School - BBC 2 - 9 pm

[HollowTalk]

Anyone watching?

I'm watching.

Just looked for a thread as I couldn't believe the mother's attitude.

I'm watching. Bit surprised that if Joe is changing medication for disability and that is contributing to bad behaviour he is not off sick rather than excluded.

Agree with Wow about mothers attitude

She's laughing and supporting him appears to be letting him do whatever he wants?

the ready to learn room made my skin crawl tbh, my School used put you in isolation for the day for having the wrong shoes on for the ADHD kids it must be torture

How does one school which is RI get £100000 for Ready to Learn, whilst Marlwood which is Special Measures, gets nowhere near the same level of support? Crap academy management - the whole point of academies was to ensure that they had the financial flexibility to support schools that needed it.

That said, the Mangotsfield head is the only one who appears vaguely competent.

I meant competent heads, most of the teachers come across well.

I disagree with a lot of the things the teachers say and do. I don’t think they all have enough experience for the roles they have. This is no surprise given the chronic teacher shortage. They have a very tough job in that school with an academy trust that imo doesn’t really seem to care.

Sitting on my hands here, but I'll just say I think running Thrive alongside Ready to Learn is an Orwellian nightmare.

i like the lady she seems to have a good head on her shoulders

Urgh they're all so bloody soft. 'We really want to help you' etc etc instead of telling them to sort themselves out! Ridiculous

I'm a big believer in organisational culture coming from the top down. That academy chief exec has zero passion for education, he is a walking spreadsheet. Yes they have to manage the academy finances but he has no ability to enthuse and motivate staff or pupils.

I'm just watching the latest episode now.

Clio the assistant head seems to have her head screwed on. I really like her. The most competent appearing one featured so far.

I cannot believe joes mum. Laughing Like that it's not funny.

He shouldn't he in school while they are sorting the medication.

Why the hell is he being rewarded with computer games. How many kids would fuck about if they could go home to play fortnite. Hardly an incentive to behave is it. Adhd or no adhd.

The parents are doing these kids no favours at all.

I like how mr spent spoke to the kids . That girl with the short blonde hair talking about the card and her brother. Good suggestion.

It was nice to see the quiet well behaved kids who want to work spoken to and listened too. They aren so often the ones over looked.

I have mixed feelings about the RTL. Seems good for the majority of the kids . It's enabling the chikdren to finally have a class that's not disrupted.

I realise it won't fit the chikdren with additional needs BUT I think it's helping to filter out the kids who are just being twits. Leaving them witg the chikdren who have genuine needs and perhaps being able to work towards helping them rather than that help diluted by people who are just taking the piss

One other thing i was wondering was after seeing ella with the bottle of coke. Just how kids are meant to behave etc When jacked up on caffeine and sugar.

I don't think fizzy stuff should be sold on schools and personally I quite like the cashless system where you can see what they buy, there's a set limit, and it means they can't buy crap on way to and from school. It can't help the situation if they are attending full of junk.

And I was very worried about the toilets. Immediately thought of how the girls could deal with periods when all but one toilet was locked even though it was a small group or even just one boy responsible.

That was unfair

I’m a teacher. All so familiar I want to cry. Actually- did cry today. I give up.

Curriculum changes must be making it so much harder for students with issues such as ADHD. I taught a subject favoured by Gove, and in the last couple of years before I finished, GCSE groups were getting struggling, disinterested students shoved in who could no longer do more practical subjects such as construction or vehicle maintainence where they fared much better. This alongside continuing to teach high achieving students in the same class plus the increased numbers per class.

The ready to learn system isn't vastly different to other schools that I've worked in other than fewer chances, which longer term seemed to cut out a lot of low level petty behaviour from a broad section of the school. It's not helping students with deeper issues though, and the smaller school (Marlwood?) just didn't have the resourcing to manage it effectively. I think some students need a space where they can have a burst of safely burning off energy to help them regain focus rather than more time of sitting still and quiet.

I doubt very much that the senior staff on the schools/ trust don't care. They've been trusting and open enough to let the cameras in on some very difficult moments. They are just so consumed with how much resourcing is not avaliable. There simply isn't the means to indulge idealism.

I'm not regretting leaving the profession in order to support my own DCs through their early years at school (DS1 potential SN, copes well in school, needs rest and support at home, simply couldn't meet his needs and put enough into the current demands from teachers.)

