School in Middlesbrough excludes 41% of pupils

[CruCru]

I’ve just read this thing in the Guardian about a school that has the highest number of exclusions in the UK. Have you seen

This? It sounds appalling from the article but I wonder whether the school genuinely has a problem with low level disruption throughout its population.

Seems a bit heavy-handed, I would think that a lot of schools would use internal isolation rather than sending the kids home. Make-up and nail varnish remover can also be kept in stock.

But I’m sure that the exclusions would come down if more parents supported the rules.

“pupils being told to remove jewellery while staff continue to wear earrings and necklaces, I do wonder what this says about ‘mutual respect’.”
This Lib Dem councillor made a reasonable point about being allowed to take blazers off in hot weather, then spoiled her point by whining like a Y9 about teachers being allowed to wear jewellery.

I think schools are making it hard for themselves, to be honest. The secondary my DD2 attends allows makeup, nail varnish, dyed hair (though naturally occurring colours only) and stud earrings. They allow blazers to be removed if it's hot and after May half term they have 'summer uniform' where blazers can be left at home. This allows them to focus on managing behaviour (they are fabulous at managing bullying) and supporting learning. This isn't a school in a leafy borough with 'naice' kids, it's a very mixed intake including some very deprived areas. It's a common sense approach that just works. I think schools that feel they need these OTT draconian rules have failed before they have even started because they are not picking their battles.

pointythings

The problem is that some parents and pupils would think that the rules that you think are OK are OTT and draconian.

As for the academy that did this without the details its all speculation.

The academy says it doesn’t exclude for minor rule breaking but does for poor reactions to reasonable instructions.

The mother who said her DD was excluded for wearing a coat indoors - I can well see how that might have played out.

I find it hard to imagine a school where the general population is so mouthy that nearly half the kids need to be suspended. Having said that, I do know of one school that was permanently shut down despite repeated rebranding because the pupils’ behaviour (and attainment) was so poor. So I suppose it is possible.

noblegiraffe

When you look at the list of "reasons" for exclusions it very easy to see how they may have played out.

BoneyBack I am Dutch. There is no school uniform in the Netherlands. The newspapers aren't filled with stories about 'I got sent home for xyz'. Dutch schools aren't hellholes filled with bullies. Of course schools need rules - but if you take uniform out of the equation, you can focus on having rules around behaviour and learning and enforce those.

DD1's sixth form has no uniform at all. Amazingly, no-one spends hours worrying about what to wear the next day, they just get on with it. I do not understand the British obsession with uniform. There are no sensible arguments for it, there's just a culture that says 'uniforms are good' and everyone believes it. I can't wait until next year when DD2 will be out of it all.

Last year I spent exactly £0 on school clothes for DD1 - she had everything already, isn't growing any more and her school clothes are her real world clothes.

I think that school is rated outstanding, but could be wrong

Sorry, i checked and it's good not outstanding

pointythings

I'm not sure how you jumped from what I posted to a rant about uniform.

All I posted was that whatever rules (guidelines) you have in place some people and pupils will always push against them.

I have complaints about long hair being tied up in the workshop.
I have complaints about sending children that were fighting out of the classroom (separately etc. etc.)
I got complaints because I reported a pupil that swore at me and called me names.
I have had complaints because I have been attacked by a pupil.

All of these are things that sensibly against the rules but people complained because they didn't like that their children were told off.

Boney and those are sensible rules. I have no problem with those and if students and their parents kick back against them, that's on them.

Hair colour, nail polish (other than in catering) logos on socks and the like? Not sensible. Why not strip back the rules to those that are essential and then enforce those? It shouldn't be rocket science. My objection to uniform is that it is unnecessary. It does not prepare pupils for the world of work - are our kids really so stupid that they need 12 years in uniform to learn that they should pick appropriate work wear, or should we trust them to learn through experience? Uniform does not prevent or reduce bullying - there is no research evidence to support that contention. As for the arguments around pride in one's school - where's the evidence that this improve educational outcomes? And yes, it might be easier to find your students on a school trip, but given that schools in other countries manage school trips without misplacing students all over the place that really isn't a biggie. So why does everyone love uniform so much?

Why do scouts, brownies, cadets and the like have a uniform?

There are youth clubs out there that manage perfectly well without uniforms so why fanny around with woggles and neckerchiefs and the like?

Because it’s not just about identifying them on school trips, is it?

Sure you can do fine without uniform, but that doesn’t mean uniform is wrong.

I agree it's not wrong, but it adds to the workload in terms of rules that have to be managed. Scouts, brownies and cadets are a choice - going to school isn't. And let's be realistic - only a tiny % of UK schools do not have uniform so as a parent you do not have the option of avoiding uniform unless you can afford to home ed.

What is so bad about imposing rules that make sense in terms of practicality, safety, learning and behaviour and ditching the ones that are about cosmetic conformity? This school in Middlesborough seems to sit in a tricky catchment so would it not be easier to have a very simple dress code and then double down on behaviour instead?

