a primary school in the Eastend......

[eastend]

My ds just started nursery school in the Eastend of London. I am surprised at how lovely it is,the sunny rooms, the smily teachers, the nice mix of children. I understand that for a school to work in London it needs a critical mass of supportive parents. My ds' school has about 1/3 of what seem to be very loving and supportive parents. The rest are a mix of the sort of parents who I reckon let their kids watch telly all day, don't put them to bed at night and don't give them breakfast in the morning, neglectful but not particularly abusive. About 4 kids seem to have parents who do drugs, violent, etc, and already at the age of 3 you can tell they will be trouble! Can a school like this work I wonder? Hope I made myself clear.

bump

Sorry don't have any at school but didn't want no one to answer a third doesn't seem too bad!

thanks skiwear, let's see if anyone else wants to give their opinion.

yes.

Yes.

On what evidence are you basing your views of the other parents, eastend? Are you sure you've done nothing at which they might look similarly askance?

Quite, Hallgerda.

If it's a good school, you should find that those children who come into school fing, blinding and kicking and calling the teachers btches will gradually calm down and learn a bit of self-control and more appropriate behaviour. We had a couple like this in my ds's nursery class, and I always come over all warm and fuzzy when I attend assemblies and school plays and see some of the children from horrendously difficult backgrounds taking part, managing to sit still when they're not on and going on to say/read their piece in turn, and smiling when they get applauded.

One of these kids had a particular fixation with ds for a while, generally involving nasty and slightly weird attacks of scratching, kicking and name-calling. It was always dealt with well by the school, and this child is now a reasonably tolerated member of the class not popular, his social skills are still too poor but tolerated.

Stick with it, and don't be too quick to judge. My dd1 was in a class that was particularly top-heavy with difficult kids (less than half at an age-appropriate level by Y6) and they've all turned into reasonably normal young people, who can look you in the eye and answer politely when you ask them how secondary school is going. And your own parenting standards may slip as you have more children -- dd1 was pretty much TV-free, but dd2 (3) has watched all the Harry Potter films, and is allowed far more in the way of chocolate and crisps than the others were. She's not neglected, but she's definitely not a Precious First Born either!

1/3 sounds like enough to be a critical mass. My DSs go to school in Hackney - lots of social problems, but lovely kids, very supportive atmosphere, lots of added value etc etc.

I am in love with this little school and I wonder what all the horror stories about eastend schools are about. Classism, racism, snobbery? It is a good mix I think. There are definetely 3 kids who are from sad backgrounds, already witnessed the teacher putting a couple in time out for swearing in the courtyard, but as long as they deal with it.....and they are not nasty kids, the parents are obviously stressed and cannot cope. Haven't heard anybody calling the teacher bxxtch, blimey! And by the way my ds watches telly, eats quite a bit of crap food and is left quite a bit to his own devices...wasn't implying I am a saint with a saint child. I just wondered how many loving parents you need to make a school work. I am so pleased that things can work out in an area with so many social problems. I love the eastend!