Is anyone going to watch Dispatches?

[Thunderduck]

It's about disruptive behaviour in the classroom.

Yes, I saw it. We have nurture group at my school already. The sort of disruptive behaviour shown at the beginning of the programme is a daily occurrence in my class from at least 3 children.

Anyone else watch it?

I love the nurture room idea. Surely it should be funded by the LEA? It benefits everyone in the long term.

It was very touching when the children were making progress and were proud of their achievements.

Ours is funded for 3 years by the LEA - I presume because we have such high levels of challenging behaviour in the school. (Don't exactly know because I'm new to the school).

I think it varies from one LEA to another.

I probably shouldn't expect much of most LEAs as I know parents often struggle to get anything from them, particuarly parents who have children with special needs.

However I'd like to see all LEAs fund this, it'd make such a difference to the students who need the room, their teachers, parents and the other students.

It does make a huge difference Thunderduck. It gives children who have had incredibly chaotic and difficult early experiences the chance to spend time in a small group and build relationships of trust with other children and adults. Without it, at least 4 children in my school in years 1 and 2 would be on part time placements (ie. an hour or two a day), or regular temporary exclusions. It also allows me to get on and teach the other children in the class. Our nurture group runs for mornings only, so afternoons are a bit hairy in the classroom

i didn't watch it, but how on earth did they get the children's permission to film them?

There were a few children whose identities had been hidden, but the main children featured had obviously had permission given. Their parents were featured too. All the children showed progress over time, which helped I suppose, but the parents wouldn't have known that when they gave permission. It was filmed over 7 months.

15 minutes of fame perhaps? Or hopefully, because the parents thought it might help other parents in the same boat.

having met determined tv researchers i should think that none of the participants had a real idea what they were getting in to.

was their situation and journey really worthwhile being put on this programme for?

i do seem to have a sanctimonious plug up my arse but i hate the way 'documentaries' exploit vulnerable people.

Actually, it was very interesting as it raised the issue of the increasing numbers of children with challenging behaviour in mainstream education, the fact that there are tried and tested early interventions to support these children, and the fact that the funding is not available to pay for them.

I agree with you in general fishie about the exploitation of vunerable people, but I actually think this documentary was quite balanced and talked about the success the schools and other services had when they worked together with parents, rather than blaming them.

Celia 2. I videoed it too! I was really interested in gauging (sp) what they considered to to be "challenging behaviour" and seeing how it compared with my school. We just seem to have such a huge number of children with extreme behaviour - throwing, kicking, refusing, shouting, climbing on furniture, throwing furniture, disrupting etc. etc. that we seem to be fire fighting at the moment. The trouble is that we have low numbers in each class (although that is turning around in Foundation and KS1), so whenever a child is excluded elsewhere in the county, they get sent to us!