Warning: Harris Academy Sutton

[SENMa]

This school school creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment for ALL pupils and one which is untenable for those with SEN. I have deregistered my child after over a year of hell. During the January of Year 7 after a day which included 6 assessments (should this be allowed?) she realised she had missed a detention given out for forgetting to attend another detention given out for 5 minutes lateness and started to have severe anxiety about going into school. She had been so looking forward to the change from primary to secondary, what a slap in the face. She was not sleeping at night, but still lateness (5 minutes in this case) is punishable by detention even in a child struggling as she was. Despite the school being aware of her struggles they mandated that pupils would not be allowed to use school bags that were not the official Harris Academy bag. This bag is too small for her to fit her PE things but yet they DO NOT SUPPLY LOCKERS. Due to my daughter's difficulties she was not able to successfully remember to take her separate PE bag from class to class. She was then disciplined for not having it when needed causing her severe stress leading to further school refusal and anxiety on PE days. We remedied this by purchasing a non-descript light-weight, larger black ruck sack which fit her PE things. The school then refused to allow this and confirmed that pupils without the official Harris bag would be disciplined. The same went for her non-descript black trainers. Sanctions are also placed on students who wear their coats in the corridors, coats which they are forced to carry from lesson to lesson due to their being no lockers. Perhaps the most degrading sanction Harris Academy imposed was that children are not allowed to use the toilet facilities during classes. At the beginning of year 8 the school implemented double periods of one hour and 40 minutes. Can you imagine 12-year-olds being asked sit without a break for one hour and 40 minutes? The only children that would have been allowed a break were those with timeout cards or girls menstruating. This stigmatises SEN pupils and girls. If you are truly trying to avoid discrimination you must give all pupils the option for a timeout. My daughter simply could not attend school at the time of the month for fear of these long lessons where she would be forced to draw attention to herself in order to get some privacy. I was forced to take her to the doctor to get proof of her period but then her absence still went down as unauthorised and I received a threatening letter as a result. There seems to be an agenda that promotes a culture of fear in our schools for both parents and pupils. Unlike at primary there was no WhatsApp group or way for me to contact other parents to find out if their children were having similar difficulties or to unite against discriminative school policy. It has been the most isolating and soul destroying experience. I cannot recommend Harris Academy, Sutton to any parent. I am glad to have found a space to break my silence about the school at last. This school has no regard for the welfare of their students. They simply wish to tick attendance and academic boxes.

Harris and others of their ilk are not nice places, but parents need to choose very carefully. In many areas there is parental choice. Know your child, know their needs, know the school.

As a teacher I refused to work in these sorts of environments, and so I choose to work somewhere that people will thrive.

I suspect, as with privately operated "charter schools" in the US that take over previously struggling public schools, one way these academies achieve their "superb" results is by ensuring that students who would score poorly on exams transfer out. One way is by making things as unpleasant as possible for any student with special needs, but there are more creative methods as well. I know of a charter school in California that had no cafeteria, and therefore served no food on campus.

Guess which students would normally depend on free meals at school? Those of lower socio-economic status, who just coincidentally tend to drag down test scores...especially when they don't get to eat all day.

Yes, there are behavior problems in schools because parents refuse to gaslight their children who are struggling with petty, draconian rules. They should tell them that it's perfectly normal to be punished for carrying a bag without a school logo in order to accommodate items that can't fit into another bag. Or And that most workplaces will prevent you from using the toilet for two hour stretches. And by the way, out there in the real world you'll also be punished for putting your jacket on in a hallway rather than carrying it over your arm.

All of these things are simply natural parts of an education, and not things that 40 other developed countries which also have to deal with funding shortfalls and behavior problems somehow manage to avoid.

"What age are we living in when someone having a period can't access a toilet when needed?"

This was the same at my all-girls school in the mid 1980s, but worse then because nobody talked about periods openly. Toilet restrictions are usually introduced due to vandalism, though I suspect they are not introduced by individuals who have ever suffered from heavy periods themselves.

I have worked in schools like this. It is true that they are too big and too impersonal but the behaviour of many of the children is so bad(and I mean really dangerous) they descend into frightening chaos if they don’t have very clear, strict rules to follow. The toilets are the worst place for really nasty bullying and vandalism which is why they banned during lessons. At break there are staff around to monitor the door.

