Marple Hall School NUHOPE regime

[JMC]

Anyone know whether NuHope is still in force at Marple Hall School?

yes still the same

[corium]

Yes it is but modified significantly.

[Bowden Guy]

Anyone know whether NuHope is still in force at Marple Hall School?

[Lisa Oldham]

Crikey Its got active here since I put a post on ages ago!

I absolutely hate NUHOPE. When kids stop getting notes home about good work and get notes congratulating them on not having detentions there is something very wrong.

However... it was a regime introduced by a particularly badly chosen(in my opinion) and incredibly unpopular head teacher who has thankfully gone.

The new head was a deputy then but I don't think we can presume it was a regime he supported wholeheartedly!  Since becoming head the regime in my opinion is not as strict, some teachers as before over do it, others, as before, totally ignore, generally it seems more relaxed.  I think it will disappear or be overhauled in the next year or so.

Going on what kids think, the new head is someone they respect and is popular with kids and staff alike. He needs time to get stuck in.  I've recently seen how well hes dealt with a situation where very amusing but disrespectful pictures depicting MH teachers were posted on the internet.  He and his team showed great professionalism, excellent balance and sense of humour but also discipline in dealing with that situation.  As a result the kids involved were punished but accepted that punishment with grace and the staff gained great respect as a result.  I think we  give it time.

I find him approachable and friendly, as are all the deputy head and the current management team. This is not how I felt 3 years ago so I'd suggest if anyone has worries about their children and NUHOPE then call and discuss.  There is not just teaching staff at the school but a large array of support services for children internal and external that can help kids with all sorts of issues.

[Dave]

Interesting idea from Simone, but I'm not sure it would achieve anything, and it might even turn out to be counter-productive.  For example,  people might see it as a 'bandwagon', jump aboard and use it as a platform to attack the school.   And the involvement in such a campaign by non-parents could invite the obvious retort from the school that people who are not current MHS parents don't understand the issues.

As Simone herself writes:

I am not a parent with children at the school and I think for such a document to have any bearing this is an absolute prerequisite.   

Absolutely!  Parents are stakeholders in a way that we ex-parents aren't any longer.  Parents don't always realise the power and influence they can exercise if they approach a school in the right way.   They are the customers, and 'the customer is always right'. The key to success, I think, is to be completely supportive of what the school is seeking to achieve (i.e. good behaviour and high achievement), but to argue that a more intelligent and less arbitrary system can enable these things to be achieved in better ways, and without the unwanted side effect of causing children to lose respect for authority. 

[simonesaffron]

Walrus,

Perhaps initially you could ask admin if  he would be prepared to set up something on this site to test your support level.

I am not making this an indirect request you understand, it is just a possible suggestion to you. The request would have to come from you to him. 

I would gladly sign your letter but I am not a parent with children at the school and I think for such a document to have any bearing this is an absolute prerequisite.   

[I am the Walrus]

I agree with you, Dave. I would be happy to write such a letter and sign it. I just wonder if anybody else would like to be involved?

[Dave]

parents are feeling stuck in not wishing to undermine the school or, as some have said, find that their children are "targetted" as a reaction to their parents' complaint

I think such fears are unfounded. It's extremely unlikely that such 'targetting' would occur.  As I've said before, if a group of like-minded parents were to write a letter to the Headteacher, (cc Chair of Governors and Parent Governors), expressing their concerns in a constructive and supportive way, it would do no harm and might possibly do some good.  One suggestion might be to drop NUHOPE for a trial period (e.g. next autumn term) and monitor the effects. 

[I am the Walrus]

Hello elpram, thanks for your comments; all input is appreciated. I'm glad your daughter hasn't had any issues so far and I am sure she is not alone although the fact that she and her peers regard NUHOPE with contempt is certainly one of the problems being discussed.
I have no experience of how Marple Hall School copes with SEN children so I can't comment on that but it sounds like he really wouldn't settle well with NUHOPE.

You say you suppose you are one of the silent majority and that you fear your son will spend most evenings in detention if NUHOPE continues but that maybe by then there will have been a reversal . . . I'm not sure what will make the school reverse a policy, which they regard as successful, if the silent majority stay silent.

I still think parents are feeling stuck in not wishing to undermine the school or, as some have said, find that their children are "targetted" as a reaction to their parents' complaint, but at the same time not being atall satisfied with the current situation.

[elpram]

Hello, I am....
My daughter is in y10 and was only subject to the regime from midway through y9 as it was progressively introduced, bottom up. She has managed to avoid any sanction so far - though how, is beyond me!!  She and most of her peers regard NUHOPE with contempt but a fair few of them (even the swots) seem to have fallen foul and ended up with their names on "ze list" and not for being "naughty" but more for being forgetful or poorly organised.

I suppose that I am one of the silent majority at least until such time as my daughter is detained for wearing nail polish which is supposedly a transgression of uniform rules. I will then tell them that they are right to pull her up for it but unless she tells them to F off...I won't think it worthy of a detention!

With only a year more to go I won't be sweating it too much for my daughter but my 9 year old son has some learning difficulties and is very poorly organised and quite apart from the educational concerns when thinking about high school for an SEN child I will be asking Marple Hall specific questions about how they expect him to be able to cope with NUHOPE or I fear he will be spending most evenings in detention 

Maybe by then there will have been a reversal. I noted whilst trawling the school website for SEN info that NUHOPE doesn't  get a mention - it features only in the current issue students' pastoral handbooks.

[Bowden Guy]

Yes, Dave, it is is a small and totally unscientific sample.

[I am the Walrus]

My experience reflects yours Dave to be honest but finding people willing to stand together is not easy. Everyone respects the importance of discipline and doesn't want to be seen to undermine the school's authority but can also see that NUHOPE, at times, is eroding that authority…

[Dave]

I think, looking at the numbers of times this thread has been read compared to the small number of comments in relation, Miss C. was right when she/he suggested that the silent majority don't have a strong opinion to offer one way or the other. Perhaps one should assume, therefore, that most people are happy with the status quo.

Talking to a small and totally unscientific sample of friends and acquaintances who currently have children at MHS, and in some cases talking to those children as well, the reaction I tend to get when I ask about NUHOPE is a shrug, a roll of the eyes, and a feeling of resignation.  One if them said 'It's stupid and annoying, but what can you do'.  I have yet to meet anyone who is 'happy with the status quo'. 

[I am the Walrus]

Bowden Guy, I am fond of excessive use of multiple exclamation marks - usually.

[simonesaffron]

This is an Internet forum and as such it hosts opinions.

There is no rule that says opinions have to be: expert; balanced, eloquent, intelligent or that the 'person' holding them has to have first hand experience of or be directly effected by the issue under discussion.

If a poster wishes to make a hundred posts about one issue or one post about a hundred issues  - then so what ?

Just because you are making your 99th post doesn't mean that you are superior or inferior or even different in any way  to others that are making their first or their 250th.

If an opinion is expressed in an inappropriate way for this website then I am sure it will be moderated. Nevertheless our opinions should be given the way we wish to give them and not the way others would wish us to.

The only qualifications in my opinion that an opinion has to have to be valid (pay attention Miss C) are that it has to be;

a) held
b) given

All this of course  applies to responses to opinions and responses to responses etc etc .


There is no wish on my part to cause offence to anybody by this posting although it would not surprise me at all if somebody took it.