To not know what to do about school

[Sheepduck]

I have a dilemma and need some input please! Any advice and experience greatly appreciated.

My child is in Year 3 at a state school with approximately 20 children in the class, 1 form entry. My child has been the victim of unprovoked violence 4 times this term from a couple of their peers both in class and on the playground and we have had meetings with the class teacher and the Head about it.

We have been told that one of the strategies which the school may try next year is to split the class into two for core learning, coming together in the afternoons. Each group would have a teacher and their own room. It is not guaranteed that my child will not be with the children which bully them, but the hope is that with smaller ratios, things can be managed more effectively.

Does anyone have experience with this kind of intervention in a class? Does it work well and have the desired outcome?

There are other state and private options locally with spaces. Class size would be around the same at 20. Logistics would be more difficult but not insurmountable.

WWYD?

Reading it back I realised I didn't mention that there are lots of behaviour problems in this class and have been for years, it's not just because of the recent violence towards my child that they're considering this option. There are a lot of children with additional needs in the class.

20 kids in a class and they can't keep your child safe?????

I'd say they need to take better action against violent behaviour if it's that bad.

I'd go as far as contacting OFSTED if they can't keep children's safe.

Can you give examples of these violent acts?

A few things here: who will be teaching each half? It seems unlikely that they'll be able to afford another teacher - will one half just have a TA at least some of the time?
It's good that they're taking it seriously enough to try to come up with solutions, but there's still half a year to go until then. There's also no guarantee that it will actually help.
How happy is your child at school generally? And are you happy with the school? Unless the answer to both of those is 'very', I think I would be tempted at least to consider other options.

I’d be interested to know how the staffing would work. Are they going to employ another teacher, or use existing ancillary staff?

You've had meetings with the class teacher and the head. Are they the ones who have told you of the proposed strategy? If there are a number of children in a class of 20 with challenging behaviour, I would imagine they would split them between the two classes. Otherwise it would be very unbalanced.

Have you gone through the school’s complaints procedure? Ofsted would ask that if you reported to them.

It sounds as though you’ve lost confidence in the school to keep your children safe, so I’d at least explore other options.

Honestly, in that situation, I would move my child to a different school ASAP. Current school is obviously not on top of situation and there are no guarantees that this proposed solution will work. Go and visit the other schools, do as much background research as you can, then decide which one seems to be best for your child. Children move schools lots; it's not a big thing and you have to put your child's welfare first. DC might not be too happy to start with at moving away from friends but they need to be away from threat of violence and will soon adapt.

Speaking from experience here as had to make choice to move my DC from unsuitable school, and have never regretted it.

Splitting the class sounds very odd, most schools don't have the space or staffing to do this and with only 20 kids in the class it will already be a huge financial drain for the school. I would look to move ASAP.

Thanks for your inputs. Violence is usually physical pushing, shoving, squeezing, scratching, punching, pinching type behaviours. The ones this term have left marks on my child which I've noticed hours later. One occasion has left a scar. Bruising lasted for a week from another. There's a lot of intimidating behaviour as well which they find upsetting.

We were told that it will be another teacher for the other half of the class and there will be a room found. It seems to be in the early stages of planning, and like you say, there are no guarantees that it would work. That's part of the reason for this post, to see if it has worked anywhere else.

My child is generally happy at the school, and academically is enjoying Year 3 more than lower down the school. It's walking distance away from home which is handy. All the alternatives are a drive away. But yes, my confidence in the school is wavering.

Sound like a safeguarding issue. I would go to the safeguarding lead at the school and ask how they will be keeping your child safe. If children are repeatedly violent to other children they need more support in class or to be in a different setting.

I think I'd be looking to move to be honest. Your child has been attacked 4 times this term and they're talking about possible strategies for next year? What are they going to do now?!
You're half way through year 3 so that's another 3 and a half years to go. That's a long time for your DC to tolerate this kind of thing if it isn't dealt with effectively. If it was a new problem I'd probably say give I time, but you say it's been several years already. It sounds like that not only have things not improved, the problems are escalating. If the school haven't been able to manage the situation so far it's hard to believe they are going to do so in the future so I think I'd be looking at alternative schools asap.

4 times in a term- no more chances from me. I’d move my child and report the school for lack of safe guarding. I really don’t care about additional needs, Sen provision is appalling but my child’s safety comes first with me.

I work in a First school, so years Foundation - Year 4. Ours is a small school, 1 class per year group. However, there are approximately 30 children in each class. Your child's Year 3 class only has 20 children, 10 less than the usual average in class size - yet they can't keep your child (and presumably others) safe! You say there seems to be a high level of children with additional needs. Do these children have 1:1 help in class? Or are these children just left to cope? To me, this is a safeguarding issue and there should be a risk assessment, if there are high number of children with additional needs that are the children who are causing these issues. If the school are planning on splitting the class, that's extra resources. Are they planning on taking resources from elsewhere in the school? Employing new staff? Or will they be relying on HLTA's to teach? You need details to understand how this will be managed. They can't put all the children with additional needs into one class, so they will need to split them into both classes. Will these children have the help they need? By all means see if this works, after obtaining more information but if it doesn't, look to moving your child. I will say, that it's difficult for schools when there are children with additional needs. They can't do much, without parental consent and back-up. Most parents welcome any help offered but unfortunately some parents don't. If there are parents who won't accept their child needs help, there's only so much the school can do.

I think the fact that there's been ongoing behaviour issues for years as well as the recent violence would prompt me to move my child. Even with the possible 'solution' next year there will still be lots of social contact and more years of school to go.

Splitting a class of 20 into two? How can they afford it? A class of 20 is very small already. I'd move my child and I say that as a primary teacher.

We had a very challenging cohort of children about 10 years ago but it was a bigger class of 30 who we split into a 20 & 10 (plus another 10 from another year group as we're a mixed class school anyway)

Splitting them did make a huge difference but we didn't have a high level of violence anyway but there were a lot of children with asc who were volatile

I'm a teacher...I'd move my child if this was happening. It doesn't sound like it will get better as the plan won't keep them apart at break or in the afternoon. Also you kid might be with the bullies.