@SENMa new-build schools don't generally have lockers. The design framework has strict size restrictions so having lockers would reduce the number of classrooms or other spaces. Also, senior teachers who have experienced lockers in other schools know that they are a source of bullying and behaviour issues, as well as hygiene issues. Additionally, it is impossible to ensure that lockers are in the right place for every child. Children are moving around the school, and need their belongings with them, including their coats (which they need for outdoor breaks), so they don't waste time going backwards and forwards to lockers. Schools are crowded places and the flow of movement through corridors needs to be managed efficiently.

I don’t know anything about the school in the OP and so can’t comment on it. But I was always forgetting things in my school in the 1980s however hard I tried to keep track of them, but a humane approach was taken by the teachers. I likely have ADHD and now have a diagnosed son who has both Autism and ADHD.

I think what some pp are not understanding is that children with SEND are so vulnerable in mental health terms. The research shows they are at substantially increased risk of suicide in teen years and beyond. They are also legally disabled which means they are legally entitled to reasonable adjustments. Safeguarding should be the top priority for these children. What is needed for children with SEND is sensible minor changes they need and avoiding excessively harsh discipline.

My ds’s school has given him zero behaviour points this year (Year 7) but lots of guidance. As a result he has settled and is getting better as the year has gone on at remembering his stuff. I’m very impressed by the way his teaching staff have dealt with him.

Children with SEND just can’t meet some behavioural requirements.

The incredibly sad recent news story of the young autistic girl who took her own life because she had received a detention should be making all of us reflect.

I do think some London schools have gone too far on this. There’s a difference between having strict rules and applying them pedantically. In a local school you’re not supposed to touch others’ property which seems an ok rule, but then you realise if your kid picks up a pencil for a friend when they’ve dropped it, they are technically in breach of this rule. Some schools seem to be punishing for good spirited technical infractions like this which is worrying.

I'm having to move house since I suspect my kid is ND but at the same time he has low support needs so his current school won’t support a referral. I think it’s these kids that may be most affected. I’m in an area dominated by one chain. It’s really depressing.

I don't really understand much of your post OP. No, it's not really how I would envisage or design a school but equally I don't understand why your daughter is late or unable to carry a coat. Surely secondary is about learning responsibility? Surely you were aware of the schools policies before she went?

However, I do agree that it is a scandal that these MATs are so unaccountable, that's definitely a national issue.

Glad to hear that your children are doing well. Did I understand correctly that teachers are giving them support in evenings and weekends? In what form? Contacting them? That shouldn't really be expected or encouraged in my opinion. They should be able to switch off and have a life, no wonder fewer people want to do the job.

Yes, it is not reasonable to expect or offer revision classes in the evenings and at weekends. That might be perceived as "nice" and "committed' but the main driver is pressure for results.

I have only once in a decade and a half of teaching been expected to do that. I'll let you guess the name of the employer 😂.

I would not like a school that strict. I prefer no uniforms, kids can leave the building on breaks, ask to go to the toilet when they want etc.
But that doesn't work if it's a massive school with no funding. They clearly have this way to force people to comply and they probably do get good enough exam results from it? If they don't then I totally fail to see how it can't just be a shit school.

My DS went to a similar sounding school. They also used to have daily uniform and equipment inspections.
DS has SEN and though there were some members of staff who tried really hard the whole system didn’t suit DS and eventually broke him.

My DDs school was more based on mutual respect. The behaviour, results and general ethos of the school were much. Better than DSs school.

So so tragic. I’m glad to hear your child’s school have been so helpful. This has been a steep learning curve for me, I am also likely ADHD and in the course of researching on behalf of my AuDHD daughter I have seen that ND kids take punishment very hard and often have rejection sensitive dysphoria which makes them highly sensitive and threatened by criticism and disapproval. Without revealing too much about our case which would reveal my daughters identity, this “threat” response led to an ambulance being called at Harris and one occasion. Does anyone thrive on this kind of stress I ask myself? Maybe the whole system needs to change for the better rather accepting it and expecting kids to adapt to it.

@SENMa ironically you are probably doing the school a favour by starting this thread because it will put off other children with SEN from applying, thereby making their job easier.

The fact is that schools need (and have always needed) rules to run efficiently, but rules don't work for all children. That makes running schools particularly difficult in the current climate of underfunding for SEN placements.

