Do you think this is a little extreme???

[misty]

My DS1 (8) is a bit overexcited at school at the moment, (mainly because, I think, his class teacher has been off for 2 weeks on paternity leave and my DS does NOT do well when his routine is disrupted) over the last week or so he has been spoken to by various teachers for, what I can make out, generally silliness and school-boy giggling. One example is his friend looked up the word s**t in the dictionary and they were so surprised to see it in there (me too!) that my DS was almost hysterical with laugher.
He came home yesterday to say he had been told off during assembly for messing around (which is not that uncommon I have to say) and had lost some of his playtime today as a result - he was really indignant about this as he says he was not messing around at all.....
Anyway he came out of school this afternoon to say that he and 7 others in his class had been made to sit on a chair and face the wall FOR THE WHOLE DAY!!!!! They were not allowed to join in PE, nor any lessons, had to eat their lunch with the teacher in a separate room, and missed all playtimes during which they had to write words from the dictionary.
Now call me a typical-in-denial-my-child-is-not-that-badly-behaved (not!) but even I feel that this punishment was a tad extreme to say the least, if not a lot Victorian! And when I asked my DS why this punishment went on ALL DAY, he couldn't give me an answer.
I feel a bit cross about it tbh, and wondered if I was within my rights to have a 'chat' with the said teacher next week? I'm all for punishment when the need arises, but I feel this is disproportionate to the supposed behaviour.
Any thoughts?

[Blandmum]

Check the details, check what he did. All kids can paint themselves as the injured party.

If it is as he says, then have a chat with the teacher

[Katemum]

Are you sure that this happened or is ds likely to have stretched the truth? Does sound very extreme.

[harpsichordenvy]

yes it does so8nd extreme
it also sounds a bit unlikely tbh
yes speak to his teacher but keep an open mind just in case its grown abit in the telling..
if it is accurate then I would be very cross too

[Blu]

If it happened exactly like that, yes, it's extreme.
But i would check with their teacher that it was in fact the whole day, in case indignation has led to a little exaggeration.

[SorenLorensen]

Blimey, I am really shocked at that. It does seem very extreme. My ds1 is 8 too and a boy in his year wasn't punished that severely when he laid into another boy and left him with cuts and grazes all over his face

I would go in and question it, yes. Is this a supply teacher, or a teacher from elsewhere in the school?

[misty]

Yes I did wonder if the truth had been distorted a little, but I also spoke to a couple of other boys involved and their mothers, and the stories were consistent .
I'm not going to go in all guns blazing, but I've never heard anything like it to be honest.

[misty]

No it's his normal class teacher back from Paternity leave

[Blandmum]

Check on the history as well....is this an ongoing problem, have they had lots of warnings etc etc.

Friends can conspire I still remember the MN thread that had people baying for the job of one poor teacher. The MNetter later posted that her daugher had fabricated the whole thing to back up her mate.

By all means have a chat with the school, but ask what the situation was.

[SorenLorensen]

Sleepless nights do send you a little doolally.

No I agree, all guns blazing never gets a good response See what he has to say (and do post the response on here!)

[Katemum]

Paternity leave, is he struggling to cope with the kids at school and lack of sleep at home?

[misty]

martianbishop - I think he generally gets told off maybe once or twice a week for messing around, and always has really but I would like to think that if his behaviour was that bad to warrant this type of punishment, that I would have been called in?

[misty]

Katemum - yes that is def a possibility, although I get the impression that other teachers were fully aware of the punishment that was underway.....

[Blandmum]

It depends on the school policy , I would have thought, and to a degree how much after school time the form tutor can put in if he has a new born?

[alexsmum]

i think i would say to the teacher ' oh x told me a bizzarre story about being made to spend the facing the wall? what on earth is that all about?'
in a joky 'please tell me this isn't true way' and then if it is true you can go down the line of ' this is outrageous'
if it has been exaggerated then he can tell you without thinking you are going in with all guns blazing.iyswim

[misty]

Hmmmmm yes martianbishop, hear what you are saying

[misty]

Alexsmum - good idea lol!

[catflap]

No punishment should involve being denied a curriculum to which they are entitled to.

If this is true, it's a disgustingly inappropriate sanction. I wonder if the Head knew? If so, then at least I would have thought mentioning it to you after it happened would have been appropriate.

However, I also know of children stretching the truth slightly and colluding with each other so hopefully it isn't entirely true...

[hercules]

The trouble is catflap other children are also entitled to the curriculum as well and if one or a few children are stopping this happening then I can see why they would be removed. It seems highly unlikely they were made to sit facing a wall the whole day.

In my last school every time I wrote a naughty letter home I pointed out that not only was the child affecting their own education but they were also affecting the education of those around them of which they had no right to do so.

Sorry, misty, I'm not refering to your case but just to the last comment.

[misty]

No it's good to hear different opinions .
My main concern really is that if he (they) are being that distracting, and constantly (which IMO they would have to be to warrant this punishment) then we really do have a problem if the school have not thought it might be a good idea to call the parents in and keep them up-to-date with happenings. Hercules, at least you communicated with them in some form.
I totally take on board the blowing things out of proportion theory, and I won't be able to clear that up until Monday really, but I am going to be severely p*ed off if I find it to be true.
At our last Parents Consultation evening, I was given absolutely no indication that his behaviour was any sort of problem.
So, roll on Monday!

[hercules]

I agree about the school informing you. How on earth are you meant to be able to deal with it if you dont know about it.

[Rianna]

Even if it would be exxagerated, I don't like this sort of punishment.At my daughter's school children had to stand on a 'hot spot' during break times.
I was very contraproductive , as children with too much energy will get even more restless after that, and very frustrated.

[scienceteacher]

As a teacher, I loathe homework.

[scienceteacher]

Oops - wrong thread!