There is a Chinese curse. It says “may you live in interesting times”. That is certainly true of our current times. Wars, cost of living, Trump and Johnson playing with our democracies, pandemic, Brexsh*t. On top of all this we have chaos in our car industry and also in our airports. Just to round things off we also have a record breaking heatwave.
I live with the consequences of cancer and the effects of treatment. It makes me look at things differently. I have four adorable grandchildren and I look at the world through their eyes. I was at each of their births and held them when they were just a few minutes old. It was such a joy to sing to them as I welcomed them to the world. I told them what a wonderful world it was and that they will always be loved.
Before my bone marrow transplant I worked in secondary schools. One of the amazing facts that blew my mind was that children were being educated for jobs that didn’t yet exist, such was the changing and developing pace of technology in employment. I worked in two very different schools. One was an outstanding school in inner London amongst some of the biggest council estates in the country. The deprivation and gang culture of Elephant Castle and Bermondsey were rife in the community. In the school the young people were met with love and respect and they responded well to it. There was a very well resourced pastoral care team. Discipline was firm but fair. All mobile phones had to be handed in before school and collected after. If a student was found with a phone it was confiscated till a parent came and. collected it. If a detention was set the teacher that set it and a member of the senior team would meet with that student and talk about what happened. The young people responded well to this all round package of academic excellence and care. Behaviour was not an issue in this school.
My next school was in Kent. This time an academy chain took over a previously failing school. Some of the behaviour was problematic. Some staff and some students couldn’t really be bothered.
I was asked to be part of the team to change the ethos of the school. The young people flocked to my office as word got out that I could be trusted. Some big and angry boys would come to me having punched holes in walls just so I could help them calm down and give them a much needed hug. Girls would also come telling me of chaotic home lives and various teenage traumas.
Alongside changing the ethos, there was also a new school to be built. I decided on the final spec for my chapel. It was situated right over the entrance to the school. When the students were asked in a questionnaire what they thought of the chapel, one student said “Its like the beating heart of the school” The head teacher endorsed that observation. We had a successful Autism Resource Centre, there were student support workers. There were lots of teaching assistants. Alongside this there was a fantastic SEND department, a counsellor, a careers officer, specialist safeguarding officer. This was all under the banner of a well run inclusion department
On one occasion a student came to me for our usual chat. Her dad had died and she needed extra support. Her mum was on benefits and there were other children. As she went to leave she said to me “I didn’t have any dinner last night” I asked if she was in trouble with her mum. She said no but her mum had been sanctioned by the Benefits Agency and they didn’t have any food. I asked the student to come back to me at the end of school as there was something Important to do. She came to me very quizzically and I told her I was giving her a lift home. I then pulled out 3 bags of food. She was a bit scared and said mum had told her not to say anything or else social services would take the children. I reassured the student and said it was our secret. I explained that my work was confidential.
When I got to the house there were sheets up at the windows and no carpet on the floor. I explained to mum that my role was very confidential and no one else would know about the donation. I asked her to contact me if there was any thing she needed in future.
The student kept coming to me and then I arranged a referral to a fantastic child bereavement charity. They would take young people six months after their bereavement and do a two day workshop. Mum didn’t have a car or the confidence to do the parenting aspect of coming at the end and hearing and seeing what they’d been doing over there 2 day workshop. She asked me if I would take her daughter to a fro each day as it was a few miles away and not served well by public transport. I spoke to the head who gave me permission. That workshop was so beneficial for that young person. She was so different after and did well for the rest of her schooling. It was all these small acts of kindness that made such a difference.
I lay this all before you because I want to show the contrast between what I did up to 5 short years ago and the lived experience of watching my wonderful grandchildren suffer from draconian behaviour policies, poor teaching where one size fits all, lack of pastoral care and support and a very inflexible and harsh system. This has totally destroyed their love of learning. My eldest grandchild is 18. He is a very smart cookie. He got 7,8 and 9s for his GCSEs. He refused to stay in the school any longer and chose himself to enrol in a good Local Authority school for his A levels.
