My experience with two local Primary Schools is that the one which didn't "need a bullying policy" because they had "no bullying problem" had a much higher incidence of bullying than the next we tried that had an active anti-bullying program. Three children holding my child down and kicking and punching him was accepted as "boys will be boys".

The second school, for all of the talk of "individual learning programs", provided a report for the final term of school, during which my son was not present. Complete with handwritten comments by the various teachers.

Home education has allowed my son to rediscover his love of learning and to develop his social skills in a 'real world' environment that school could never provide. We meet regularly with many other home educators. It is an absolute pleasure to watch the range of children of many ages mixing together. Groups form naturally for different activities and children can join and change groups as suits them. They gain experience in relating to children and adults of all ages.

Where else, except school, are people expected to spend all day with a group selected by being the same age as them?

I am concerned that the proposed Victorian education legislation brings bureaucracy and restrictions to the ability of parents to choose home education and yet the government has not shown that there is any problem with the current legislation in regard to home education. The current legislation allows the government to intervene if they don't think the parents are providing an adequate education. It is interesting to note that this intervention is seldom used.

I don't want to have to spend time reporting on how my child's education program fits into their criteria - which have been developed to suit a mass, school based education, not the type of education that occurs in the one on one learning in the home. Home education is not a school at home.

Parents have the right and responsibility to decide on their children's education, whether that is to select a particular school or to choose home education.

Marnie Lee, thanks for the support, it’s amazing just how much of it there is out there, when people are made aware that home ed is a viable option. I hope you manage to find a resolution to the bullying for your family that works for you. Take care and hugs! By the way, a letter/email to your local state MP’s or paper would be really helpful in getting the support for Home ed recognised. We need as much support from everyone as is possible to make sure that we are allowed the right to continue to home educate if we so choose.

I agree Brenda. I don’t want to be subjected to unnecessary and invasive scrutiny of my family and our educational standards. Home ed is viable, exceptionally effective and the ‘regulations’ that are being proposed leave too much room for abuse. They are so subjective, that any change of government, ministers, or agenda could have catastrophic effects. The Labor government has proven themselves to be anti-home education in every state of Australia. This law will be passed as they have a clear majority in lower and upper houses. They are abusing this power quite unscrupulously. The Labor government complain bitterly when the Liberals abused their majority in the federal government to bring in new anti terror and IR laws (against public opinion) and yet they are playing the same game – all in the same breath as bringing in Victoria’s first Bill of Rights. A serious case of the pot calling the kettle black.

I have seen delightful, helpful children come home after starting school, and start bullying their younger siblings, and being rude to their parents. Why? because this is the behaviour they see modelled at school. Teachers and schools have bullying policies in place, but bullies are clever, like child molesters/abusers. They pick their victims carefully, and do things to them in a way that the victim will not speak out, or be believed.

Someone metnioned in this discussion that by taking the victim away from the situation, we are teaching kids to run away from bullies. I suggest that we should develop a system, such as homeschooling where children aren't subjected to bullying at all.
The other problem with schools, (and as a student teacher I spend a bit of time in schools) is that TEACHERS often use bully tactics without recognising their actions as such.
HOWEVER I feel the benifits of homeschooling are far greater than avoiding bullying.
We learn, as teachers, that students learn most effectively when (a)they are able to set the curriclum themselves. A child interested in rocketships, will learn to read most effectively if exposed to more literature on rocketships.
(b)They work at their own pace, so while homeschool students may be behind their institutionalised counterparts, in some respects, some may be far ahead.
A school environment can't provide the best education for anyone except the five average Joes in each class of thirty. The 'bright' kids are going to get bored (and possibly start bullying) and the 'slow' kids are going to get stressed, upset, and left behind.
Homeschooling is like extension classes for everystudent. If a student needs more time spent on calculus, they have that time one on one with their teacher. If a child is doing really well with physics, they can expand their interest, and maybe do year 12 physics when they are year 8 aged.
Regulating homeschooling, as the government is currently attempting, will take away all these excelent benifits, and educate only a bunch of half brained consumers.

Just my humble opinion. GO HOMESCHOOLERS.

AdrianG

Sajo. It is true that if you can get into a school with a high representation of Asians etc you will find less attitude problems in relation to your kids learning, gifts or talents, more support and less bullying.

Problem is that these schools are not easy to get into and they don’t take out of area – I know, we have tried. We live in the Sutherland shire - it is predominantly Anglo Saxon and they do tend to have a different attitude to learning here. Even though, I do think that attitudes here are changing slowly. Thank God!.

Some cultures see learning almost as a punishment; others see it as preparation for the future. How the parents view education influences how the children view it and how they respond.

I am looking for a school for this year for my daughter for Year 6. She wants to spend her last year in Primary at school. Last year she applied for one school as she has a lot of good friends there but they said they were full and that we have to wait until they get their numbers this year before they will know if they will have room for her. She refuses to attend the local school as her best friend there left to move to the Country and my daughter says that she was not well liked by a lot of the girls at that particular school. People often don’t realise that it is difficult when other people see you as different and treat you accordingly.

If anybody knows of a low fee school that isn’t scared of difference and has a place this year in Year 6 for one motivated accelerated intellectually gifted girl who is mature, responsible, polite, kind, witty, loves learning and functions at a very high level consistently and also excels in sport and music and it is within reasonable distance to Sutherland - we would love to know. Meet my daughter
Amanda who is desperately looking for a good school for Year 6 http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a22/kc2222222/amanda.jpg

Marnie Lee

I hope you get the problem sorted out one way or another. The website I mentioned earlier (http://www.bullying.co.uk/index.html) gave some good practical advice and links for approaching schools and for students who are experiencing bullying. Several posters have given contacts if you are interested in homeschooling and the Board of Studies sites have links too.

My advice is to have everything in writing with dates and copies kept; keep a diary; try to see things from the schools point of view as well as your own; don't accept any excuse; suggest specific actions rather than just demanding something be done (eg. insist that the bullies parents are notified, that your child and the bullies are continuously supervised, that the school follows through with discerning what caused the behaviour, that the OHS committee is notified, that you are informed at all stages what is happening). Also try to be calm, confident and positive and most importantly trust your own instincts. If nothing else happens you have at least been a good example to your child.

I would also discuss the problem with other parents and raise the issue at P&C. There may be a school councillor who should be involved. Check first how much information you can give out for legal reasons and make sure it is accurate. Try not to lay blame on the school or teachers unless you are certain they have been negligent as this will only build up barriers. Everyone will need to work together to get anything done. If other parents know there is a problem they will no doubt get further information from their own children which could help back up your claims and start things moving. It may even identify other children who are also being bullied but have not reported it. Hope this helps.

Thank you Jolanda - I wish I could recommend a school for you - don't live in your area. The best of luck for you and your lovely daughter.

Dianne