Disruptive girls in yr 8- any teachers to advise?

[deaddei]

And of course any one else!
DD in yr 8 in outstanding girls school.
It's a 7 form entry, 3 streamed teaching groups, 4 mixed ability- dd in one of these.
There are 8 girls in it who are permanently on report, some have had internal exclusions for making a teacher cry. It takes about 20 mins to settle these classes down- and class is disrupted throughout lesson by them calling out, wandering about etc.
I've had meetings with head of year in Jan with other concerned parents- she assures me things are being done, slow process, can't just move girls around the tutor groups.
At parents evening last week, I deliberately didn't bring it up with any of the teachers, but all the teachers said how cross they were with the situation, "absolute tragedy" if nothing is done.
Dd is top of her class- very good work, but how much better could she be if this wasn't going on. In yr 9 they create another streamed group, and I have been assured she will be in it- but it's only February.
Head of year told me how these girls deserve an education- and I won't argue with that- but they are stopping others from achieving and I worry that dd will develop a "so what " attitude to school. She justs accepts the lessons are chaotic- I don't want her to feel it's the norm.
I'm thinking of putting my concerns down again for year head and copying in the head-.

[Lighteningbugs]

"these girls deserve an education" but not at the expense of a whole year of other kids. I went to a school like that and sadly you cannot make those kids learn so what is the point. They have forgotten what a huge privilege a free education is. I am not a teacher but having been in your dds situation I sympathise. I would keep talking to school about it until something is done.

[magentadreamer]

I'm not a Teacher, but I can relate to your experiences. DD has a gang of 3 who's sole aim appears to create mayhem in lessons. I dont even have to ask who was it when DD relates another tale of disturbance in class. DD unfortunately had most lessons with these 3 in yr7 thankfully it's only a few in Yr8. Some of the teachers are able to "stamp" on them before they disturb the class but others can not. In MFL DD found herself in September with all 3 in her German class this lasted one lesson when DD, her best friend and two of them were moved to another class. Dd wasn't a happy bunny as the other class is now mayhem free as there is only one of the gang there. In Geography Dd has all 3 of them and it's complete chaos which really P DD off as she loves Geography and only has one lesson a week in it. From what DD tells me these boys are sent out of the class, invited back in, sent out, invited back in, then sent to the HOD. Personally I'd send them to the HOD straight away given their history. Yes I know they deserve an education but so does my DD and the rest of the class that behaves. What annoys me is their parents know about it and don't appear to be doing anything about it. DD knows if she caused mayhem in class then life at home wouldn't be very nice. Rant over

[deaddei]

I saw all the parents at the parents evening and wanted to tell them what effect their dd's behaviour has on others- but of course didn't.

[Pluto]

I think you need to do as you suggest - put your concerns in writing and develop the point that whilst you acknowledge the efforts the school is making to improve the situation you do not feel progress is being made fast enough. Are the teachers of this particular group of disruptive girls using a consistent approach in tackling their behaviour? The best person to decide what this should be is the Head of Year - they can cascade this down to all the girls' teachers. Most schools have a "sin bin" now - although always called something else like "reintegration centre." Have these girls been internally excluded for their continued disruption? Have the parents of the disruptive girls been invited to school to discuss their issues? These are all things you could ask.The very fact that the parents of the disruptive students were at parents' eve demonstrates they have some interest in their daughters and might be willing to work with the school to improve their approach to learning.

[cornsilk]

That's outrageous for an outstanding school - when did Ofsted last come - how did they get through it?

[Pluto]

Also, it's no good teachers saying at parents' eve it would be a tragedy if nothing is done to sort this - it is up to them to do something about it in their own classrooms! Perhaps they don't feel supported by the leadership team or maybe the behaviour management systems at the school aren't very clear?

[GypsyMoth]

yes,i echo plutp....there are groups like this in every school year,in every school.....you cant just exclude the trouble makers....its a teachers job to control the class and the schools job to support.

[GypsyMoth]

part of the teachers job anyway!

[janeite]

Write to the HOY and copy it to the headteacher. Clearly some of the teachers need help and, if the school is as outstanding as it is supposed to be, the leadership team should be giving this support.

[deaddei]

Thankyou for all your comments.
School was ofsteded BEFORE this particular group came in.
I have written a letter to HOY/Head and will hand it in next week.