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. ..."*

Private schools that get truly worldbeating results are always selective IME.

Private schools which are not selective do of course exist, but typically get results that are similar to middle-class, higher-set kids in decent state schools.

The point is that the nice facilities and extra-curriculars are probably not having much to do with any difference between private and state sectors.

Just going back to the original post, I do think that the head teacher is correct about things like politeness and punctuality, trying hard in lessons and so on. Just wish there was a bit less of the jolly hockey sticks attitude that everyone should be heavily involved in school life in their free time.

Spot on NotanotherJaffaCake 👏🏻

Atlantisen
Sometimes we do know.

It's heart breaking to work with some teens who have so much potential and so many wonderful traits but what they get told from home is they don't need GCSEs, they don't need college, I did alright without bothering so I'm not going to back school if they call, if a teacher starts on you then walk out because they can't do nothing.

In the same school I've worked with parents in tears because another relative had gone to jail, they're struggling looking after their kids plus unofficially fostering their nephew and can't manage on their zero hours contract and they are desperate, absolutely desperate for their kids to have a better set of options in front of them.

Both those kids would have benefited from additional support, links with the prince's trust, help towards college, mentoring to avoid them being NEET etc. Parent 1 decided it was all bollocks. Parent 2 was one of the most remarkable mum's I've met and her passion to see her kids achieve more was touching.

Private schools which are not selective do of course exist, but typically get results that are similar to middle-class, higher-set kids in decent state schools.

Top set kids in comprehensive or grammars are of roughly the same ability to those in top private schools.

There are plenty of lower rung private schools whose results nowhere that of top set state school pupils.

"turn up if you feel like it, wear what you want, try to behave but if you can't that's fine, homework is optional, don't do any revision

How about this?

Turn up on the days you are not too stressed and anxious to get to school, wear clothing that doesn't disrupt your learning, remain focused and still as long as possible, do homework if you are in a fit state to learn from it and you will get learning support to organise your revision.

The attitudes in the first paragraph have meant that my DDs, who were desperate to be in school, have missed a huge amount of education.

If children aren't engaged, there is generally a good reason and automatically labelling them as unambitious and lacking in motivation is harmful. However, it does help by self-selecting your pupils and getting your Ofsted outstanding for you.

there are a lot of parents who do not give a shit about school
Indeed there are but this impenetrable, over-long piece is not going to reach those parents at all. They won't read it or won't finish it and most importantly it's so badly phrased many just won't get it.

This HT needs to ditch the education-speak and go on an effective writing course.

greencat our HT has never written such bollocks in his newsletters.

Another prick in the wall.

(This is not a typo.)

I don't get all the teacher worshippers on here, I hated school as a youngster and this kind of thing would have made me all the more pissed off at it. I wouldn't have had someone tell me how to spend my free time.

Maisy, I wholeheartedly applaud your efforts to support these kids but that isn't the same as not accepting labels or the reasons why some children are disorganised, can't cope with homework and speak to people differently (my son was seen as rude at his previous school whereas people who understood his condition reliased he was just being literal.)

He spent 2 years at a private school that was supposedly the best uin ther area that offered all the advantages that have been outlined. During those two years he crumpled. He went from a loving, considerate child to a child who came home every night with a plitting headache and would literally hide in a dark room for the rest of the night. The school refused to put any of the measures in place recceomended by the education psychologist, instead paying lip service by instigating procedures he was unable tp comply with.

His slow processing speed meant that the 90 mins of homework each night took up to 3 hours to do, impacting on both his ability to do extra curricular activies and also impacting on our family life. How can we get him to do simple househord chores when he is at the computer from 6pm-10pm each night?

His anxiety levels went through the roof and this manifested in demand avoidance. He took the lead in his school play but just a couple of years earlier he had been unable to cope with the environment of most after school clubs, sensory, confidence and just plain exhaustion.

He moved schools to a local state school and the change in him has been remarkable. Things are not perfect, but took the pressure off and he now has friends, is the life and soul of ther music department and is actually functioning as a human being and learning how to interact wioth others around him. Yesterday he was invited to a Halloween party he managed to socialise and enjoy himself the entire afternoon but occasionally had to take himself off to another room for a bit of quiet time to decrompress. This would have been unthinkable when he was at his previous school.

AlexanderHamilton
Then I would have said the school were failing to differentiate for your DC.
School expecting your DC to complete homework is reasonable, but it's not reasonable if they set them the same task as everyone else and then bitch when it's not done properly.

Equally, some form of enrichment is good for children. It's not wrong for schools to want to encourage that as long as what they are promoting for each child accounts for their situation.
E.g. someone who hates sport and has dyspraxia probably doesn't need nagging to join the football team, but a child who is on the fringes of anti social behaviour could benefit from some mentoring via an enrichment programme with a local youth charity.

I sometimes feel like high expectations, behaviour expectations and rounded education ends up being presented as some uncaring, unsympathetic dictators when actually many of the staff I've worked with who have high expectations and want to help kids achieve their potential are some of the most caring teachers I've worked with.
Some children with SEND benefit from calm working environment. A teacher who accepts 6 NT children shouting out, being disruptive, hardly doing work because "it's them and you know what they're like" actually hinders that teacher's ability to nurture their send students because the environment is wrong and their time is taken up shutting down arguments with smart arses who've been told by home they don't need to behave.

This is really disablist and unprofessional. There is no way this should have been put in a newsletter to parents.

a child who is on the fringes of anti social behaviour could benefit from some mentoring via an enrichment programme with a local youth charity.

