To wonder what has happened to my Son's school

[k2493]

Just posting for thoughts

Both my kids have gone through the same secondary school. When my daughter started, the school was lovely and new with around 750 kids.

Fast forward to 2024 and there is now 1500 kids and it's become like a dictatorship.

Due to the number of kids, the school has put lines either side of the hallway that they have to walk within otherwise they get detention.

Every hallway is a one way system.

The minute they arrive in school, they have to remove their coats or it's detention even with no heating in the middle of winter. The other day my son arrived back to school to find that there were long queues outside while they did two uniform checks at the door. By the time he got in, he was frozen. Immediately he got shouted at for still having his coat on even though he had just stepped in from the cold.

He then went around the corner and got shouted at again even though he tried to explain it's really difficult to be expected to stay warm, keep moving and remove your coat all at the same time. Nope. Threaten with detention again.

AIBU to wonder what has happened to our education system? I'm lucky in that my son is quite strong minded and just brushes it off but what about the kids who's mental health this is impacting? Surely we want our kids to remember school as being enjoyable for their education and friendships rather than for being shouted at every two minutes for not walking between lines or not taking their coats off the minute they arrive in school?

I don't know much about it, my kids didn't go there but I think it is fairly new anyway so wouldn't have been there when they were at school. Our local college also has a nursery.

I know this is a private school example but if you listen to what he talks about, this is what I believe every UK mainstream school should be striving for.
Now whether the reality at the school is like this or not, the words he’s saying sound like (in theory) a perfect description of what I would want in a school for my children.
** i have no links to this school - it was literally a fb advert that just popped up.

It’s just a shame cannot maintain all mainstream school using the same ethos.

Very similar to DDs private school and so far they have lived up to the hype. They have a great emphasis on "community" eg Headmaster stands and greets all students on their way into school every single morning and he prides himself on knowing the names of the majority of students. Obviously this is more achievable in a school of 500 than 1500 but it shows where his priorities lie. He teaches some of the Yr 7 + 8 extra curricular activities to really get to know who they are.
At Parents evenings he is always there and makes it a point to speak to as many parents as he can about how their child is feeling about school.
I'm not saying that everything is perfect but my point is that the right intentions are there and they underpin everything. This is how schools SHOULD be but obviously our government doesn't agree so doesn't provide the funding to enable this to happen.

That's very much the ethos at my DD's school that they are a family. Obviously at her school they don't have the grounds or probably some of the facilities a private school has but they definitely have the community feel. Many times when I've been in reception at my DD's school, a random teacher has seen me and comes up to talk to me about my DD. Her HOY really cares about all the Y7s as do the form tutors and also the Head.

One of mine went to a state school where the Head manned the till in the canteen one day a week. He got to know the kids well and they enjoyed a bit of banter with him. My others went to a state school where the Head taught all year 7s at least once a week in his subject for the first term, again he knew all the kids well.

I think that’s significant too - the fact that Heads were originally teachers and then once a head teacher, expected to be a finance/economics/management specialist.

Am I correct in thinking that executive heads of MATS are the ones who run the ‘business’ side of the schools and the head in school is more pastoral stuff? Or is it not like that?

@UndertheCedartree lucky you lol seems to be a very different bunch in DC school. And they definitely want to look cool and be in designer brands

They wear designer brands every day to school?

@UndertheCedartree it will depend on the economics of the catchment of the school.

DD1's 6th form was on the outskirts of a nice, leafy, expensive, commuter village. There were some who wore expensive brands every day. That just reflected the relative wealth of the parents.

DD2 was at our local, rough as old boots, school. According to her the worst sin was wearing fakes. Brands were fine, George from Asda was fine, fake not fine.

At GSs sixth form all the boys seem to be in £200 trainers and according to GS most have more than one pair. We aren't in an affluent catchment area, well it is mixed but the boys from poorer homes have jobs and pay for their own designer stuff. I'm not sure what the girls do.

@Verbena17 the primary school I was a governor at (academy) had two assistant heads who were the pastoral leads, he was more head of the business so to speak. Though he was a good head who did regular rounds of the school and all the kids knew him well. When I was at school, the head was also my French teacher, it seems heads aren't generally involved in teaching these days.

Regarding the coat issue, I've had this out with my son's school, as my son wouldn't wear a coat as he wasn't sure if he would fall foul of the rules (diagnosed ASD). At the parents forum I pointed out how illogical the rule of taking off your coat before entering is - at the parent meeting we walked in, found a chair, and then took our coats off and put them on the back of our chairs. I'm autistic myself, and that just seems the logical way. I've heard there's a scrum of kids outside, taking off bags and coats then putting bags back on. I didn't realise this was happening everywhere, it's absurd.

I had a severely autistic son and am on a Facebook group.for parents of children with severe autism and learning disabilities its a predominantly American group.
From what I can gather America doesn't appear to be covering themselves in glory over the treatment of children with disabilities either and in some ways appears to.be somewhat lacking behind the UK system

Think USA is worse and sometimes you have to pay fees for any decent SEN.

Don't think the UK are doing too badly

What happens in Europe

I have a severely autistic son not had! **