I can promise you students are not excluded for ‘wearing the wrong coat’ or shoes or taking too long in the toilet or whatever they say. Something else will have gone on. Children are not just sent home for minor infractions.
If they are asked to say remove coat and refuse it will escalate. That may be the start of it but certainly not the reason.
It’s in the best interest of schools to keep exclusions down as much as possible (it’s an ofsted trigger).

pointy why do scouts have a uniform? It’s not just about cosmetic conformity is it? Sense of identity and so on. Schools in the US don’t have uniform but some create a school identity (as far as I can tell from watching TV) involving sports, mascots, cheerleaders and the like.

There are also behaviour management reasons. If I can stand at the threshold to my classroom and not allow students in until their shirts are tucked in and their ties are on properly, then that’s a useful tool. Kids will test school boundaries, uniform gives them an easy and harmless one to kick against.

And there’s the equaliser argument.

There have been lots of uniform threads in the past. But in general, just because the UK do it differently, it doesn’t mean that they are doing it badly. And just because you can’t see a reason for something, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a reason for it.

Blazers should be off in summer though.

I'm an ex teacher (15 years) and I think uniform was pointless. I noticed on non-uniform day how much nicer the start of the lesson was without having to bother discussing coats, trousers, etc.

But I agree, the exclusions will be for the secondary behaviour, not the uniform issues. Although I'm fairly certain that behaviour experts (certainly when I was training) say you should ignore the secondary behaviour as much as possible.

Teenagers rebel, it's what they do. Their brains are rewiring and some have home lives where everyone shouts, swears, or worse. Excluding them for kicking off doesn't teach them how to behave.

noble I get that uniform helps you. That's great. But there are ways and ways of doing that, even if your premise is that there has to be uniform. You say that tucked in shirts and ties present and correct helps you set boundaries - that's great and it works for you. A teacher in Holland might say that if students go straight to their seats and set out what they will need for the upcoming lesson, that is what works for them. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

And what gets me about the reason is that people come out with all these statements - that uniform is a leveller, that it improves education, that is prevents bullying - but all without a shred of researched evidence to support their statements. That's just not good enough. If there is a reason, let's see that reason - with supporting evidence based on high quality research.

As for the scouts - you have a choice about joining the scouts. You don't have a choice about going to school (and rightly so). So when you choose the scouts, you know that uniform is a part of that and you can make an informed choice. That is not the case for school.

Great, you get that there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

So this school has a uniform and is choosing to enforce it.

You don’t like uniform, but so what?

My main 'so what' is that schools are getting away with using uniform as a cash cow and a way of excluding kids from poorer families by making it insanely expensive - and then claiming that uniform reduces bullying, improves outcomes etc. etc.

My second 'so what' is that most parents have no option in terms of sending their kids to a school which has no uniform because the UK is in thrall to this idea that uniform is so great despite the lack of evidence to that effect.

FYI my kids have always turned up to school in correct uniform. Every. Single. Day. They have not been in trouble, ever. They are high achievers who regularly get commended for good behaviour, helpfulness and academic achievement. I understand the need for rules. But given that our non-wealthy and non-leafy school manages without being super strict about it, I do wonder why other schools can't.

Uniform doesn’t have to be expensive.
Obviously schools that are insisting on expensive logoed items from a single supplier are an issue and the government has said that they shouldn’t be doing it.

This school has a uniform, which it is enforcing. There is an assumption that if it didn’t pick up when kids were wearing the wrong uniform that there would be no behaviour issues. You’re saying ‘pick your battles’. The school is saying ‘sweat the small stuff’.

My assumption is that if there were a simple dress code, or no uniform at all, the school could focus on managing behaviour. As long as everyone is clean and covered, what's the issue? And in life on the whole I've always found that things work out better if you don't sweat the small stuff.

The problem I have with 'the government has said they shouldn't be doing it' is that the government refuses to enforce this. If schools with single supplier demands were instantly given a failing OFSTED for it, things would probably change very quickly indeed. And I don't see any other method having an effect.

The school was in special measures in 2015, it’s now good. Part of that turnaround has come from sweating the small stuff, don’t you think?

I think uniform is a waste of teaching time tbh.
I mean, who signs up for teacher training college, excited about their future job where they might get to stand on a school gate checking people's sock colour?
I believe there are successful schools that have no uniform - they have a dress code that is something like 'clean, covered, comfortable'.

Meh. My DD's school was on the verge of special measures when I moved into our neighbourhood. Now it's good verging on outstanding. All without extreme uniform measures or extreme policies on exclusion. Clearly they didn't need to sweat the small stuff to turn the school around because they did well on the big stuff.

My mother was a teacher. She never needed to sweat the small stuff to maintain order and achieve the best for her pupils because the school was well run in every way. That's what matters.