Time out in reception class?

[nappyaddict]

Is this common in primary schools?

[Chaotica]

I think they do it in ours. DD tells me they do.

[treas]

Happens in our school as part of the behaviour policy - 3 times out in a week then you have to be written in the head teachers naughty book etc.

[mrz]

It can also be a support strategy for children with sensory processing difficulties ASD etc when things get too much for them - a nice quiet space

[Fayrazzled]

It's called the "thinking chair" in my son's reception class.

[mankyscotslass]

Yes, we have a version of this in our reception class, its a cushion in a quiet corner.

It's called the thinking cushion.

Usually to help the child calm down and give the rest of the class some space too.

It's also used by some of the children who have SN to give them a safe place when everything is overwhleming.

[ANTagony]

At my sons last primary they had a naughty chair at his current one they use the home corner for quiet time. He is ASD and needs to zone out for everyones sanity sometimes.

[nappyaddict]

Time out just seems to be more negative as in treas' school where it's for bad behaviour and 3 strikes and your out sort of thing. A thinking, quiet or reflection area I don't have a problem with though. DS told me had a naughty chair at school but when I asked the teacher she said gosh no, we wouldn't have a naughty chair we don't like to be negative we like to have a positive attitude as it rubs off on the children better.

[Fernie3]

Happens in my daughters and also in the nursery section m son goes to

[signet]

nope, we don't have time out at our school as far as I'm aware.

[madsadlibrarian]

heh - nappyaddict - the teachers don't call it the naughty chair - but from what you heard your DS say, sounds as though the kids can see through that ruse well enough :)

[mrz]

We call our time out area the "cosy corner"

[nappyaddict]

ANTagony Was it actually called the naughty chair?

[mankyscotslass]

I asked DS about the thinkin corner/cushion.

He said that the teachers call it the thinking cushion, but the children kn ow its for children who are naughty so they call it the naughty cushion.

[honeybeetree]

We have a calm down chair... we use the incedible years programme

[ANTagony]

Technically it was the time out chair but the teacher had a bit of a short fuse and did on occasion refer to it as the naughty boy chair. It was a class of 29, 24 were boys. Interesting area lots of the children had no language when starting school and were used to just amusing themselves. The class was merged with the year above to make it 50 kids in total and it was crowd control not education.

[waveknight]

At ds's school they go to the year 1 class for time out. Not sure why this is but ds has been on several occasions.

[Hulababy]

We use time out with all the classes in our infant school. Children are given a number of reminders about their behaviour and if they continue they have time out. This generally takes place in the classroom, to one side of the room where it is quieter, but sometimes means the child sitting in another classroom. If the initial behaviour warrants it time out is used straight away - normally as a chance for the child to calm down or be removed from the situation.

At playtime we use time out too. The child is taken inside to sit by the office. Their name andclass is recorded along with the reason for time out. I placed a reception child int ime out today for sticking his middle finger up at another child becuase "he looke at me funny." I feel it justified some time out TBH.

[Hulababy]

Time out, thinking chair, ...doesn't matter what the teachers call it, children are not daft - they know what it is and why it is there, and why children are asked to use it.

It gives the child time to calm down out of the situation in a safe place, and time for the teacher to be able to deal with the fall out in some cases, such as another upset child, etc. Time out is normally only used for a very short period of time - 5 min or so.

It is sometime simportant that children know there is a consequence of their poor behaiours anyway - not everything can be positive.

[mrz]

Our "cosy Corner" isn't used for "punishment" for want of a better word ... staff don't send children there it is just a quiet place where children can go if they feel the need.

[nappyaddict]

mrz

I actually think a quiet area is a positive way of dealing with behaviour. It enables children to recognise their own feelings and learn to self regulate and take themselves off there of their own accord once they are used to the idea of it and what it is for. If they are getting too hyperactive or something the teacher could suggest when they feel ready to calm down they can go to the quiet area, but not make children go there for punishment. If it is used as a punishment too, children won't want to go for some chill out time there when they recognise they need to.

[mrz]

I didn't say children aren't "punished" PixieOnaLeaf just that isn't what we use our quiet area for.

[nappyaddict]

At home we have punishments which reflect the bad behaviour but I understand it might be difficult in school to do that all the time. So for example bad behaviour when we are out means going home where ever possible, bad behaviour towards friends in our house means friend gets loads of attention and maybe goes home, throwing toys or food means removal of toys or food, turning the tv on and off means no tv time when he wants to watch something etc.

mrz How are children punished in your school?

[mrz]

Usually it involves getting them to understand why their behaviour is unacceptable - sitting quietly near to the adult dealing with the incident for a few minutes and finally apologising if appropriate.
but obviously it depends upon the type of behaviour