To think this headteacher is either deluded or lying?

[chaosisawayoflife]

Went for a tour of a local c of e infant school this morning. When asked about behaviour the headteacher replied that they don't have any problems with behaviour, which apparently is down to the area they are in and the 'type of parents' they attract! Was ibu to make this face?

Your DDs school probably then would think it was a result of effective management strategies and wouldnt say that it was down to the area and the type of parents they attract?

Exactly Mumbling! That's what I was saying- what head of school which only teaches children up to age age 7 is going to say, "Yes we have behaviour probelms" to a prospective parent. If they can't deal with it at that age and curb any problems then there is something wrong!

If the head meant there may be occational problems, but they are dealt with immediately and effectively (and explained how that would be), then fine. But if the head says there are no behaviour problems because of the area and type of parents, then...please.

LOL heartilly at the several comments from people whose kids go to lovely affluent schools therefore no bullying.

Newsflash: rich kids can be shits too, sometimes they can be worse - bullying even goes on at expensive private schools!

I am sorry, but you cannot say that the catchment area has no bearing on behaviour of pupils and it is all down to effective management strategies.

Maybe the head was slightly misguided in his/her comment, but we all know it is true to some extent! (I am not referring to bullying here, which of course is not the same as general behaviour (we all know bullying goes on in every walk of life)) .

Oggy, where did you get that info from? Can you link? I'm sure I've heard that the higher the fees, the less likely your child is to be bullied.

And even in the nicest areas, even if the school is outstanding through out..oiks can get in to state schools. SIL was alarmed to discover there were children of farm hands at her DC's village school (I may well have slapped some sense into her had she revealed this to me face to face, rather than over the phone!) She put this down to the higher than average number of SN children in the school. I suspected it was because the switched on middle class parents had pushed for/paid for an early diagnosis.

Did anyone say that the catchment area had no bearing on the type of behaviour shown? But to suggest that a catchment area (with a good 'type' of parents) = no problems is also wrong.
Also the bullying at some private schools is horrifying.

No, the catchment will always have a bearing on the type of problems faced by any school.

In areas with high unemployment there will be certain problems not faced by schools in areas with many affluent families...BUT the affluent areas will suffer their own crops of problems.

Behaviour problems are often the result of a troubled home life...not always...but often....and there are more DC with troubled homes due to unemployment and the unstable lifestyle which this brings than in areas of steady income.

we had a head like that at our previous school. every incident of thuggery was recorded as a separate incident, one child was the source of 2 broken limbs, two A and E and countless GP visits by other kids in the same class. there was a culture of fear amongst the children, anger amongst the parents and ostrich behaviour by the head and some staff. If you spoke out you were ostracised problems hidden from OFSTED, we weren't the only ones to leave.

Run as fast as you can, or ask parents at the gate. We are very happy at the new school, head was honest when she found out we had a major problem with confidence and a lot of school missed because of the child at previous school's behaviour. DD still gets upset from time to time. But at least I can trust the new school to know where the bruises on my child have come from, (I admit she is clumsy) hand me a form with the treatment they gave it and DD comes out smiling.

Yanbu - the head of my ds's school was very dismissive of any claims of bullying in the school; it took my son having a bully squirt lighter fluid over him and threaten to set him alight to make her see otherwise.

onefatcat have you led a sheltered life? I taught in Infant Schools for 27 years and I can assure you that the behaviour of some young children can be very difficult to manage. Heads are also constrained by rules about what they can do to children who are actually making life very difficult for others.

I know one school where there is no bullying. It is in a tiny little village, has about 30 children in the whole school and one 'token' child with very mild SN. Anyone causing the weenciest bit of trouble gets kicked out into the nearest primary school in the neighbouring town.

Unless that description fits the school you saw, YANBU and run, run run!

I blame the Disablity at Work Act or whatever the correct name for it is. I'm all for equality of opportunity but allowing someone without hearing, sight and of such limited mental capacity to run a school is just madness!

As a teacher I would say that he may be only stretching the truth a little bit. Lots of infant schools get outstanding ofsted results because at that age children are generally young enough to be sufficiently afraid of their teachers that behaviour is pretty much perfect. Infant schools are weird places really - they have a very different feel to primary/junior schools as the children are so young and the teachers teach such a limited range of young pupils. If the HT has been there long enough he might have built up a very good system and a great staff which, combined, IME, can make a school run extremely well with almost no behaviour problems. That doesn't mean the children don't act up, it just means that there are no long-term difficult issues. Remember that the eldest children in the school are only 8 so it's not likely that they'll be very difficult to deal with.

However I would be a bit at the "type of parents" comment, and if he said there was "no bullying" (which is a totally different thing IMO) then I'd run like the wind.

Kids with SN are actually more likely to be the TARGET of bullies, not the perpetrators.

well my daughters school and indeed my own must have been the exceptions, as the three worse cases of bullying I have seen were SN kids acting out when the adults allegedly there to supervise them had no control of their behaviour. In a one to one supervised child relationship in a playground the SN kid shouldn't be able to mix with the children he is assaulting in a regular and calculated manner to inflict more harm.

when the 'punishment' for punching another child to the ground is to being taken to a quiet room to watch a dvd for the rest of play/lunchtime what does that teach the perpetrator?