School Woes

You may (or may not) remember the trouble I had finding a school for the littlies when we moved house. There are many schools in the local area but none had room for all three of my children, in particular there were no year 2 places for Boo anywhere. Then after we had moved I finally found a place for them all in the same school.

I did know some history of the school, it had been under a different name and had failed quite badly. Then it was taken over and made into an Academy. Now, I’m not fond of Academies but it’s a sad fact that it is the route most schools will be taking in the future if Michael Gove has his way. The headteacher at the girl’s old school was against academies, but he did mention that this one was from a chain of academies across the country that were actually doing quite well. Seeing as I was fast running out of options I decided to send the littlies and see how they got on.

It’s four months later now and so far the school has had three different head teachers. I guess that’s not totally fair to say because the actual head teacher has been the same throughout, she’s just not been at the school due to illness. Now she has given up her post for someone else to take over. Will they stay?

 Before Christmas four teachers left the school to be replaced in January by three new teachers.

During the entire four years we were at the girl’s old school, one teacher went on maternity leave and one teacher left and was replaced.

Surely it can’t be good for the children having new teachers, particularly half way through the term.

The girls very rarely get home work. I’m not a big fan of home work in primary schools but if all schools are doing it and this one isn’t, why isn’t it?

At parents evening, Star’s teacher didn’t really know my daughter at all. Ok, I know she’d only been there four weeks, but surely her teacher would have some idea of who she was in this time? Star had a lot of help at her old school because of her autism. So far this school has provided no extra help at all.

Star hasn’t been to school since 2nd December when she had her operation and the halo fitted. In that time the school have sent messages, flowers and gifts which is very nice, and everyone asks after her. However, even though I’ve asked for work to be sent home for her we have yet to receive any. Also, I discussed with the teacher about Star returning to school for a couple of morning while still in the halo. She was horrified. Of course it would mean that Star’s welfare would be their responsibility and it was clear that they did not want to take it. After the conversation I felt a fool for even considering it. I really don’t think she would be safe.

During our time at the school I’ve seen two playground brawls…..involving PARENTS, and two arrests outside the school gates which were unrelated to the brawls.

The last school newsletter stated that violence towards teachers by parents would not be tolerated!!! When’s the last time your child’s school news letter contained such a message?

 I do think that the school has good policies and are mostly trying hard to bring the school up to a better reputation. Sadly, some of the parents and their children are not on the same wavelength.

My Little Man has enjoyed going to nursery at this school. I had a good relationship with his nursery teacher who told me that Little Man was, mostly, very well behaved. I had been worried because he’s a little terror at home! Sadly, this nursery teacher was one of the teachers who left before Christmas, she did talk to the parents and explained she was leaving because of family issues. So the Little Man has a new nursery teacher and I don’t think she likes him much. The other day, while I was waiting outside to pick him up, I could hear her telling the children to line up and she was getting a little short with my Little Man because he wouldn’t stand in his place.

When we fetch our children we wait outside while the teacher calls them one by one. My Little Man is always excited to see me and runs up for a kiss and cuddle. Today, the teacher stopped him from coming to me, and there in front of all the parents she told him that she would be expecting better behaviour from him tomorrow and that he must learn to listen. He wasn’t listening to her, he wanted to come to me for his kiss and cuddle. I was angry. If she has a problem with him that she wants me to know about then she should call me aside for a word about his behaviour. Scolding him in front of all the other parents is just not on. I let her off today, but if she ever does that again, then I will be taking her aside for a word about HER behaviour. Maybe I’m being over-sensitive, but in all my time I have never seen a teacher scold a child in this way before.

I’m not sure what I am going to do just yet. My options are quite limited due to the other schools being full. The best school in the area had, understandably, no places at all. There is another school which could take Star and Little Man, but not Boo. Would it be fair to leave Boo in the only school that has room for her, even though I do not consider the school good enough. Or should I keep them all there and hope that things do improve. They were only taken over last year so it’s the beginning of a long journey. Sadly, it’s a difficult journey and one that my children are on for the ride.

walking to school