I’ve been reading a bit about FILMCLUB.

I came across it today when browsing the latest Governors magazine, under a heading; Free Flicks for Schools. Having looked at the website, it seems that FILMCLUB is just that. It is a huge on-line DVD library, offering a massive variety of films from around the world. Great. I love films, my kids love films and best of all, they love coming to the cinema with me and their dad – you know, those things most people call parents.

A few things worry me about this club. Firstly, it is funded by the DCSF. Yes, I know films are great and I know much can be learnt through them, but what I foresee is that some schools will use them as a great baby sitting device during extended schools hours, or as an easy means of raising money for the parent-teacher association. And I don’t really like that. I strictly limit television at home, both time-wise and content-wise. When my children are at school, I don’t want them looked after by an electronic babysitter. I want them to be interacting with other children, learning, thinking, playing.

A big irony of this film club is that one of the founders, Lindsay Mackie, is the Chair of the Readers and Writers Committee and was involved in setting up the national book club programme, Reading for Pleasure. Now she claims that; “Films have the power to raise your gaze and raise your game and give you a ticket to pleasure and enlightenment forever more....”

Looking at the list of movies for 5-8 year olds, I can’t help but wonder how A Bug’s Life, Chicken Run and Mr Bean, great fun though they are, are going to raise any child’s game.

Here’s a bit more from the website that, quite frankly, made me want to throw up. It is a quote from the Film Director, Beeban Kidron:

“I think that stories and the telling of stories are the foundations of human communication and understanding. If children all over the country are watching films, asking questions and telling their stories, then the world will eventually be a better place.

I completely agree – the telling of stories is the foundation of communication, but I think that they are best told by another human being. And I really think it is a bit rich to suggest that watching films is likely to make the world a better place. I think that telling stories, asking questions and philosophizing is far better done around the dinner table with the family, or at bedtime with a good book.

The website goes on to report that: “Teachers were taken by the opportunity to bond with their pupils in a different environment and pupils were excited by the opportunity to be transported to different worlds with their friends.”

For pity’s sake! If teachers want to bond with their pupils, how about going on an outward bound course? How about carrying out some team building activities on the sports field? Or having a discussion about something that is happening in the news that may be of interest to children and adults alike? And as far as being transported into different worlds with their friends is concerned – just because someone is sitting next to you while a big screen is moving in front of you both, doesn’t mean that you are doing something together. It means that you are both in your own little bubble with no chance of communicating with another human being because you don’t want to miss any of the film.

Don’t get me wrong. Of course there is a place for films. But at a time when watching television is sadly the top UK pastime and when there is an ever-increasing problem with obesity, I don’t think that that place is necessarily in schools.

As I said in an earlier blog, I am currently visiting family in Germany. At the weekend, we went to the local Gymnasium (grammar school) to see my nephew perform in his choir. It was a large school that takes more than 1,500 pupils and it is seen as the 'best' school in the area. Being a grammar it is selective, but it is selective on the basis of the primary school teachers’ judgement. The children do not take a test, but those that are seen as ‘Gymnasium material’ are allowed to apply. What is taken into account is the effort and achievement of children over the years rather than their performance in a one-off test. How sensible!

Whilst there, I couldn’t help but make comparisons between this German school and those that I know back home. Obviously, it being the weekend I wasn’t able to see any teaching or learning.

The building itself was beautiful – red brick and an imposing four floors high. It had wide, bright corridors with huge windows and was built on three sides of a square around a courtyard.

Yet it was stark. No work of the children was displayed - not in the main hall, nor in any of the classrooms that I managed to peek into. Nor did I spot any displays showing the children what they were learning, how to learn it, or what the rules were. There were no cups, shields, newspaper cutouts, no boards announcing sporting fixtures or results. There was no attempt to impress people on arrival in the school - not even a reception desk, so I don't know how parents and/or visitors are greeted - maybe they are simply not encouraged.

There was graffiti in the toilets - a lot of it, and no attempt had been made to remove it.

Outside, the courtyard was a grey, concrete area with a couple of benches and not much shade. The only colour came from the bright red snack bar in the shape of a can with “Coca-Cola” written in huge letters.

It seemed to me that there is plenty of good practice that the teachers from this German school could learn from a visit to an English school.

Yet, there was one area where I thought that we should take a lesson from them – once past the rather ugly courtyard, there was a small, fenced in field. In this field were three or four sheep and a lamb, which (according to the sign) were being looked after by Class 7F. Next to the field were a vegetable garden, a botanic garden and a greenhouse in which all sorts of plants were being grown – these were, presumably, watered with water pumped by hand from the nearby well. In a hidden corner there was an area designed to attract moths, solitary bees and other insects, presumably designed and crafted in a D&T lesson.

I understand that, in this German school, these are not extra curricular activities, but are part of the every day teaching and learning. I wonder how many secondary schools in England are able to take time from the curriculum to offer children similar opportunities? I sincerely doubt that many grammar schools would be able to stop worrying about gaining 90% (plus) 5 A-C grades for long enough to allow children to raise sheep at the back of the school grounds. And now schools are under threat of closure if 30% of children don’t achieve that magic number, perhaps even those that do offer such valuable life skills will no longer be able to do so.

Not wishing to make anyone jealous here, but I am writing this in 33 degree heat, whilst on holiday. Sadly, I am nowhere more exotic than Germanz (and struggliing with a German kezboard, as zou can see!), and around me there is a slight sense of disappointment after a shameful effort in the Euro cup finals, however I am loving the fact that I can hear my two bigger children speaking ever-improving German with their Omi (grandma) in the other room as I type.

Before we left, I felt guilty putting a holiday form into school. After all, I am a Governor and I know that the local LA has sent out several letters to schools about attendence. Our Head is less willing than ever to authorise holidays and I understand why it is not ideal for children to be out of school - when I was teaching I saw it from a very different perspective. However, now here, my guilt has disappeared completely. So far, the kids have swum in the sort of Lido we just don´t seem to have in the UK, played with cousins they rarely see, fished jelly fish out of the sea (I wasn´t so keen on this activity), eaten food they would normally turn their noses up at and generally enjoyed having their dad about 24/7. On top of that, Milly is keeping a diary about everything we do - at the moment it is taken up mostly with accounts of the number of windmills she has seen, what the windmills do, how big they are and how many she thinks there may be altogether in Germany. Next week, Milly will be going to Kindergarten with her cousin (although they are both six and Milly is in Year 1, her cousin will only be starting school in September) and hopefully picking up even more German. And in between, I suspect I will be Googling ´windmills`so that I can answer some of the questions being thrown at me.

Admittedly, I don´t know what Milly is missing in school this week, but I really do feel that the experiences she has had over the last week will more than make up for anything she may not been learning.