Is this a red flag or am I overthinking?

@BugJuice I do! However the head has a different agenda. He’s warning off “undesirables ”. I think it’s not acceptable and shows no respect for the dc and staff who make the school what it is. Their achievements are all overlaid by behaviour expectations.

I do know not every parent can run a mile from these schools due to where they live but it’s so dispiriting and negative. All prospective parents want dc to go to a school where dc are valued and the head is proud of them. Go back 15 years and you would never have had this narrow approach to “selling” a school.

I had read all about it before hand, but you kind of expect the Head to be a bit enthusiastic about the school at the open evening!

@BugJuice There’s just no enthusiasm for children when that happens. It’s not welcoming, it’s very negative. Of course it’s trying to put off difficult dc and Sen dc from applying. It’s sending out a message that only certain types of dc are welcome - and you can read all about sport, clubs and results elsewhere. Which the head expects you have done before you arrive!

I was happy with a ‘strict’ school. I have 2 daughters at secondary school now and neither have ever picked up a single negative mark/sanction/warning or whatever else they’re called.
What I didn’t want was a school where the entire open evening speech was taken up with talking about discipline. Nothing about the actual education of the children, expected attainment, achievements of the students, extra curricular activities on offer… just a 15 min lecture about behaviour, discipline and bullying. It made me think that was all the school had to offer (and knowing many children who now go there, I wasn’t wrong!)

Sounds like he’s sick to death of parents questioning his staff who are professionals. I wish more head teachers were like this. Parents complaining about the school policy being enforced take up far too much time which could be better spent actually helping the children. The amount of parental complaints now is off the scale. If parents don’t want a ‘strict’ school send them elsewhere.

That does sound really annoying!

@BillieWiper If it’s your catchment school and you cannot get anywhere else because you live rurally, it’s a total bummer. You might not want the school but getting anywhere else can be difficult and no transport is available. It’s a huge shame when schools are not welcoming and alienate dc. The vast majority of parents are reasonable too. Recruitment is seeing an uptick due to lack of grad jobs elsewhere.

In secondary schools, there's usually a drop down menu on Sims or bromcom which the teacher enters the sanction and the points accrued. This will be available to you on MCAS. So say late to lesson is 1 point, cause for concern about learning 2, etc. there will be a box where the teacher adds details.
If you have concerns about the school, look elsewhere, but be aware, the culture in schools now is to have firmer boundaries because of disruption to learning, and problems with recruitment and retention of staff, and complaints from parents.

I guess he's saying these are the rules, we won't be bending them. So if you don't like it don't send your kids here. Which seems fair enough. Not especially welcoming though. I probably would find that comment a big red flag. As I don't like extreme strictness and rigidity. But some might.

We get complaints about sanctions from the parents of students who get sanctioned. Not from the parents of students who want to learn without disruption.

The talk started with ‘I know your biggest concern will be how we deal with bullying’. It hadn’t been until that point! He then went on to detail the behaviour policy/sanctions etc in great detail, and said absolutely nothing about actually educating the children!

Because it's an entirely different demographic of parents in much smaller classes who are paying through the nose for their child to succeed. The parents by and large respect the teachers as professionals and behave accordingly. It's not rocket science.

Oh. This could be a school I have links to (excper there are 100s like it).

People think open evenings are about attracting pupils, and they are, but also, especially in over subscribed schools, heads will use them to persuade 'difficult' families the school isn't for them.
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Many parents like the idea of a strict school, indeed many students are happier when the rukes are known and vigorously enforced. It doesn't suit all pupils, but it's much easier to run the school, for the benefit of pupils, and achive good results, when those families go elsewhere.

We decided against our local secondary when the entire talk at the open evening was about behaviour management and bullying.
Sadly it was the only one we had a chance of getting into, so we ended up going private!

@Redisforme Where has the word “consequence” come from? These are behaviour and sanctions policies. The best schools involve parents in the ethos to be adopted regarding managing behaviour. Unfortunately some schools have over-bearing heads, won’t consult and won’t listen. This can mean quite large sections of the school community are disenfranchised. They simply don’t have a voice and the whole behaviour ethos is too rigid. It certainly can make dc nervous and it’s not good for many dc. The organised robust ones are ok but others can be made very unhappy. The policies are often there to admonish a minority but the damage to other decent dc is not considered. It should be.

My DDs went to a boarding school where mutual respect was fostered. Dc could have a discussion about what they felt wasn’t working. It was a mature way to behave and staff listened to concerns. I admit few dc were unacceptable but most dc fitted in just fine. I would have hated these strict schools and so would my dc. Where the fun? Totally missing.

@ibeka That’s exactly what I believe too. It’s a two way communication.

That’s actually pretty reasonable/lenient compared to a lot of schools. It gives them a chance to correct poor decisions. There are increasing numbers of schools where the first incident of lost pen etc results in a detention, no matter what the reason. The issue with this is that it can fuel anxiety in some kids and mean they’re always on edge at school, even if they’re “good” kids.