to wonder if secondaries are really this bad?

They didn’t need to have such strict rules ‘in our day’ because behaviour wasn’t as bad. Neither is it as bad in Europe. This is due to the way society, and parenting, has changed.

Schools are having to react to the fact that kids are now ruder, more unruly and entitled.

It's absolutely true, I spoke to her head of year about it. They hugged in the dinner queue. Physical contact between students in the building is no longer allowed as apparently makes it easier to spot any issues. It's like a prison in there.

There must be 1000s of secondary schools in the country, some will have all do those rules, some will have none of them. What exactly are you trying to find out?

What do you think?

It's absolutely awful OP my DD has just started year 8.

The worse thing is the lack of learning or interest in her as a pupil - because she a good girl who's achieving well there's no interest in her improving or reaching her potential, she's just coasting along, bored to tears. But she sticks to the ridiculous school rules so that'll do.

She's gone back to school and 5 teachers have left! Theres only years 7 and 8 in her school so this is a lot of staff. No communication at all to parents about this, teachers are just taking two subjects.

She's been offered another school and i think she should take it but imagine if it's worse or as bad.

OP you seem a bit naive. Teenagers can be absolutely awful (plus it’s a well known fact that behaviour is getting worse in schools…), so schools need to do everything they can in order to keep control. You can’t teach if you have no control, so that’s step one.

I’m also in my thirties btw and we had a one-way system around my school. It was for safety reasons, as hundreds of pupils all trying to get around at the same time isn’t the smoothest of operations…

Not taking blazer off and keeping to side of narrow corridor and limited routes - was normal in my 90s secondary school.

Toilets were not locked - and we could talk in corridors - but I don't think noise was as bad as it is DC secondary now. Difference seem to be general behavior - it was better in my 90s secondary than DC secondary.

Unfortunately, parenting and society in general has changed since you were at school and there are far more behavioural issues that schools face. To maintain order and safety, schools have to be stricter on the small stuff. Conversely to what a PP suggested, sweating the small stuff actually does support in not enabling the high level behaviours. Lots of these things just make sense in a large school: one way systems in corridors avoids crushes; locking toilets during lessons stops students hiding in them and cuts internal truanting as there’s nowhere to hide (there are always toilets available for those who need them, but usually one area at a time, manned by staff). It’s about creating a purposeful environment for learning and enforcing clear standards that support students to make good choices behaviourally, and that impacts all students positively.

I'm 35, and we weren't allowed to remove our blazers without permission when I was at school.

One way corridors are for safety and to make the space less intimidating for the younger ones. There is a huge size (and confidence) difference between a year 7 and year 11.

Absolutely - 280 kids trying to get in a building at the same time another 289 have to get in, means that common sense says it’s a one way system.
People labelling it ‘fear induction’ need to think about comms sense. 🤦‍♂️

Apparently the last governments behaviour tzar approves these sanctions. Hopefully change is coming. What a miserable time some children have been having.

Depends hugely on the school - but mostly yes.

DC school Toilets are locked after huge amount of expensive to fix vandalism but always been mixed sex and despite entry onto corridor not considered safe by most pupils for past few years.

It's not silent in corridors but insanely noisy so my kids have needed ear buds to cope

All those things are true at my child's school.

They also have a badge system, where if they jump through hoops to achieve one of their special badges, they get to jump the queue at the cafeteria. Perform like a dancing monkey and you get food.... don't perform and it'll either run out before you get to the front, or the 30 minute lunch break will be over and you stay hungry.

My Autistic girl doesn't have a special badge because she gets detentions for fidgeting, being disrespectful by not looking at the teacher and basically being Autistic. I'm going in for a meeting on Thursday...

She told you that and you believed it? 😂

Is this a serious post?

Or a "we tried to save money by building narrow corridors so we can't have children walking both ways at once" thing.
(absolute nightmare for disabled cihldren who have to use the lift)

"not allowed to take off blazers without permission and kids getting too hot, or opposite I saw earlier today, not allowed to put on jumper without permission
Toilets locked during lesson time
Having to walk in a certain way around the corridors, have heard some students have to walk in silence around school"

This was all standard in my village secondary of 250 kids in the 1990s..

I think you don't understand just how awful some kids are.

Yes, absolutely bat shit rules and treat the kids like criminals.

Mine got detention for hugging her friend last week as physical contact is banned.

• *Having to walk in a certain way around the corridors, have heard some students have to walk in silence around school

Yes in general I think they are this strict. Teachers are individually nice and friendly but the rules are beyond belief. My yr 7 son (with autism and anxiety) was given a detention in first 2 days for forgetting his pe kit. They have a blanket rule in his school (even for sixth form) cannot take blazers, suit jackets off without permission.
It's unrecognisable from when I was at school.
Lots of my teacher friends buy into this teaching/ethos that this is the only way to keep order. The thing is we didn't have these strict rules and I think behaviour was better than it is now. Also in other countries in europe not all this daft uniform stuff and yet they manage to keep order.
It stands to reason to me (a non-teacher) that if you give out detentions like sweets for uniform infractions there are no dettterents for the bigger stuff beyond expulsion which seems to be difficult to do.
My poor boy was so mortified for the detention re pe kit (which was not his fault but mine) that I had to say how silly the whole system was and it was not his fault and not to worry about it. Thing is that is not how I want to be speaking to him about school sanctions. I want him to be mindful but I can't when they are handed out for silly stuff.
The thing about the jumpers in the thread today is just unkind. I can't think of any other excuse for it other than a power play.

“Try” not to.

My son's school has a lot of rules including silent corridors. The school has achieved amazing results with a group of kids from deprived backgrounds, so it's a system which works I think. Also he's really happy there.

@Chichimcgee are your dc at school in Germany in the 1990s? We were slack jawed in amazement when the exchange students returned to NZ with stories like that.