The child of such parents is likely to be similarly keen and entrepreneurial. A school with a bit more vision would adopt a policy of only taking pupils whose parents they suspected of lying and cheating on their application.
Finally, RIP David Rathband.
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Solar Power Feed-in Tariff
Posted on 04:48 by Unknown
Watching my neighbour's roof turn blue, I briefly wondered just what industry the solar power feed-in tariff is supposed to kick start. The panels are made in China, as are all the electrical bits such as the control panel and inverter (if they aren't then he is paying too much for them). The company installing the panels is British and the men up the ladders were presumably local roofers or aerial installers before they saw the light.
Would it not have been cheaper to just send them all a cheque for a few thousand quid and let them go back to their old jobs?
Would it not have been cheaper to just send them all a cheque for a few thousand quid and let them go back to their old jobs?
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Denise Milani
Posted on 00:02 by Unknown
Thank goodness that despite cuts to front line Public Services, there is still money for initiatives such as Denise Milani's poetry competition to celebrate International Women's Day.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102840/Ere-Sarge-rhymes-gender-sensitivity-Incredulity-Yard-politically-correct-poetry-contest.html
Unfortunately this is only open to police officers in the Met, but I'm sure that somewhere in teaching there will be a similar position (and I shall certainly be applying for it).
Denise is paid around £75 000 per year as Director of Diversity (ie to be black and female). Now to be fair, she has fulfilled all the criteria on her job description- she hasn't done a Michael Jackson and painted herself white, not does she appear to have become a man, so we cannot fault her there. You may however be wondering whether there is a job that pays you to be a white male and sit around all day coming up with mad ideas- if so, drop Fred Goodwin an email.
What does bother me though is that whenever I find myself thinking
"Great! This is the maddest thing yet", something immediately comes along and beats it hands down.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102840/Ere-Sarge-rhymes-gender-sensitivity-Incredulity-Yard-politically-correct-poetry-contest.html
Unfortunately this is only open to police officers in the Met, but I'm sure that somewhere in teaching there will be a similar position (and I shall certainly be applying for it).
Denise is paid around £75 000 per year as Director of Diversity (ie to be black and female). Now to be fair, she has fulfilled all the criteria on her job description- she hasn't done a Michael Jackson and painted herself white, not does she appear to have become a man, so we cannot fault her there. You may however be wondering whether there is a job that pays you to be a white male and sit around all day coming up with mad ideas- if so, drop Fred Goodwin an email.
What does bother me though is that whenever I find myself thinking
"Great! This is the maddest thing yet", something immediately comes along and beats it hands down.
Monday, 20 February 2012
Word Education Games
Posted on 09:46 by Unknown
The World Education Games take place 6-8th March 2012. Here's a link to their site.
http://www.worldeducationgames.com/ so you can see what it's all about. There's a video here where members of the public are unable to answer some very simple questions.
http://www.broadcastexchange.tv/live/are-you-smarter-than-a-10yearold
If you have any bright sparks in your class then get them to have a go. Your Head might be pleased with you if somebody won a medal. When the kids ask you if there's any decent prizes, just blather something about the Olympics.
By the way if you have any seriously bright kids then you might want to look at the British Maths Olympiad http://www.bmoc.maths.org/
which is a qualifier for the International Maths Olympiad.
http://www.imo-official.org/ (North Korea has been disqualified twice for cheating)
http://www.worldeducationgames.com/ so you can see what it's all about. There's a video here where members of the public are unable to answer some very simple questions.
http://www.broadcastexchange.tv/live/are-you-smarter-than-a-10yearold
If you have any bright sparks in your class then get them to have a go. Your Head might be pleased with you if somebody won a medal. When the kids ask you if there's any decent prizes, just blather something about the Olympics.
By the way if you have any seriously bright kids then you might want to look at the British Maths Olympiad http://www.bmoc.maths.org/
which is a qualifier for the International Maths Olympiad.
http://www.imo-official.org/ (North Korea has been disqualified twice for cheating)
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