As part of wider evidence, a growing number of parents, students and teachers would like to share experiences with Hackney Council as part of a review, and their contact details have been offered to relevant officers.
Offer to share your own experience in confidence
Some parents and teachers have agreed to an outline of their experience being shared below:
My child started at [school] confident and conscientious. As a result of their experiences, such as being screamed at, sworn at, and humiliated by teachers, they left with significant mental health issues – anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Our concerns and complaints were always dismissed.
I considered [school] when looking for a place for my child, who is autistic. They would have simply needed some flexibility to have somewhere to go on occasions if struggling. Our experience when visiting the school was traumatic and left my child in tears. It was made very clear to us that the school wouldn’t be suitable, and that no accommodation would be made under any circumstances. We were told to expect that children would be shouted at loudly by teachers. It 100% felt like an effective system for filtering SEND children. My child is now thriving in a mainstream community secondary school.
My child has SEND and an EHCP, and their anxiety began to increase when they started at [school]. Soon it felt like every move they made resulted in a disproportionate detention or spell in [behavioural support unit], which only made things worse. This led to my child repeatedly absconding, which school responded to with further punishments, such as isolation and bellowing in their face, which I have witnessed. It now feels like constant bullying by teachers, and I can see no way out. Social workers have told me that the way school treats my child is ‘disgusting’. I plan to home-school them when circumstances allow.
I was a full-time SEND teacher at [school] for over two years, and my experience was of a harsh, toxic environment. I had never experienced anything like it. Children would be screamed at for turning to look at a clock, or for taking a pen from a bag without asking. In a year 7 assembly in the first week of term I witnessed 2 or 3 new students fainting in line as a result of being screamed at. It felt brutal – everything was based on threats, both for students and teachers.
Punishments were often disproportionate and given to children with SEND who very likely could not meet the strict requirements. Some children have shorter attention spans, or struggle to keep still. There was often a cruelness to it. For example, at the start of school a teacher (usually the Head or Assistant Head) would look into the eyes of hurrying students, countdown 3, 2, 1, and slam the gate in their faces, laughing as they were given detentions.
The school’s inflexibility meant the needs outlined in my child’s EHCP were not properly accommodated. Disproportionate and unfair punishments, including an informal exclusion, escalated their existing anxiety. On one occasion my child wet themselves in school because they were afraid to ask to go to the toilet. This was very humiliating, and they were extremely distressed afterwards. When I attempted to advocate for my child and raise concerns about the impact this was having on their mental health, I was banned from the school premises. My child’s therapist feels that with the trauma they still carry due to their treatment at [school] they may never be able to return to education.
My son’s anxiety disorder evidenced in his handwriting was missed by all his teachers over a number of weeks until I picked it up during the Christmas holiday period. On notifying the school of his diagnosis, there was an absolute refusal to make any adjustments, even to the point of not being allowed to use abbreviations or highlighters in his [diary] to help manage his condition. Further the school refused to allow a reduction in his GCSE subjects notwithstanding this being recommended by both his psychiatrist and psychologist. I removed him from school within a year. It has taken him a considerable amount of time to unlearn the fear instilled by the school. My 2 older children who had earlier left the school, likewise had to unlearn the fear-based ethos of the school.
I removed my child from [school] as their treatment resulted in a nervous breakdown. They have SEND and it felt like school was trying to break them, for example by intimidating them into admitting things that were untrue. We increasingly had to seek help for anxiety and panic attacks. I home-schooled them while waiting for an in-year transfer to another school.
As a parent I am kept in the dark about serious matters, including where my child is. The lack of communication is distressing and leaves me worried for their safety. I am shocked at the example the school sets – humiliating both children and parents and depriving children of lessons, in isolation, for often trivial reasons. It feels as if school has been trying to break my child from day one, who now agrees and confesses to anything to avoid further trouble. Like many of their friends they simply want to leave.
After the pandemic my child struggled with returning to school due to anxiety. It was clear from the outset that [school] was going to do nothing to help with this. School remained inflexible even with a child who was struggling with mental health, and refused to set work for them on days they felt unable to go in. My child is conscientious, and this inability to catch-up made their anxiety worse. Since being removed from school to complete their GCSEs with home-schooling they have thrived. We were lucky to be able to do this, and I worry for children that do not have this opportunity.
My child missed a significant amount of education due to intensed anxiety caused, in my opinion, by the harsh environment fostered by the school. Specifically shouting/screaming at students, punishments for ridiculous things and genuine mistakes, long detentions for minor misdemeanours, ridicule and chastisement of anxiety attacks – the list goes on. We got to the point where we just could not send them into the firing line anymore, knowing that it was having such an adverse effect on their mental health. We had help from CAMHS who clearly knew about [school] and the issues it poses.
My child has special educational needs and started recently at [school]. They have had over 50 detentions already, mostly for very trivial things exacerbated by their condition, and not for misbehaving. They came to the school confident but are now reluctant to go in and asking to change school because of how they are treated. I now feel this could be the best option to protect their mental health.
After a year of debilitating illness my son was caused to feel alienated and
frequently distressed as he tried to return to school. Clear medical recommendations were ignored, and he was kept from most of his lessons against our wishes. The arrogance and inhumanity was breath-taking; cries of help to the Principal were ignored, and I didn’t even get a response to my final letter giving the reasons for taking him out of school. Had we not been in a position to put home tuition in place, the continued emotional impact would have been significant.
My child has SEND and went into [school] a bright bubbly child and left after being bullied with clinical depression, suicidal thoughts and self-harming. Self-harming is prevalent in the school as well as drugs. In their time there the older years were selling to the yr 7/8s. They are scarred by their experience. We tried to remove them but the pandemic made this difficult. My younger child coped when starting at the school by dealing with the boot camp aspect differently – they have a healthy disregard and disrespect for the teachers. Boot camp either breaks people or creates dissidents in my experience. School life is horrible, and the sad thing is they have nothing to compare it to, so have no frame of reference to be asked their point of view or have their own voice.
I was excited to start teaching at [school] and thought the calmness and order would be an advantage. I quickly found the opposite, that there is no understanding of either staff or students – it was not a nice environment to be in. After observing one of my lessons, the Principal admonished me for not sanctioning children when they had looked at a clock, or had taken a drink of water without asking permission for example. I felt awful having to enforce these rules – it felt barbaric. The senior leadership team would regularly shout into children’s faces – other teachers didn’t do this and I refused to do it myself. I remember a senior teacher getting down to a child’s level and screaming at them.
The kids are not supported. You see a lot who clearly have undiagnosed additional needs going under the radar. You report things to the SEN coordinator or safeguarding lead but it’s just not picked up. Any children that struggle are put into the lowest set, which doesn’t help them. It honestly felt that unless you’re one of the bright kids, you’re going to suffer. One child was going through a formal autism assessment and it was a constant battle between [school] and the parent. The parent was pleading for some understanding of how the constant sanctions were making the condition worse. The child started refusing to attend and was further sanctioned with no support. By the time I left they had stopped coming to school completely.
The school gets good exam results but they do it by mentally squeezing whatever they can out of the kids that can help with that and not caring about anyone else – the other kids who are suffering.
Educating Hackney 