The Headmaster from Hell

Good for him. He is a brave and sensible man.

The threat of my mother being beside me in class would have brought me into line sharpish! Oh, the humiliation...

westendgirl

Tell them to find another school , I should think, Namsnanny.

Is it possible to do that?

My DGD recently went to Secondary school, she was so excited thinking of all the different subjects and teachers.

It is a different story now she is there, only the maths lessons are in sets, she learns a lot and really inspired by the teacher and other pupils. In all the other subjects they are mixed levels and she feels a lot of time is wasted on kids who just show off and don’t want to be there.
It must be just as frustrating for the teachers as it is for most pupils.

Ebenezer may not be perfect but he does seem to be on the right track.

What a brave head teacher. Any parent who cares at all about their children would support him. The trouble is there are too many who don’t care in the right way.

My poor grandaughter had so much trouble with short skirts She was very tall and long legged and the skirts to fit the waist were short on her A correct length skirt would be falling round her ankles

Not all children benefit and thrive in a strict, regimented school. Not all children are disruptive hard-nuts. Some more sensitive children are traumatised and put off education forever.

I often have to take the bus and have to listen to a barrage of loud foul language from the pupils.
I'd hate to teach them .
On one occasion, I was mocked for thanking the driver.
On another ,I was really lucky not to have been shoved off the pavement and into the busy road-that really shook me up.
So I'm glad that a headmaster is trying to do something about the bad behaviour in his school .
May others follow his example.

Indigo8

Not all children benefit and thrive in a strict, regimented school. Not all children are disruptive hard-nuts. Some more sensitive children are traumatised and put off education forever.

No school is right for every child, not should it be expected for the needs of every child, that would be impossible.

Sensitive children are probably even more traumatised by having classes dominated by disruptive and potentially violent fellow pupils. DS was a child who flourished best in a gentle and more nurturing school regime, while DD admitted herself that she was much better off in a school with robust rules, where she would be penalised if she broke them.

Fortunately we were able to send them to separate secondary schools that suited their individual personalities.

Children need boundaries, especially those with SEND

I admire this head teacher very much. Children need to realise that there are boundaries, there are expectations and there are rules or how on earth are they going to be prepared for life after they’ve left school. ( I think some parents need to realise this, too).
Deliberately disruptive pupils disrupt not only their own learning but the learning of others.
No one is saying that help shouldn’t be available for the children desperately and genuinely in need of it, (and I certainly don’t dispute that there are children who need specialist help and support), but I’m afraid that there’s a lot of “jumping on the bandwagon wagon” with certain phrases, not helped to some degree by some of the media, which needs addressing.

I wonder how he is going to implement this and is he going to personally supervise the pupils, surely if they are misbehaving during the week the likelihood of them turning up on Saturday is slim. Don't think many teachers would be happy to work on Saturday. ( I presume as a Christian he wouldn't be working Sunday's)

Nothing to stop Christians working on Sundays.

Indigo8

Not all children benefit and thrive in a strict, regimented school. Not all children are disruptive hard-nuts. Some more sensitive children are traumatised and put off education forever.

The disruptive hard-nuts, as you call them, will disrupt education for other pupils, including the more sensitive ones.

When teachers go on strike because of the violence and threats by some pupils, something is badly wrong and needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Why should the disruptive hard-nuts rule?

M0nica

Nothing to stop Christians working on Sundays.

Certainly it is our vicar's busiest working day 😃

It sounds like the school I went to, you obeyed the rules or life would be hard, detention and the cane for serious transgressions.
We did have “learning difficulties” they didn’t have labels, they were just slow learners, there was a lot of practical stuff and sports on the timetable they did well. There was plenty of jobs in those days, a lot went into the building trade as apprentices or labourers, there were a couple of engineering firms local farms too.
All of us were schooled for the type of job we were going to take, about half left at 15, 5th yr took GCEs, no Uni most of us went to technical college and qualified on the job. Compared to today it all seemed so positive in those days.

Allira

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5590l2njzo

Last year

Some pupils say they have had their skirt length measured, with one parent claiming up to 200 pupils were denied entry to class.

^Girls have also been handed face wipes to remove make-up and clippers to cut nails, it is claimed. One 14-year-old said she was ordered to have her skirt measured by a male teacher.^

The school I went to measured skirts on a regular basis. This was ok as we rolled our skirts over at the top and rolled them down when skirts were measured. It was in the days when mini skirts were all the rage.

It was an all girls school with very strict uniform policy. It even went as far as regulation shoes and knickers.

I’m all for maintenance of standards but some modern school uniforms are ridiculous. How many people go to work in blazers these days?

I do agree about school uniforms being over-strict which can make the cost very high too.
During a very hot summer not very long ago, it took a lot of persuasion before pupils were allowed to remove their blazers and ties, which is quite ridiculous. There's nothing wrong imo with shirts, blouses or polo shirts with jumpers or cardigans in colder weather.

Not the particular school under discussion I should add, but my DGC's school.

I enjoyed listening to Mr Ebenezer’s interview on radio 5 earlier. His comment about the need to prevent children going into the well-being room because their mental health prevented them going to Physics made me lol.

He made the distinction between SEND/MH issue pupils and the little scamps (my words) taking the proverbial.

His name made me think he could be a character from Dickens like Mr Gradgrinde

My eldest GCs were lucky to go to a very good school. The discipline was good but not over strict, dictatorial or intrusively petty.

The headteacher and deputy were both brilliant and between them managed to be everywhere at once which was no mean feat in a large comprehensive.

The uniform rules were maintained. Boys had to wear white shirts and school ties. The girls had white blouses worn without ties and were encouraged to wear smart black trousers rather than skirts. There was a rather naff checked skirt for the girls but hardly any of them wore it.

Unfortunately, both head and deputy reached retirement the same year and left. Nobody ever sees the new head and deputy and standards are rapidly slipping.

Iam64

I enjoyed listening to Mr Ebenezer’s interview on radio 5 earlier. His comment about the need to prevent children going into the well-being room because their mental health prevented them going to Physics made me lol.

He made the distinction between SEND/MH issue pupils and the little scamps (my words) taking the proverbial.

His name made me think he could be a character from Dickens like Mr Gradgrinde

His name made me think he could be a character from Dickens like Mr Gradgrinde

I thought the same (well, I would wouldn't I ).

Is that really his name?

Dickens 😀

Scrooge?

Schools are simply too big, so that crowd control becomes the priority over education. It is barmy to herd children together in this way and leads to the need to create harsh regimes that are unpleasant and do not encourage learning. I have always thought it was totally mad.
Children, and particularly teenagers, en masse are intrisically a problem.
Unfortunately a lot of children who misbehave bafly are not from families where they are properly supported and who would likely not be bothered with coming in to school to shadow the child as per the head's idea.