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Fanfare! Sorry for this

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Rachel Caldecott

Rachel Caldecott

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Joined
Nov 13, 2017
Location
Lodeve, France
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This is too long to go in the What's Happening section, and I do apologise for having to post it here in Litopia at all, but I cannot keep this to myself. I'm banging on about my daughter again.

My daughter has had years of bullying at school by both teachers and pupils and then later with subtle and not so subtle digs at her. "Oh you don't have your Bac, well you'll never amount to anything," sort of stuff, while I, as her mother, have had to put up with similar remarks. But today, in the middle of the official letter, the university included two paragraphs that made me cry (because it is such a validation for her). " . . . Our tutors have informed us that they were really impressed with both your application and your performance at the interview. We believe you would be a brilliant student here and have therefore adjusted our offer conditions from our typical offer to reflect this. It is really important to the University that we ensure the right individuals are offered places on our courses and we hope you agree that you would fit in perfectly here. The interviewing tutor asked me to pass on the following feedback:

Thanks for persevering with Skype and undertaking the writing task Florence – it helped us greatly! You clearly have the commitment, skills and intelligence to enter the course at Level 4 (Year 1) and don’t need the basic, ‘foundation’ skills that we cover at Level 3 (Year 0). We hope you’ll join us in September as we’re looking forward to nurturing and supporting you in developing your talents and realising your ambitions. . ."

Well, I think that is pretty damn good for a girl everyone dismissed as a loser because she refused to fit in. (Stubborn little Miss).
 
Rachel Caldecott-Thornton said:
This is too long to go in the What's Happening section, and I do apologise for having to post it here in Litopia at all, but I cannot keep this to myself. I'm banging on about my daughter again.
Click to expand...

Why not?! You both deserve it.

My son is quite badly dyslexic and has struggled at times, but was lucky to be well supported at school. That makes a huge difference.
 
In France (well in our town), the schools didn't do anything for kids with dyslexia at the time my two were growing up. I believe things have changed recently, like they get more time in exams or something. But the schools don't deal with bullying either. On no occasion did any teacher contact me to ask me why Florence's grades had plummeted, or that the number of her absences had risen. The teachers bully the kids and create an atmosphere of rivalry between them. Even in the staff room, there is competition, with the real teachers not talking to the teaching assistants etc. There is something very toxic about the schools here. Many young children have stomach ulcers and other stress-related problems, and both my children witnessed teachers beating kids, strapping infant school kids to chairs with belts and screaming at them. My son, when he was about 6, saw his best friend tied to a chair on a Friday night at the end of the term. He was then left alone. Of course, Madame wasn't going to leave him there during the two-week vacation, but the little boy didn't know that. All he knew was that he was alone in a dark room and everyone had gone. By the time his mother found him he was hysterical. The toilets are horrible which I think maybe the origin of my daughter's kidney problems. Ahhhh! I have to stop! I have nothing good to say about the schools here. Even when my son dropped out too, I worried that if I forced him to continue, he'd do something silly. Our GP gave us a sick note diagnosing Ecolephobie (school phobia), saying that it wasn't worth the risk insisting on school because too many kids in France top themselves. The French, in general, consume more anti-depressants than practically anywhere else in Europe, and they start while at school. This is why I'm making such a fuss now.

Phew. Got that off my chest!
 
Jeez....Rachel.

Your description of some of the abuses by teachers at your kids' school makes me feel sick to the stomach. Really upsetting.

I feel very blessed by the school our two go to here in Spain. Under Spanish law, any full-time staff member at a private school is entitled to places at the school for their own children, tuition fees-paid. It means we can see with our own eyes how the children are treated. We've also benefitted from an on-site, full-time educational psychologist, who deals with safeguarding, social and special needs issues. Given that we've discovered both of ours are on the autistic spectrum, it's been a godsend. The Ed Psych also steps in if there are any allegations of bullying.

Spanish state schools can be rather more "traditional" in their approach, but even here, I haven't heard of anything as bad as you describe. That is truly awful. :(

It makes your daughter's achievement stand out as doubly admirable. Wow.
 
So while we've been in lockdown and actual quarantine, Flo has done these over the last couple of days. The first (left) is how she feels this year is shaping up, the middle is an illustration for her childrens' book, and the final one, just because we have herons on our river, and those hills surround our lake. See why I'm so happy she's got into college?
1585076868485.png 1585076917035.png 1585076958514.png
 
Wow! They are amazing!!

Congratulations to her for her achievement against all odds and to you for your support to get her through.

I think it was Terry Pratchett who was told in school that he'd never amount to anything. And the dyslexic Einstein.
 
She is pro level already. Artists and business though. It's only the business side of things she needs. Can't believe new book publishers wouldn't be worth a go for their list of go tos for picture books, and the greeting card industry ...high end...wouldn't want to buy a design like the heron. I know artists who are sniffy about that. But they're broke.
 
Rachel Caldecott-Thornton said:
This is too long to go in the What's Happening section, and I do apologise for having to post it here in Litopia at all, but I cannot keep this to myself. I'm banging on about my daughter again.

My daughter has had years of bullying at school by both teachers and pupils and then later with subtle and not so subtle digs at her. "Oh you don't have your Bac, well you'll never amount to anything," sort of stuff, while I, as her mother, have had to put up with similar remarks. But today, in the middle of the official letter, the university included two paragraphs that made me cry (because it is such a validation for her). " . . . Our tutors have informed us that they were really impressed with both your application and your performance at the interview. We believe you would be a brilliant student here and have therefore adjusted our offer conditions from our typical offer to reflect this. It is really important to the University that we ensure the right individuals are offered places on our courses and we hope you agree that you would fit in perfectly here. The interviewing tutor asked me to pass on the following feedback:

Thanks for persevering with Skype and undertaking the writing task Florence – it helped us greatly! You clearly have the commitment, skills and intelligence to enter the course at Level 4 (Year 1) and don’t need the basic, ‘foundation’ skills that we cover at Level 3 (Year 0). We hope you’ll join us in September as we’re looking forward to nurturing and supporting you in developing your talents and realising your ambitions. . ."

Well, I think that is pretty damn good for a girl everyone dismissed as a loser because she refused to fit in. (Stubborn little Miss).
Click to expand...
That’s so great!! Congrats!!
 
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