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Pupils’ ‘anger’ lessons at Leeds school EXCLUSIVE
Pupils as young as five are being offered anger management classes at a Leeds primary school.
Hillcrest Primary in Chapeltown has drafted in psychologists and other mental health professionals to try to curb youngsters’ bad behaviour.
Conduct at the school has been singled out as unacceptable by inspectors at Ofsted and last year almost 40 pupils had to be excluded from the school.
The school is now receiving the highest level of ‘behaviour support’ from Leeds City Council – the only school in the city to do so.
In the latest Ofsted report, inspectors point to some progress being made on pupils’ conduct, but say more still needs to be done.
Inspector John Young said: “The deputy headteacher overseeing this aspect [behaviour] has a good understanding of potential flashpoints.
“Some pupils are taught in ‘nurture’ groups while others receive counselling in anger management and improving social skills.
“Joint working with a learning support unit and an educational psychologist is helping the school to break the cycle of poor behaviour some pupils have fallen into. However, some staff have different thresholds of what is and what is not acceptable behaviour.”
This month’s Ofsted report, compiled after a visit in December, also criticises achievement and teaching at the 429-pupil school.
In the 17 months since its last inspection, the school is said to have failed to make sufficient progress. Pupils’ attainment was lower at the end of 2011 than it was in 2010. Pupils failed to meet the minimum Government standards in English and Maths at key stage 2 and pupils were significantly below average in reading and writing.
Attendance was poor in 2011 at 91.3 per cent.
There was some ‘good’ teaching but the majority was inadequate or satisfactory.
Leaders had begun to hold staff more accountable, but there was some ‘resistance’ and ‘non-compliance’, said the report. There was a high level of staff absence, it added.
Teena Thomson, headteacher at Hillcrest, said: “We are obviously all disappointed that the Ofsted team did not feel that Hilllcrest has made adequate progress.
“We were however, pleased by the acknowledgement of the positive actions being taken, particularly in improving behaviour. There are clear proposals in place to speed up progress and the staff, governors, parents and pupils at the school are committed to working together to raise attainment and achievement for all pupils.”
Nigel Richardson, director of children’s services at Leeds City Council, said: “Hillcrest has been facing a number of challenges.
“Ofsted’s latest assessment highlights the importance of working in partnership with the school to support them. We have put in place expertise from within Leeds and a number of other initiatives to ensure that the necessary improvement are made”.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Comments
There are 4 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Nigel B
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 06:29 PMthe headline needs to be what caused this problem, but get more proffessionals in there. Exspelling the kids, if its permanant will make the problem worse, just move the problem to another school.
Justin Keenan
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 02:32 PMGrrr this just makes me so angry I just want to punch a teacher. Won't someone please pay for a mental health professional to help me out before I blow my top!
sunny_days
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 12:36 PMShouldn't they be turning their attention to the parents of these children too? Surely children of this age can only pick this sort of behaviour up at home?
luvmeteam
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 12:06 PMNot really a suprise to me i have lived in the area for more than fifty years,and i have to say that some of the people and i,m talking about teenagers and adults around here have a real attitude problem very volatile, so it,s no wonder it,s manifesting now even in primary schools.
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