He said the teaching was much more thorough in the new school and they finished the curriculum before the end of term and had plenty of time to revise. In the previous academy school he was tested on things that he hadn’t been taught because they ran out of time and actually failed to complete the curriculum before his GCSE’s.
My next grandchild has some special needs but is very private. His image is important to him and he is quite sensitive. He likes to fit in and go undetected. Unfortunately he was involved in a horrible prank in the playground. He didn’t want to go back into his lessons because he was traumatised and humiliated. He was out of lessons for 4 months. In the end I had to make a complaint to the local authority. They stepped in and we moved him to another Local Authority school. My daughter gave this school the same info as she gave the previous school. He was at the previous school 4 years and no phone calls home of concern. Within weeks of starting the new school staff were in touch with my daughter about some concerns over his concentration. They got him through his GCSEs which was amazing. He is not academically made but is in no way stupid. He should get enough qualifications to take him into college or an apprenticeship for an electrician.
My next grandchild is wired very differently from his brothers. They are fairly quiet and reserved. He is not. He has a very strong sense of justice and will stick up for himself and others. The school have a policy of no dissent. As he answers back he gets in trouble. He often has detentions and ends up in the isolation room if he fails to comply. If he is caught doing something he shouldn’t, he doesn’t argue back and takes his punishment. In the isolation area that they call DFL distraction free learning, he will be there for 6 hours with poor quality worksheets and not all the subjects either. At one point he had a good run and wasn’t in DFL. One of his core subject teachers complimented him on how much he had improved since not being in DFL so much. Just that fact alone shows that DFL doesn’t work and in fact detracts from students learning. He is not a bad kid. At home he is a dream. He is kind and considerate and very funny and friendly. I know he will go far despite the bad school system he is the victim of.
My professional experience of many many years of working in trauma and deprivation tells me that silencing children is dangerous. Abuse occurs in silence. Students have to be able to express themselves. If he was allowed to make his point, he would settle down and get on with it. Just like at work. Sometimes we have to say to colleagues, “I disagree, I don’t think you have the full picture” That’s all he wants. Just for things to be seen from his viewpoint.
My final grandchild is in a state school. She loves it. They are always doing innovative things and the children have fun. Learning should be fun because when it is, you learn more. One day I asked her how school was. As quick as a flash she said “I didn’t do too well” I asked her what she meant and had she had a hard test? She replied “I obviously didn’t learn enough cause I have to go back tomorrow!” Her humour and cheekiness show how comfortable she is with her school. They didn’t have to go in yesterday because of the heat but she went anyway as the school was open. I feel dreadful that I wasn’t able to do enough to keep my older grandchildren's love of learning alive.
Today is the last day of the academic year there are often high spirits as the young people look forward to a long summer in front of them. When I worked in both my previous schools the final assembly had a light and celebratory feel. All were happy to be finishing staff and students alike. Today my grandson told me that his cohort won the chocolates for having the most points. Everyone was cheering and whooping. I know that when students respond like that it can be very loud. I always took the whole school assembly at the end of each term. I would let the kids let off steam then get them to hush and they always did. I’m small and could be seen as a pushover as most kids were bigger than me. That never happened because they respected me. When working in schools it’s vital that you learn how to take the heat out of situations. Your actions as the adult dictate whether the situation escalates or calms down. All teachers and youth workers have to have this emotional intelligence so as not to inflame a situation. In the assembly today when my grandson and his friend were clapping along with everyone else the two of them were singled out. They were told they were being disruptive and interrupting the assembly. As mentioned earlier, this school has a no dissent policy, these two were astounded as they were doing the same as everyone else. The girl tried to explain. In response the teacher at the back started shouting. His actions disturbed the assembly. He yelled at the girl to get out. I know this child. She is a good kid. Never a problem. She is bright, does her homework and is a really nice and friendly student. It makes it all the more astounding that she was ordered out of the assembly. Does that sound like it was well handled? Sometimes I just despair. To continue to make the situation worse, this teacher phoned the girls mum and said my grandson was a bad influence on her. How can that be as he complied and didn’t argue and was left in the assembly. Sometimes I just have to shake my head in disbelief.
