[Jazhara7]

Thomas...


-

[tsa]

(((Jazzie)))

[Squinky]

Meep.

[Hammerite]

[tsa]

I have the sweetest rabbits.

[Squinky]

I'm sorry.

[RLacey]

You're sorry that he has the sweetest rabbits? Crazy!

(((Jaz)))

[Squinky]

No, that was just a random, spontaneous "I'm sorry".

[Trunkyo]

I'm sorry that you're sorry.

[Giligan]

I'm not sorry.

[Fantasysci5]

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

Thomas...


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I'm so sorry I made you think of that, Jaz. *hugs*

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

I'm so sorry I made you think of that, Jaz. *hugs*

It's not really your fault. I am thinking every day of him, and I've been crying every day too. I just feel so helpless, as I can't do anything about this all. All I can do is hope, and even that is growing thin. I just wish I could go back in time and do things differently. My mother is trying to tell me that he is an ass, but I don't want to think that. I doubt he did anything of this with the intention of hurting me, but he did hurt me, yet I still want him back. I am just so afraid he might not have a change of mind/heart, or if he does, that he would not dare to ask. I just feel so helpless...

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[tsa]

Oh poor Jazz, this is not how we know you! I'm so sorry for you. If you need to pour your heart out to a random person just PM me.

[Hammerite]

I second dat.

[rlpw]

Does this mean I can call out the death squad?

[Squinky]

Not unless it's funny.

[pointandcliklover]

Relationship between free school meals, poverty and attainment in education


The 1944 education act required that schools provide a school meal (FSM) at dinner time, it was at this point that free school meals were also being offered to those deemed in need. This is payed by the govermnt from the tax on the people and has played a major part in the education of children but also in shaping the well fair state of the united kingdom. The free school meal approach has changed in through the 20th and 21st century, it is now being trialed in various area around the united kingdom in providing a school dinner for every child free of charge. The cost of the free school meal has played a major part in policy making, in some cases argued as being too much for the tax payer to account, it is this that has caused much of the controversy surrounding the scheme. This scheme has a distinct relationship with poverty but to understand how it’s role is important for those in poverty we have to understand the meaning of poverty that i will be referring to.
Poverty is controversial in its meaning due to different organisations adopting different meanings. The three main expressions of poverty are absolute poverty, exclusion poverty and relative poverty which are universally accepted by most institutions. Anyone in absolute poverty is said to be unable to obtain the basic necessities to preserve life, these include, clean water, food, heating and shelter. Relative poverty is considered a more fair term to describe the situation people may find themselves in; the poverty is measured in terms of what on average people have. This includes for today’s standard, central heating, washing machine, TV and computer. This definition is subject to change as society changes for example in the 1950s an indoor toilet and TV were not on average common in households. Exclusion poverty is a branch of relative poverty that is used to describe how people can be in poverty as they are excluded from living standards that fellow citizens indulge. For example a family who cannot afford a holiday abroad could be described as being excluded from those who do have holidays abroad. I will be using relative poverty in this discussion as in England absolute poverty is present but relative poverty is a more accurate description for this country in terms of its effects on education. At this point in time the poverty threshold is determined to be below sixty percent of the median income in England. Poverty has a strong relationship with those in education in terms of attainment but to show this we have to understand how it is measured.
The education system in England requires that exams be taken throughout the educational life of its pupils, this is done at intervals rather than every year. These exams are known as key stages and are taken around year 2, year 6, year 9 and year 11, although, the year 9 exams have since been eradicated due to the well being of the students being feared. In this discussion the results of 2005 for key stage1 maths, English and reading but also key stage 2 maths will be looked at to show the difference between students receiving free school meals and those who do not and the levels they achieved percentage wise. The attainment results show that those who receive free school meals are more likely to attain lower grades and it is this that will be looked at first in this discussion.
The free school meal status is aimed mainly at those in poverty, to be eligible for free school meal status you have to receive either income support, income assessed job seekers allowance or earn less than 16,040 pounds a year. There is however evidence that those in poverty are above threshold for eligibility of free school meals and those who are eligible do not either apply or refuse to accept the help.
“Twenty per cent of children entitled to free school meals do not take them”
There are many theories as to the reasons children are not receiving the free school meals one popular theories is appearance, there is feeling of embarresment in those receiving the meal and also some bulling that can be associated with thoses who receive it. Another reason for the small intake could be accounted to the procedure in gaining it, the documents that need to be provided can be diffulcult to obtain on top of that filling in forms for the application of free school meals can be daunting. The free school meal scheme is a good initial indicator for those in poverty, the scheme allows to be able to compare those in and out of poverty attainment in school.
We cannot say that free school meals scheme is the only measure of poverty in education, the poverty threshold is only measure for the government to refer to when determining the benifits for people including the free school meal, however there are many familys above the threshold who do not receive any help who could be considered in poverty and in some cases in a worse state than those who do receive help.
“One million children living in poverty do not get a free school meal”
It is these families and children who are not taken into account in measuring poverty and comparing the attainment for example. This means the figures used to determine attainment and poverty cannot be reliable on their own. In this discussion it is the relationship between those who have free school meals and their attainment that is being investigated, although this is a good approximation of the attainment that those in poverty may face it is only a proportion and cannot be said for all those in poverty.
Reffering to the results of the 2005 key stage 1 and 2 exams we can see that those who receive free school meals are more likely to score lower. At key stage 2 maths a grade of four is the expected average and 78% of students reach this or achieve higher, however we can see that those who are considered as FSM status on the same exam only 55% achieve the expected level four. This has lead to theories that those in povety will not do as well as those who are not.
“Students who are economically disadvantaged compose a large portion of students who are
“at-risk learners”, meaning that they have a high probability of academic failure and the possibility of eventually dropping out of school.”
The reasons for children in poverty failing are vast and complicated, children in poverty have less access to resources. Books can play an important role the development of children, this can be the first contact with written language that children are exposed to, however the cost of said books can be high and access to library’s can be diffulcult if transport is both expensive and at a long distance, this means a significant reduction in litracy skills.
Families in poverty oftern are single parent families or those where both parents are working or in some cases not working which each effects childrens attainment in school. For single parent or families where parents are both working full time contact with children can be limited, this means that parents time to help with homework or take children out for enrichment, is not as easy as families where one parent works and the other does not or for those where they work shorter hours.

if anyone has a quote to help with the last quote that would be helpful

i guess i don't win if you got to here

[RLacey]

...

[Squinky]

Okay!

[Giligan]

You know what? Whatever. I'm just going to eat my crumpet.