When you disagree with a school discipline strategy

[Whowhatwherewhenwhynow]

what is the correct process to use to communicate with a school about disagreeing with some of their strategies?

min particular I want to raise the issue of children having play time removed for not recording enough reads in their home/school book.

I was planning to email the head but shouldI email the governors as well. I know I’m likely to be fobbed off but I do wish to voice my concerns. The school is part of an academy, so I could approach them too.

is there any other way of raising these types of issues with schools? (I’m in England)

I doubt they miss the whole playtime, maybe five minutes? How many times are they supposed to read a week?

Initially you should talk to the HT. It sounds as if children are being penalised for what their parents haven’t done and so it is unreasonable.

Is your child losing play time? Just write in the book!
Schools are under pressure to ensure children make progress. They need support of parents.

How old is the child's? Any additional needs? Have you raised this with class teacher at all?

I’d email the head. Primary school children should not be punished in school for what happens (or doesn’t happen) at home.

Talk to the school, perhaps the Head. It shows your concerns are more than just a rant because you are in a bad mood (which may not be the case).

If they have such policies, should these not have been made available on their website to read before you chose the school?

Ultimately I assume you could raise with OFSTED, though I think that is of last resort.

In my school you are first directed to the class teacher. Even if you directly contact the Head, they will check if you've discussed it with the teacher first. If unsatisfied with the outcome of that meeting, you meet with the phase leader. If you are still not satisfied you can arrange to meet with the Headteacher and after that follow the complaints procedure published on the school website.

its essentially a punishment for not doing their homework-why wouldn’t you want that addressed? It’s a detention. If you don’t want your child to be punished, make them do the work?

I disagree with the strategy generally not specifically because of my children. I have a friend whose child is in reception and she has mental health difficulties herself (recovering from a very significant mental health crisis that happened a year ago) whose son lost play time because she didn’t record his read in his book.

just seems counter productive to punish children. How would that encourage a love of reading and with that age it’s the parent not writing in the book and no fault of the child. All I see is children from homes where there are struggles being punished.

Also, the reasonableness of the policy depends on the age of the child. KS1 where the child is reliant on the parent reading with them and recording in their records, unreasonable to lose playtime. Years 4-6 where they can and should read and record independently, I can't see an issue with asking them to catch up during playtime once a week.

The correct procedure is to contact the teacher then escalate to key stage lead then the head. Though I think they’ll pay lip service. Contacting ofsted would be bat shit crazy.

The simple answer is that when you decide to send a child to a school, you are agreeing to follow their rules.

Particularly when it comes to reading, why wouldn't you?

No because I’m up together, I can read and write, I have time and no significant health needs. So I wrote my child’s reads in every week.

not every child has that.

id not see an issue with this strategy if applied to an older age only, where it is their responsibilities. But most reception children can’t even write this early in their year!!! So they’re being punished for their parent not being together enough to read with them or write in their book.

Reception seems a bit harsh. Ks2 it’s a fair cop, I agree with you at ks1.

Is it a punishment or is it the time that someone can read with the child in school?

Because people who can’t read have children, because people who have mental health issues or addiction have children. Because children already vulnerable sue to their parents needs, especailly very young children, shouldn’t be punished for their parents inability to organise themselves.

and because No one has shown me evidence that this will increase reading standards or improve outcomes for children. Shouldn’t educational strategies be evidence based and fair at least?

They’re not being punished though, they’re having their reading done at school when they can’t have it done at home. But to read needs to be 1-2-1 so that can’t come out of lesson time, it needs to be done when the teachers / TA aren’t teaching, which is break time.

I appreciate that at 5 it looks like your break time has been taken off you but the other option is that they aren’t read to at home or at school and that doesn’t seem like a great option.

Maybe they're not losing playtime because they haven't had the reading recorded. Perhaps the teacher/TA is giving up some break to read one to one with a child who isn't being heard read at home. The situation could be looked at both ways.

its worded as a punishment-

“children who do not record 4 reads per week in their home school book will loose their Friday morning play time”.

I’ve no idea if that time is used for reading. It probably is, but I’d argue equating reading with punishment isn’t conducive to fostering a love for reading in small children.

I agree though if it was reframed so that children whose parents struggle to read get extra support and some nice time with an adult reading to them, that would feel very different for me.

If the child is missing a few minutes of their playtime, then I would expect that to be because they are doing the reading they should have done at home. It’s fine for them, they still get plenty of playtime and they do the learning they need.

It is really not too much to expect parents to read with their children and write it in a book. If this is too much for your friend then the problem is the lack of mental health support. That’s what you should be complaining about, not the school doing a normal thing.

Surely it’s obvious that practise helps progress?
If parents aren’t organised enough to do the reading I don’t doubt they can sign the book anyway.
If parents are concerned about their ability to read with their child they can ask school for more support.
If you feel that strongly maybe volunteer to go in and read with any child who is disadvantaged in this way?

Would you rather they didn’t have a time to read with an adult?

Maybe volunteer to be a parent helper and go in and listen to children read

I really wish people would stop saying contact OFSTED for everything they don’t like about a school. OFSTED will react to something serious but not general day to day running of a school

“children who do not record 4 reads per week in their home school book will loose their Friday morning play time”

I doubt very much that the school has written the children will 'loose' their playtime.

Because of the spelling mistake? No you are correct that’s a mistype. I didn’t copy and I paste, I read and re-wrote it.

I quite often mistype.

You follow the school’s complaints procedure which will be available on the their website. The governors won’t look at any complaint which hasn’t first been taken to the headteacher.