Our High School Meeting

Mark & I had a meeting at the High School this morning. It was so good to have Mark there with me for support. With him at my side I didn't feel outnumbered. It certainly didn't make the big fella feel outnumbered either even though he was not present for the whole meeting.

We spoke about several things today including what's been happening recently at school. It seems out the Big Fella has been a bit of a rat bag on the bus and saying some inappropriate things to the younger kids who travel to the primary school & tripping kids as they were leaving the bus the other day. We made him go over the 'rules' which hopefully he will follow and there will be no more incidents on the bus trip to or from school.

We spoke about Blackwood Annex again, which I kind of knew would happen. We made it clear in no uncertain terms that with ALL the people we have spoken to about this, whom thankfully agree with Mark & I, that this annex is not a good thing for the Big Fella. I think they understood our reasoning but they didn't particularly like it (well Graham didn't). Rather than let the HS know that we were completely against this idea and not open to suggestions (even though our answer would still be no) Mark did tell Graham, the Assistant Principal, and Peter, the Principal, that he (we) would be willing to talk to the relevant people at the annex to hear what they have to say about their 'school'.

Mark & I also mentioned the Independent Learning Plan (ILP). I stated that I would prefer that the Big Fella do this with all of his subjects and that I want a copy of each plan for my records at home so that I can help the Big Fella to achieve the goals that have been set or at least work out where he is up to as far as achieving the goals that have been set.
Peter said that it is probably the way to go. That for some subjects where the Big Fella is lacking abilities or is struggling with (for example English) he will be on a ILP. He also said that there are subjects where he will not need them if he is at the same level as the other kids in his grade. He also said that there are some subjects where the big fella is well above what the other kids are doing, for example Maths and Information Technology. Peter said that he thinks the Big Fella is above the year 7 level for sure and that he may even be able to do work of a higher grade for these subjects. I guess they may need to assess him to see exactly where he is at before making a final decision.

I also got the email address from the High School. I told Peter and Graham how I have been getting the Big Fella to do his work on the computer and make Powerpoint presentations or word documents to complete his assignments. I had been burning the completed work onto a re-writable disc but there was no guarantee that the Big Fella was remembering to hand the disc over to his teachers. I asked if I could email it directly to the High School to make sure that the get it. Peter thought that was a good idea and assured me that the work would go to the right teachers when they receive any emails. So that was a relief to know that his work will actually get handed in.

I also mentioned to Peter that the Big Fella had been forging our signatures in his diary. Peter asked the Big Fella to make sure that he has it tomorrow because he 'conveniently' left it at home. He wont get out of this one!!! I'll post it to the school if I have to!! He is busted BIG time!!

All in all, even though there were a lot of things we didn't always agree on I think that today we managed to make some progress.