Making the news today....

[Squaredy]

17 minutes ago, waterbuoy said:

Correct on all counts - the school used to have an onsite police liaison officer pre-covid but that is no longer the case due to cutbacks.  It is probably worse than you state as there is a perception amongst the 'normal' children that those who misbehave then get special attention, to the detriment of everyone else.

 

This makes the top headline in the 'Scottish News' section of the BBC website this morning - again, plenty of discussion on dangers to teachers, but nothing about the children who may also be on the receiving end:

 

Union calls for teacher guidance on restraining pupils

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

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The NASUWT says the Scottish government is four years late in providing "concrete guidance" for teachers.

 

I guess most parents have very little idea of just how bad things have become.  No wonder home schooling and independent school numbers have gone up.

 

I would suggest it isn’t even that difficult to solve the problem either.  Just give each school the ultimate ability to exclude a pupil if they feel it necessary.  It must be soul destroying to kick out an unruly child only to find them re-instated by the local authority the following week.

[waterbuoy]

Yup - I had no idea just how bad things are until I was asked to join the Parent Council. 

 

Whilst our situation isn't helped by a very self-serving and weak new headmaster who has effectively sidelined the former leadership tem, it is the overbearing desire to protect the 'rights' of the minority - in this case the trouble makers who do not want to be at school - which is undemining the moral of staff and pupils alike.

 

In the cae I described the unruly child was not actually suspended by the school - the police took her away for interview, she took a day off (I am told) and was then welcomed back into the school - to the surpsie (and dismay) of many.

 

I have been told (but don't know for certain) that the new head teacher sent his children to private school, which if true kind of says it all really.

[Squaredy]

4 hours ago, waterbuoy said:

Yup - I had no idea just how bad things are until I was asked to join the Parent Council. 

 

Whilst our situation isn't helped by a very self-serving and weak new headmaster who has effectively sidelined the former leadership tem, it is the overbearing desire to protect the 'rights' of the minority - in this case the trouble makers who do not want to be at school - which is undemining the moral of staff and pupils alike.

 

In the cae I described the unruly child was not actually suspended by the school - the police took her away for interview, she took a day off (I am told) and was then welcomed back into the school - to the surpsie (and dismay) of many.

 

I have been told (but don't know for certain) that the new head teacher sent his children to private school, which if true kind of says it all really.

And is this a school run by the LEA or is it an academy school?  I think it is about time local councils stopped trying to run schools.  But I don’t know if academies are any better.

[Botty Cough]

Tazer the little f.ukkers and take away their phones.

This will deter them and you never know might even get them to learn something.

They also need to bleddy write with a pen not type on a tablet.

It's fast downhill at the moment with children's education 

[waterbuoy]

1 hour ago, Squaredy said:

And is this a school run by the LEA or is it an academy school?  I think it is about time local councils stopped trying to run schools.  But I don’t know if academies are any better.

It is a local authority school - which is part of the problem.  They appointed a 'yes man' as the head teacher and he is more concerned with not upsetting the Authority than he seems to be about the welfare of the children.

 

By way of another example, it is the only school in the whole LA area where members of the public are allowed to access and use the school gym and changing rooms during the school day.  We (ie parents and the PC) are currently taking this to the highest level, not least because one of us was directly affected by Dunblane.  However, both HT and the Local Authority think it is fine.......

[Steven P]

That is wrong on many levels.

 

The gym thing is easy, if members of the public are on school grounds in school time unescorted and presumably sharing the same space as the pupils then they need to have full disclosure and background  checks (some of these checks go back to the happenings in Dunblane among other things). I will assume that the gym changing rooms are separate and the children are unable to access them, if not there is a safe guarding issue right there (not to be blunt, naked adults in School with pupils wandering in.....).

 

For the assault (Which is what it was), got to guess from the story that no staff witnessed it for it to have got to a stage of one kicking the other prone one in the head several times.... else I can see a law suit happening for the HT to allow a culture among the staff to be complicit in that. Did the pupil get not punishment?

[Botty Cough]

9 minutes ago, Steven P said:

That is wrong on many levels.

 

The gym thing is easy, if members of the public are on school grounds in school time unescorted and presumably sharing the same space as the pupils then they need to have full disclosure and background  checks (some of these checks go back to the happenings in Dunblane among other things). I will assume that the gym changing rooms are separate and the children are unable to access them, if not there is a safe guarding issue right there (not to be blunt, naked adults in School with pupils wandering in.....).

 

For the assault (Which is what it was), got to guess from the story that no staff witnessed it for it to have got to a stage of one kicking the other prone one in the head several times.... else I can see a law suit happening for the HT to allow a culture among the staff to be complicit in that. Did the pupil get not punishment?

Ahhhh but they all have phones so good luck with that...😂

[waterbuoy]

1 hour ago, Steven P said:

That is wrong on many levels.

 

The gym thing is easy, if members of the public are on school grounds in school time unescorted and presumably sharing the same space as the pupils then they need to have full disclosure and background  checks (some of these checks go back to the happenings in Dunblane among other things). I will assume that the gym changing rooms are separate and the children are unable to access them, if not there is a safe guarding issue right there (not to be blunt, naked adults in School with pupils wandering in.....).

 

For the assault (Which is what it was), got to guess from the story that no staff witnessed it for it to have got to a stage of one kicking the other prone one in the head several times.... else I can see a law suit happening for the HT to allow a culture among the staff to be complicit in that. Did the pupil get not punishment?

 

Again, I agree with everything you say - but sadly our local authority (and school HT) don't.

 

Until this week there weren't even any notices on the changing room doors - they are separate but next to each other, with no locks or security measures on either door (for each sex).  Many of the girls are now using this as an excuse not to do PE, and some of the lads feel awkward too.  There have been recorded incidents of children and adults walking into the wrong changing room, but the school and LA consider h incidents are acceptable.  We have argued until we are blue in the face for PVGs as a minimum, but have been told that is unnecessary - yet I have to have a PVG to act as the safety boat driver for my own child and his friends at boat club!

 

So far as the assault is concerned then the pupil who did the kicking has not, so far as we are aware, been punished.  Pupils, parents and staff are angry, but the HT repeatedly says that he has to consider everyone's 'rights'.

 

The sad reality is that, up here at least, the education system is set up to benefit the minority at the expense of the majority.  At best, it is a drive towards mediocrity and the lowest common denominator.

[Stubby]

8 hours ago, waterbuoy said:

 

  Pupils, parents and staff are angry, but the HT repeatedly says that he has to consider everyone's 'rights'.

 

 

Does he wear sandals ?

[Botty Cough]

Dutch housing update: house prices and foundation facts - DutchNews.nl

WWW.DUTCHNEWS.NL

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House prices are going up, interest rates are stable and climate risks have become the new hot topic on the Dutch housing market. Here’s a round-up of the latest housing news. The...

super.. house prices are rising again. That will cause trouble no doubt