Parent of 11 year old, Sunderland
My stories
My School Story
School has crushed my son's mental health. The way lots of schools are run these days, like prisons, surely doesn't benefit anyone except the government who want them to churn out conformist robots who won't question anything and do as they're are told even if it's not right or just.
Not allowing children to pass urine is barbaric. A 30 minute lunch time does not allow for a break. There is no time to socialise. No time to eat and drink as well as visit the toilet so children are having to choose between these basic human rights.
Detentions for making mistakes rather than acknowledging mistakes are how we learn.
School advised 'he's lovely, not the kind of child who needs to worry about detention, he'll probably never get one' but that's all he did, worried. All day every day so he never actually managed to learn.
He was told he'd get a detention because he didn't have a spare green pen. He had a working green pen but that wasn't enough, he didn't have a spare so was told that's a half hour detention. Luckily he found it. But the fear was too much.
Telling children they must 'track the teacher' i.e. always be looking at their face, leaves no room for learning. My son sat for 30 minutes thinking of nothing but tracking because he was so fearful of detention after being 'caught' looking at his pencil on the desk - he told me he didn't learn a thing that lesson.
They had an assembly about red flags in relationships and didn't realise they ticked everyone themselves; controlling, threatening, awful.
Schools are not fit for purpose. They are ruining our children's mental health and lives.
Curriculums are outdated and boring, rite learning is pointless in this day and age. There is no room for growth and expression.
Not allowing children to pass urine is barbaric. A 30 minute lunch time does not allow for a break. There is no time to socialise. No time to eat and drink as well as visit the toilet so children are having to choose between these basic human rights.
Detentions for making mistakes rather than acknowledging mistakes are how we learn.
School advised 'he's lovely, not the kind of child who needs to worry about detention, he'll probably never get one' but that's all he did, worried. All day every day so he never actually managed to learn.
He was told he'd get a detention because he didn't have a spare green pen. He had a working green pen but that wasn't enough, he didn't have a spare so was told that's a half hour detention. Luckily he found it. But the fear was too much.
Telling children they must 'track the teacher' i.e. always be looking at their face, leaves no room for learning. My son sat for 30 minutes thinking of nothing but tracking because he was so fearful of detention after being 'caught' looking at his pencil on the desk - he told me he didn't learn a thing that lesson.
They had an assembly about red flags in relationships and didn't realise they ticked everyone themselves; controlling, threatening, awful.
Schools are not fit for purpose. They are ruining our children's mental health and lives.
Curriculums are outdated and boring, rite learning is pointless in this day and age. There is no room for growth and expression.
What happened next...
Now home educated, we are slowly getting our child back. We're encouraging when mistakes are made and he is therefore actually learning and not just sitting terrified all day. He is sleeping again and isn't crying every morning and night. He is enjoying learning again.
How I think schools could be better.
A complete overhaul. Treating children as adults would want to be treated and not just terrifying them into submission.