Michaela School and behaviour - AIBU

[herculepoirot2]

AIBU to think that you might read this behaviour policy and think it is authoritarian and unnecessary, but to also think that, with results four times better than the national average, these people might have a point about the benefits to young people of being expected to work hard and behave well?

mcsbrent.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Behaviour-Policy-11.02.19.pdf

I can't imagine they are somehow getting additional money from illicit sources

See, I can imagine them getting bunged a few thousand by interested parties (and there are lots of interested parties!) - like that Secret Teacher programme on Channel 4 where millionaires go into schools and pay for extra teachers. Schools are charities after all and lots raise extra funds through bake sales and whatnot. I’ve no idea where this would be recorded though.

I’m interested in the demographic angle -ive lived and worked in the area Micheala is based in and I don’t quite see the level of deprivation referred to in relation to the school. Like most parts of London, There are a number of estates in which you would be more likely to find families in poverty, but the houses and private renting are extremely expensive and Wembley Park has always been generally considered a nice area. And whilst it’s extremely ethically mixed the area is very much known to be home to many Indian families, who stereotypically are very invested in their childrens education. There is a presence of social problems more unique to large cities though, such as young black boys vulnerable to gang grooming, and the impression I get is that Micheala want us to think that’s where their pupil population is from.

I’ve noticed they’re opening another school in Stevenage. That will be interesting to see because Stevenage is a very normal town in leafy Hertfordshire.

I have seen posters on here insist that a child with SEN cannot be disciplined for disruption, “because it is a direct result of their disability,” for example.

I don't think so. The issues around discipline aren't solely in relation to disruption; they are around punishments for not having the right uniform or the right equipment or failing to complete homework, which instantly disadvantages children with executive functioning problems, developmental co-ordination disorders, sensory problems and the like.

So far as disabilities that may give rise to disruption are concerned, the point is that the first port of call should always be giving the right support. For a child with attention difficulties, for instance, this could be support in keeping the child on task. For a child with ASD, it could be help with sensory difficulties so that the child doesn't react to distress to excessive sensory input, or help with communication so the child doesn't react to frustration at difficulties in understanding or being understood, or careful preparation for change, or identifying and avoiding triggers. If there is a rigid discipline system in place that assumes that the first port of call is going to be punishment, if anything you exacerbate the child's difficulties.

See, I can imagine them getting bunged a few thousand by interested parties (and there are lots of interested parties!) - like that Secret Teacher programme on Channel 4 where millionaires go into schools and pay for extra teachers. Schools are charities after all and lots raise extra funds through bake sales and whatnot. I’ve no idea where this would be recorded though.

Me too. But I think there are strict rules about what you can use such money for. Not regular salaries, because you can’t necessarily sustain it. That’s my understanding anyway.

Sorry my phone has been autocorrecting michaela

I don't think so.

Let me stop you there: I have seen it. I am not lying.

So far as disabilities that may give rise to disruption are concerned, the point is that the first port of call should always be giving the right support. For a child with attention difficulties, for instance, this could be support in keeping the child on task. For a child with ASD, it could be help with sensory difficulties so that the child doesn't react to distress to excessive sensory input, or help with communication so the child doesn't react to frustration at difficulties in understanding or being understood, or careful preparation for change, or identifying and avoiding triggers. If there is a rigid discipline system in place that assumes that the first port of call is going to be punishment, if anything you exacerbate the child's difficulties.

But they have a system that minimises excessive sensory input. A system that keeps the child on track. Why doesn’t that count as the necessary support in your eyes?

Teacakeandalatte* I am surprised at the title also. It is like she thought it was an excellent idea

Yes how could anyone read that book and think it all sounded fine because her dd grew up to be a concert pianist? Yet lots of people did. Honestly I'm not against a bit of pushing: high expectations and music lessons etc but taken too far it is awful. The combination of thinking 'Tiger' parenting is something admirable with being notoriously extreme and strict is just off-putting.

Are you suggesting Michaela are picking and choosing their SEN children?

Obviously something very odd is going on in relation to children with EHCPs.

I have seen posters on here insist that a child with SEN cannot be disciplined for disruption, “because it is a direct result of their disability,” for example.

I've seen this plenty of times too.

I think the Michaela approach is definitely working for a lot of their students. I can think of plenty of students I teach who would really benefit from their approach to silence and routine. Lots of these children do have SEN but not all.