The ready to learn system isn't vastly different to other schools that I've worked in other than fewer chances, which longer term seemed to cut out a lot of low level petty behaviour from a broad section of the school. It's not helping students with deeper issues though, and the smaller school (Marlwood?) just didn't have the resourcing to manage it effectively

There seemed to be about 4 kids on the class in marlwood

They were told there was no money then it turns out there was enough to invest in a system that basically meant in that school every kid was out of the class.

What's the deal with these managed moves? Why doesn't that appear to be an option for marlwood?

Problem with managed moves is UNLESS the move is accompanied by additional support then you are simply passing the problem on. I guess it may work if one of the causes of the behaviour is a bad mix of children as the peer group gets separated. If the cause is SEN then unless the new school can do something different in terms of support then it is doomed to failure. ds1's lasted all of three weeks!

Yes I did think it seemed kind if pointless really.

In the cases of wet weekend parents who didn't take the behaviour or medication situation seriously then nothing would change where ever they went.

In terms of supoort well it seemed kinda cruel to send them window here else to get it then have them come right back to where they started.

You cant give something then take it away. It's cruel

Giles i has pretty much agree with you. I'm an LSA who has worked with various SEN children and i was thinking I'd like to work with Clio!
What jumps out at me watching this documentary are the small things that children would never get away with at secondary schools in my immediate area. The respect for uniform is dreadful. I know this is controversial on MN but I believe if you're going to have a uniform, do it properly. I also can't believe any school would allow a child to have a fizzy drink never mind a caffeinated one.
Ds2's school drifted slightly when his HT sadly took sick leave.The new HT implemented a crackdown on low level bad behaviour ie uniform, punctuality etc. They also got very tough on persistent bad behaviour through isolation and exclusions. Ds2 complained incessantly about how 'uptight' the school was but last week he conceded behaviour had improved significantly and he liked it that way. The only negative he said was that pupils who turned their behaviour around didn't get enough recognition. I think often teachers forget to reward good behaviour. As an LSA, that's my weapon of choice!

I hope you dont mind me asking a question miss

And please , I hope I can phrase this in such a way where its not meant as negatively as it will probably sound.

But I think the most disturbing thing for me across the board in all the episodes so far, was the disproportionate number of girls who appeared to be "air heads " for wabt of a better word.

Now we know this isn't true. In fact it's so not true that the whole GCSE reform has been done in such a way to try and prevent the girls continuing to out perform the boys.

We also know that girls are used more frequently for buffer zones

Girls schools also produce really good results . So we know, girls are smart . We know they work hard. So why is it the majority of the girls featured did not give that impression.

Is it a defence mechanism? Do they think.of they dumb themselves down they won't be used as much.in classroom.behaviour management strategys? Is this the long term effects of stereotyping in action?

And equally, it broke my heart to see those boys in the politics club. Smart, articulate, seemed to be desperately trying to stay "safe" in their group bubble, appalled and confused at the state of play in the years below them.

Again we know boys school produce good results and good behaviour . Not all the boys are like Packs of animals that were shown. It has to be a result of the stereotyping doesn't it?

I mean every one of those teachers went above and beyond. They seemed to really genuinely care about every child. They were in tears ffs at just how little they could do vs what they really wanted to show to do.

Sorry it probably sounds alot worse than I mean it to. Alot of those kids were absolute credits to the school and to the parents and themselves.

It was just something I noticed that was bugging me.

I've found over the years that both girls and boys dumb themselves down, possibly because they think they'll be accused of being a nerd or they just want to look cool. It does seem to be judged more harshly when a girl does it.

I guess I lucked out in many ways. I wasn't part of the in crowd. So I wasnt fighting to be "cool"

I live in a grammar school area though so the trade off was obviously that the smartest kids were siphoned off. Meant I could be in the top sets without really trying that hard. It's very hard to stay focussed when you can be in top sets with little effort. There were obviously alot if kids far smarter than me but I knew i couldn't join them and I was in the top sets so why bother. If that makes sense.

It's such a shame it's not the done thing to be seen as clever. These people you are seeking to impress you wont ever see again....

I think the one thing it left me with was that I find it easier to settle for being ok . I wish I'd have had a bit more inventive to try harder. I may have gained the confidence In myself and my abilities that I still lack to this day.

I know schools have always had their ups and downs but I still don't recognise what I see on the tv. It's all about survival and making sure you you fit in.

I'm.nkt sure how one would go abkut returning the focus to actual work and taking work seriously

It all just made me wanna go down there and scream at them that you are far better than you are making yourself out to be.

And that they need to stick two fingers up at the people who don't seen to think they are capable if any more than shocking behaviour and show us what you can actually do.