Pupil, parent and teacher stories from the South West of England
At primary school our eldest child had always been very quiet and struggled socially, but we were told that they were growing in confidence. But on starting secondary, they quickly became lost under the noise. At parent’s evenings every teacher…
My son started his secondary school in September, and gets sent out of lessons pretty much every day for things like not concentrating and fidgeting. These are ADHD behaviours - he was formally diagnosed towards the end of primary school…
I have an autistic, sensitive son who has been out of school for two years because he doesn't feel safe there and these harsh behaviour policies are a contributing factor. Because while the school accommodated him by ensuring he personally…
My daughter was severely bullied in years 7 and 8, which the school were very slow to act on. When she started self-harming with a certain item of stationery, I informed the school and it was agreed she would no…
My son went to his local secondary school, which was a place that said it had high expectations of all students, and expected all students to be ‘ready to learn’ from the moment they entered the building. The behavioural polices…
The school I taught at for 22 years was very creative, compassionate and family-orientated, but that all changed when we had a new headteacher, whose stance was that we need to ‘crack down’ on certain behaviours and the only way…
I left a school last year where the rules were so strict you’d think it was a youth correctional facility. We were expected to move and work in complete silence during lesson time. Despite the benefits of groups working together,…
We sent our kids to a normal, local school where they were happy. When new management took over, the rules became extreme: kids had to maintain eye contact at all times; fidgeting wasn't allowed and kids were ‘inspected’ each morning…
We sent our children to our local school because after attending an open day, we thought it seemed like a great place for them. When new management came in this changed, and under the rationale of creating 'disruption-free learning' they…