Gav calls for Silent Corridors - School Behaviour Squad Assembled

[noblegiraffe]

Gavin Williamson made a speech today praising strict schools that don’t let kids piss about in lessons (you’d think this’d be fairly standard, but, y’know, Dix) and have silent corridors.

A new £10 million behaviour task force is being assembled led by Tom Bennett and will work to tackle this on a national level. Not sure how this will have any more impact than his behaviour report that appeared to make fuck-all difference though.

What would be lovely is if he could say ‘centralised detentions are a non-negotiable to be implemented immediately’. But I suspect not.

NEU are not happy, obvs.

schoolsweek.co.uk/williamson-calls-for-silent-corridors-and-banned-mobiles-to-be-the-norm/

Of course the funding, expertise etc isn't enough. And if I were queen on the world we'd be investing in SEN support as well as behaviour. My point, though, was that better behaviour in schools would improve the situations for all pupils.

IME, mental health of anxious students is far better supported in a calm, purposeful school environment than it is in a school where "low level" disruption and unruly corridor behaviour is the norm. It also doesn't take long to identify those who are not responding to sanctions. It took our school about 3 weeks to suggest adhd assessment for a new yr10 pupil this year. I imagine that for a school with larger class sizes it might take slightly longer, but this particular pupil had gone through a decade of

Sorry, posted too soon.

This kid had gone through a decade of schooling with his difficulties largely largely unnoticed.

And I'm not blaming the teachers, btw. I'm just saying that if the system was different this child could have gotten help much sooner.

It also doesn't take long to identify those who are not responding to sanctions.

Colleagues whose schools have moved to stricter policies have commented on the benefits for pupils with SEN. They said in the first week or so, isolation was full of the usual suspects. Then it dropped massively as kids fell into line and miraculously found that they could, in fact, remember a pen and proper time could be spent with those who were struggling.

Every teacher can tell you about parents who enable their kid’s poor behaviour.

As far as the "quiet corridors" thing goes - I'm a huge fan. The vast majority of children are more able to learn if they are calm rather than hyped up. Letting off steam should be happening at break / lunch / after school

But in schools like Michaela there is no letting off steam as there are rules and teachers monitoring at all times.

Your school sounds really good parrot

My DDs school was calm and well behaved, it's one of the reasons we choose it as she hates noise and disruptive behaviour. She didn't respond to sanctions for being disorganised and she had a lot. But she has diagnoses which would explain why, and a (very badly written) EHCP. But they still gave her sanctions. I never understand the reasoning behind it, apart from a complete lack of understanding.
I can only assume hers was a particularly bad school, but her experience wasn't unique, as I speak to lots of parents with similar issues.

It took our school about 3 weeks to suggest adhd assessment for a new yr10 pupil this year. I imagine that for a school with larger class sizes it might take slightly longer, but this particular pupil had gone through a decade

This sounds really patronising

I have a child with ADHD

You don’t think the parent knows that the child is ADHD. Have you as a parent tried getting your child tested for dyslexia or ADD or ADHD or anything through a school.

Yes you noticed and got a child tested but don’t think you were the first to notice.

The previous schools most likely knew but as far as they were concerned it was up to the next school to test. Your school decided to pick up the bill.

Only when he went to college at 16 to learn a trade did people actually take notice of ds’s education and actually see how he has been failed over and over again through out primary, junior and secondary schools.

The thing to be proud of in your school is that you got this child tested not that you were the first to notice he had ADHD

I think its possible for ADHD to go undetected until demands exceed coping strategies, especially the more inattentive type and especially in girls.

Same with autism in girls, often no one realised until their teenagers and they have a mental health crisis.

I felt bad for missing autism in my DD. It was a teachers who suggested it at first and I'm forever grateful to her.

I think what bothers me the most about some of the replies is the assumption that we don't understand.

