Re: Denefield School Show My Homework
Tanja Freeze
How often have you heard these cries of despair from teachers as they pour over PPE and test results, only to find their students have failed to recall the facts that they need in order for them to be a success?
Part of the answer for us at Denefield lies in the combination of 2 very important tools: the first is the concept of the Knowledge Organiser; and the second is the Quizzing facility on Show My Homework.
This Knowledge Organiser is given to students as homework on Show My Homework with instructions for students and parents on how the students can test themselves, and how the parents can test their children, to memorise as much of the key information as possible.
Sounds simple? Well, while memorising is seen as a low-level skill, it does take a commitment to repetition and a high level of resilience and determination, qualities that some students find difficult to engage with.
Once this has been completed, we ask our students to fill in a version of the knowledge organiser with some key information missing to test their recall. Following this, we instruct them to practise independently by filling in a blank version of the knowledge organiser in as much detail as possible. And then we repeat.
The most effective method for league tabling is to simply show the top 10 performers in the group for % score and the top 10 performers who have made the most progress from the previous quiz to the one you have just completed. Make a huge fuss of these students who have demonstrated both high scores, and effort, and you can be guaranteed smiles of pride and increased effort next time. After all, success breeds success.
I'm not sure if I can name the school but I really need some advice on how to move forward with this as it is causing both me and my family a great deal of distress.
I cannot fault the teachers of the school my DD and DS attend as they have always gone far beyond what could be expected of educators to ensure my children have made exceptional academic progress but in the past two years a bullying culture has grown in the school.
It started last year with sporadic acts of excessive violence and abuse by a small number of students who seemed to be untouchable for reasons beyond my understanding. An example would be the year 7 student who felt it acceptable to aggressively scream "You're a WHORE" at a classmate until she broke down in tears. Her crime was to go the extra mile on her homework.
While the year 7 girl's parents have moved her into private education the offender has went on to assault many other students both male and female in an out of school. At worst they have received a day in internal exclusion because of a 'difficult home-life'.
At the other end of the scale there is a growing gang mentality in the school led by the children of local drug dealers, they wander the school in a crowd of 20-30 students and assault anyone they feel like. They have also carried out sexual assaults on female students in the knowledge that their family will deal with anyone who fights back. My DS has been offered drugs on several occasions by members of this group and has even started feigning illness to avoid classes shared with these animals, saying no is an invitation to be attacked by their gang. It is common knowledge that last year they forced a student to mule their drugs into school and set their family on him when he was caught.
It is not uncommon for them to send over one of their smaller members to start fighting a random year 11 then attack as one. Last year a boy in the school was sent to hospital for preventing one of their group stealing his bike.
Most girls now call home for a lift if they are late after school as they don't want to be caught by the gangs leaving their daily detentions. I know my DD has given up attending sport and drama clubs for this reason, and she loved both of them.
To their credit the teachers try their best and follow the schools procedures but they cannot protect the students outside of school, and no matter how many times a student is sent out of class or their parents are contacted nothing changes. Given the parents of this minority of students are often career criminals it is unlikely to have any real impact.
I cannot afford to send my children to an independent and the waiting lists for other schools in the area are excessive (apart from those which are even worse).
Is moving home and changing jobs really the only option left open to us? At the moment we are even considering emigrating to Canada or Australia to protect our children.
OP that's intolerable for you and kids. No way can a school deal with it - never mind other parents and least of all kids. This is a police matter - before the school is denuded of decent children and ghettoised completely it needs to be tackled. Good luck.
Assaults, sexual assaults, gang violence and drugs? What powers do you think a school has to adequately deal with these??
It's definitely a police matter. That said, I don't know why the school haven't expelled them.
I live near the centre of Reading and when I was looking at secondary schools (for my previously HE'd 13 year old) I think I counted 17 that she could get to - although there aren't many other Reading schools we are surrounded by other boroughs with many secondary schools. In your position I'd put my kids on every waiting list going. What years are they in? Is moving feasible?
we live in central Reading, eldest dd goes to a school in West Berks, the other three are home educated (unless the school situation changes dramatically in the next few years they won't be attending Reading schools). Schools in Wokingham are worth looking at too, also South Oxfordshire. For in year applications there are often places available (even in over subscribed schools), the main downside is the cost of transport.
Not sure what this school is, but there are so many schools surrounding Reading that don't have the problems you have and the transport links are good. Wokingham has good schools and you've also got Denefield/Little Heath which are West Berks. If you are near the train station, and prepared to pay costs, then you could look at schools further afield. Get on as many waiting lists as you can. You can always appeal for a place where the school is full as well, if you do decide to appeal search for advice on here - there is lots of good advice about best way to win an appeal. If you are looking at other schools, you can always start a thread asking for opinions on them.
I would be also on the heads/SLT backs asking why on earth the police aren't involved.
we go into deepest West Berks, lots of children do (especially for 6th form). In fact there are so many that there are two private busses running out of catchment kids up to the school. DD has been doing the commute since y7 and it has been fine. There are always a few days of train cancellations each year which I grumble about but definitely worth it, I have never worried about dd's safety at school.
Gillotts is worth considering, busses from Reading to Henley are doable. Or Langtree? Waingels?
Why hasn't the police been involved? This is a serious criminal matter. Not an educational matter - the teacher's powers are limited in what they can do outside of school and to some degree, inside the school. I would be calling the police and ensuring this is followed up. This is a seriously slope and I would also be complaining big time and following complaints procedure to the letter to the governers and head etc.
The school is being ghettoised by a minority. Parents need to unite!! It's a slippery slope from drugs and petty crime to knife and GBH etc...
Personally, I would be removing my child and home educating until it became a safer environment (i.e. those career gang kids actually left the school). And yes, I would move. In a heart beat. Not all schools have this kind of culture. Langtree, Wallingford, Gillots etc are very very safe.
Is this JMA? I have heard of serious problems there.
This all sounds horrendous OP. The school should be working with the police to sort this out. All children should feel safe at school.
I would look at Wokingham schools if at all possible. Generally excellent with good reputations. Some might have in year spaces.
What year groups are your kids in? Where do you live and can you afford transport to another school? There are under subscribed Wokingham schools in certain year groups, it depends whether you can get to them easily.
Most Reading Borough schools have poor reputations unfortunately.
Nowadays, most of the students complain how stressed they are with school. Most schools run for around half the time a student is awake for under a healthy amount of sleep. Homework for secondary schools be several hours in one day, requiring students to have little free time or even have to stay up late in order to complete their homework. The weekends sound like the perfect time for students to be able to relax, getting 2 whole days off, however, having homework assigned on Friday to be completed over the weekend makes it so students have to spend their only free time working, making it seem like an endless cycle of the education system being forced down their throat.
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