What do I want the school to do?

[Elisheva]

My ds is in Year 10 and generally enjoys school. However some of his lessons are disrupted by the behaviour of the other students. Three subject are especially bad with students constantly being rude and disrespectful, refusing to do as they are told, being loud, walking in and out of the lesson etc.
My son finds it impossible to learn in this environment. Apparently the teacher keeps on talking because ‘the students who want to learn will listen’, but they can’t because of the noise and disruption.
I have a meeting with the head of Year 10 and the deputy head tomorrow, but I’m not sure what it is I can reasonably expect them to do. Obviously I want his lessons to be quiet and ordered so he is able to listen and learn, but I’m also aware that the school can’t change things overnight. The teachers need more support/training, but all the time that is happening my son is missing out on more learning.
I want to be supportive of the school but at the same time my son is in his GCSE years and needs decent teaching. What would you say at the meeting? What could I ask for?

Firstly they need to inform the teacher that he can’t hear and therefore it’s not working. Hopefully the teacher will adjust his/her approach just from that information. Alternatively could your DS be moved to a different class with a different teacher (long shot but in some big schools this might be an option). You could ask what actions will be taken and for a follow up discussion in a few weeks to see if things have improved

How did you get a meeting with HoY and DepH OP? That's very good. Is there any history to this?

The teachers can get support with behaviour management, if they’re weak then observations and advice. SLT could drop in and removing disruptive kids, a behaviour policy which means that they can be kicked out of lessons if playing up is vital (some schools bizarrely don’t have this). If there’s a particularly bad combination of troublemakers, classes can be rejigged to break them up.

I’ve complained about this before during the Autumn term, which was dealt with by the head of science, so this is an escalation of that.
The head of science visited the lesson but as soon as they walk in the kids start to behave, so they never get a real picture of what’s happening. On a couple of occasions a senior staff member has been in and bollocked the whole class, and eventually they removed the four most disruptive kids. However they returned to the lesson after two weeks and things have gone downhill again.

Also this is not just in one lesson. At least three of his subject lessons are being disrupted by poor behaviour.

Needs on call staff to remove children as they become unruly. DC's school have this. Deals with bad behaviour or kids getting into an autistic meltdown.

A lot of the problem with this is schools do everything they can. These pupils will be removed from class but sadly it can’t happen every time. The school will be getting support for these individuals but sometimes it does require other parents to voice their concerns so the schools can escalate it further and get support from other agencies.
Speak honestly to the head of department and explain that you are concerned about your child’s development.
I honestly don’t think it’s a matter of teacher training as even the most experienced teacher can have trouble with some pupils.
The school won’t be able to discuss these other pupils with you but can explain their next steps to you.
Your child and other children need to be open in class and say they can’t hear the teacher.

The pupils my be removed from class, but what that means is that next time, those pupils will assume the teacher can’t manage their behaviour and will disrupt again. That doesn’t actually help the teacher in the long term.

There are some pupils who are disengaged from school and learning and have no investment in it. I think you need to be very clear that your son’s ability to learn is being compromised and he is keen to learn. Ask if there is another set he can move to in those lessons.

Your child has a right to be able to learn in lessons, but dealing with disruption isn’t straightforward.

Can I ask what 3 subjects they are? I think this can often affect students motivation. I teach French and I find it very hard to motivate students who really don't think that learning a language is important and they've often been forced to do it as an option to comply with ebacc.

I'm not excusing their behaviour but just wondering if they could be moved into a different subject altogether.

@Foxyloxy1plus1

The pupils my be removed from class, but what that means is that next time, those pupils will assume the teacher can’t manage their behaviour and will disrupt again. That doesn’t actually help the teacher in the long term.

There are some pupils who are disengaged from school and learning and have no investment in it. I think you need to be very clear that your son’s ability to learn is being compromised and he is keen to learn. Ask if there is another set he can move to in those lessons.

Your child has a right to be able to learn in lessons, but dealing with disruption isn’t straightforward.

I disagree with this. Removal from a lesson is an important part of a behaviour management approach in my experience. It's less about saying the teacher can't cope, and more about showing that the student has made themselves unwelcome due to their behaviour and impact on others.

We have various ways if doing this depending on the situation:

For low level incidents, students are sent outside the room for a sort of time out. Teacher speaks to them, gives a detention and they return.

For repeated incidents we 'good neighbour', meaning the student is taken to sit in another nearby classroom and complete their work. This is timetabled in advance to identify experienced teachers, ideally teaching A Level or top sets. This would require a detention and a phone call home.

More serious than this would be working in the isolation room for a full day with no social time. This can also be extended.

Persistent disruption to lessons can also justify a fixed term exclusion.

Science is the worst lesson, then Geography and PE theory. But as far as I can tell it is most of the class messing around and not engaging, not just one or two. I remember classes like that when I was at school, where no one had respect for the teacher and so just chatted through the lesson.
I do understand that it is a difficulty that all schools face, and I hadn’t given it much thought until I saw the impact that it is having on Ds. He is bright enough, but not an academic and he needs to have things explained to him in order to learn.