His current school run a Princes Trust Programme which apparently works very well. They also have links with a local residential home (ds isn't involved in the former but is with the latter in that the choir and musical theatre show performers perform for the residents.

His previous school definately had the attitude that ds's autistic traits were "chosen behaviour that needed to be punished" rather than putting in simple (free) support. The Ed psych specifically suggested adjustments that didn't cost anything to implement.

At the height of his problems I contacted the leaders of the local theatre group he was involved in (head-hunted in fact) . Thankfully at our lowest point they helped me to see that as long as he was treated in the right way with the right understanding he could achieve and thrive in a group.

AlexanderHamilton
The school don't sound like they had a good set up. In fact it sounds a terrible attitude.
They're right to have standards of behaviour though.
The solution wouldn't be (as some would probably say on here) to lowe expectations or place a cap on what children like your DC should be expected to achieve. They should (as you've said) put support in place to enable students who need help to meet them.

I'm yet to find a reasonable argument against schools having high expectations of students.

MaisyPops
You're talking two different things again

A teacher who accepts 6 NT children shouting out, being disruptive, hardly doing work
Thats low standards. Mostly. Assuming they are NT. And you are right shouldn't be tolerated.

School expecting your DC to complete homework is reasonable, but it's not reasonable if they set them the same task as everyone else and then bitch when it's not done properly
No no no. This is what is mostly bring talked about in the OP and is completely off. DS has significant amount of support in school. No matter what homework you wet I can promise you even remembering its there won't happen without support.

Who do you think is providing that support?

Me. And I'm lucky because I'm bright with good family support. I am able to access as much help and support(including financial) as I can. Even then there are significant periods of time where homework is last on the priority list, Because there's only so much of me too go round. Thats not counting the fact that DS can be in bed not far off sleep by 7.30 exhausted just from a full day at school.

When I helped at a support group I was forever directing those less fortunate than myself around the benefits system, around the tribunal system and around the NHS. Often parents with less financial mental and emotional resources than myself.

Until we put the all round support in place there's absolutely no way you can expect the same level of universal attainment that the HT is expecting to be instantly available because what she expects with her increasing expectations.

All that will happen is we leave a generation of kids hanging even further behind and we pile the pressure onto parent who absolutely are the ones on the sharp end of austerity.

I read it as ‘don’t write kids off young’ as the message. However it is too wordy.
I didn’t make the connected with SEN though.

It's not unreasonable to have homework in a mainstream school. It should match the ability and independence of the child.
It's not unreasonable for parents to need to support some home work. That's part of kids.

Almost every school I've worked at has had homework club with SEND trained TAs over lunches and/or after school to support too.

If there are individual circumstances then that can be discussed with a send co.

Biologifemini
It's a simple fairly wordy statement about not writing kids off, having hugh expectations and wanting kids to achieve their potential.
Just on MN this is a truly terrible thing to want.

It's a bit poncey and waffly but I have no issues with the sentiment and aims expressed at all.

It doesn't read to me like she is saying that children should have all of those characteristics and interests in the first paragraph - just that they should all have a passion or interest in something and should all be able to work towards putting their own best level of effort into what they do. I don't think there are many schools which don't hold those ideals for all their children.

I don't see SN or SEN as a barrier to the above aims. At the school I teach in we have or have had, to name a very few examples, an autistic child in the lead role of the major production, an A team rugby captain with an unusually low all round IQ, children with ADHD and behavioural difficulties in the choir and orchestra, severely dyslexic children with key roles in productions, a child with slight brain damage who uses a wheelchair as a senior prefect, numerous children with SpLD, ASD and ADHD on school sports teams and dyslexic children presenting on books they've enjoyed. Their AN are rarely relevant to the choices of activity or their success in them - it's just something they happen to be good at or enjoy.

Of course, just because a child has a main part in a play doesn't mean they won't exhibit challenging or extreme behaviour. And just because a child is always polite to adults doesn't mean they will get into the football team. But I don't think that head is asking for all round perfect children - just children who show an interest in, and respect for, school life.

But I don't think that head is asking for all round perfect children - just children who show an interest in, and respect for, school life.

Why does the head get a say in what people do in their spare time?

Suttree

1. A lot of what the OP quotes is not about spare time - manners, reading, effort in class, many clubs, rehearsals and sports practices are all about the school day.

2. To an extent, heads have to be involved in the pupils' spare time. What a child does or experiences at home affects how they are and what they do at school.

3. It would be delightful is schools weren't expected to have input or responsibility for what should be family and societal responsibilities. Unfortunately that's not the case. If we're forced to be parents, nurses, social workers, psychologists etc as well as teachers then a bit of input into children's lives outside the classroom ends up being inevitable.

If we're forced to be parents, nurses, social workers, psychologists etc as well as teachers then a bit of input into children's lives outside the classroom ends up being inevitable. - that's the problem right there. Schools should back off and stick to their job.

For some kids teachers are the only ones that give a damn

For some kids teachers are the only ones that give a damn

So schools should have carte Blanche to encroach into home lives because a minority of parents are incompetent?

I'm not sure expecting kids to do a bit of homework is wanting 'carte blanche to encroach into homelives'
The facts are that kids who work hard, are polite, do homework and extra curricular activities tend to be more successful than those who don't. This head is just trying to support her students.
To me it just reads like high expectations. I have those for my classes. That doesn't mean I don't adapt for send it just means that all my students are expected to work hard and achieve, whatever thatight mean for them as individuals.
Every head I've worked for comes out with this sort of thing.