Trust me, I do understand about SEN,trauma,attachment,living in poverty etc. Understanding doesn't mean having low standards, not expecting good behaviour or being against strict behaviour policies.

Understanding means that when I get sworn at, things thrown at me, hit, having to defend another child with my own body, having to remove another or spending hours fixing a display/classroom that took ages to put right in the first place I don't take it personally. Understanding means that I don't hold a grudge or get angry(at children, SLT is another issue) , that I'm ready with a smile or a hug if needed when it's needed, that I can reassure and comfort a child coming off a meltdown despite bruises forming on me, that I can sit down with them when they're ready and calmly help them get the work done.

And what grates the most is that half of the outbursts and meltdowns would be avoided by the other children (NT or not) behaving at bare minimum standards , sit in their seats and not being vile to each other .

I didn't mean to sound patronising, but tbh you don't know what you are talking about in this case. The parents had never considered potential ADHD. So yes, the input from my school massively helped that particular child. (Not me personally, btw, I was barely involved.)

There is a lot of what my school is able to do due to having money (eg small class sizes so you really know the kids), but some is also down to a properly implemented behaviour policy (eg so little disruption that it is really noticeable when a child isn't able to engage in focussed work).

I really wouldn't want to work somewhere like michaela, and I suspect it wouldn't suit most children. But I actually would have loved it as a teen, and it does work for those who attend.

I think to say we don't understand when we teach the whole range and meet, on a daily basis, people form all walks of life, is extraordinarily patronising. Nut it is a favourite mined seam on MN that teachers know nothing of life. Schools are absolutely a microcosm of the real world.

Parents of kids with SEN should be really concerned about poor behaviour driving teachers out of the profession. One of the things that really helps teachers understand a wide range of kids with SEN is experience, and experience is something that is being lost with the large teacher turnover.

Yes but that STILL doesn't mean zero tolerance behaviour policies are the only answer.

I don't think any of us is saying it is. It is one answer. Others are available, although maybe not many that have so plainly worked if the aim of education is to improve results in schools.

The taskforce has presumably been set up to investigate and find out what does work, in different settings for different children , and to provide advice and guidance accordingly.

I’ll repeat this for the hard of reading, from upthread

“Tom Bennett who is leading this behaviour group isn’t a zero tolerance fan.”

Ok that's reassuring piggy

What's the difference between zero tolerance and sanctions for every little thing, including things like slouching, and forgetting stuff? Because that's what the education secretary is calling for, and I honestly dont understand the difference?

Although worrying that someone who has actually been caught giving out illegal exclusions is one of the "experts"

From what I read about these ‘illegal exclusions’, what actually happened was that these kids were supposed to go to internal isolation but the parents kicked off and didn’t want the kids to go to isolation so it was agreed that the parents would keep them at home rather than serve their isolation.

The isolation wouldn’t have been recorded as an exclusion, so the parent keeping the kid at home wasn’t recorded as an exclusion.

I’m a bit meh about that, tbh.

Really? Really?

You are complaining about pupil behaviour, but you think it's ok for teachers to break the law? Rightio.

The school wasn’t illegally sending kids home, the parents were keeping the kids at home to avoid isolation.

Now parents don’t have that option and the kids would be marked as unauthorised absence and have to do isolation on their return.

It was counted as an illegal exclusion noble however you try to justify it.

Zero tolerance is just a tag that has been given to the approach. it's not what the schools themselves call it. They use the term 'warm strict' so I hear.

There is a difference between not accepting things as the norm and actively sanctioning them.

I always pick up on slouching (because you cannot write properly and slouch, and it is generally passive aggressive, and usually a sign of inattention). Doesn't mean I shout, issue a demerit (whatever that is) or a detention. I juts ask the child to sit up.

It’s not some sort of dodgy off-rolling gig, it was clearly done to pacify parents who couldn’t bear the thought of their kid in isolation.

Now those parents will have to choose between isolation and an exclusion on their kid’s record.

Like I said, meh.