is this right? year 6 'spoofed' about burglars .....

[wink1970]

My DSD just told me that my grandson came home from school during the week & told her his class (age 8) had all been lined up after assembly and told their classroom had been burgled overnight, trashed, and some of their things stolen.

They were then led to said trashed room, and asked to identify missing belongings & then talk about their feelings about this - cue much hugging and crying apparently - only to be told 20 mins later that this was a 'joke', a staged scene, and that the subject of their homework this weekend is to write about how they felt.

I'm aghast! is this normal teaching? She did ring the school to check and it's true, the school are planning a number of such 'jokes' including an "alien invasion" in the school grounds next month, all in the name of 'creative writing'.

thoughts please ?

[hackmum]

Yes, there was a DM story about this a little while ago - seems to be a thing, apparently. Beyond me why anyone would think this was a good idea.

[bolshieoldcow]

Oh I would hate for this to happen to my DD. It destroys the trust relationship between the child/teacher/school. Very upsetting.

Also, does F-all for creative writing skills if you're simply rehashing what has happened and how you felt in a particular situation. That's just factual reporting.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

They's better hope none of the children has any reason to fear this kind of thing or be upset by it (refugees, living with DV, crime victims). What idiocy.

[Arlagirl]

Surely year 6 are age 10/11?

[Winterbells]

I think that is absolutely insane! How is that appropriate for 8 year olds?

I could see the alien invasion one ending up being fun/silly but burglary, even of a classroom, can be so upsetting.

[WhizzpopWhizzBang]

Year 6 is ten and 11 year olds, not 8.

[happygirl87]

We had the alien invasion one when I was at school and I LOVED it!!

[Yarp]

8 year olds aren't in year 6.

This is not a good idea, IMO

[Hakluyt]

They did the alien invasion one at my children's school- it was great.

Year 6 is not 8 year olds.

[wink1970]

Really? That's what 2 of you take from this, that I mis-labelled his year? He's 8. At my school it was LIII, UIII, LIV, UIV etc. It just seems so inappropriately scary for anyone in that age range.

[Winterbells]

OP said the grandson/class is age 8, I assumed she was mistaken/made a typo about his school year and not his age.

Even if it is being done to 10/11 years olds I still don't think it is acceptable. It's way over the top.

[Wishtoremainunknown]

I don't like this kind if thing. Unless it's made clear it isn't true I think it's unfair and damaging to the trust built between the school and pupils.

[Thunderbolt]

I did the alien invasion one at school when I was 10 and it was very silly and fun. Nothing about a burglary is funny and I think it is very inappropriate, whether aged 8 or 10.

[angelohsodelight]

I'd be complaining to the governors and council immediately. Thus is bloody ridiculous.

[Notmeagain1]

I am all for creative ways of teaching, but this is OTT for me. If there were lots of tears anf children were told to identify what thigs of their had been taken, jts gone too far.
Aliens are not believable and would sound funny and not upsetting. These kids have been voilated by a vandalism and burglary, only to be told its a joke. Not funny at all. IMO

[Purpleflamingos]

We had the alien invasion last year. But it was handled in a very fun manner so all the children knew it was a fun piece of schoolwork rather than war or the worlds.

[wink1970]

ahhh, DH has just arrived with a glass of wine, so I'm off now. Will check in later, thanks for some of your comments.

Now I think about it, I 'get' the alien idea I suppose, but not the burglary, especially if any of them have actually been burgled before. So surprised many of you have heard about this, it seems really odd to an oldie like me.

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

An alien invasion is very different to a burglary.

[Hulababy]

I don't like the burglary scenario unless the children know it is a set up in advance. DD did a crime scene one, but they knew it was fake beforehand and the "body" was a very obvious plastic dummy. She enjoyed that one a lot and a lot of education came out of it.

At my school we have done smaller versions of the "alien" scenario, and also a missing dragon. Recently we did one where an explorer left us tome items in the class to help him return home. Again, all much smaller, non scary. The way they were set up were more exciting and fun, than scary or worrying. Linked to and launched our topic and led to work in geography, history, maths, english, science, computing, art and more.

[ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks]

We did something similar aged 17 in 1989...theatre of cruelty the drama teacher called it.

He arranged for three of the girls to get kidnapped by some of the lads....driven round and round in circles through town with bags on their heads and their wrists tied...then they were thrown down a sort of hole and had things thrown at them.

Weird.

[Wishtoremainunknown]

Claw please tell me the girls knew it wasn't real ?!

[VoyagesOfAStarship]

There have been threads about this kind of thing before. I hate the idea of pretending to kids that traumatic things are really happening - that could be hell for anxious children, or those with ASD. As for the alien one, I think it's really stupid and confusing. I'm all for it if everyone knows it's made up but very often that isn't what happens.

A previous thread turned quite nasty with those of us who didn't like it being accused of having no sense of fun etc. Erm nope!

[VoyagesOfAStarship]

As for claw's story - I really hope that wasn't as bad as it sounds, but it sounds pretty appalling.

[TSSDNCOP]

When I was at school, in what would now be year 7, we were given brown labels and lined up outside. Once assembled we were told a train carrying nuclear waste had crashed at the nearby station and we were to be evacuated immediately.

For about 5 minutes until logic set in: where was the rest of the school, why was traffic still heading toward the station there was complete and utter panic. Then we were told that of course it wasn't true, but an exercise to help us with a project on WW2 evacuations.

35 years later I can tell you who was in front and behind me in that line, the weather and the feeling of total overwhelming panic I felt in the interest of a good essay.

[Fudgalisious]

My dd would not cope with this at all, she's got asd and anxiety disorder. Gonna have to ask the school if they do anything like this, she's been in bits just from learning about ww1