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. ..."*

There was a thread recently about a teacher who was just letting a child with sen wander round in class and not work and this was awful and now expecting kids to participate to the best of their ability is also awful???
Of course all kids will differ in what they are capable of but there is no excuse for anyone not doing their best (and what is best will differ according to disability, whether they have eaten that day, aptitude for the subject etc).
I don’t think there’s no such thing as the word can’t but I also think ‘can’t’ or ‘shouldn’t’ can be excuses for teachers, pupils and parents when actually if some thought is put in and, if necessary, adaptions made then a lot of children can succeed and take part in things they mightn’t otherwise.
I have always taken the attitude of ‘how can we make this work?’ when I’ve come across things my children have difficulty with and I’d be glad of a school with the same attitude.

And low expectations can be an excuse for some kids to do the bare minimum as well. Show kids that you believe they can achieve and they are more likely to believe it themselves and put the effort in.

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

Nobody actually said that.

The HT's statement sounds more like a message to her staff rather than to the parents. Clearly, some parents may take it on board but those that aren't engaged/care won't. There's nothing that teachers can do about the attitude of the latter but they may be able to support their children and give them some self worth and belief.

As I said previously, the HT's statement is more about supporting and enabling pupils to acheive the best they can.
For some that may mean boundaries; for others encouragement to try clubs at school (not necessarily to be top at sports but to develop transferable skills); others, opportunities to read where they may be actively discouraged at home; and for some support in their SEN.

At no point did she/he state that all pupils must engage in everything - what is achievable will vary from individual to individual.

I can see why parents of children who have SEN would think this includes their children, the first paragraph listed behaviour that can be typical in children with SEND (all the listed behaviours apply to my son)
The second paragraph states that labelling such behaviours is pointless or indeed stigmatising those students who display some or all of these characteristics.

Historically parents who suspected that their children had some kind of SEN and asked for referral for a formal assessment were asked why they were seeking to label and stigmatise their children, they were often told that a diagnosis would not help their children or get their children any support, their fears were not taken seriously and they were fobbed off, added to that parents were initially blamed for their child's behaviour and were forced into parenting courses often with disastrous results for their child.

Unfortunately parents are still being told the same things, still being fobbed off, medical professionals still refer to a diagnosis as a label as do many teachers, senco's, headteachers, social workers, LEA SEND Advisors, Caseworkers etc.

Think about this for a minute; Epilepsy is never called a label, it's a diagnosis, Alzheimer's is never called a label, it's a diagnosis, Down Syndrome is never called a label, it's a diagnosis, Asthma is never called a label, it's a diagnosis, Edwards Syndrome, Patau Syndrome, Prader Willi Syndrome,Treacher Collins Syndrome, Opitz G BBB, HLHS, HRHS, Talipes Equinovarus, Cerebral Palsey and many more are all things that are diagnosed, ergo they are always a diagnosis and always referred to as a diagnosis.

Autism
Asperger's Syndrome
Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
Attention Deficit Disorder
Pathological Demand Avoidance
Rhett Syndrome
Dyslexia
Dyspraxia
Dysgraphia
Dyscalculia
And other things
All these are diagnosed by professional people, ergo they are always a diagnosis and yet all of these are continuously referred to as a label, Why?

A label is something you see on a jam jar, a tin/aluminium can, a label is something you put on your luggage before going on holiday.
The word diagnosis should never be replaced by the word label as it devalues the actual diagnosis.

I don’t think labelling is used to describe individual conditions much is it? In the sense of it being the same as a diagnosis. I’ve seen ‘Labelled with SEN’ But not ‘labelled with dyslexia’ - we’d say ‘has dyslexia’ where I work and would say ‘diagnosed with autism’. I guess there is a difference between these conditions and most of the physical ones you mentioned though In terms of how you diagnose it- Especially stuff like dyslexia and dyscalculia which is actually really interesting in terms of how you define it and how you desuce someone has it

Although... good point anout the way labelling is used in this particular message - id missed that when I read it before (waffle!) and now do see how that comes across as very anti Sen. I get you now OP

It makes sense to me. Labelling children can be very unhelpful and can lead to low expectations. High standards and expectations for all is surely what we want?

See I didn’t read it that way. I read it as it’s bad to label children as children who ‘don’t read’ or are ‘always late’ or ‘don’t do clubs’ or whatever.
I think some of the behaviours described could apply to kids with Sen but they could all apply to any child. ‘Dressing differently’ for eg I doubt she’s having a pop at kids with sensory issues who have permission to wear specialist items. She will be talking about kids wilfully flouting the uniform policy - things like wearing Nike trainers, rolling their skirts up when they’re supposed to be below the knee and tying their tie so small that it’s invisible to the naked eye to look ‘cool’.

And when she talks about kids who are often off school I’m sure she’s more concerned about unauthorised absence than legitimate absence for medical appointments.

WritingOnTheWall - what a fantastic post.

