Headteacher and five staff suspended!

[Educationalshame]

Have name changed so not to out myself. My children go here :(
I received a letter and that is it. Teachers will not really speak about it to me. What do I do?? Reading the attitudes of the other members of staff "What are teachers supposed to do?" Does not reassure me. Advice? Thoughts? Anyone..

True 5mad - but when you are a child looking upon such things it doesn't feel very fair. We were well aware that a lot of these children were being transposrted to school to make sure they were delivered to the school. It felt like if you misbehaved and skipped school you were rewarded.

and my parents were far from perfect but I understand and accept the things that they did wrong now because they were just people trying to do their best in tough circumstances.

Kendodd excellent point about so called menial jobs....there is something to be said to be a little time served so to speak

Yes, reallytired, but lately many of the neglect issues that you're describing are causing children to get taken into care. The numbers are rising sharply at the moment.

I agree to a child it can seem u fair, my own dp has taken then children he works with on all sorts of trips that we can't afford for our own children, but we ha e talked to our children and they understand that tho these children get trips etc they don't have living parents and a normal home life. In the long run our children are the lucky ones and they know it.

really, yes that makes sense thankyou

Children in care go to school too, learnandsay- their issues don't magically disappear once they are taken into care.

Loving parents not living..

Maintain discipline? There have always been rules as to what teachers can do to children. All teachers are not rational.

"False imprisonment - maybe better than several children or staff being hurt"

It's not either/or- there are many techniques which can be used to keep everyone safe without recourse to locking a child in a room against their will.

Of course the issues don't magically disappear. But if the parents are causing the issues then removing child from the parents makes sense.

we didn't have issues because when we misbehaved the behaviour was dealt with.....and I don't believe that we were ever hit other than taps on the botton as toddlers. Mostly we were sent to our room.

I used to wrk in a school ink a v deprived area with a lot of social problems, it ha d a unit and an off site ex council house. The children were often taken off site as they could not cope with traditional classroom teaching. Other children in the mainstream curriculum did often raise this and it led to a change int he reward system.

But it always became apparent really that the children in the unit often had decreased opportunities to gain qualifications due to type of provision they had been streamed into or their own ability level.

I agree it is hard when children are younger to see the fairness in this.

Removing children from their parents can make a situation worse, it creates a whole host of further problems. And where should these children go, are you going to volunteer to foster them learnandsay or work in a children's home?

5mad - we have that discussion regularly as my boys go to a very mixed school.

My Mum was a foster parent to many children with ESBD, some with very challenging behavior, they would be rewarded for improvements in behavior even if only small ones.

I remember once feeling a little put out that one of the children was taken on a trip as a treat by their social worker and I obviously wasn't included in that, my Mum pointed out how lucky I was to be able to do that sort of thing with my own family and that I was lucky to come from a well functioning happy family.

She was of course right and Im glad I had such a sensible Mum who could explain such things to me.

Many children with special needs have explemorary behaviour. One of the most common groups are children with moderate learning difficulties or children with dyslexia. Many children with autism are well behaved as well

Yes I know, I have a child with autism who is on the whole well behaved and is lucky enough to go to a mainstream school who have excellent behavior management practices and de-escalation methods too. However, if they didn't I could easily imagine my son being in a situation not unlike the one in the blackpool school.

I do absolutely believe that there are children who genuinely have special needs. However, is there some medical reason why there are a disproportionate amount that come from from homes where there are parenting issues?

Genetics, pure and simple. Parents with learning difficulties often have children with learning difficulties. A parent with low intelligence will struggle to access help to or the common sense to parent to a high standard

Oh righty! of course the above wouldn't represent the majority.

But yes, carry on blaming the parents.

Other children in the mainstream curriculum did often raise this and it led to a change int he reward system.

Sorry, I couldn't follow this bit: Mainstream children thought it was unfair that some children got taken to an old council house?

"But if the parents are causing the issues then removing child from the parents makes sense."

In many cases, yes it does. My point is that children in care can and do continue to experience behavioural difficulties once they have been removed from their parents; and they still have to go to school. Removing children from abusive homes does not mean that behavioural problems disappear at school.

amck5700: why should everyone pay for 121 support for a child when it is the parents who have caused the issue in the first place?

amck I am assuming your parents led by example and were fair as and cared and loved you, some children don't have that. What was normal for you is not the norm food every family.

And again many many children who have sen's do not have poor parents, they have parents who are doing their best with little to no support.

Tether - what do you think should have happened? Sometimes older children have 'rages' a bit like a tantrum where they cannot be reached and reasoned with. I left a classroom once away from an aggressive pupil. You are just not allowed to touch them, and I was scared, it's possible these staff were too.

'False imprisonment' seems a ludicrous term to use when referring to children. All children could be said to be 'in prison' in that they are not free to just walk out of the door whenever they like.

Also, asking again, and a genuine question, are they harmed by being put in a 'safe' room?

amck so do we, if only more parents did tho rather than just comp,ain that its not fair for little johnny not to get the same. If we all had a bit more understanding and taught pur children to do the same then some of these children would have a better life and stand a better chance.

we didn't have issues because when we misbehaved the behaviour was dealt with.....and I don't believe that we were ever hit other than taps on the botton as toddlers. Mostly we were sent to our room

Or maybe you didn't have 'issues' because you had a stable home life and no learning difficulties/SNs?

But yeah Im sure a bit of good old fashioned discipline would sort out all these SN kids

I can imagine how locking an out of control nine year old in a small room with a knife could have a bad outcome, yes.