Is this typical at school now, or am I unlucky?

[Ridingthegravytrain]

I apologise if I phrase this badly, this is no way a thread bashing the way things are handled by teachers or behaviour of pupils but as I don’t have experiences of other schools I don’t know if this is just typical of what happens in many classes now...

I have two children in different years in a small village primary school and on almost a daily basis they both come home telling me about disruptions in class. And by this I mean chairs and tables being kicked and thrown and the children needing to be restrained (I volunteer and have witnessed this) and the children having to be all taken out of class until things are calmed down.

I have also had form teachers speak to me along the lines of “I just need to let you know your DD was unable to leave the toilet as there was a child outside doing XYZ and she was too scared to leave, just in case she mentions it to you”. Speaking to parents with children in other years it seems to occur across most classes.

Just wondering what other people’s experiences are with this level of disruption as it’s getting to the point where I’m considering getting on a waiting list to move them, but I have no idea of the likelihood that it will happen wherever we go. Have I just been unlucky?

As far as I am aware that sort of disruptive behaviour has never happened in my DC's classrooms in the village primary school they have been attending for 6 years. Your children should feel safe at school. They have to go there every day.

Nope, never come across it in having over 11 years of Primary school so far.

It sounds like some pupils have additional needs that the school can't meet whilst adequately schooling the rest of the children. Perhaps a loss of funding is why they're not moving the disruptive ones?

On our third Primary school and nothing like that.

Wow, ok, I thought it must be more the norm nowadays or something. Will definitely look at other schools then. My children are very happy at the school (they only tell me what happens now after I began to witness it and asked if it was a regular occurrence) Which to me suggests they think it’s ok and normal (eek!)

I've been a teacher for over 30 years and yes, I'm afraid it is happening more and more in many schools.

2 form entry, city primary with a lot of challenging kids here, and no what you describe is not normal.

There is nothing like this at our school but I suspect they would ask a child this badly behaved to leave or (if there were underlying issues) deal with it.

There are definitely additional needs. It is a small school and I know the children and the parents. Some are pushing for ehcp which the school seem reluctant to go for (I guess this is a funding issue)
The school has good ofsted but due to its odd location does struggle to get numbers so bums on seats is very important, understandably

Not in primary fortunately but the secondary schools round here can get a bit wild.

I hadn't seen that type of behaviour until I was sent to a pretty rough school in North London for my PGCE (which I quit after 4 months....). I would be looking at moving schools if I was you tbh.

Thank you for all the replies

This happened for a few months in one of my DC's classes (infants). It was aways the same child, who also had a one-to-one TA. The child had additional needs and eventually left. Nothing like that since, and I have well over a decade of primary schooling between my DC.

My ds just left a small village primary (120 children) after 7 years.
I don’t think there was that sort of disruption ever.
The only issue I experienced was a mum completely losing it over a parking space and driving straight at someone else, during our final term.
Inside school grounds, no, nothing.

Direct result of the vast majority of specialist provision being closed down ..........these kids need educating somewhere and all too often they're packed off to mainstream schools with teachers equipped to do little more than contain the situation.

The sad thing is it's the kids who are 'disruptive' who are the ones that are really being let down.

Mine is only in reception but friends kids are in odler years. Inner rough estate primary I na deprived area of the Midlands. NOTHING like that

When DD1 (now 18) started school each class had a TA and there were also 1-1s for those who really needed extra help.
DS left primary school in July - his school were lucky in that they had a TA between two classes, in his class the TA was being used as a 1-1 for a child in the morning. Without the extra pair of hands the teacher wasn’t always able to stop things escalating as quickly as needed. Children who needed extra support weren’t being given it due to budget cuts. Everyone ended up suffering as a result.

Also to add the school got a reputation for being good with SEN children so those with EHCPs sent there children there or moved closer to get the support. As a result the support had to be spread more thinly meaning less help for all.

Things have calmed down this year after a couple of pupils left, hopefully to somewhere they can get the support they need, but in the past couple of years my children have regularly come home with alarming tales of whole playground or classroom having to be evacuated because of a particular pupil/pupils misbehaving so badly and several staff members having to restrain them! I never saw anything like this when I was at school, in the whole 14 years!

I was chatting to a relative of mine about this yesterday. Her grandson has suspected sen, hugely anxious, somewhat disruptive. He's had no formal assessment (he's 7). The school get his older sister out of class when he is having a meltdown to calm him down. He's in a deprived area and lots of the kids have additional needs. We really need to look at why there is such a link with poverty.

I think it's a funding issue. Lots of children with undiagnosed additional needs coupled with some poor parenting.

We are in an affluent area (one of the schools in the top 50 recent times list) - again one or two very disruptive kids and the school simply doesn't have the resource to deal with them adequately but it doesn't matter as much as they are one in a class of 30, not 5. When children have one on one support inevitably that support worker ends up helping the whole class. It's horrific.

icantbecani the difference between a poorer area and a more affluent one is that the affluent parents can afford private assessments. They are probably more able to articulate the help the needed for their children better which means they will probably be better supported and less disruptive.

I think its because more sens children are going to mainstream schools as many specialist schools are at full capacity. There are numerous sens children aged our local primary school. 2 are disruptive and have their own support. My eldest is scared of one boy as he is aggressive and unpredictable. She only has one year left to go, so there is no point moving her elsewhere. My youngest says one boy with sens disrupts her lessons sometimes if his support is not there, by screaming and punching whoever's is nearby. Think there ought to be more specialist schools for disabled children so they have the right support and equipment, rather than a person following them around a mainstream school.

Never heard of it in dss school.
I have a friend who is a primary school teacher in a poorer area of the city I live in. This would be common place in her school. She started as a TA in the school prior to doing her pgce. On her first day she was there she was thought how to safely restrain a child. This school would have alot of contact with social services and a number of the kids come from homes with issues (ranging from alcoholics to drugs to suspected neglect and or abuse). This school has an outstanding Ofsted report and I do not doubt that the teachers are doing an amazing job in very difficult circumstances but i would never send my child there.
I think one of the best ways to find out about schools in an area is to ask someone who works within schools in the area but unfortunetly this isnt always an option.

It'll likely be 2-3 children with 'needs' holding the school to ransom, OP. I speak from experience!

This isn’t a deprived area, it’s very much middle class. which made me think it must be happening all over but clearly not as much as I thought.

What concerns me is upon chatting to one of the mums who I have known since pre school, she seems totally unaware of her child’s behaviour and thinks they are getting along really well. Maybe she just doesn’t want to go into things with me, but could the school not be telling her? What would they gain from this?