Harsh Times at Yarmouth High. New Head introduces new rules including sick buckets in classrooms.

[HelenaDove]

Posted this on another thread but i think it deserves a thread of its own.

HelenaDove Mon 11-Sep-17 21:06:41
www.edp24.co.uk/news/education/phones-confiscated-for-weeks-and-sick-buckets-in-the-classroom-tough-new-rules-at-norfolk-school-1-5188326
Add message | Report | Message poster HelenaDove Mon 11-Sep-17 21:08:44
“You never lie and make excuses like, ‘I just wanted to put something in the bin’. We all know children say things like that to get out of work. You never pretend to be ill to get out of work because we expect you to work through it. If you feel sick we will give you a bucket. If you vomit - no problem! You’ve got your bucket. That’s probably all your body wanted - to vomit. If you are really ill we will make sure you get all the attention you need."

JESUS WEPT.

I think it's a severe version of the old teacher adage 'don't smile until Xmas ' i.e. go in really strict and set a high standard. It's a bit of a head teacher wish list but I think the parents are massively overreacting- he only wants their children to learn and maximise their life chances.

The 'generations of workshy scroungers' is bullshit. Generations of people unable to get a decent, secure job is closer to the truth. Shit pay. Zero-hours contracts. Bullying employers. Fly-by-night employers who disappear owing the staff a week or more's wages. So people go on and off benefits - or look for cash in hand work as much as possible. Again, it shows more self-respect to refuse a shitty, unsafe job than to humbly accept being abused because 'work' is the answer to everything.
And these 'unmotivated' teens who 'won't get on a bus'? Do you have any idea how much bus fares fucking cost outside the Oyster zone?

If these people have no respect for authority, it's an understandable response to authorities who have no respect for them; who regard them as subhuman monsters who need to be punished and controlled.

I had a look at the previous ofsted report and it mentioned kids who wanted to learn saying they were learning nothing in some subjects due to disruption and they were having to study it on their own at home. Also kids being scared to report bullying. Maybe things will improve for those kids if they get tough?

All schools used to be this strict
Good for him for trying to turn it around . The parents need to support him .
He is actually trying to give these children a chance to better themselves
I bet the children who want to learn are cheering him from the roof tops

Coastal Deprivation is a major issue in Gt Yarmouth - and families have been badly let down by Norfolk: the whole county as an Education Authority was put in special measures a few years ago. Not the individual schools, the LEA.

And what do people think is 'in it' for these kids? I don't know Yarmouth well, but just up the coast Young's closed down a huge fish packing and processing plant and removed the biggest job sector from the town.

I don't agree with schools being run like military camps but strictness and high standards are exactly what a school like this needs. Driving up expectations and standards, and expecting the children to live up to them.

It's such a shame that parts of Great Yarmouth are so deprived and lacking in ambition, the contrast between Yarmouth and Norwich is shocking. If a tougher stance with these youngsters teaches them respect, not just for others but for themselves , and that they can achieve and are worthy of achievement, it would be brilliant.

Ambition doesn't need to start and stop with those in London.

But don't you think it's much easier to foster in London than the arse-end of Norfolk on the literal end of the line? Kids in Yarmouth lift their eyes to the horizon and see marshland and...Acle.

Basically, if these kids want to achieve by Barry Smith's standards, they most likely have to leave Yarmouth, not even to go to uni, but to get a reasonable job.

They've been dealt a shit hand. Crap town, majority from disadvantaged families, terrible school. And they've just been told it's not only their fault, but their parents' fault and what they need to do is change who they are.

I've seen the Michaela head talking about original sin, and there's echoes of that here.

How different a document it would have been if it had said 'yes, you've been dealt a crap hand, but we're going to try our best to turn things around for you. You've had a series of supply teachers for maths who weren't even maths teachers, so we're going to put in extra support to try to get you that vital maths GCSE. However success requires your buy-in so we need you to do turn up to lessons on time, pay attention, do the work and do your homework. If you don't, here's the system of escalating sanctions:'

Not you will be punished smiling, buckets, don't you try your shitty little tricks with me, I know your kind.

When you say what's 'in it' for the kids, don't you think there are greater opportunities, giving them a better education enables them to be more mobile, move where there are jobs and seek a career/ better future.

Interestingly, Barry Smith hasn't dealt with Y11 at Michaela, because they don't have one yet.

Trying to convince Great Yarmouth Y11 that they can turn around the results of years of crap schooling in 9 months with the same teachers is going to be a tough sell.

Yarmouth to Norwich is 35mins on the train. Yes, the town is deprived but a lot of people have to move 30 mins for work, or commute 30mins for university.

I don't like running schools on military regimes but this school is really struggling. Their progress 8 score is above average for the country, but kids coming in with below average attainment doesn't change the need to get them to leave school functionally literate. That's what enables you to take that job 30 mins away, apply for further education and generally improve your own chances.

