The result

What do I do this week? Pay for music lessons or buy food? Difficult choice.
Of course paying for music lessons is elitist.
I never once paid for music lessons for my sons and they haven't paid for their children - until now, piano lessons for the ten year old.
That's the first time in 40 years of music education.

One can only hope durhamjen.

To say having to pay for music lessons is elitist is not true, it is a struggle for parents on low wages I agree but it has always been done .

The downgrading of music and the arts in schools is more to do with league tables than anything else. English, maths and science are prioritised by giving them extra weighting in the tables, followed by humanities and languages. Music GCSE groups have always been quite small and schools can no longer afford to run small GCSE groups. Without exam teaching opportunities, serious music teachers are leaving state schools.

As for music being taught to all...trisher is right. The kind of music taught to a class of 30 does not involve learning how to play an instrument. I have always paid for my children's music tuition. Some authorities used to subsidise lessons, lend instruments or run Saturday schools. They no longer have the funding to do that, so parents have to pay for lessons, so it's become elitist. Some schools choose to use pupil premium funding for eligible pupils from poor backgrounds.

Hopefully Mayhem will be too busy cosying up to the DUP to try and get grammar schools through.

My school is slap bang in tory heart land and I am about to lose 1/5 of my job. We got together and all decided to take a hit so we all stayed on board. Whats worse is the effect this has on the children. My daughter attends a local grammar, she is losing half a day every other week as they are losing teachers. The cuts are only starting to be felt, they will be worse next year.

It's not just that it's the way children are taught now under the new curriculum as opposed to how it was under the old. No time for music, no time for play.

The tories have made some horrendous decisions regarding schools and education, but then they always did.

Good morning Trisher.I've passed on your comments to DD . To say she is furious is an understatement.She finds it patronising and arrogant that you assert she must vote the way she does because of me and my views.She would like me to point out the day before voting she called and told me about mock election they had in school and how interesting the results had been.How extremely careful she had been to stress to the children it's YOUR vote, make your own mind up .Don't just vote the way your family does,or your friends and don't let anyone bully you or feel yout have a duty to disclose your vote if you don't want to.Our family mantra has always been,your vote, your business.
Only the day before she did say she was on the fence,my assertion was follow your instincts love.Her sister,ironically the one I spend way more time with and am equally,and enormously proud of told me she was a definite Labour vote.Goodness me,despite a very close relationship I must have no magic powers to influence her.Why the hell would I want to !
What I did say was even before Thursday is at some point Labour will regain no 10 .Yvette Cooper et al who couldnt stand him will compromise their old /new labour stance for a chance to govern.If they do well let's see if they can deliver.Happy to be proved wrong.Really hope if JC gets to no 10 in the not too distant future he moderates somewhat.I doubt it and digress.This little paragraph is my view not hers.Although I think she would agree.
When I say she doesn't trust Corbyn she would like you to know she doesn't buy into his socialist manifesto of free giveaways and was very cynical about the fairly last minute student loan one.She's a bit disillusioned with some of her peer group,admittedly middle class,who she feels keep bunking of good jobs to take sabbaticals and go travelling and posting endlessly on Facebook you MUST vote Labour,whilst she grafts on paying taxes back into the system. She feels a lot of the young voters are not the kids from the 'rough 'estates in the area she teaches in.But the young urban elites or ideological middle class students.Nothing wrong with idealogogy she asserts ,and she is very worried about the future and cares deeply about her the childrens future.But tries to look beyond to the jobs,opportunities etc that will be there for them.She wants a vibrant economy and reduction of state debt.Not too happy about prospect of mass renationalisation and huge union powers. Most probably having a different perspective seeing her dad and I work flat out 7 days a week ,2 weeks holiday a year running our own small business has had an influence.How could it not.Can't change our family history.She can think outside the public sector box.But stresses no one has ever made her feel she must vote a certain way.Like us fully expects Labour to regain power in the future because no party stays in government forever.

Oh and she'd like you to know she has tried to join in discussions in the staff room but the Corbyn supporters just 'rant' over everyone else.That's why she keeps quiet.By keeping quiet she means cracking on with a load of work so she can have some free time at the weekends.She is no shrinking violet,and despite everything gets on well with staff,and has a particularly strong relationship with the head.I hope that's a satisfactory reply but I doubt it.

It is regional chewbacca. You obviously have no idea about the funding streams or education.

Obviously Daphnedill , otherwise I wouldn't have asked the question. sharp as a tack, as always .

By the way, the housing minister was Gavin Barwell, who lost his seat, after he had written a book last year about how to win marginals.
He's the one that May has given the job of being her chief of staff!
Couldn't make it up.

