Parent, UK
My stories
My School Story
My son cried heart wrenching sobs at bedtime. Each and every night. But according to school "he was fine". Of course they thought he was fine - he masked. School is not his safe place. He is forced to go because the government dictates it.
I asked the teacher if he could be Dyslexic. This expert in education shrugged and said he didn't know enough about Dyslexia to comment.
We took my son for a private assessment in the summer holidays. He is Dyslexic. The irony is, the kid who "feels so dumb" is according to his Dyslexia assessment, highly intelligent. He returned to school full of hope that now they knew "what was wrong" with him, things would improve. SEN and class teacher couldn't meet with us until 4th October. 28 days after he returned to school.
Nothing changed after we had seen them. My son sunk lower and lower. He hated handing in work to be told "wrong, do it again" but he didn't know what was wrong or how to do it correctly. Rather than do the work again and risk a 2nd humiliation in front of the class he would sit and chew the skin off his fingers, counting down the seconds to home time. To his safe place.
I have now deregistered him and we are starting from basics. With love and support he will flourish. But not in this school system.
I asked the teacher if he could be Dyslexic. This expert in education shrugged and said he didn't know enough about Dyslexia to comment.
We took my son for a private assessment in the summer holidays. He is Dyslexic. The irony is, the kid who "feels so dumb" is according to his Dyslexia assessment, highly intelligent. He returned to school full of hope that now they knew "what was wrong" with him, things would improve. SEN and class teacher couldn't meet with us until 4th October. 28 days after he returned to school.
Nothing changed after we had seen them. My son sunk lower and lower. He hated handing in work to be told "wrong, do it again" but he didn't know what was wrong or how to do it correctly. Rather than do the work again and risk a 2nd humiliation in front of the class he would sit and chew the skin off his fingers, counting down the seconds to home time. To his safe place.
I have now deregistered him and we are starting from basics. With love and support he will flourish. But not in this school system.
My Home Ed Story
He is learning that "wrong" isn't bad. Great things and wonderful learnings come from mistakes.
He is learning that he isn't dumb and has an awful lot to offer the world.
He is learning that he isn't dumb and has an awful lot to offer the world.
How I think schools could be better.
More movement, more outdoor learning, less tick box exercises for the teachers that leaves them little time for students.