Is it fair enough to lose playtime...............

[Aero]

........when you come in late from lunch play and you're only five? This happened to dd today and she was pretty upset about it. She says she didn't see the flag (they have no bell apparantly) and didn't notice everyone else go in as the juniors are still out at this stage. She was placed on the mat with a few others who were also late to come in and missed several minutes of her playtime. Now dd isn't happy at school at the best of times and is recovering from a UTI atm, so I feel she really doesn't need another reason to not want to go to school. Her teacher said that it was a 'clamp-down' from the HT on coming in late from breaks, but I do feel that although in year 1, she's still very young for this sort of punishment/consequence, especially as she did not see the flag in the first place.
There are an increasing number of things going on at school which I'm not happy with, but am I over-reacting with this one?

[nutcackle]

Hmm i wouldn't be happy with that either. They cannot really expect a 5 yr old to notice a flag if they are engrossed in what they are doing.

Thye need to buy a bell.

[MassacreOHara]

I wouldn't be happy tbh!

[WigWamBam]

I think it's unreasonable to expect children at this age to look for a visible signal rather than have an audible one that they can't miss. They get too absorbed in play to look for flags. If she'd deliberately ignored an audible signal then yes, maybe a punishment would have been in order, but imo it's the signal that's at fault, not the children.

They need to get a bell or a whistle!

[LadyDragonOfSoup]

I wouldn't have a problem with the punishment as such - it seems appropriate for the "crime" and you say she only missed "several minutes" of playtime so doesn't seem overly harsh.

However, having a flag is utterly mad!! They need to invest in a bell for heaven's sake!

[majorstress]

I agree, this is unfair.

[Aero]

I feel too that playtime is a necessity, and the flag thing is totally beyond me!! The old HT rang a handbell for all to hear! I just wondered if I might be nit-picking as there are so many other silly things going on. This is the new HT's second year and things just seem to be going from bad to worse.
She 'forgot' to inform parents of the photographer coming in, so not only were my kids not looking how I'd had had them liiking had I known, but ds2 has missed out on being photographed with his siblings!
Also, Harvest Service was by ticket only on a first come first serve basis. Max two tickets per family and no prams would be permitted! Total disaster! Felt very excluded as there is no way I could restrain ds2, but he'd have been happy to sit in his buggy. Many others felt the same. They could have broken it to two services to make the space problem easier, but previoiusly it's been held in a local church where all have been welcome, prams included!!
Parking is another issue - nothing being done about inconsiderate/dangerour parking but that's a whole other thread................the list goes on though and I'm feeling like it might be time for a letter!

[Aero]

oops - thats looking!

[JonesTheScream]

Aero - think it's ridiculous to expect a five year old to notice a flag - and if the juniors are still out as well, it's perfectly reasonable for children of that age to stay out and not notice that others have gone in!!!

Agree with everyone else - at the very least they need to get a bell!!!

But surely the teachers who are on playground duty or dinner supervisors should be making sure that all children return to their classes. In DD's school they are all lined up when the bell goes and then the teachers or TA's come and fetch them.

In the school I taught in the children would get lined up by the dinner supervisors and then the teacher on duty that day would send them in a line at a time (and class teachers would be watching out to ensure that they came straight to class).

Docking a child's playtime for something like this is silly - as a teacher I sometimes kept certain pupils in (but 9-10 not 5 year olds) and that was only for serious misdemeanours!!!!

[Aero]

Agree Jones. I'd have no problem with ds1 (7) missing playtime for a deliberate misdemeanor, but this was not a diliberate action by dd. I think the flag thing is totally ridiculous!

[Caligula]

I think you need to have a word with your parent governor, to raise your concerns.

[homemama]

How ridiculous!! How can a 5yr old possibly be expected to keep a look out for a flag? Keeping a junior child in for part of their playtime because of unacceptable behaviour is appropriate and effective because they are old enough to understand cause and effect. It works very well as a deterrent but how can your DD be deterred from acting like a 5yr old?
It's stupid things like this that cause parents to despair of school and give us teachers a bad name!

[debutante]

When did whistles go out of fashion?

[Aero]

I think you're right Caligula - and if parents are airing their concerns with the governers rather than raising the issues with the head, then they will have to take notice.

[roomonsammacsbroom]

In our school we're not allowed to take the children's playtime from them at all. If they are messing around, not completing work or whatever, they must get their break. Was d simply allowed to stay outside and not ushered in? If so who was supervising? A bit harsh after the hard time she's been through lately

[Aero]

hi sammac honey!

[Aero]

It seems she wasn't ushered in, but it's hard to be certain what exactly happened, but I think it must have been humiliating for her to have to sit on the boring mat for several minutes while the others went out.
Still can't get what the flag think is all about though!! Plain weird!

[Aero]

Little update. I lost sleep over this last night, so decided to approach the head this morning and find out the facts regarding the coming in after playtime procedure, before rushing in all guns blazing. So I asked her and explained what happened and why dd was upset. It turns out that this exact issue has been discussed in the staff meetings and it has been decided that the flag thing (stupid idea imo) wasn't working as a lot of children were coming in late due to missing it - also it takes time to walk right the school with it before everyone has a chance to see it. As from Monday, they will ring the bell!! Well thank goodness for that! So I will let this one go as there will now be a clear audible signal to alert the children it's time to come in. Hooray for common sense!