ONE IN TEN KIDS EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED

ONE in ten children in Hackney are suffering from emotional disturbances according to a leading school governor, writes Andrew Wander.

Nick Morris, who works at Haggerston Girls School and Randall Cramer Primary, has warned that students are suffering from poor social skills as a result of chaotic and unstable home lives.

He said: “Many of the children have parents that are separated. I know of at least one whose mother is a crack head.”

Morris said the problem has become so bad that crucial exam results are suffering and teachers are unable to control unruly students.

He said: “My own daughter was told by her teacher, ‘I can’t control the five disruptive kids in your class, you’ll just have to learn to concentrate’.

“The problem begins at home. I could go into a nursery class and stick a sticker on the ones who are having problems at home. They will be aggressive, anxious and unable to socialise properly.”

As children grow older their domestic difficulties can manifest in disruptive behaviour in class, Morris warned. “I would say that every class has at least one child with major difficulties, and two or three more with problems to some extent. By the time they get to secondary school it can be a real problem. I went into Haggerston [Girls] School the other day and saw the deputy head physically restraining a screaming girl.”

However, Morris said that Emotional Literacy, an in-school programme launched in Hackney 18 months ago to tackle children’s emotional problems, is proving successful.

He said: “We take dysfunctional children into small groups and encourage them to talk about their problems. When they realise that other kids might also have a drunk father who beats their mother, they tend to drop the veil of frustration that manifests itself in bad behaviour.”

Mr. Morris’ comments come as a new report shows that a trial scheme that provides one-to-one counselling in schools has helped eight out of ten children to overcome emotional difficulties.

The scheme, run by the NSPCC, is already being used successfully at Stoke Newington secondary school.