If you work in a school does this sound familiar?

[1newname]

I'm not a teacher but work in a school and am wondering if my school is particularly bad.

A number of teachers and TAs are off sick with stress. We seem to have so many children with SEN and behaviour problems who need 1:1 care but they don't. Even the school dinners have gone down in quality massively since I joined the school 9 years ago.

I'm in London so is this happening all over the UK? It's pretty depressing to be honest and I'm increasingly feeling like the whole country is going to shit.

Yep.South Yorkshire

Same in the NW.

I left six months ago but my school had been like that for at least two years.

I left full time teaching due to burnout leading to anxiety in 2019. It would have been sooner if I hadn’t moved schools in 2014, but then the new place became just as bonkers. I’ve been teaching since 1988, so pretty resilient to the normal stresses of the job. It’s untenable now I think.

Yep

Yep. More so this year than ever before.

Yes, that sounds like many schools.

It's the cutbacks in funding at the bottom of it all. Not enough TA's hired, not enough resources, too many Teachers and TA's burned out. The paperwork has gone through the roof and every time you teach 2 - 3 years of a specification the exam boards decide to change it again so more paperwork and different resources needed. I left teaching secondary education after 25 years because of burn out and almost 5 years before my retirement date.

I left nearly 2 years ago and it was just how you described. SE

Theres a lot more sen.The secondary we applied for has gone from 1ehcp child per year to like 6 per year in just 3 years. Its almost one per class. Thats without undiagnosed kids.
I think 5% of kids have FASD.
Personally i think its so many people having kids later. Looked at the data and in just 10y its moved from parents being 20-30 to 30-40. The 40+ was quite constant.
Also possibly heavier mums and dad arent helping. There is increased risks of i think asd with diabetes.

There is also a number more undiagnosed kids. As waitlist being 2 years.
And more kids forced to stay in mainstream.
There was 1 kid who was so far behind by y6 he didnt sit the SATs now how can he achieve any qualifications at secondary.
Other countries drop kids down!
Some kids missed almost a year of school - covid.

But also school isnt what is was.

My dc had to sit for carpet time (which never existed at my school) too close etc.
A lot lot of free play in reception with the teachers paying no attention so kids being mean to each other etc. With 60 kids milling about.
The school has doubled in intake but eg the hall is still for 30 intake.

Much less attention and development as instead of eg a nativity for 30 kids and parents it was all 60 on stage they couldnt move! Thats an eg but its right through the school too many kids! Obviously more kids at playtime which obviously not supervised by teachers so again issues.
Then there is the lack of motivation as no rewards in primary for doing well. Or doing anything.

Theres been a change from dc1 to dc2.
Dc2 year group (and dc1 now) the kids arent being sent to HT for hitting and the other kids are noticing and commenting. No point complaining as x is never told off ..
Dd2 who has never got in trouble at school got punched in the back by a boy who used to be a friend while queuing. She pinched him back.

Do you have research to back up your suggestion that over weight parents leads to children having ASD?

Oxfordshire here...Special Ed.
It's dire.
My school moved from LEA to being part of an Academy trust in the hope of better funding... HA! It's worse than ever. Too many bosses, not enough TAs or teachers, just cuts, cuts and more cuts.
I wouldn't feed the school dinners to my dog.. they are dreadful.

No extra curricular activities, no horse riding, no residential trips, no forest school, no farming skills in at the amazing farm run for and by, people with autism... all that good stuff has GONE.

I've been a TA for 20 years now, and I have seen a MASSIVE deterioration over the last 10 years. The teachers are stressed to the max, TAs leave and aren't replaced. It's just sad. And I HATE this government.

Yes, and I’m in a really good school. Morale is usually high and SLT are hugely supportive. Covid is hitting us absence wise at the minute but we do have a few of with stress related illness. I think everyone’s expected to do more with less and that just makes it awful!

Huge increase in SEN, inclusion without funding is dire, huge amount of disengaged or worse, aggressive parents. Lots of mental health issues as post Covid who wants to be in a stressful institution? The curriculum changes at Secondary level we’re never going to work for lower ability students? Who is going to work hard, overcome challenges, struggle with rigorous content for a grade 2!? May as well piss about in the toilets/school refuse 🤷‍♂️😩

I've worked in schools for 10 years now. The offering 10 years ago was so much better than now. We still have a good teacher per class, but so much support has gone. The level of need has increased. The materials to support learning have reduced. It is depressing.
The food has gone from good quality ingredients, healthy and variety to cheaper and unhealthy.

Dire where I was at a school in the SE. Left last year, best decision I ever made.

Scotland is same in terms of unmet needs in mainstream and major social, emotional behavioural problems. Violence at work is a focus for national unions, in Primary it's rife, Secondary awful.

Yes. North West.
We gave two day exclusions to two year 7s (unrelated incidents) in the first week of term.
So many students with additional needs, so little classroom support.
So many with anxiety/mental health issues - some genuine, some a "get out of jail free" card for when they don't want to do something.
So much low level (and not so low level) disruption in the classroom.
So little resilience - kids who just will not even try and engage with the task at hand.
Parents who won't support the school.
It's not teaching, it's crowd control.

I worked as a HLTA for the local authority but left this year. Education is screwed from all angles. There are no special school places in my entire county so children have to go to mainstream or not at all. TAs can’t afford to do a stressful job on barely a penny more than they got 12 years ago and if they can, schools still can’t afford them. Speech and language issues and behaviour issues are even worse post Covid as younger children missed so much nursery. Pupil absences and exclusions are up massively. It’s all a big mess!

We have 18 children in yr7 with EHCP's, the TA's we have taken on for these children are school leavers on apprenticeships.
It is an absolute shit show.

5% of children have FASD? I have never heard that (or the overweight parent and increased incidences of ASD), where did you find these numbers?

Definitely the case where I live (North). Many experienced teachers leaving the profession due to poor work/life balance and increasingly difficult working conditions. Part of the issue here is that school budgets have been under pressure for years so classes are larger than ever and there's no money for extra TAs etc. Even when pupils have a EHCP, the funding they get rarely covers a fraction of the extra help they could really do with. Plus outside behaviour support etc services that used to be provided by our LEA have been cut. Added to this, more and more families are struggling financially and even with the most loving parents this has an impact on how well the children learn (eg. struggling parents having less time to support their DC with homework, fewer cultural/enriching activities at the weekends, more stress in the home, late nights as DC are left with relatives whilst parents work shifts etc etc).

All sounds very familiar. Inclusion without the support needed for it to work for anyone, parents who don't back up the school and SLT for some reason scared to tell them where to go. The entitlement is ridiculous. Also, children with EHCPs but where does the funding go?! Like someone else said, all the extras like horse riding have gone.

Where is this going to end?! I bet it's the same in the NHS and emergency services. My dh is from a country which is considered poor and underdeveloped but honestly I think my dc would have had a better education there.

By the way, most teachers are brilliant but the lack of support and unrealistic expectations are making it impossible.

I've been in and out of teaching for 30 years .
In the beginning, schools didn't have so many non teaching management, in fact in my first few schools the head taught some of the time, certainly covered .
The HODs had a slighty lighter timetable perhaps but still taught.
Now even small schools have massive SLT, none of whom teach so I assume the paperwork side of things has gone up massively. Suspect there is ALOT more box ticking.
I still don't understand what they all do day to day but whatever it is , it doesn't make a the job I do any easier.

Yes. SE London school. Lots of high needs SEN children and not enough staff. Everyone is stressed and worn out. No one gives a shit.

I don't understand it, I wonder what the government's long term plans are for all these services. They don't care because they don't use them!