What do I do with a home school book?

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I've just seen a home school book which the teachers of my DS (who is in yr 2) have been writing in. There are reports of DS hurting other children, hitting teachers, not listening, throwing chairs, running around the classroom, hiding under the table, needing to be taken out of the classroom to calm down, getting upset and wound up by other children.

They give him Deep Pressure activities and the opportunity to 'walk it off' in the corridor. It looks like he is upset or unsettled about 50% of the time but then he settles down to work when he has not been sent to the head teacher or the class next door.

He does cry and he shouts loudly, even if we're going for a calm peaceful walk in the woods, but equally he can play outside quietly and calmly.

It is really stressful when the teachers tell me bad things have happened in the day, so I'm glad enough they haven't been calling me and they obviously intended me to read these records every day but DS hasn't been putting them in his book bag and bringing it home. DS does appear to find school really difficult. He has been diagnosed with ADHD.

He is starting to really get the hang of independent writing, he can read familiar books if I read them to him once, and his basic maths seems to be taking off finally. What am I supposed to do about this home school book? Basically if he gets upset over nothing at home eg we're going for a walk and he gets moany and whingy and I know I've not done anything to upset him then I can deal with it and tell him to be reasonable eg if you want me to wait for you, then you have to walk to me and not stop. It is obviously difficult for the school to deal with him with 29 other children in the room. Any ideas or tips?

I think DS is getting the hang of school, its going to be good for him, but does he have to be this unhappy every week?

Home school books are great when used correctly. Unfortunately yours isn't and I felt very sad reading your status.
These books are to inform with useful information. They are for you to write in too. School and you write in it info that may help them understand any behaviour difficulties ie joe had a bad nights sleep last night so might not engage as well today. Carl doesn't like being in the middle of the children in assembly, we now let him sit on a chair at the edge with a lsa and this is working.
It should contain positive info which you can praise your child about.
It must not contain negative info. Eg joe hit a child - shouted out in class etc etc.
all this info does is upset you. You can't do anything about it and will cause you a lot of stress.
When a child does a behaviour the school should put a stratagy in place to deal with it. You should have a meeting where they tell you about their stratagies. They then get on and implement them without daily negative reports.
If they say his behaviour is difficult continuously it means they are failing him - not that your DS is bad !
They must not label the days either as in today was a good day, Paul had a difficult day. When they don't write a good day you will worry its a bad day.
You could do with a meeting with the school. Be strong with them. Tell them that when you just get negative info you can do nothing about it just makes you feel awful. Also explain how a book should be used. Discuss with them why they cannot deal with your DS.
Also they should put his book in his bag. Your DS prob won't put it in as he knows it's negative.
Long answer sorry. But I really felt for you.

I used ours to input positive information. All the stuff my DC was able to do, everything that showed progression. It more than balanced out anything negative, because I could write for pages like this. They gave up with negative reporting in the end (and the book).

Thanks for the reply. Well I just didn't know what to do with it, but previously when I've been told about stuff that's gone wrong in the day I've been very upset, I think this book was for me because DS gets picked up by a childminder. I can see they might want to record this stuff, as they'll be applying for a statement for him. I feel sorry for DS. Actually he sounds quite angry with the school, teachers and pupils, I suppose because he finds it all difficult in the classroom: listening, sitting still, writing and then people are telling him what to do. I can understand the entries in the book which say he was under the table. Does this all sound consistent with ADHD?

The thing is they should be making steps to meet his needs now! regardless of a Statement.

Since the new SEN funding reform schools are expected to fund the first £6k if additional support, per child with additional needs, before Top up Funding is applied for to resource the support for High Level needs. 6k for example could buy 16 hours of exclusive 1 to 1 support.

So the support should start now. It sounds like they are giving some support, with the 'walking it off' but still him being upset 50% of the time sounds like a lot. Perhaps there are more reasonable adjustments they can make to make his time at school less stressful. How much of his day consists of Deep Pressure activities?

Maybe you could use the book to help them. Use it to portray the circumstances in which he is calm and happy in, how you successfully manage behaviour.

Yes they need to record what happens as evidence but not in this book.
A home school book should be used with all children with special needs. The problem is the teachers are not taught how to use them correctly.

Literally the book is not for me to write in, they fill in the lessons of the day on the table on the paper, there is no more space for me to write, I obviously need another meeting with the school, I think they are going to start using more movement breaks but this is worse than I thought. I didn't think in year 2 he would be hurting children and adults and throwing chairs.

I think you would be right to have a meeting. What the book shows is that all have his needs are not being met by the school, which needs discussion.

What could be useful is to bear in mind successful strategies you use at home to manage behaviour at home, write these down and address them in a letter to them, along with your concerns. Give this letter to them before the meeting so they have had time to consider how they could employ more successful strategies, within school, before the meeting takes place. There will be ways they can manage his behaviour more effectively.

As far as what the school should be able to provide your child with, these people have useful advice,

www.ipsea.org.uk