Is your teenager getting what they need from their school?

[Ngaio-RO]

Hey everyone,

I came across @ChilliDawg's post the other day. You can read it all here.

This paragraph got me thinking about schools.

…look very carefully at your school now. Right now. How long and how many phone calls does it take for the Principle to see you for an extended appointment? Does he listen? Does he ask you how he/ she can help? Does he have a list of services he can call on to support your sons continued and successful education? Often, individual teachers are amazing, but if they are not supported by the principle, there is little they can do. The Principle sets the school's tone. If your child is important to him, he will be important to all the staff.

We, as a society, often measure the quality of a school by the academic results of its students but we, as parents, often need schools to deliver much more than that. So I was wondering:

How is, or was, the schooling experience for your teenager?  

Is the school supportive of your teenager?

Anything they could do better and anything they do amazingly well?

I know that @Aussiemom, @johneriffic and @hippychick have all posted about similar issues recently but it's an issue most parents can relate to. I'm super keen to hear your opinions. 

* Just please don’t use any names of schools or staff

[Elena]

The school my daughter was at was amazingly supportive and communicated well with me, especially in a crisis. But despite this we still had to let our daughter change schools, the staff were wonderful, yet it still was the wrong school for her. Things were going badly for my D, self harming, depressed, suicidal and the beginnings of an eating disorder, she just couldn't do it any longer, and she felt as if she were letting them all down. Things were pretty critical, and we agreed to a fairly sudden change of school just to give her a breather.  And it did help, we had about 6 months of lowered stress, as predicted, she did take many of her problems with her, but just then I believe that change saved her life.

What I hadn't realised was that her old school had been supporting me as well as my D.  Suddenly so much of my support network was gone.....mostly gone......they still (2 years later) ask how she is, and not because they want her back, but because they still care about her.

[Ngaio-RO]

Thanks for sharing that @Elena It's great to hear how good schools can be sometimes. And important to hear how sometimes even that isn't enough. There's always a limit to what the school staff can do and if it's not the right place for your young person, it's not the right place.

I've heard of quite a few families who have had success through changing schools. Agreed, they take their issues with them but sometimes the break they get from being new and none of the kids having an opinion about them can truly be life saving.

Did you manage to find a replacement for the support you were getting from the school @Elena?

[Elena]

Yes thankyou Ngaio-RO, I did find other help, it just took a while.