I never believed these places really existed until today...

[LittlePinkAlien]

My son has been allocated a place in one of our local secondary schools.

This school has a bad reputation. It was not on my list. But, because he has been given a place there (appeal in process), we were sent a letter inviting us to view the school.

So I viewed said school. Oh my god.

We walked around the building, about 5 families. "would you like some carpet to go with your chewing gum"? My feet stuck to the floor. The dining hall was so dirty I didn't want to touch anything. The whole place is falling to bits. The windows that aren't broken are covered in dried spit or have bars across them/roller shutters, or those curious sliding metal gate type things. The curious sliding gate things are scattered around the school over various doors and such. It looks like a prison.

Even the newer buildings around the school look like a factory unit. No windows and very "industrial" looking. The whole place stinks. Headteacher told us (amongst other things) that a lot of the children who attend the school have "difficult family circumstances" and they work with the parents to ensure that even if the children are late, thats ok so long as they attend at some time. WTF?

They have made many improvements apparently and all children leave the school with some kind of qualification. This is good as these children enter the school on a very low level.

They had some work displayed on the wall in one "department" from 15 year old children. 15 year old children who could barely write. My dyspraxic 10 year old could have done better and that is saying something.

The school cannot keep teachers, no-one will work there. The Ofsted reports are worse than grim.

I feel so gutted that they think my son will be attending that school. Over my dead body. I could hardly contain my distaste.

A real eye opener. I am stunned that places like this exist and can maybe understand how these kids grow up with no hope for the future. This, from me, who lives in a council house, single mum, two kids with different dads. It appears im a council snob but ill be damned if I let my son attend the shitty heap they call a high school. Is it so wrong that I want better for him? He attends a lovely primary school because its a good school.

If someone else had posted this I would be accusing them of being a troll and talking rubbish. How can a school be this bad? I just never realised.

That is very sad

God, alien, what are you going to do? Prey for your appeal! And perhaps nag the preferred schools on a daily basis, making sure you stay on their waiting lists. It IS shocking the state of some schools- largely, I believe because of the value system of the parents of the DCs who attend. Is IT encouraging that at least the school does 'value add' though it'd NEED to!

MY old school was no oil painting to behold- peeling paint, damp, cracked windows (in places), draughty unheated corridors and disgusting toilets- BUT academically it was excellent, being a grammar! This was back in the days when the govt were promoting comprehensives thus deliberately depriving selective schools of funding. It didn't really matter because we were a) all clever enough, b) motivated and c)there was no SEN! However, the school you describe doesn't have these advantages thus school environment becomes much more important. It's like class size- a competent teacher can handle 40 DCs in one go provided the all fit the a-c criteria above, but with SEN and mixed ability, classes HAVE to be smaller.

I wish you well.

Pray, even!

Oh LittlePink, I really really feel for you

how do the 'normal' children get on there?

If it does have a high level of children with SEN and children from dysfunctional families who are struggling then maybe their work is 'dire'

optimistically it cant be all bad there must be some teachers there that are up to scratch what were the students like?

what is your back up plan if the appeal fails?

if you hadnt selected this school how did u get it? were your choices to over subscribd schools?

your options as far as i can see are

• to continue your appeal and pray for the best use anything that might help educationl needs social factors etc etc

*what were the other parents feelings?
is there any possibility you could all stick together?

• can you telephone your preferred school and see if theres any plces likely to come availble people dont always take up the offered places.

*are you in any way able to home ed whilst you wait for a place in a different school?

*is moving house an option?

if you are positive you wont allow your son to go there you will have to nag and moan and kick up a fuss, you have a fair few months left to do it- good luck.

God, LPA, I'm so sorry!

Sadly the school you describe will be found duplicated in most LEAs. there are local schools to me that I would not work it if they doubled my wages!

The worst thing is that they kids who most need a good school are the ones who are very often found in school like this.

I hope that your appeal goes well, and God help the kids there who didn't have as switched on a parent as you. FWIW, your imput could make all the difference to your son, even if he is unfortunate enough to end up going there.

Sounds like my secondary school!

yes, places like this really do exist!!

and the government wonder why children have such poor exam results in some places, and why certain parents wich to send their children to selective/private schools.

and then there are the parents who simply don;t give a toss, and they are the ones whose children will leave school without any exams, nor able to read or write properly, and then the parents blame the school/government/food/other kiddies without taking any of the responsibilty for the fact that they just didn;t care.

if all parents cared then I am sure that schools would never end up looking like this, or even if they did due to lack of funding, then the teachers and children would still stay encouraged and keen as they had adequate backing on all levels.

Hope you win your appeal. If not, stay on the waiting list for the other schools and home ed in the meantime.

Why does the government allow places like these to carry on as they are?

The sad thing is that if you put kids in a shit environment, they get to think that they are shit (they are not, but that is how they feel), and they will then prove that they are shit by further trashing the place.....chewing gum on the floor, spit on the windows etc.

We went to a local school very like this with the kids to an out of school function. Dd looked around her, was horrified and said 'Is this a school? how can people work in a place like this'

Out of the mouths of babes...

Uriel, in answer to your question.

Because first they would have to be honest enough to admit that places like this exsist

Then they would have to put in large amounts of money in the school and also to support the dysfunctional families.

But they should.

Absolutly they should.

But they don't.

and then the politician have the brass neck to explain that failing schools are due to poor teaching, and that all we have to do to improve things is to make our lessons more interesting.

Yeh, right. They could claim £250 without having a reciept, but I spent 4 years 4 fucking years teaching A level classes without a text book!

I ended up spending about £200 of my own cash on materials!

It's a no-win situation. No way will or should you let your DS go into a school in that state, but it is the fact that only children with parents who can't/won't fight the system end up in these places, and those are the same children who have the odds stacked against them in so many other ways, so the downward spiral continues.

Have you looked at potential independent schools with bursaries? I only ask because most independent schools have to give bursaries/free places to justify their continued status as charities, and a lot of them find those places quite hard to give away, IYSWIM, as not enough people who genuinely qualify apply for them.

Politicians - gah!

LPA - we were you last year only for primary.

DC was allocated a place at an awful school on the other side of town to us. So we went and had a look mainly so that when we went to appeal the panel wouldn't be able to say did you give due consideration to allocated school?

It was an eye opener as we live in a desirable and very expensive area. I had assumed that all the local schools were fab

Headteacher who showed us round was amazing and was making huge improvements to the school culture.

I left, sat in the car and burst into tears. A number of children had been excluded...in a primary school The most harrowing element was a classroom that was partially padded for a child who had issues with anger as a result of fators at home. I felt so helpless that for some children this is a reality.

DC thankfully got into our chosen school after we appealed. Our back up plan was to privately educate or home ed but DH was not keen. Are these options for you?

I really do feel for you

Now that you know abotu the state of the school are you prepared to do anything about it other than keep your own child away?
Could you raise your concerns with the LEA/ Govenors to see what if any measures are in place for improvements? Maybe even try to get on the governing body?
I know its a lot to ask but you sound very articulate and caring about the situation- and perhaps in a better position to offer the school some support for their efforts than the parents in more trying circumstances then yourself.

I certainly wasn't prepared to do such a thing with my DC.

Oh good lord. It makes the awful school near us sound good

Good luck with your appeal

Are you on waiting lists? You'll need to be on as many as possible. Things do shift a lot between now and September

Blimey MB!

Did you get onto your union??