Part of being an effective teacher is establishing your own classroom routines. If you have school wide expectations that every teacher adheres to then students will find it easier to learn the routines. All students benefit from routine, most benefit from silence when working tbh. There are very few students who work better in a noisy environment.

I think other schools suffer from going half Michaela, it is an all or nothing approach.

There are very few students who work better in a noisy environment.

Oh but the number who will insist that they do! 😂

But I think there are strict rules about what you can use such money for. Not regular salaries, because you can’t necessarily sustain it. That’s my understanding anyway.

That's what I was getting at. I could see them using "donations" to buy books for the library - I know they have spent a lot on books.

I could see them using "donations" to buy books for the library - I know they have spent a lot on books.

Good!

Have you read their book, Hercule? It's fascinating, gives a real insight into how the place works, the philosophy and research behind it, and how intensive and detailed the initial planning for the curriculum and teaching methods was. Obviously, they've benefited hugely from having that planning time while they were setting up. I liked the fact that all the members of staff contributed chapters, too.

I think she'd disagree. What she wants for her pupils is the ability to CHOOSE what they want to do, and have any door open to them by virtue of having GCSEs that'll open the door to whatever they want to pursue.

How does that work if they don't offer IT or any language other than French?

kesstrel

No, but I might.

Stevenage is not remotely leafy!

How does that work if they don't offer IT or any language other than French?

There is a point at which you have to choose what you are going to have on your curriculum, especially when you have 600 students rather than 1,200, and are funded accordingly.

Stevenage isn’t very leafy. But Hertfordshire is. There will be a mixed demographic unless it’s central Stevenage.

If the school has a typical number of children with SEN but way fewer EHCPs it must either be selecting out children with EHCPs at the start or discouraging them from applying.

Or they are coming to the school with a diagnosis but finding that they are making progress and therefore no EHCP?

That wouldn't account for the failure to admit pupils with an EHCP already in place.

I feel really ambivalent. On the one hand , if a clutch of these students get to Oxbridge that us fantastic and amazing. But it feels a little like that is all she wants as a marker of success and I feel sorry for the mediocre . Now she might claim she turns the mediocre into the brilliant,of course.

To come back to Stevenage. It's a white ,working class town with pockets of deprivation and low aspiration, but not as bad as,say, coastal towns. It feels opportunistic to open a school there, when there are surplus places. Herts has research schools and Teaching School Alliances, lots of LA schools and some fantastic Mats and is very supportive county where schools really do help each other. Education community wise, Michaela has felt unnecessary. We'll see.

The thing is Teacakeandalatte if Amy Chua and her husband had been manual workers from Idaho and their daughters with these methods had risen through the ranks of American society then there might be something in the methods.

But here we have 2 little rich girls and their mother claiming they have got where they have because of music practice, homework and study for hours and hours everyday. And not because they attended an expensive private school and their parents were Yale Law professors.

I think a little bit of critical thinking was needed before copying the title.

I think the TV programme with a similar name was a more realistic view on these methods.

The parents who had these methods forced on them were not happy or successful. I remember one guy really loved plants and would have done much better and probably been more successful had he been able to follow his dream but his parents wanted an accountant so he found himself working in the back office of a shop looking completely miserable and his wife who had wanted to be ajournalist was working as a dental receptionist because her parents I think had wanted a doctor but she was crap at science and the mother was trying to force their child along the same without stepping back and thinking about what she was doing

I think she'd disagree. What she wants for her pupils is the ability to CHOOSE what they want to do, and have any door open to them by virtue of having GCSEs that'll open the door to whatever they want to pursue

But not doing IT and having such a limited curriculum is slamming doors shut not opening them.

That wouldn't account for the failure to admit pupils with an EHCP already in place.

Do we know how many students with an EHCP applied to Michaela? Is it a case of "natural selection", parents don't apply because they assume their children won't cope with the behaviour policy?

Our school gets a slightly below average number of students with an EHCP apply, mainly due to deprivation and parents/primary schools not applying for them. However our senco puts a lot of effort into getting students who need them an EHCP. I suspect there may be some truth in the Michaela approach meaning some students who would need an EHCP in my school not needing one in the Michaela environment as their needs are being met.

That wouldn't account for the failure to admit pupils with an EHCP already in place

Unless they are rejecting them, which they can’t, this isn’t a failure. They only admit 120 students per year group. Not having an abundance of students with ECHPs in Y7 is what I would expect. You also cannot rule out the possibility that parents in the demographic served by the school don’t apply for them as often as parents in other areas.