@PinguDance in your own words I've seen 'Labelled with SEN' But not 'labelled with dyslexia' why is a child or indeed an adult 'Labelled with SEN'? It doesn't matter what the SEN is, a child that has been assessed by a medical professional or an Educational Psychologist or other Educational professional and is found to meet the criteria for a diagnosis has just that, a diagnosis, a diagnosis should never be described as a label. A child can have SEN without having a diagnosis in which case it should described as "xxxx has SEN" and not "xxxx has been labelled as SEN"
I am glad you can now see how labelling in that message can come across as anti SEN, whether it was meant to or not.

@AlexanderHamilton Thank you.

Oddly my husband now has many of the difficulties that ds has. Forgetfulness, slower processing, brain fog, unable to filter background sounds, can’t cope with certain environments such as lighting, crowds, people in his space etc.

Except dh has a diagnoses of Menieres Disease and ds a diagnoses of Autism so people often treat ds as badly behaved but dh with utmost sympathy.

I can see how that would happen.

Hi,

I received the very same letter from the headteacher on Monday by email...

All I can say from personal experience and chatting to others is that the difference he has made since September is very noticeable in a positive way. Yes, he waffles on a bit, but if you read it along with the many other newsletters and changes that we've been informed about, the message is clear.

Quite simply it's about respect and being the best you can be - respecting teachers, yourself, fellow pupils, timekeeping and giving your best no matter where you are in the academic hierarchy within the school. This is not about SEN or lower achievers, it's about the kids and parents who need a wake up call that this is life and their future, as well as a push for tighter rules and regulations from within.

I also think that the uniform crackdown is a fantastic thing. Standards in that area reflect so much on the school, both inside the school itself and how the school is perceived in the community.

The wording is really ambiguous though and it clearly means different things to different people according to whether you have a close association with SEN or not.

Labelling such behaviours is pointless or indeed stigmatising those students who display some or all of these characteristics
This is the type of phrase that is often spewed out by professionals who do not see the point of reasonable adjustments (costly or not), it is not the type of phrase that is usually associated with poorly behaved NT children.
I was asked by a Clinical Psychologist what I hoped to get from a diagnosis for my DS, my answer was knowledge and understanding and to learn how to help my son because I was fed up of being told (day in day out) that he wouldn't engage appropriately with staff or pupils, that he constantly flouted the rules regarding uniform, refused to conform (not sitting cross-legged during assembly or carpet time, not lining up at break time or lunch time or when moving around the school, refusing to take part in team sports or any PE that involved running, jumping or hopping, refusing to write for more than a couple of minutes) that he would have meltdowns over silly things, that he would lash out at the person closest to him for no apparent reason. He was 6 years old and we'd had that every day since he started at school and the final straw was when the HT said "I have never seen anything like it in all the 40 years that I've been in education, he walks and talks normally, he is constantly choosing to behave badly" and so began the long road to a diagnosis, he was assessed by the Clinical Psychologist, OT, PT, Community Paediatric services, audiology, Optometry. We finally had some answers, our son was not choosing that behaviour but rather that the behaviour was as a direct result of several different diagnosed conditions. Then our struggle for support really began. Our son was 11 before he had any meaningful support, he was 15 before he was further diagnosed with 2 learning disabilities. Along the way he has made some fantastic achievements and I am extremely proud of him but I can't help thinking what might have been different if professionals had not used sentences like the one in bold above and instead supported him as they should have.

There’s quite a bit of literature on ‘labels’ in SEN and an interesting debate over whether they are useful or not - as it’s used within an academic context for SEN i think it’s come from that. I think the issue is that many Pupils are not diagnosed with Sen - it’s a call made by the school. In this case the school has ‘labelled’ the kids and even if, regarding an individual, they say ‘has Sen’ the actual act of what they are doing is labelling. Often literally on the register. This is from Barbara Riddick who writes about this... also I’m not posting this to be contrary and ‘win’, I think you’re right that ‘label’ can seem diminishing compared to ‘diagnosis’ I’m just trying to give some context as to where it’s come from.

Im sure there is more to this issue ,why would this be written something must have prompted it.Its nothing to do with SEN ...Must confess would love to have more heads that have high expectations from both staff, pupils ..parents as well

Hope its not all word though.

It was quite wordy, but laudable. I see the point. It's all about engagement now. I think she is suffering from Eduspeak.

I think it's a really positive approach. There is a big differences between the children that do participate in extra curricular activities and those that don't. Having high expectations of everyone, whatever their ability, can only be a good thing.

The fire within not beneath?!🤢

Too verbose.

To me she is talking about pupil premium children /disadvantaged closing the gap between these children and those that are not disadvantaged is something the school is meAsured on . Schools look at the different barriers that prevent these children achieving could be lack of experience of leisure activities lack of aspiration by parents

The sad thing is, you can't force any child to do something they don't want to do.

(a) How is this about SEN - those things read like poverty and multiple issues within the family to me?

(b) I thought we always said teachers are 110% right all of the time on Mumsnet - if anyone says their kids was humiliated as a teacher shouted into their face they are liars (and moreover, so are their kids)

but

(c) a teacher tries to say something important and everyone jumps on saying "think of the SEN childen!" - poor woman! She was trying to say we want to aim high for every child - albeit in a rather long winded way!