Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
A little advice please!
My son was injured at school in march sustaining a head injury which required a ct scan at the hospital and on going treatment up to date,during this time he had to miss school for nearly three weeks and quite an amount of work as he was doing his A levels,when he went back to school obviously the teachers were collecting the work from the previous weeks which he did not have. To cut a long story short we had to go to a meeting and were told that because he had not handed the work in and had fallen behind he could not do his A levels as it was possible he would not make the grades and that would not be good for the school? so he would be better off leaving.
what should i do?.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by dawnage on
-
Another teacher here...
They've handled it badly. Perhaps it was appropriate that work was not sent home for him; if he were not well enough to attend school, he could be considered as not well enough to work at home. However, examination boards are considerate to extenuating circumstances (such as your son's) if informed.
Did he miss out on coursework? It seems like a very small window between setting and the teachers' (or teacher's) requirement to input grades, if this is the case. If there is no coursework missing, the school has even less justification for withdrawing your son. How was he doing grade-wise up to that point? I am suspecting that they might be looking for an excuse to 'lose' him if they didn't think he'd do well; the fact that they are not suggesting that he repeat the year at their school (as would be possible at my school) makes me think this... Either way, I would not be necessarily surprised about a private school doing this but AM shocked that your son's school is a state one! It seems surprisingly unsupportive and mercenary.
-
-
Hi thank you so much for your reply,his work had suffered slightly in jan again due to illness which was verified by G.P.(chicken-pox,with secondary bactreial infection) 2weeks prior to christmas holiday's and keeping him in bed until christmas eve,i called the school numerous times requesting work but did not recieve any until day before the holiday's. This was completed and handed in feb and obviously he was trying to catch up with other class work he had missed then he had the accident, kicked in the head whilst playing football,did not black out but was vomiting only to be sent home with a note saying he had been injured but was ok! which was clearly not the case,which brought us to where we now are ,he missed school ,was unable to use computer but having said that no work was sent to him and on his return was excluded for not completeing the work that was set whilst he was away.It took five day's before i was given an appt to see the head in that time i managed to get them to e-mail the work and this was completed and handed in on the day of the meeting..........I feel the school has let him down so badly and it seems there is nothing i can do ,but i will call them again on Tuesday and hopefully can resolve thing's. Many thanks once again.
-
Permalink Reply by John D on
-
Something wrong here - surely a school would not exclude a pupil without consulting the parents ?
-
-
I was not called or told anything until he arrived home explaining that he could not go back until i could attend a meeting which took 5 day's to arrange with the head.
-
-
And I have never, in nearly a decade in teaching, known of exclusion because of not doing some work!
There are very strict guidelines on exclusions; for example, if a student presents a Health & Safety risk to the school (they've set off a fire alarm or chucked a chair at someone or something), they go... not for not handing in work! How have the school handled the exclusion? You should be written to formally and then invited in for a re-integration meeting (the meeting definitely happens in KS3 and KS4... I am a little less clear, I'm afraid, on KS5 exclusion because it's so rare!) - if you have not received proper, written notification (with number of days excluded/date of return), the school is not doing things as it should.
I suggest you make one of your points of call the Chair of the Board of Governers. They will be very clear on exclusion procedure; from what I can tell from the information provided, the school is flouting this.
Have you kept a record of all attempts at calling/e-mailing the school? Go back through your call log and sent messages and get this data! Five days is not a reasonable time frame and I am not entirely sure why the Headteacher would need to be involved, especially if their diary were so full. This could have been handled adequately and promptly by the Head of Sixth Form plus another senior teacher - Assistant or Deputy Head.
-
-
None of the above were followed,as for the deputy head i did not feel she had dealt with the issue correctly ie.excluding for not handing in the work and not informing me prior to her decision so i asked for the head to be involved.
-
Permalink Reply by L F T Snowflake on
-
I am not slating private schools. We teachers just know how they and faith schools work.
-
-
I think we are in a bit of danger here of getting into a side discussion.
However, whilst you had good treatment, the fact is that not all independent schools are as sympathetic and neither are faith schools.
Both are very results driven and some will filter students out to protect their league table position. If for example, one examines the figures for 'top performing' faith schools, one sees good results. However a quick glance at any faith school's results will show a much lower SEN figure than mainstream schools, even in cases where the faith school and the mainstream school are side by side. Thats just one example of filtering.
As regards private schools, I do know of one that is well within the reach of Haringey where they are quite ruthless in expelling students in year 9 if they don't look like they are going to hit 10 A* at GCSE. Now, I don't disapprove of this, but if you want to know the reason why that school has been one of the top - of not the top - GCSE performers in London, there is your answer.
-
-
-
The other question is, is this a 'faith' school? Again, faith schools try to do this all the time in order to be better than non-faith schools.
We teachers just know how they and faith schools work.
Isn't it a relief for the pupils of that 'dusty old 1970's style Hertfordshire comp' that Veggie Reggie has bundled up all his narrow prejudices and his penchant for omnisciently logic-free certainties and carted them all off to the HE sector?
I spent 39 years teaching in faith schools (with or without VR's inverted commas), in three countries but mainly in North London both in the mainstream and the SEN and Language Support departments. I do not recognise in any of those schools anything of Veggie Reggie's slanderous generalities. Yes, VR, "we teachers just know" many things, but let's hope your former pupils gained a more evidence-based and balanced view of the world from your other colleagues.
Incidentally, a close friend and former colleague of mine is now SENCO in an independent faith school in Hertfordshire. As far as I can judge, her new school does not fit easily into any of VR's caricatures. Apparently, not all faith or independent schools "try to do this all the time in order to be better than non-faith schools" - in spite of everything "we teachers just know".
-
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
Can I please point out that an individual has made a request for advice on a personal situation. To me it seems neither appropriate nor sensitive to use this as a hook to hang a general debate about different types of schools.
-
-
Yep, sorry.
-
-
Hi Melanie. Zena and I have a friend who used to work in this area, and we asked her to read the discussion. She sent the comment below for posting on HoL. It adds a further point - about Exam Boards' rules - to the helpful advice you've had here.
══════════════════════════════════
My name is Anne and I am a friend of Alan and Zena, who drew my attention to your query about your son's education. I used to provide advice and advocacy for parents but am now retired so I do not have the most up to date information about the regulations relevant to your situation. Correct information is always vital.
I do urge you to follow up the suggestion that you contact the Advisory Centre for Education who will be able to fill you in and maybe point you to someone who can work with you to resolve things.
I thought that it might be helpful to draw your attention to the rules and role and deadlines operated by A Level Examination Boards. Schools have to follow these and it may be that these are behind the difficulties you are experiencing.
Do you know which Board's exams your son was entered for? There may be deadlines which he has missed and so in effect may look as though he is disqualifying himself. However, Boards do have discretion and aim to work in ways which are fair. Medical grounds for late submission of course work would be considered sympathetically. Has your son now got the course work ready and available to give in? Medical grounds for not having course work completed as required might also be considered and possibly allowances made against the final grade awarded. You may wish to ask questions of either the the Teacher in Charge of Examinations at your son's school or an Administrator at the Exam Board itself.
Possibly, an Officer in the Education Department of the Local Authority responsible for your son's school may be able to answer your questions about Exam Boards and their rules and may be able to talk to the school on behalf of yourself and your son.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
