Notes from meeting with the Headmaster

Back to the 'bullying' situation with my son at school. I had a meeting with the Headmaster yesterday (all two hours of it) and I am not impressed. The Headmaster is new so he had his deputy with him for back up.

The conversation is obviously too long to go through here but in short I was told that "there's no evidence that these things have taken place because the teachers have no report of it". Well, duh! That's the point isn't it. The teachers are not taking the situation seriously enough to do anything about it!

We started off well but then we reached a point where things got quite aggressive. Although I listened patiently to everything that the Headmaster had to say (without interrupting) he rudely interrupted me and tried to speak over me when I wanted to talk. I got annoyed and showed my feelings by raising my voice and firmly pointing out to him that I was still talking and that he was interrupting me (he didn't like that very much).

I found it interesting that the Headmaster changed his attitude dramatically when I pointed out that it didn't take a genius to notice that the child in question (the bully) had brought 'baggage' with him from his previous school. And that if our school is to take such children onboard then it would be a good thing for the school to have a little chat with the boy about how things are done in the new environment and what the new boundaries are. I also suggested that they should have a chat to the boys about respect. I suddenly found two very agreeable individuals sitting in front of me.

Towards the end of the meeting the Headmaster proudly informed me of what an excellent institution they are and how 'perfect' the school is in every way. Actually so perfect that whilst other schools in the UK are having 'National Anti-Bullying Day' - our Headmaster has decided that our school doesn't need to have such a day. Now - let's go through it again.....I'm sitting in front of the Headmaster because I want to discuss my son being bullied and the Headmaster proudly announces that he has cancelled 'National Anti-Bullying day' at our school! I fear the irony of the situation might have escaped him.

I feel that my son has been labeled as the boy who does not communicate well and can't take a prank. It's concerning that the staff are denying that this situation might have got out of hand on the basis that they have not personally witnessed anything. The fact that our son only has a problem with specific individuals in his year and not any other kids has been ignored.

And to think that we are paying for the privilege of having our concerns trivialized.

Talking about money - my friend made an interesting point on the phone last night. She told me how she has also had an argument with this school but about extra lessons. Her son is dyslexic (an extremely bright and alert child) and he has been having extra lesson since he started at the school over a year ago. The last school report was outstanding and full of praise for how the boy had improved and how he was thriving at the school. In fact her son's report was so good that she had discussed dropping some of the extra lessons with the teacher.

To her surprise she received a school bill with additional extra lessons (which the school had not discussed with her). She phoned the school to ask why additional extra lessons were necessary if her son reportedly had improved so greatly. Her son should be having less extra lessons not more. She was told that she should want the best for her son (cheeky) and that 'they' would have to think about it (not adding lessons). She is being charged £1000 in extra lessons besides the £1000 monthly school fees. Me thinks something is rotten in the state of Denmark!

No wonder the school makes such a fuss about their students with learning problems - those kids are worth twice, sometimes three times as much as our son (literally!).

The meeting was interesting and crystalized a few issues for me. Our son does not have a future at this particular school.