Message from the Head Teacher
At Perins we pride ourselves on high standards both within the classroom and outside at social times. I recently spoke with students in assembly to remind them of our three basic rights at Perins:
- The right to be safe
- The right to be respected
- The right to learn
I am pleased to say that our students responded very well to this and from observations around the school by myself and my colleagues, the atmosphere in lessons has had a greater focus with all members of our community.
I would like to extend this further.
Last weekend, I attended a large theme park with my son. It occurred to me that across the country there is an increasing culture of minor anti-social behaviours among the young people. I witnessed many of them using foul and abusive language to one another (within their own friendship groups), arrogance to staff members at the park, loud and obnoxious behaviour and nasty comments to one another. This unfortunately was not a one-off day as I am sure that you, like myself, when we become acutely aware of this, will notice this behaviour of young people in public on a daily basis. It has almost become acceptable across the country in the name of ‘banter’ and other such terms.
We have always stated that when students join Perins, they become part of a wider family. With this comes the education within the classroom and academic performance, but also wider learning to prepare them for the rest of their lives. We are in a unique position within schools to provide moral frameworks for our young people and in many ways can instil the values and ethos we expect of our young people.
As such, I have spoken with senior colleagues and we have agreed that as a school, we will work together to ensure that our ‘basic rights’ are extended to any interaction between our students, inside or outside of school. This includes social time interactions, journeys to and from school and social media. We will ensure that regardless of the changing national culture, at Perins our expectation is that all members of the community are treated with respect and are valued, celebrating differences and challenging any anti-social behaviour.
As such, we have put mechanisms in place to ensure that any student who makes any negative comments about another student, uses inappropriate language, fails to respect personal space, causes any discomfort to another, litters or any other aspect of anti-social behaviour, will be removed from the social aspects of school (break and lunchtimes) for a period of time deemed suitable to the offence and where necessary, for cases of higher level disrespect to others, we reserve the right to exclude.
I am sure that you, like me, will welcome this approach as regardless of what is happening elsewhere, our prime concern is for the young people of Perins and I hope that we can set an example that others may follow.
Of course, I will ask that as parents you take some time to have a conversation with your children as key research by Brophy (1983) on the self-fulfilling prophecy and teacher expectations, suggests that when high expectations are only coming from teachers, they will only help a minority of students – parents play a huge role in shaping how young people see themselves.
Castro et al. also provide great insight into showing how parents (and teachers) can help children succeed at school. They found that high expectations had the greatest impact.
We pride ourselves in the partnership we have with our parents and see the holistic education of a child as one that is in a true partnership between school and home. As such I thank you for your continued support in this and other matters.
Valuing others, their education and expecting children to succeed, and be courteous to one another conveys the importance and likelihood of success in school. More importantly, respect for others will no doubt increase their respect for themselves and as such provide a framework for positive futures.
Have a relaxing and enjoyable time during the Easter break.
Steve Jones
