Parent, Birmingham
My stories
My School Story
Our child went to nursery which was attached to our local primary school. While there, they had a really lovely teacher and enjoyed going, though they still found it challenging in some ways. The teacher said she thought they would struggle going into Reception, and talked to the SENCO at the school about it.
Sadly the SENCO was unable to get the other staff to accept her recommendations for support for our child, and anything she tried to put in place was not stuck to. The class teacher was vile and our child ended up traumatised. We removed them after just two terms, as they were having constant nightmares and the lack of sleep was affecting their health, and all of us.
When we removed them from school they were too frightened to draw anything, to use scissors, to write, or to read aloud in case it was wrong. They were convinced that they were bad at almost everything. Before they went they were a happy child who loved drawing and would have a go at most things. They were five years old, and suicidal. I can't even tell you how horrific it is as a parent to hear your 5 year old child say that they want to die.
It turned out that the class teacher was complained about by at least two other parents the year before we were there, there were at least two complaints in our year, and the following year she presided over a very serious incident and there were even more complaints. I don't know how she was allowed to continue teaching.
Sadly the SENCO was unable to get the other staff to accept her recommendations for support for our child, and anything she tried to put in place was not stuck to. The class teacher was vile and our child ended up traumatised. We removed them after just two terms, as they were having constant nightmares and the lack of sleep was affecting their health, and all of us.
When we removed them from school they were too frightened to draw anything, to use scissors, to write, or to read aloud in case it was wrong. They were convinced that they were bad at almost everything. Before they went they were a happy child who loved drawing and would have a go at most things. They were five years old, and suicidal. I can't even tell you how horrific it is as a parent to hear your 5 year old child say that they want to die.
It turned out that the class teacher was complained about by at least two other parents the year before we were there, there were at least two complaints in our year, and the following year she presided over a very serious incident and there were even more complaints. I don't know how she was allowed to continue teaching.
What happened next...
We home educated after removing our child from school age 5, having never really considered it before. It was a steep learning curve for all of us, but play led learning really worked for us up to the age of about 8, when we started to introduce more formal learning. At that stage despite not having done any formal schooling our kid was ahead of their peers in school.
How I think schools could be better.
- Remove rules which override bodily autonomy such as having to ask permission to get water or to use the toilet and let children eat when they are hungry.
- Reduce class sizes to a maximum of 15 per teacher in primary and 20 in secondary.
- Make any uniform requirements very broad so as encompass sensory issues.
- Use play led learning in early years.
- Outdoors and indoors activities should be available all day.
- Scrap the national curriculum and SATS
- Offer a wider range of assessment types for qualifications to suit different children's needs.
- Offer a wider range of activities including mechanical and hands on type learning from the start for kids who are more practical and less academic.
- More creative subjects, and more focus on process and less on outcomes.
- Relational approaches over behavioural ones, remove all punishment and reward systems.
- Give kids a say in how schools are run so that they are invested in it rather than alienated
- Proper safeguarding - take complaints about teachers far more seriously and actively weed out dangerous teachers, schools do a vast amount of harm and it's not even acknowledged at the moment
- All teaching staff to be trained in supporting diverse abilities and learning styles
- Bullying by teachers or pupils to be taken far more seriously and both bully and bullied person to be offered proper support. The bullied person to be prioritised in any action taken.
- Address ableism, racism and sexism both in the taught matter and culture
- Have more professionals available in school such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists, etc.
- Reduce class sizes to a maximum of 15 per teacher in primary and 20 in secondary.
- Make any uniform requirements very broad so as encompass sensory issues.
- Use play led learning in early years.
- Outdoors and indoors activities should be available all day.
- Scrap the national curriculum and SATS
- Offer a wider range of assessment types for qualifications to suit different children's needs.
- Offer a wider range of activities including mechanical and hands on type learning from the start for kids who are more practical and less academic.
- More creative subjects, and more focus on process and less on outcomes.
- Relational approaches over behavioural ones, remove all punishment and reward systems.
- Give kids a say in how schools are run so that they are invested in it rather than alienated
- Proper safeguarding - take complaints about teachers far more seriously and actively weed out dangerous teachers, schools do a vast amount of harm and it's not even acknowledged at the moment
- All teaching staff to be trained in supporting diverse abilities and learning styles
- Bullying by teachers or pupils to be taken far more seriously and both bully and bullied person to be offered proper support. The bullied person to be prioritised in any action taken.
- Address ableism, racism and sexism both in the taught matter and culture
- Have more professionals available in school such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists, etc.