Panorama - Britain's Strictest Schools - 8pm Monday 3/8/26 - BBC1

[TobaccoFlower]

Thought this might be of interest

Womder you have a choice of a different type of school or was it just that (for state school)? I presume not or others fill quickly as children can’t move to another school and are home educated.

Many places in Devon and Cornwall only have 1 Secondary School with very wide catchment areas.

My DD’s went to a very strict state secondary and both came out traumatised. They are in their 20s now and still talk about it. No joy. No nice memories. Just dread. And it didn’t help them reach their potential academically either. They were good kids who lived in total fear and discomfort around angry teachers, uniform, strict (often conflicting) rules and toilet restrictions etc.

No other choice of school. DD gets on ok enough but it’s far from ideal.

We need to get rid of these multi academy trusts (MATs) with no accountability and financial mismanagement. We need national standards of what is considered fair and reasonable discipline. These MATs also have CEOs and numerous marketing, HR, education, regional directors etc all earning £150,000+. When the LEA ran 100+ schools in my local area, they only had one or two people earning this kind of money to run 100 schools. Now these MATs are sucking all the money away from frontline services such as textbooks for the kids, teaching assistants etc.

I have really mixed feelings about this as a teacher. I work in education (not a teacher but used to be) across the south west. Some schools I’ve visited are terrible in terms of behaviour. Children don’t feel safe. I actually visited Launceston a couple of years ago. I only saw a snapshot but to be honest the lessons I observed were very good - kids were behaving and stuff was being learnt. Launceston is in a very deprived area where GCSE outcomes are very low. Cornwall is actually one of the most deprived parts of the UK, despite the picture postcard reputation. I think Athena went too far and didn’t engage the local community enough. But it’s difficult. It’s a nuanced debate.

Not just there, hence my view that school choice is a theory or only for the better off who could choose a fee paying school if they wish.

Exam results are not the only way I think education succeeds.

No child should feel huge anxiety about forgetting a pen or looking out the window.

No child should be isolated for hours for such minor misdemeanours.

Yes the area might be deprived but that's no justification for treating children like robots.

In one month at Launceston college there are 1,000 instances of kids being put in isolation. This is a college of only 1,200-1,400 students!! I think the minimum isolation time was 2 lessons and half the break. That is so much lost teaching time.

GCSE passes went up from 50% to 55%. It's a measly increase that could easily be achieved in humane ways. What they are doing is not working.

Of course the behaviour is good when you go round, the students aren't allowed to speak or move!

I'm so sorry @ButtCheeks, I really hope being shamed on the programme will be a catalyst for change 💛

That's because Michaela is strict but fair and wouldn't make a good documentary for abusive schools like this one. My child attends Michaela.

Me too! I actually thought the programme was going go be about the Michaela school!

I worked in 2 academies in London around 14 years ago. It was horrendous.

The first school would want us to do PE in silence in the hall. They marked you down in lesson observations if a child looked in the wrong direction or you didn’t pick them up on fidgeting so the poor kids would be constantly trying to not move. They terrorised teachers with sacking if not compliant with petty rules. When I left they were installing cameras in classrooms so that you could basically be constantly monitored. One time the head teacher told me I should stop teaching because I said I wanted to be more creative.

The second school was better but I still had senior leadership walking into my class every day, looking through jitters and the onus was on children being very still during lessons.

Now working in a different country I can see how awful it was and feel really bad for the kids. It took me several years to be able to relax again when teaching.

This is what DS's secondary school is like. I think sanctions there are generally more effective because you've done something to deserve it if you get one, not dropped a pen or sneezed or something utterly petty. Kids switch off if they have constant detention for minor things.

I work in child protection and have not watched this, and I do not want to. Our most vulnerable children are being totally failed by the academy model because they are businesses and children needing more support do not fit the mould.

Punishing young people from chaotic homes for not having the right uniform, pens, getting in late late BUT ACTUALLY GETTING THERE when often it is beyond the child's control is abhorrent. I have been in meetings where I have made it very clear, putting a child in isolation who has literally just become a looked after child over the summer holidays and moved from a supportive primary into year 7 it is not in the interest of the young person. A lovely young person who had an exlempary record in her lovely primary and was seperated from her younger siblings. Most adults would be signed off/on sick leave.

Then there are non-english speaking parents (refugees) or parent from GRT background schools refuse to pay for interpreters for and try and piggy pack onto social care meetings rather than arranging and raising issues in education meetings. There is a lot of judgement of parents, which is totally in contrast to the way our amazing primary schools work with children and families.

Our academy secondary schools want every young person on child protection plans because they do not pay into the the early family support services. Our primary schools do and offer amazing early help and family support. The schools thay so not are meant to offer an alternative....yet to see it. Children who clearly need an EHCP, does not happen quickly and until it does every behaviour is reported as a safeguarding risk so has to be managed by area social work teams