To think this head teacher is off her rocker

[Atlantisen]

This was the newsletter. Inspiring? Or utter bollocks??

*"...All too often schools accept a gap between some students and other students. We can fall into a trap that comes to accept or simply gets used to some children dressing differently, missing more days of school, speaking to adults or one another incorrectly, being a few minutes late to everything, carelessly presenting their work, not completing homework, not giving 100% in their lessons, not reading any books for pleasure, not joining clubs at school, never seeking to play for a school team, never appearing in a school performance or never attending a revision booster.

Labelling such behaviours or choices is pointless or indeed stigmatising those students who display some or all of these characteristics. At CNS we have to regard these as symptoms of an underlying lack of ambition, expectation or aspiration. Whilst we have to be unrelenting in our demand for all students to be their best self, we also need to get to the very heart of why some students are more engaged than others – seeking to rekindle the fire within and not beneath.

Creating a school that expects and demands high expectations in all things of all students is a continuous quest and one that we shall be emphasising at all times. ..."*

My DC show up on time, dressed appropriately, with a nutritious lunch, snacks, water and their sports shoes as needed. They do their homework, in full and on time. We read daily for 30mins with each child. They get enough sleep each night

It's great that your two children with ASD can cope with all of these aspects of school life and still learn effectively. However, I would suggest that this is as much due to their particular presentation as it is your parenting decisions.

Plenty of us are ambitious for our academically able autistic children but also have to accept that pushing them to fit in too much can damage their mental health and some things like homework and school uniform just aren't possible.

Your approach may well be right for your children but it could cause significant damage to others with the same diagnosis.

Please don't confuse "My child needs reasonable adjustments to enable her to have equality of access to the curriculum" with "I want my child to be treated like a special snowflake and not be expected to do anything she doesn't feel like doing."

Goldmandra great post. I hate this ‘special snowflake’ bollocks.

goozer many children have rubbish parents who hold them back educationally by not starting them off with good habits like reading for pleasure. Both DH and I read for pleasure. DD's reading age was much higher than her chronological age when she was 6, but she didn't read for pleasure until she was 7. So I'm a rubbish parent?

Gold They have a heavily modified schedule. It's a schedule which is achievable for them and our job as their parents is to make sure we do our part. Dd1 in particular struggles with finishing her work. It's taken a year to get her completing classwork and homework.

We have a 1-1 BCBA for DD during school hours and we had a behavioral assistant come in to help set up and establish the morning routine. It took 4 months and we had the assistant for 6 months. I pushed the district all the way to get that help. I help other parents get the same help for their DC too.

Also, have you seen a nutritionist? Modifications to diet had quite an impact. I was surprised. DS is on a high fat diet.

Would you rather a school took the attitude that a child has adhd/dyspraxia etc so they will obviously forget homework or would you rather they worked with parents to get strategies in place to enable them to do it? I’d much rather the latter.

My daughter has ASD, certainly sounds as though she wouldn’t be welcome there not that I’d send her or my son for that matter. I wonder what their inclusion policy states? Maybe they need to look at the SEND code of practice.
I think it is very ‘all students must fit into this box or that’s it’ disguised as an uplifting goal proposal for the school.

Want2bSupermum

I now understand why you agree with the message from that HT.

We have very different approaches to parenting our children with ASD.

Want2B are you in the UK. Some of the things you appear to be talking about would only be available privately to the very wealthy.

Want2B refers to a school district, which isn't a UK term, is it?

Yes I live abroad, at this point, mainly because services for our DC in the UK are absolutely abmismal. Parents are expected to settle for less. DS has had therapy from when he was 18 months old. He is in class with other DC who have the same issue and have had the same therapy, if not more, paid for by the state and/or school district while some of the therapy has been paid for privately because we are higher income.

The reality is SN DC are pretty much written off. Behavior is seen as a problem not a symptom. Yes it can be a symptom of parental issues, poverty being a huge issue. It can also be a symptom of a disability. Making adjustments you can change the behavior. The idea with our DCs therapy is that you make lots of small adjustments to get to the end goal. It's worked well for our DC and the others in their program.

So no I don't have a problem with a school wanting more for the DC they are responsible for educating. If you can't get to school on time that is a problem and it needs to be addressed. Not caring about school is also a problem that needs to be addressed. Dealing with these issues early on helps to stop them becoming bigger problems.

