School reports - how were yours?

We had a fair few that were considered to be "a bit of a character".  In reality this meant we had to put up with a lot of stuff which really shouldn't have been tolerated.  I've noticed this in the workplace too.  Loudspoken, domineering, borderline bullies are apparently also in that category.  Either that or, "It's just their way.  You'll get used to them".  And I want to scream, "No!  It's not just "their way".  Those behaviours are ill informed, rude and/or bullying and we shouldn't be meekly adapting to them!"  Of course, as a rather meek introvert, that's exactly what I felt compelled to do.  :(       

Yes.  Not exactly the best idea to let loads of teenagers loose with weapons and and rules that were barely understood.  

Ah, yes.  This thread has taken off.  It's almost as if we have a lot to get off our chests! 

Apologies if this is going a little off-topic... There was a Maths teacher at my secondary school who was (to put it politely) a bit of a character. To this day, I am convinced that he thought he was teaching a class full of university students. Toward the end of the 2nd year, there had been an exam. Not one person in the class scored higher than 30%. As his reaction was to scream at us that we should have been paying more attention, I think one can safely assume that it hadn't occurred to him to consider that maybe he needed to adapt the way he taught Maths.

My mum (likely undiagnosed autistic) grew up in the times of grammar schools. However she was so anxious about changing schools that she deliberately avoided sitting her 11+ and therefore never got the opportunity to go.

The secondary modern system for girls in those days couldn't really be called an education. They were taught basic maths and english and everything else was related to teaching household and childcare skills. They were expected to leave school at 14.

The Avenue Comprehensive was demolished around 1990 I believe (good riddance). It was where Tesco is now in Aycliffe centre.

Yes, the midnight feasts sounded like such fun, but in reality you'd probably be in a dorm with a snorer and a bully and someone who moved your things around!

Oh that's interesting! I've often wondered whether there's some kind of course that could help.

Yes that's one of the ones I used to read about. 

I now realise the reality would have been very different. Having to be at school 24 hours a day, sleeping in dorms with the other kids. It's more like the stuff of nightmares 

Exactly! Those sticks were dangerous! This is why I kept vigilantly well away from the action!

Haha, oh yes waaay back in the original post! 

Exactly!

I was hit in the ear by a hockey stick once - because I walked right behind someone as she swung - i.e. technically my fault but I think that sort of incident was related to my undiagnosed Aspergers.  No one detected anything - I have glasses and was just a quiet nerdy kid.  

Anyway it makes one think hey?  I am certainly struck by the many common experiences in this thread Jenny Butterfly.  Good topic.

I wanted to go to school in Enid Blyton World, namely Mallory Towers.  Sadly, though, this was entirely fictional and in reality I'd probably have just been bullied round the clock, with no sanctuary at home to return to.  :(

Canoeing and rock glimbing sound great!  Horrific hockey, yeah, not so much so...  Put it into room 101 with all its friends, I say!

I think the video is the Yo Samdy Sam one I kicked off with and she mentions a lot of the same things.  

Absolutely!  Ours seemed trained to blame and shame, thus installing a lifelong hatred and resentment of PE and PE teachers!  And yes, I know that there were at least some good ones there but meeting children's needs seemed to be last on the agenda and even the good teachers were trapped in a very unhealthy, damaging system. 

And yes, a bit of knowledge about proprioception/interoception, physio and occupational therapy would have gone a long way, particularly if those teachers could signpost and refer on as needed. 

I'd have loved to have some choice about what we did in PE too.  It was all cross country runs, netball, hockey etc when I wanted to do dance, gymnastics and yoga.  My sons would have liked to do yoga and tai chi but got lots of football forced onto them.  So basically it was all team based, competitive stuff which resulted in a bad atmosphere and lots of shouting and swearing at those who either didn't conform or were perceived to let the team down.  Whereas in fact they let us down!

What video?

I would have much preferred to be in a special stream for PE and not have to do competitive sport! There was an outdoor activities thing in my school but I never ever heard of how one got into that. If I had my time over again i think I'd try and find out if it was something one could have done as an alternative. Really fun stuff like canoeing and rock climbing instead of horrific hockey!

One more rant about something that probably applied to most of us, and may apply to our kids.

Physical education, at least in Australia, doesn't seem very modern, and it sounds like the UK may not have advanced much in this area either.  I would have thought that PE teachers would be trained to meet the needs of a range of children and that their skills would encompass a bit of physiotherapy, proprioception etc (I may not know all the technical terms) and they would have ideas for  fun activities for kids who are either reluctant or physically challenged in some way or both.  Well surely they are trained, but perhaps when it comes to the real life situation they don't do it. 

It's just such a missed opportunity - because physical fitness can help a lot with self-esteem, anxiety and autism as well obviously it would help with many conditions.  I would have been quite happy to be in a separate stream for PE - like a fun fitness kind of thing as opposed to competitive sport.  Though it's not compulsory beyond year 9 now over here, something my eldest is happy about.

PS: I just realised I should have watched the video!  Will watch later

But those school stories are not accurate but idealised. I was recently listening to an audiobook by CS Lewis and he went to some really horrible boarding schools with awful bullying and I have heard of that from other sources too. 

I think the only way we might avoid it would be if there were schools just for autistics. Which would be lovely for us but probably even worse for society in general, although that is hard to tell actually as did any NTs actually get to know or understand any autists?

I was in the first year of the comprehensive system in County Durham and was really disappointed not to go to grammar school.  And yes, lots of the bullying came from students who would have gone to Sunnydale (Scummy Jail) anyway.  Later, my husband taught science at a school in Teeside and he said that, whenever all the schools went to the same swimming galas, the disruption caused by the Sunnydale pupils was off the scale!  

I don't remember The Avenue, I'm afraid, but I do remember feeling very unsafe and not being supported by teachers. 

Yes Former Member Including writing a scene about high school!