I guess at which point we can only hope that the council implement a school(s) with the right kind of values, training and environment for all pupils including SEN who cannot thrive under the Harris regime 🙏🏻

DD2 starts secondary in September - and her SEN diagnoses manifest in her as absolutely cripplingly bad levels of organisation and executive function (she's left school without shoes on before and simply didn't notice till we spotted her coming out of the building) combined with massive levels of anxiety to follow rules and try to please staff.

It's meant lots of tears at home over the years - thankfully with a very small primary who were always open with us in terms of communication and making tiny reasonable adjustments to meet her needs. She doesn't need to be in a special school - she's academically on a par with her peers and is a bright little kid - just has so much else going on in her brain.

In terms of secondary - what we know is that they will provide her with priority for locker rentals so she has a "base" to store her belongings, a SEN keyworker who will check in on her and initiate any support that might be needed and also be a good line of communication for us in terms of either side updating the other, and we've intentionally picked the smaller, more laid back in terms of things like stupid uniform expectations school than our huge boot camp one around here who throw around detentions like confetti at a wedding. (We know what they'll offer as we've got a child already there). Incidentally the laid back school is now kicking the arse of the boot camp one in terms of league tables, the kids look smarter than the ones in the tightly restricted school - and they're generally happier, less bullying issues, less problems with things like drugs and the kids acting like absolute morons the second restrictions are eased.

There are kids who benefit from the very very zero tolerance approach no doubt (I think it's gone far too bloody far personally) but for kids like DD2 it would be an absolute nightmare and she would be destroyed somewhere like a Harris school. She'd be beautifully behaved - but she would learn absolutely nothing as her entire brain would be focused on remembering to follow all the rules and worrying about the rules - she did similar the year schools returned post-Covid with a million additional rules thrown in - she was so worrying about the rules, she learnt bugger all and became horrifically anxious about it all.

@Perfect28 you might be interested in doing a bit of googling ADHD. I am always on time myself because I’m so scared of being late that I obsess on punctuality, but research does support that many children and adults with ADHD can’t achieve this and there is a fair bit of research into time blindness.

Forgetting things is a huge one for me. My ds with inattentive ADHD will go into a room and literally be unable to remember what he came in for. He loses stuff around his primary constantly. This was a big part of why he’s been given the ADHD diagnosis.

ADHD is both a fascinating and profound disability.

You sounds massively entitled. This is for the most part pretty reasonable when you have to manage hundreds of teenagers and get through all that to actually teach. Our school does also have a school bag design and no lockers but they cope. (I do think the identical bag is insane though as it is both more expensive than other options and the possibility of mix ups is massive, so don’t disagree there). My kids take a carrier bag if they need more stuff. They haven’t died from that yet.

They’re twelve, not two. We’re supposed to be raising independent human beings here remember.

Dont like it, fine, so go for a smaller private school or actually, home school, which is literally the only way you’ll get a totally bespoke way of getting your child taught.

Glad to hear your kids haven’t died from the bag rules at their school. A little common courtesy wouldn’t kill you either.

Sorry but I feel very strongly that there is an increasing expectation from some parents that schools should be bending to fit perfectly round their precious child’s exact needs this days.

There are certainly some adaptations that are absolutely necessary to ensure that all children can access the curriculum better than in our day but expecting perfectly reasonable demands are bent because they dont suit is just entitled. If you dont like it, make a choice to move your child but dont have a tantrum.

I don’t buy into that one at all and believe it should be called out.

Wow, as a teacher and a parent with a ND child I find your tone patronising and disappointing. You know that moving a child from a school isn’t that easy. If you haven’t got anything nice or helpful to say on threads like this best stay away.

@Tiredalwaystired don’t forget that disabled children and adults have a legal right to reasonable adjustments at any school and at work, because they need them.

Sounds like a thorough and nuanced grasp of the issues at hand 👍 Where did you gain your insights? Clinical/ed psychologist career? Children’s mental health charity?

I find that whenever anyone puts their head above the parapet and suggests that the school's behaviour policy is fit for purpose then they get shot down.

It is true that, however difficult the transition may be, parents can vote with their feet and move their dc. If you trust a school to educate your child then you need to trust them. I'm not saying you should tolerate major safeguarding breaches but all schools have their behaviour policies on their website. If your child has SEN then you have options to speak to the SENCO to discuss reasonable adjustments and the schools policy towards them. All this can be done before you start at the school.

OP I am sorry you have had a bad experience but to blanket criticise the behaviour policy of a whole school because it is not working for your DC is not balanced or ok.