The effects the budget cuts have had on our young people – Part 1: Schools or Academies?

by Leon Duveen on 21 February, 2017

Over the coming days I will be posting a series of articles written a young friend of mine about how the cuts in services and other Government polices have affected him and his community.  These articles show why we need to be investing in our young people rather than cut the services they need.

Here is the first:

My name is Daniel Muggridge and I am 18 years old and in this series of articles I am going to tell you about the effects the cuts to frontline services has had on me and the people around me.

When I started secondary school, I went to Portland school in Worksop. There were areas that the school needed to improve but one thing the school was great at was having staff who understood learners and could be compassionate. In other words, they treated students as individuals.

When I reached Year 9 Portland School became Outwood Academy Portland, the worst thing ever to happen to the people of Worksop. There is no room for treating people as individuals as their stance is everyone should be the same. In my opinion we should celebrate individuality.

Their policies mean that I was penalised for missing my bus due to have an anxiety attack and being late. I was never offered the support needed by the school and my attendance dropped well below the required level to around 68%, I still achieved 14 A*-C GCSE Equivalents which goes to prove I did study when not at school but their policy did not allow for understanding.

School should be a place where young people can grow and develop and not be a business who has the sole aim to reach the top of a league table. Our young people need to learn about life and from my experience you don’t get that in academies.

OFSTED should be assessing the way that schools provide for all the needs of students including bullying management and ensuring the necessary support for learners who need spiritual or moral support to deal with hard circumstances.

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  1. […] article from Daniel a couple of weeks ago on the effects of cuts on Education, you can read it here.  In this article Daniel will look the effects of the cuts on Mental Health services for young […]

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