I would like the comment about whitewashing disability as that was exactly what I was thinking. There is a legal requirement to make adjustments for those with disability/SEN. Would she encourage tipping someone out of their wheelchair into a 100 metres race while yelling 'Run! You need to be ambitious!' Our son has high functioning autism and would be traumatised by a lot of the things she mentions. Plus, her use of English is appalling.

ThisIsNotARealAvo
A few examples to answer your 'why wouldn't they' question. I have just turned down booster sessions for my son as the school, who claim they can meet his needs, are not teaching him in a way he can understand, despite a detailed educational psychology report giving direction on how this should be done. He is not being disruptive in class, just switching off as he doesn't understand. More of the same teaching method is not going to help him understand. As for team games-he has motor skill issues which make him appear clumsy and he is embarrassed by this, not to mention sensory processing issues which would make the noise and movement intolerance. The point is to make education accessible to all, not try to fit all into the same narrow box. If a school can't meet these needs, they should be honest and state this so that more suitable provision can be sourced. One of the biggest problems, though, is schools not 'getting it.'

MaisyPops I appreciate your efforts on behalf of your students and feel that is commendable. I would just say, quite apart from SEN, there are other issues that can impact on a child's ability to engage in the classroom. If they are worried that dad has spent the weekly food budget on drugs and there is no food for the family, or that while they are at school Mum might be taking a beating, they are not going to have much chance of focusing on lessons. As a friend of mine says 'You're on a flight and the captain says the plane has an engine failure and is likely to crash, then then flight attendant comes along and tells you not to make a fuss and get back to your crossword, are you likely to be able to comply?' Yet this is the same neurological process that is triggered in children from traumatic backgrounds. Then you have children who have been removed from those circumstances. Having spent their lives to that point fighting for survival, they aren't able to suddenly switch of that survival behaviour just because they are now 'safe.' Then there is the system per se. Children don't get kept back a year any more. So a teacher can tell you that a child is 2 years or more behind in their learning, but oh well, the system says it's now time to take SATs, GCSEs etc, thus setting them up to fail. And some of the learning-we've had Good Night Mr Tom Stretched over a whole year, for a child who came from serious abuse and neglect. Oh and imagine what it's like to be the five year old protagonist, think about when you were five. Bring in a baby photo and talk about your family tree. Individual teachers do a fantastic job, but so often the system is against them.

Devora when did children stop being kept back a year? DD's in yr6, and from nursery to yr2 there was a boy in her class who was kept back a year, then he was moved back up to the year above because they deemed him capable.

I don’t think it’s common practice any more to hold children back a year or put them in the year above (something that happened with a couple of very able children when I was at school). Teachers are supposed to be able to differentiate and teach to all abilities.

PhilomenaButterfly
Maybe this still happens in some areas, but I know it certainly doesn't in many. Are you in England though?

Devora13
I agree there's other factors in children's lives, but the solution is to have properly funded wider services and schools to put support in place, not decide that because a child has a certain background that they arent up to as much.

If I was to say "But background issues" then I could have easily justified not teaching one of my GCSE groups. After all, one was pregnant and took maternity leave in y10, another's uncle was in prison for manslaughter, another was sofa surfing because mum liked to pick men over her kids, half were known to the police.
What does me having low expectations of those kids tell them? That they are from a certain area of town in the roughest school so they are worth less? They are less capable? They are less deserving of having effort put into them because they might be harder to reach? That like so many adults, I can't be arsed dealing with their behaviour because it's too much hassle for me and it's easier to ignore?
Those kids had that sort of attitude directed towards them out of school. In school I honestly believe I had moral obligation to show them that not all adults will give up on them, that not all adults will write them off, not all adults will accept being told to fuck off and called a cunt because they're just that type of kid.

Those kids need a school that has high expectations, to try and instil aspirations. They need staff who are willing to say "I will sanction you and have that battle, not because I'm some dickhead teacher, but because I care about you and I'm willing to have these battles now so you have options ahead of you'.

When looking to return DD1 was told she had to go into her year and they would give her different work. She is very bright and currently working towards completing 2 academic years ahead of herself and will be finished in December/January. The private school looked at her work and was the only school to acknowledge she was advanced and consider class placement in a different year group. They were very clear they didn't like to do it because every other parent would push so hard for it. It was also why they didn't offer a G&T program but teacher set differentiated work.

Yes Devora.