When United Learning Trust took over control of the school they promised many things. They said they had fantastic SEND provision and were concerned for the whole child’s rounded education. They said they had no plans for changing things. The rot started after the first year or two 32 staff were made redundant. There were some voluntary redundancies. The support staff team was decimated and reduced to 12. The behaviour policy was changed and was very rigid. Students had to line up in the playground before going into school to have their uniform and equipment checked to make sure they were “ready to learn” They were also told that they had to track the teacher with their eyes and there was no room for dissent. The policy for behaviour is warn and then remove to DFL. No emphasis on reconciling the situation. There was certainly no restorative justice in sight.
ULT also have a policy of centralised lesson plans and everyone has to follow the same sequence. That totally stifles creativity. One thing I’ve learnt about good teachers is they are always very creative and no matter what government policy is in vogue they will find a way to teach their students. What puzzles me though is why they don’t get through all the curriculum before the end of term?
Another question is why do they think they have such a good SEND department. My grandson who had some additional needs was never asked if he needed anything. My daughter had given detailed information about his condition. In four years no calls. When he transferred to the new state school the SENCO phoned to clarify things with my daughter and got a more accurate understanding by doing so. Within weeks they had picked up that he wasn’t concentrating well. I don’t think he changed but the two approaches from the different schools is quite stark.
I’ve also listened to some of the other parents and children and heard their dissatisfactions. Inconsistent teaching, unqualified teachers, supply teachers. The psychology department was drastically cut. I know first hand from an A level student, the impact of having many different teachers some who were teaching out of subject and how detrimental that was to him.
I know of children with a diagnosed autism spectrum condition who have not been picked up by the specialist autism unit in the school and not given any extra help or support. Teaching/learning assistants have been taken out of the classrooms. I cannot in a month of Sundays get my head around that one.
I could go on and on about all the problems as there are so many but I won’t. Some of the charter schools in America that some of our academy system is modelled on have apologised for developing the draconian behaviour systems. They now realise that children and young people need a voice. One school issued an apology to all students and parents for the harsh system that tried to make kids comply to.
I know from my own children and decades of working with young people that children learn what they are modelled. Heaven help us when they leave school and fail to listen to voices less powerful than theirs. We are going to also churn out really angry people who will spit the dummy if people don’t comply with their instructions.
I’ve always held the belief that you can catch more bees with honey than vinegar. I learnt that at school and it served me well. It’s time we all woke up to what is happening in some of these unaccountable academies and how our children are being given a disservice. Government guidelines say that Multi Academy Trusts should only have a certain amount of schools. That figure is 10 schools per MAT. ULT have 93 Please wise up if you are a parent choosing a school for your children. Check out the culture and ethos. Look at the salary of the chief exec. Ask other people about their experience. Don’t be fooled by the glitz and the polished delivery.
When we were fighting to stop our secondary school from being swallowed up by ULT, Jon Coles, the Chief Exec decided to try and bring me down a peg or two. He was on £250k, I was on disability benefits. He has friends in The DFE where he worked formally, I have years of experience in pastoral care. Not much of a power imbalance! I’m not frightened by that though. He took it on himself to threaten me in several exchanges between us. He researched my background and the background of two other vocal people in our group. He then sent me a message saying “how would your colleagues be if they knew you worked in an academy?” He then went on about what he had discovered in the background of the other two, sharing with me their personal information. That’s how unprofessional he is. There is enough bullying in schools where children are learning how to manage all those raging hormones and emotions. We don’t need more bullies at the top who turn staff and teachers into bullies which means the school sends out bullies. I really don’t think it’s rocket science. A good education can change anyone but a good teacher can change everything. Let’s get back to that before it’s too late
