To think disruptive behaviour in schools is out of hand?

@Buddingbudde

Someone should have given the child clear boundaries. Someone should have taken control of the situation. Someone should have been removed from the child until they’d calmed down - and told the consequences of their actions. Then returned after a time to think. This is the responsibility of SLT - but 9/10 SLT don’t want to know, and would rather exclude then use an ounce of empathy to solve the issue.

Don't they have isolation units anymore? This is where disruptive kids were sent I'd DS school so the rest of the class could get on with the lesson in peace

Bad kids are already excluded from school. Just not enough of them.

So my child was in a class where one child starts throwing chairs at random at least once a week and assaults other children. Two others had screaming rows that took up at least 10 mins of each lesson. What do you think the school should have done? Is it right that my child was in a constant state of fear when on school premises? What do you suggest the school do?

And your child was nearly excluded for being disruptive although you say they weren’t being disruptive? Do you know what sort of parent you sound like in saying that?

The crime rate near the Michaela school has increased tenfold?

I don't believe this for a minute.

@TeamBuffalo

Bang on. It’s a case of ‘let’s exclude all the kids we don’t like and find a ‘special’ place to put them’. No forward thinking of the ongoing issues that might cause. So long as my ‘perfect’ children are alright, the rest of society can get fucked.

My son is Yr10, with ASC. He's now in EOTAS with private tuition, but at school he was put into a small group with other SEN kids but also disruptive kids. Putting the two together seems strange - the SEN kids were disrupted by the others, and my son got drawn into a badly-behaved group of kids who encouraged him to carry a knife and vape, drink etc. It's as if they see those two cohorts as the same thing.

Are you actually serious about parentkind being unbiased? They pay mummy bloggers £100's to answer their surveys in the way they want and they then offer extra money to those who can get their readers to answer the same way! I was once offered £300 by them to answer a survey about girl guides and how safe I felt it was for my kids (who at the time were toddlers) when I told them my kids don't go to girl guides I was told "that's okay we can provide you with the answers"! That's when I stopped believing anything that mentioned them!

And where exactly is this mythical place that will take all our feral kids? Narnia?

No it doesn't! Do you realise that the crime rate near the Micheala school has increased 10 fold!
The kids are that restricted at school that after school they have to release their energy somewhere so antisocial behaviour is on the increase! Kids are still kids at the end of the day.
Also you have to agree to certain behaviours that your child will or won't do during school hours on the school premises but nothing out of school so they can't get kicked out for it!

Why is it a government problem? Why isn't it a parent's problem?
Personally I think I'd your kids so disruptive that they're getting put in isolation, suspended or expelled then the parents should be fined. Good behaviour starts at home!
Having said that my kids go to state school
100% of last year's year 11 achieved grades 4 and above in their GCSEs and 95% achieved 3's and above. Not only that in the 6th form 100% of students got the grades they needed for University.
My kids have never complained about their lessons being disrupted, but I know there is zero tolerance for bad behaviour.
My nephew on the other hand is at a private school and is always complaining about his lessons being disrupted by bad behaviour, and is constantly being kept back for whole class detentions!

@Absentosaur

No. It’s not about that. I have an absolutely beautiful, vulnerable child who was nearly ‘excluded’ from local schooling. DC is not disruptive, DC is easily overlooked - DC deserves a right to an education within his local community and the opportunity to make friends/build a life where DC lives.

Yet he was viewed as ‘disruptive’ and a drain on resources = exclusion.

Children are children. They are brought into to this world with adult expectations and labels.

If we - as adults - fail their needs, it is not their fault.

@JaneyDC this was what it was like when ds(22) was at school. He had a one to one and there was a TA for the rest of the class. He went private for secondary school and there were no TAs in the class though class sizes were much smaller. Ds didn't need one to one by then.

For me it's not a straight choice between current 'typical' secondary schools and Michaela. There are other places doing a fantastic job with a broad range of kids/families, but without the prison rules. Some examples:
Banff Academy went from the worst school in Scotland: Inspection - Students’ ‘one chance’ threatened by failing school | Tes Magazine to an incredibly successful school, but through a focus on health and wellbeing, skill building (not just focusing on knowledge), real world learning and project based learning.
The XP school in Doncaster (deprived ex-mining communities in South Yorkshire) is incredible, focussing on character and hard work and using 'expeditionary learning' (cross curricular projects in the real world), but without draconian rules or even a school uniform: Values & Ethos – XP School
And the Steiner Academy Hereford came top of this year's Fairer Schools' Index: Fairer Schools Index: The 20 Best Schools in England Revealed For 2025 Again - no uniform, lots of craft, art, music and movement in the curriculum.

Education is not just about the transfer of information from adults to children. It's about the development of the whole person - learning to be an active, responsible participant in society. School can't do ALL of that, but it does have to play a bigger part than just getting kids to pass GCSEs (which is a ridiculous system anyway, when 1/3 have to fail each year).

This is one of the problems I'm facing often. It never used to be this way. Before, after the input, I'd be able to set them all off with differentiated work and myself and the TA would focus on supporting a table each (this changed each day so all ch got the support/ challenge required).
My TA is now away doing 1:1 so I'm left teaching the whole class. Which would be fine, if the class didn't have so many other SEN and disruptive children. I need to split myself in so many ways to cater to the SEN, the low level and the disruptive that the rest of the class don't get a look in. It's so unfair for all.

My son just into year 8 is autistic and dyslexic, sits quietly in a classroom and is telling me that 75% of some of his lessons are being disrupted due to poor behaviour of a large amount of the class (chatting, throwing things, kids in and out for any excuse) He can’t get into the top sets but wants to learn and is getting really miserable with not being able to.

How to solve it - yes it’s parent engagement for the majority of these children when the school is trying to deal with it. But on a government policy level then I believe the funding formula needs to change. As birthrates decline, you should be upping the funding amount per pupil so that you can have smaller classes - schools can’t drop numbers or they lose money and that means fewer staff! Having the ability to reduce the timetable for children and offer small groups in that space for different needs (be it practical options, literacy support, study skills, pre-teaching, extension work) The government policy is not looking at this and is pushing money into headline grabbing schemes like ‘free breakfast clubs’ and ‘school nurseries’ that actually will not solve any issues.

Increase funding for schools and give them the freedoms to try new ways of doing things as opposed to restricting them. Instead of just waving money for gimics that aren’t actually needed.

No but I know plenty of "SEN" children.

I know these boys. Do you?

As a teacher, it is a problem but it’s not the government’s or teachers’ , it’s the parents not parenting properly. We hate disruptive behaviour and it’s a never ending source of stress for teachers but it’s constantly worse when parents don’t support us or at that school behaviour doesn’t need to be followed up at home because it’s not a home problem. Parents need to follow up on poor behaviour and back us up because otherwise that is how the system collapses.

Parents rule. Schools are terrified of prosecution. I am afraid this is all about bad parenting.

Most of the time it's not "SEN".
That's an insult to many children who do have Special Education Needs (ie disabilities) who are being badly let down by lack of schools suitable for their needs.

Exactly! It is all down to lack of funding for state schools.

@Absentosaur

You basically agreed with a poster who was describing a vulnerable child as problematic because that child stops another poster from ‘enjoying their sun in the garden’. You made assumptions about their behaviour in school and made an assumption that they should be in a ‘special school’.
So how would you like that ‘special school’ to function exactly?

@Absentosaur

The assumptions you made about that child in the garden are awful.