Can't cope with school homework!

[Highway Cowboy]

My 10 year old daughter Savannah has Septo Optic Dysplasia Spectrum, has no vision in her right eye and was diagnosed with Asperger's/Autism aged 5. She is currently in year 6, last year of primary school. She is in a mainstream primary school with 18 hours a week one to one support from a Teaching Assistant but we have applied to a specialist secondary school for her as there is no way she would cope with the environment in a mainstream secondary school.

I want to know if there is anything we can do about her homework. Her teacher is a bit of a dragon and sets really difficult homework that even we as parents struggle to understand. I have Asperger's myself but without blowing my own trumpet am quite intellectual. We have spoken to the class teacher and told her how Savannah is really struggling with the homework and finds it extremely stressful and cannot comprehend it. We just get no feedback or support whatsoever and the homework keeps coming. Savannah panics that if her homework isn't handed in she will be kept in at breaktime. One of Savannah's big things is social anxiety and stress.
As we are getting nowhere fast with the class teacher is there anything else we can do because weekends are just hugely stressful now with ridiculous amount of homework that even we as adults have to resort to Google to solve.

Perhaps the SENCO is a way forward but we worry that we will upset the teacher by going above her and then Savannah would suffer if we tread on her toes and upset her.

Any suggestions or advice gratefully received thanks guys .

 

[Theta.G]

Can home schooling become an option?
Or switching schools?

 

[Highway Cowboy]

Can home schooling become an option?
Or switching schools?

We have considered this option but Home Schooling is prohibitively expensive and switching school would be such a massive upheaval for her at this late stage as she has attended this school from the age of 3 ,her friends all go there and she will be leaving for secondary school in July anyway. The upheaval and disruption could be too much for her. To be fair the school has been absolutely wonderful with her and she is in such a lovely class, the other children really help and support Savannah and they have all grown up together. It just seems to be this particular teacher that is the problem.

 

[tree]

I don't understand why homeschool would be expensive, unless you mean
someone would reduce hours of work in order to teach.

Here in Michigan many people homeschool, using their own ideas/curriculum.
The cost varies, depending on what materials a parent chooses.

By that I mean buying books, paper etc, not enrolling in some course plan.

Edited:
Oh, I see.
You aren't in the USA.
I figured that out by looking at your Profile.
"Lorry driver."

Is there no other teacher for her level at the school?

 

[Highway Cowboy]

Here in the UK if we pulled her out of school we would have to pay privately for home tuition. Paper, books and stationery wouldn't be an issue but we would have to pay £thousands for a private tutor which although we both work full-time we don't have at our disposal.

Perhaps we should approach the Head Teacher and discuss our concerns with her and if we get nowhere with her then take it up with the Local Authority because it's not fair that Savannah's Education and self confidence should suffer due to one bad teacher.

 

[tree]

Discussing the situation with whoever is in charge sounds like a good idea.

There must be some arrangements that can be made.

 

[Highway Cowboy]

Discussing the situation with whoever is in charge sounds like a good idea.

There must be some arrangements that can be made.

Yes, the only thing we don't want to happen is the class teacher getting annoyed that we've gone over her head and that she ends up taking it out on Savannah

 

[Theta.G]

Yes, the only thing we don't want to happen is the class teacher getting annoyed that we've gone over her head and that she ends up taking it out on Savannah

If you're in contact with other parents, and they also express displeasure with the teacher maybe going in together as a group wouldn't hurt. At the very least it should take focus off of your daughter and spread it amongst the group a little

 

[Highway Cowboy]

If you're in contact with other parents, and they also express displeasure with the teacher maybe going in together as a group wouldn't hurt. At the very least it should take focus off of your daughter and spread it amongst the group a little

It's funny you should mention that, not one of the other parents of kids in the class like that teacher. All the other teachers throughout school have been great but this particular teacher is a witch! She's had one mum in tears, the kids all hate her and she seems to rule by fear rather than respect and being inspirational.
She would be better suited to a job in a jail rather than a primary school teacher.

 

[Theta.G]

It's funny you should mention that, not one of the other parents of kids in the class like that teacher. All the other teachers throughout school have been great but this particular teacher is a witch! She's had one mum in tears, the kids all hate her and she seems to rule by fear rather than respect and being inspirational.
She would be better suited to a job in a jail rather than a primary school teacher.

That's perfect! There's your answer
Y'all might even be able to get her fired or moved to a different school with older kids or teens that could handle her abrasiveness. Or a jail guard or something as you said lol

As a side note: Don't make it seem like your the organizer of this or the leader of it. If that teacher catches wind then the focus might be placed back upon your daughter.
Approach it as.... just a group of concerned parents. No single leader... group effort. All equal. Everyone would be better off if she doesn't have someone to directly blame for her getting fired or relocated.

 

[Highway Cowboy]

That's perfect! There's your answer
Y'all might even be able to get her fired or moved to a different school with older kids or teens that could handle her abrasiveness. Or a jail guard or something as you said lol

As a side note: Don't make it seem like your the organizer of this or the leader of it. If that teacher catches wind then the focus might be placed back upon your daughter.
Approach it as.... just a group of concerned parents. No single leader... group effort. All equal. Everyone would be better off if she doesn't have someone to directly blame for her getting fired or relocated.

Sounds like a plan
She recently got married so we were all hoping that she might have gotten pregnant and therefore go off on a nice long maternity leave but it seems not

 

[Catana]

"Perhaps we should approach the Head Teacher and discuss our concerns with her and if we get nowhere with her then take it up with the Local Authority because it's not fair that Savannah's Education and self confidence should suffer due to one bad teacher."

Really? You think? Why haven't you already done that?

 

[Highway Cowboy]

"Perhaps we should approach the Head Teacher and discuss our concerns with her and if we get nowhere with her then take it up with the Local Authority because it's not fair that Savannah's Education and self confidence should suffer due to one bad teacher."

Really? You think? Why haven't you already done that?

Because we were worried that if we did that and upset her she would in some way take it out on Savannah in school. Sounds daft I know but when she has day to day contact with her 5 days a week 6 hours a day you have to consider these ramifications

 

[Catana]

You sound just like an abused wife -- putting up with a bad situation for fear that you'll make it worse. The only person who benefits is the person causing the problem. In the meantime, she's allowed to continue damaging your child.

 

[Moomin]

As a child, I was in a similar situation as your daughter. In fact,she’s behaves the same way I did, so I’m very sorry for her that she’s so anxious about her homework. My teacher was not helpful, and unfortunately I didn’t have a diagnosis to get support. I was also bullied, so with that additional pressure ended up being taken out the school because they, including the principal, were unsupportive “not streetwise enough”....was their response. I had to wait to go into high school, and during that time had an informal experience of homeschooling.

I have been homeschooled more formally with teachers and all that and unless Savannah really struggles I wouldn’t recommend this as an easy solution because it’s anything but easy.

It reads that the school, minus this teacher, are supportive? She has TA support, so is it possible that the TA can help her with her homework too? During your meetings with the class teacher, has this all been verbal or has it been documented? I ask this because if you’ve requested additional support from this teacher, and she’s failed to give it to you then you can take it to the principal with evidence that you’ve asked. Even if you haven’t, it’s not a problem. But I do recommend that if you’ve gotten to the stage when she’s not helping to support your daughter who she’s aware of has specific requirements...to take it further now.