Should I insist that my DS is moved into a different class?

[cool4cats2020]

DS (11) started yr7/secondary school this autumn. Elder sibling in yr 10 at the same school so as a family we have some experience/familiarity with this school. It doesn't have a good reputation, and been ofsted rated 'requires improvement' for a very long time, without any evidence of any real progress. Their GCSE results are significantly below county average and even further behind national average. I was reluctant about DD going there, but it was her choice, and the other local schools aren't much better in the ratings anyway. DD is and studious and doing pretty well academically so it seems ok for her.

The issue is that DS has been put in a tutor group alongside predominantly SEN kids. It seems the the school has put all of the SEN and ND kids all together in one class (my guess is that it's so they can concentrate the extra teaching assistance just in that class). DS isn't SEN or needing any extra help, but his friend is (partially sighted), and it seems DS has been put into this particular class to make up the numbers and because he nominated his friend from primary as someone he'd like to be put with in yr 7. This part is normal for the school - all the kids are asked to list a few of their friends in yr6 and the secondary school tries to put them together so they aren't all by themselves in a new school.

It's absolute chaos in this class. DS comes home every day with tales of carnage (mostly behavioural issues), and the teachers are clearly struggling to keep control of the class. It's a daily occurrence for someone in the class to removed and taken to reset, teacher having to call for staff reinforcements to try and get the class back under control.

I think it's still normal for secondary schools to mix the kids into different classes for different subjects? Maybe not sets/streamed by ability in yr7, but I remember being in many different groups for different lessons. However, this school doesn't do that for yr7's - they have every single lesson (except PE apparently) in their tutor group. DD says they don't even mix the kids in year 8, so as it stands DS is likely to spend the two academic years in with this unruly bunch of kids. DS says the other classes don't suffer from this kind of issues. Neither of us can be totally sure about that, but it does sound like the kids with behavioural issues are all in this class.

DS is a sensitive lad, and he getting quite upset by it - it genuinely frustrates him how much teaching time they're losing to disruption, lesson after lesson. He struggled at KS1 due to global developmental delay, but has caught up to expected standard now (confirmed by his yr6 SATs results anyway). So he used to hate school, but the last few years he's really thrived and genuinely loves it. I would absolutely hate for him to become disengaged again at this point. Teachers have commented on his work ethic and exemplary behaviour. He's so far got 100% attendance record and the highest number of merit points in his entire year.

From about two weeks in to the school term, he's been asking to move classes. A couple of other kids got moved out of his class in the first few days of term, guessing they'd figured out what this class was going to be like pretty quickly as they probably already knew more of these kids from primary school.

I have had discussions with DS's form tutor about this earlier in the term, who accepted there had been a challenging start for this class, but requested that we give it time for things to settle down. Things haven't improved, in fact they seem worse than ever. Tutor told me they were getting an ed psych in to assess the class as a whole in order to offer support to the teachers to help them keep the kids under control. I'm unclear if this actually took place or not - teacher says it did, but DS says no one came in to observe on the day the teacher claimed they that it was happening. Last time I asked the teacher she said it would take a while for the ed psych's report to come back. Should have been weeks ago, but heard nothing further from the teacher about it.

I could say a lot more, give examples of the stuff that's going on in this class, DS comes home with tales of something bad that's happened every day. But my post is probably too long already. Maybe this is just normal for secondary schools these days?

I'm at the point now where I feel enough is enough - I can only think to insist that they move DS to another class. Only other solution would be to move him to a different school entirely. But I know he doesn't want to do that, as besides the disruptive kids, he's happy with the rest of it there.

It sounds like every class I taught tbh. I left teaching because it was impossible to actually teach; the low level disruption and constant rudeness and lack of respect from students and senior management just killed me.
You can ask for him to be moved but it might not be better in a different class.

Same story here @littlemousebigcheese - I could have written that and that was at the end of 2008! The last high school I worked at is still rated 37 out of 40 locally after it became an academy and built a brand new school on a nearby site.... new head, many of the same SLT, same problems, same results.

If you think he has been put in with predominantly pupils with SEN have you checked that he isn’t still on the SEN register which I assume he was on with GDD

Try to insist he is moved especially as that’s what he also wants, but don’t mention it being anything to do with a high number of SEN kids just purely behaviour of that group.
It may well be that all groups are like that, because I’m also in the same boat as pp (teacher who has left due to unteachable kids and lack of support from above)
you won’t know until he moves. Behaviour is typically much much better in higher ability classes than lower ability.

Of course request and I wouldn’t take no for an answer. If you don’t advocate for your child no one else will.
Don’t be made to feel guilty over this, your son deserves a disruption free education.

Yes ask to move.

One of my kids had the same issues - extremely bright A* student in the lowest ability class - couldn’t make it up - the frustration was really affecting her.

If he was diagnosed with GDD he will have been put in the class because he is SEN - GDD is definitely a SEN.

However, you can still ask for him to be moved.

I had a tutor group which was "targetted for support" which worked very well, but it was done very carefully - although they put in enough SEND kids that the class then had a full-time TA (which was brilliant for them, giving them some of that consistency they had in primary), none of them had particular behaviour problems and there was a good number of bright kids to balance it out.

I guess that funds are so strapped that they put too many of them together, and it sounds as if it might be worth them reviewing that decision. Moving your DS out solves the problem for him, but not his partially-sighted friend, who presumably needs some support. Some careful splitting of this class and any TA support they have with one or two other classes might work better for everyone.

YANBU to want to move him but I'm sure he's been put in the class because of his GDD. After all, it makes just as much sense as lumping all the nd kids together. As mum to a nd child with no academic or behavioural support needs (at least in a school environment) I'd be highly unimpressed.

I'd ask for him to be moved- you may get more joy with the HoY similar, rather than the tutor. Explain your DS is becoming anxious due to the behaviour of others in the group, and that it's causing him not to enjoy school.

That said, behaviour may not be any/much better in other tutor groups across the school- behaviour is a huge problem for secondary schools right now.

You don't have a legal right to insist your child moves classes though.