This is interesting.

www.24housing.co.uk/news/renters-make-themselves-heard-at-the-ballot-box/

Those constituencies where there are higher than average renting populations fell to Labour or had their majorities cut.
Will the Tories take note and introduce rent controls?

If she really believes that things are going to be OK Washerwoman she should be able to stand up and say so. She may be an excellent teacher but teaching isn't just about being assessed and passing appraisals, it is about supporting the families and children you teach and wanting the best for them, which is why so many people in education supported Corbyn. They know the damage done by these cuts will be irreversible that the children they teach have one chance at this and will suffer. I still don't understand how 'not trusting Corbyn' is a good reason. If the ship is sinking and someone throws a lifebelt you just have to hope they've held on to the rope, and even if they haven't it is better than drowning.

We had peripatetic music teachers who taught in many different schools-long gone!
I was responding to that point, as there are still peripatetic music teachers in some areas - but now they have to be paid for by parents/grandparents in Labour-run Wales where my DGC are at school.

The land of song.

There is a difference between music on the curriculum- I taught it for years even learning the penny whistle and staying one step in front of the class- and real music teaching where an actual music teacher teaches how to play an instrument. The first of course is cheap, the second expensive. It's an easy thing to cut, can you imagine if you taught science by simply dictating information and never allowed experiments? There would be an outcry.

"Why did Labour do so well in this election?

I have no doubt at all that policies friendly to young people helped.

And young people voted as a result – and very strongly for Labour.

But there was more to it than that. The over-55s (of whom I almost feel ashamed to admit I am one) may have bought the Mail and Sun and bought into their falsehoods, but the young got their message from social media.

I have some direct evidence of that. This blog has been going for 11 years: the first post was on 8 June 2006. There have been 14,133 since then. But June 2017 has been the third best for number of reads in a month in its history. There have been almost 250,000 hits as I write. And it’s only 10 June.

Compared to other sites my readership is small. But that is still a staggering result. In the last week of the election campaign the young read about Labour. And they voted as a result.

I do think the rules are being re-written. The old press are losing their power. And I am delighted."

Richard Murphy.

Thank you for your oppinion Trisher.I will pass on your comments to DD.Perhaps I should advise her to as she's not a member of the Labour Party she should resign despite being found to be an outstanding teacher in her last appraisal as I obviously have such influence .Oh and to tell her friend and colleague,at the same school, to do the same.Luckily I can tell Labour voting nurse DD that she's ok to stay in her job.

I don't think you can assume anything trisher - she sounds like an educated young woman who can think for herself.

Never assume anything.

Not trusting Corbyn doesn't seem a good enough reason to support cuts which will devastate lives.
I think it has been a reason which many people have thought of otherwise he would have romped home with a majority government with that manifesto offering so much to so many.

Music is rarely taught in schools now. When I started teaching it was common for even primary school children to be offered a musical instrument. We had peripatetic music teachers who taught in many different schools-long gone!
It is still happening in Wales under the Labour adminsitration there.

However, it has to be paid for, the lessons and the hire of the instrument. There seems to be a free introduction in years reception to year 2 then, having got the child interested, the parents (or grandparents) have to pay.

It is regional chewbacca. You obviously have no idea about the funding streams or education.

They also voted for this, trisher.

inews.co.uk/essentials/news/health/nhs-crisis-worsening-almost-four-million-patients-now-waiting-planned-treatment/

If you see people being made redundant, watch children losing the support they need to progress, see class sizes rocket and resources shrink and you continue to support the people who are doing this you are either uncaring, stupid or misled. I assume the DD isn't either of the first 2 which leaves misled and as her mother shares her views it would seem logical that that is where the ideas originated.

They might have it on the curriculum, but not in every year on the curriculum.
My son's school had it in year 7, 10 and 11. Only year 7 was for every class. 10 and 11 was choice. Obviously the only ones who chose it were those who had continued privately.
It was a deliberate choice by the governors to downgrade music.

trisher, I thought your assumption that Washerwoman's daughter must be following her mother's political views completely unsubstantiated and still do. That was the only reason for my previous post.

The issue of whether music/the arts is taught in schools must be regional, I suspect. Having just checked the website for our LEA, I find that every school in our area (NW England) has both music and drama on their curriculum. Is this because schools in other areas opt to spend the available funding elsewhere within their schools or are some schools able to manage their budgets more effectively? Genuine question.

It isn't insulting, just a reasoned argument, by all means contradict it or explain your DD's reasons. As far as I can see the only reason she would fail to speak out is because she knows there is little or no evidence to support her stance. If she daily sees how the cuts are affecting children and schools I don't understand why she fails to explain her views. Not trusting Corbyn doesn't seem a good enough reason to support cuts which will devastate lives.