I think DDs school want her out

[lucydaniels4658]

DD 14 attends an academy school. She is achieving very low grades 3c-4a . She has ADHD and dyslexia . In the last few months they seem to be targeting DD . DD is no angel but she has never bullied anyone sworn smoked etc . Her crime not concentrating and being a bit disruptive (chatty ). Previous schools have dealt with it well simply by refocussing her . They tell her she is going to be permanently excluded then wonder why she has become more defiant and off with them .I know there are students much more challenging but achieve higher grades and they don't get harassed. They call me many times a day over things like her shirt was untucked ,she had gum really trivial minor things that don't warrant the sanctions and calls home.Where as some classmates truant and swear and nothing.Even her classmates ask teacher why they only tell DD off . When i complain they more or less say im the problem and they are trying to "correct her behaviour" and i make it difficult. Sadly moving her isn't an option in the area i'm in. I'm so desperate i'm considering homeschooling but she'd hate it she is very sociable . I have made official complaint and outcome was they are doing their job i'm preventing them. What would you do?!!

What's that got to do with this thread? Of course we have a behaviour policy, but sometimes, students with SEN such as ADHD and ODD find it difficult to adhere to certain elements of the policing as quickly as other students.

Round and round in circles.

Starlight I actually prefer Provision Mapping to IEPs, simply because the targets in IEPs are all too often meaningless and not SMART (whether taken in the acronym sense, or not!).

We do not need our children to be set targets, we need to see that there is sound provision for their additional needs and what provision has actually been utilised for additional need + outcomes. This is what illustrates overall progress and support required. Simply concentrating on 2 or 3 targets (often seemingly at random or chosen for their convenience to the teacher) does not illustrate provision and progression of overall need well enough IME.

I wasn't talking about any children having targets such as reaching a B. That's shite imo.

But they should have targets such as 'can consistently use Capital Letters appropriately, with a measure of what would constitute 'consistently'' for example.' Or 'remembers to put hand up rather than shout out', again, with a measure of what would constitute that target met.

What would the point of wanting these things of the child and not telling them about it .

I've never seen a SMART provision map either though.

Who cares about provision anyway? The focus should be on outcomes for the child. If that is achieved by plying them with tooth-friendly icecream then so be it.

^properly quantified Provision Mapping is all the better, for a truly informed picture......

Well if provision mapping starts with outcomes, and then maps onto them provision that will achieve that then that's good.

Provision maps that I have seen tend to go something like this:

Child will have access to pencils and crayons to meet their fine motor difficulties.

I care about provision when a Statement says this is what my child needs to cater for additional educational needs and find out this provision is not being actively provided because it is utilised elsewhere.

Starlight - we're talking about different things.

The targets you are talking about are in students' PLPs at my school and these are discussed with all staff after the child and their parents have helped the SENCO to put them together.

Praise can't just be linked to those targets though as students deserve to be praised for other things too. Fairenuff suggested that praise should be linked to targets.

Academic targets are, as you say, a bit shite - particularly for students who think those targets are out of reach.

Do you have a behaviour policy? If so, what is the system in the policy regarding good behaviour?

Of course we have a behaviour policy, but sometimes, students with SEN such as ADHD and ODD find it difficult to adhere to certain elements of the policing as quickly as other students.

Round and round in circles.

It's not round in circles. You were complaining that your other students don't get sufficient rewards and that sn children keep getting lots of praise points, so I asked you about you system for rewarding all the children.

You do have a behaviour policy, so what is the reward system for those other students who, in your eyes, are not getting recognised.

In my children's school there is a Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 reward system. It's a bit like the Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 sanction system. Good behaviour is rewarded as equally as unwanted behaviour is sanctioned.

What does your good behaviour reward policy?

Provision maps should include staffing levels, ratios of child to adults in group work, as well as special equipment provided and strategies employed.

^then outcomes are evaluated.

What is your good behaviour reward policy, that should say.

Our behaviour policy rewards loads of things from tutors giving points for punctuality and correct uniform at registration to attitude to learning and quality of work in lessons to homework being handed in on time. Students also get points for involvement in school life, for showing good manners and for being helpful.

Some parents accuse us of giving points to "naughty" children who have behaved in a way that other kids do automatically.

My point was that there is no such thing as a system which everyone thinks is fair. And there never will be.

Some parents accuse us of giving points to "naughty" children who have behaved in a way that other kids do automatically.

That's because they are ignorant of sn I suspect. You can't please everyone but as long as all the children are getting rewards where they are deserved, the children should be happy and that's the key to education, imo, happiness and motivation

Fairenuff I actually prefer no extrinsic reward system. I think this has an impact on the likelihood of finding intrinsic interest in a subject.

Extrinsic rewards devalue the subject in terms of finding it worthy of intrinsic interest.

IMO verbal encouragement, being able make subjects relevant, pitching them correctly to the audience and inspirational enthusiasm for a subject is what is required.

But then I appreciate this is rather a 'hard liner' view to take...

capsium, I guess my child's provision was so dire and not likely to produce any meaningful outcomes (as none were defined) that I didn't give a monkeys if it was deployed elsewhere. In fact, I preferred it to be as Velcro TAs (as opposed to trained EBP practitioners who could write and implement SMART targets) actually held my child back.

'My point was that there is no such thing as a system which everyone thinks is fair.'

Perhaps. But isn't it then your duty to implement a system that appears 'fair' to those whose life chances depend on it rather than for those who do not?

'Extrinsic rewards devalue the subject in terms of finding it worthy of intrinsic interest.'

Only if implemented badly. Children sometimes need extrinsic reinforces in order to engage with something long enough to see what it can offer them, then it becomes intrinsically reinforcing.

I implement it in a fair way, in my opinion, in my classroom. However, I am not responsible for the way in which my colleagues implement it and cannot possibly take responsibility for the ways in which 700 individual teenagers interpret it. One person's "fair" is another person's "deeply unfair" after all.

It is also possible to keep reward systems for some children, private.

With many SEN, whole class peer pressure, competitive reward systems not only don't work, but are a source of anxiety.

Starlight I can quite understand, but asking some very serious questions about provision, is what got our DC's actual progress, in terms of SEN, officially recognised. Until then the school were quite happy to take the additional, individual, funding and deploy it as they saw fit...but the from the actual paperwork alone, this was difficult to discern.

I do totally agree about 'Velcro TAs' though. No provision is better than this, as a TA used in this capacity has such a tangible negative impact.

We use the same overall reward system for every child in the school. Within that, there is ample opportunity to reward some children for things that other children do not get credit for. This is what some (ignorant) parents complain about.

However, as a system it generally works well. Having different systems for different students and keeping some private whilst publicising others would not work.

Starlight I knew I was being 'hard liner' concerning the rewards. I agree with you but my ideal is correct pitching and making subjects relevant.

You can ask questions of schools and teachers. Being answered is quite another thing.

I sometimes wonder about the teachers on MN. They come across as passionate, committed, questioning and hardworking. Why through 6 schools did my child not get any of those types?

Truth is, he did. But somehow when you have a child with SEN there is a kind of paradigm shift. I look at my dd's amazing teachers and think. 'Wow, if only my ds had had you!' but then I remember, he did, or at least someone very like them.

It's very very odd.