Yarmouth to Norwich is 35mins on the train

And then when you're at Norwich train station, you're still not really anywhere. It's all very well talking about a 30 minute commute for university, but the UEA is nowhere near the train station.

As ever, @noblegiraffe posts are interesting, well reasoned and well thought out. The kind of teacher you can only hope your children have. Shame there aren't more people in education plicay that you know, actually have some kind of an idea about education.

Parents should have been worried there kids were all lazy sods not about the new Head.

School is clearly in a state and needs fixing. Extreme measure that can be relaxed over time much better than softly softly approach for this type of kids.

@BeepBeepMOVE Oh yes, "this type of kids" are all "lazy sods". Sure, sure. You come across as exceedingly ignorant.

I went to this school, albeit a few years ago, and I did really well. But I was in a minority and most of the things said about the lack of discipline and parental support were true. It wasn't a very nice place to be.
The sad thing is, as I still live in the town, this place isn't going to do you any favours whether you succeed at school or not. I'm in the middle of moving to Norwich, moving my son from his primary school, and have worked in the city commuting everyday for the last 10 years. There's a strong feeling that the town has just given up and maybe that's why the kids and parents don't give a shit anymore. I hope this guy can turn things around, but the better prospects in my opinion are definitely away from the town.

There's no shouting at Michaela, the school this policy is modelled on. Children are given a detention, along with an explanation of why good behaviour is important for their learning. If teachers know that the senior management will back them up and, if necessary, remove persistently disruptive children from the classroom, then there's no need to shout

Tough luck on children with Tourette's, or those having autistic meltdowns.

I think the well meaning handwringing from some of the more sheletered types is quite sweet really.

I went to a school like this, some of these kids will come from homes where they simply arent parented, hell, I knew kids growing up who hadnt ever left their housing estate until they started school (( no need to, there was always family members who'd step in )) children who lack basic social skills, who think kicking their dog in public because it barked at someone is doing the right thing. They arent bad, they just dont know any different.

Shouting to get your own way and laughing in the face of any authority is the done thing because it's what their parents did. This tough line approach will be needed, chances are it's a few spoiling things for the majority. When they start to fall in line everyone elae will........those who want to learn and more vulnerable kids will breathe a huge, sigh of relief eventually. This could be life changing for them.

How different a document it would have been if it had said 'yes, you've been dealt a crap hand, but we're going to try our best to turn things around for you. You've had a series of supply teachers for maths who weren't even maths teachers, so we're going to put in extra support to try to get you that vital maths GCSE. However success requires your buy-in so we need you to do turn up to lessons on time, pay attention, do the work and do your homework. If you don't, here's the system of escalating sanctions:'

This works. Those kids need someone to believe in them while putting fair boundaries in place.

I feel like this MAT just loves a bit of publicity. Also having seen Barry Smith speak at a training event some years ago, i imagine he loves the chatter too.

I do suppose it might put to the test the Michaela teacher's claims on twitter that it probably wouldn't work in an established school in a seaside town.

Yes, Michaela's head was asked about the coastal town thing and she said 'of course it would work'

Funny that a position as head of a failing coastal school was then snapped up by Wingman Baz. Apparently the previous head was lauded there until late August then mysteriously disappeared?

It came up on twitter during whatever the last controversy was. Somebody brought the subject of whether it would work in a school of deprived white British children that wasn't a new school. And I could swear at least one of the teachers said they didn't think it would.

I think Wingman Baez has forgotten about kindness. The bucket thing doesn't seem to be particularly kind to me.

I grew up next to GY and actually went to Yarmouth high, okay so it was 15 years ago but the school rules then were pretty damn strict and I remember my maths teacher pinning a waiting list for the school to the board and informing us that they wouldn't hesitate to expell us as there were lots waiting to take our place.
I left Yarmouth but the vast majority of my school friends stayed and they're all slowly rotting away, doing nothing but complaining constantly about what the town has become, most of them had at least one child by 18 and a variety of failed relationships under their belt.

The whole town is rotten I still have family there who admit to being afraid to walk the streets at night because the crime level is so high now. I was driven round it last year while visiting and so much has just been abandoned, there isn't work in Yarmouth that's not seasonal, the shops are shutting down, the trains are so unreliable between Yarmouth and Norwich its not funny and then Norwich train station isn't even near anything.

The whole town needs some serious funding put back into it and encouragement for new brands to open there. It's such a depressing place now that you can easily see why its children and residents have given up.

I'm autistic. So are my kids.
A lot of the disciplinary measures are fair. But enforced eye contact and smiling would be completely impossible for us.
It's horribly discriminatory.

Just seen on twitter a post from facebook asking for expert help. An autistic child at the school has been sanctioned, possibly for no eye contact, his EHCP isn't being followed and the learning support unit has been disbanded as 'the headteacher wants all children to learn independently'.

Poor poor child & poor family.

I really hope the twonk headteacher feels the full force of the law on that, noble.
Experience tells me he won't....