Behaviour expert to tackle problem pupils (From Southend Standard)
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Behaviour expert to tackle problem pupils in Southend
8:40am Thursday 10th January 2013 in News
Southend Council's headquarters
A BEHAVIOUR expert will be brought in to quell rowdy students at Southend’s schools.
Southend Council has lined up a new scheme to tackle problem pupils before their actions get out of control.
The move comes after latest figures revealed four out of five suspensions in Southend’s secondary schools last year were dished out by just four schools.
Jane Theadom, the council’s head of school support and preventative services, said: “The behaviour support teacher will be available to schools to support with behaviour policy and practice, including behaviour audits making recommendations for improvement.
“Some of their work will be with teachers to support implementation of behaviour policy.”
Including primary and special schools, there were 979 suspensions from Southend’s schools and seven expulsions in 2011/12.
That compares to 1,440 suspensions and four expulsions in 2010/11.
Most of last year’s punishments were handed out for disruptive behaviour or assaults on other pupils.
The behaviour expert will visit schools which have handed out multiple suspensions to train staff how to tackle the cause of the problem, rather than the symptoms.
Last year, the Echo revealed council bosses had called for schools to avoid suspending pupils wherever possible.
Chiefs were insistent that different measures could be used to tackle bad behaviour, such as placing pupils in “isolation units” rather than sending them home.
However, the strategy put them on a collision course with several headteachers.
Neil Houchen, head of the Eastwood Academy, said society had become obsessed with “making excuses” for pupils’ conduct.
He added: “I absolutely agree with the principle of tackling the underlying causes of excludable behaviour, but at the same time I do not make excuses for it.
“A clear, demarcated boundary is drawn, and if pupils cross it, they know and understand the consequences.”
Comments(11)
Broadwaywatch
says...
9:16am Thu 10 Jan 13
notinwestcliffanymore
says...
10:10am Thu 10 Jan 13
JuliaM
says...
10:18am Thu 10 Jan 13
Why do they need 'support' to implement it? Who are the adults here?
InTheKnowOk
says...
11:27am Thu 10 Jan 13
InTheKnowOk
says...
11:32am Thu 10 Jan 13
perini
says...
11:43am Thu 10 Jan 13
InTheKnowOk wrote:Totally agree!
Another thing - When i was at school we were sh1t scared of teachers and the old bill .. Kids of today aren't afraid to hit back as they know they can get away with it .. There are NO boundaries, NO deterants and NO punishment ..
Essex Medja
says...
12:08pm Thu 10 Jan 13
perini wrote:InTheKnowOk wrote:
InTheKnowOk wrote:Totally agree!
Another thing - When i was at school we were sh1t scared of teachers and the old bill .. Kids of today aren't afraid to hit back as they know they can get away with it .. There are NO boundaries, NO deterants and NO punishment ..
Another thing - When i was at school we were sh1t scared of teachers and the old bill ...
.
Why can't we aim for our children to have respect rather than fear?
InTheKnowOk
says...
12:22pm Thu 10 Jan 13
Essex Medja wrote:This is what i mean by going back to the parents, they have let their kids speak to them in a manner in which it shows it's ok to disrespect adults ... If there is no dicipline at home (and i don't mean thrashing the life out of someone) i mean sitting them down and saying you don't talk like that, it's not acceptable and it won't be tolerated under this roof .. You have to let them know whose boss, more often than not it's the kids that rule the roost at home, to me this is not the way it should be.
perini wrote:InTheKnowOk wrote:
InTheKnowOk wrote:Totally agree!
Another thing - When i was at school we were sh1t scared of teachers and the old bill .. Kids of today aren't afraid to hit back as they know they can get away with it .. There are NO boundaries, NO deterants and NO punishment ..
Another thing - When i was at school we were sh1t scared of teachers and the old bill ...
.
Why can't we aim for our children to have respect rather than fear?
emcee
says...
1:40pm Thu 10 Jan 13
InTheKnowOk wrote:Absolutely. We respected our teachers (for the most part anyway).
Another thing - When i was at school we were sh1t scared of teachers and the old bill .. Kids of today aren't afraid to hit back as they know they can get away with it .. There are NO boundaries, NO deterants and NO punishment ..
Pupils these days are given too many rights to allow them to act the way they do and society lets them get away with bad behaviour.
In my day we had deterrants like the slipper, the cane and "proper" detentions. Not detentions that fit around the whims of the pupil or after asking permission from the parent.
If we were really bad a suspension was the order of the day and without the schools having to go through all the beurocratic nonsense that they have to follow these days. Also, any punishment we faced at school was often met with extra punishments at home.... no pocket money for a fortnight or having to stay in our rooms every night for a week and no going out with friends.
Ahhh, those were the days.
whataday
says...
6:05pm Thu 10 Jan 13
asbo. just the truth says...
9:15am Thu 10 Jan 13