What do you think of this year 5 punishment?

[Mayhemmumma]

Curious - not sure how I feel about it, interested in what other schools do.

DS 10 in year 5, loves school, is a good boy, never in any trouble (hence this is new to me) he has good friends, tries hard etc etc

He doesn't like his teacher who he says shouts so loud he turns bright red and is scary, one day he said he shouted so loud he thought he was going to hit a child.

Today DS was asked to sit with a new boy from Ukraine - DS got on well with him, they were laughing about a funny story the teacher read out and chatted during the lesson -he knows this isn't allowed.

His punishment was to miss break and sat alone facing the window and was told this was to watch the other children play outside to see what he would have been doing if he hadn't broken a class rule.

I dont see why they ever phased out being told to stand in a corner. TBH watching other kids have fun while you can't is probably even more harsh. Kudos to the teacher for their old school methods. Now, where's that dunces hat?

What about the children who get it next year? Does it only matter for your child?

Hmm maybe check what actually happened first. I once had a parent raging that their child had been sent out of a lesson and made to sit facing the wall in the corridor.

when I checked the CCTV he had been sent out of the class for disruption, and when outside kept wiggling his arse towards the window in the classroom door, to continue disrupting the class. The teacher came out and moved him onto a chair further down the corridor so he couldn't cause any more trouble. The chair was about 3 ft from a wall.

maybe the teacher just told him to face away from her.

I don’t think missing all of break time is fair because it leads to a child’s needs not being met. Missing five minutes is fine, but children need the fresh air and space to move around and be free to chat at times throughout their working day.

It also doesn’t seem very welcoming for the new child who has come from a difficult situation. How does that poor kid feel knowing he’s just contributed to his new friend at a new school being in trouble? I expect he’d have appreciated the child who he knew the best going out into the playground with him.

The whole thing was badly thought through, but I don’t think that making him face the window is the worst thing here. Facing a wall would have been equally as horrible and almost draconian, making him read a book should be seen as enjoyable, not a punishment, and making him do work would either save him time at hime or mean the teacher had to set new work. The problem is that it was an entire break time, not the direction he was sat in.

I did double check with DS - he was very clear what was said to him.

He wasn't trying to tell tales or get out of anything, he wanted to fess up to me that he'd had to miss break for chatting.

He wasn't overly upset by it, he's hated this teacher all year as have his friends.

Check out the schools behaviour policy which will list sanctions used. I will bet that this isn’t one.

One to one time with a teacher doing jobs, and all the attention that comes with it is a reward, not a punishment.

It's the most stupid punishment (and add facing the window - cruel).

You have a child is is excitable (yes - they are 10!) so to solve this you stop them having 10-15 minutes running it out if their system 🤦🏼‍♀️

Oh and btw I'm head of behaviour in my school! So I'm no pushover - just realistic 😂

Doesn't sound very fair to me. He was asked to sit next to this boy presumably to make him feel welcome and since the behaviour was out of character for your son, he might have been doing it to make the new child feel at ease. Unless he was warned to stop talking then I think it's wrong. As a parent I probably wouldn't actually do anything about it since it's 15 minutes and he's got a new teacher soon.

Not when the alternative is playing with your friends.

@itsgettingweird

That's an interesting point, very true!

Thank you - it's a 50/50 split on whether I'm being precious..

And the new boy didn't miss his break thankfully but yes odd that he sees DS get told off for a conversation he was also having.

I'm a teacher - and a Mam. Punishing kids by making them miss break times boils my piss - kids need a break from working, writing and thinking. It's fucking lazy of the teacher... and don't get me started on those who take break times from whole classes because of poor behaviour from a couple.

The teacher sounds horrible and the punishment is way over the top. It sounds like your DS was being friendly and welcoming to the new boy.

It does sound OTT. Especially when the only reason your ds was talking was because he was being so friendly and welcoming to the new boy from Ukraine. Sounds like the teacher has lost control and is lashing out/going overboard

The best way to deal with that sort of behaviour (and I use the term loosely because it's end of term and everyone's had it 😂) is to

1 - warning to stop
2 - warning if they aren't stopped they'll be sitting alone next lesson
3 - send them out to play and then after play follow through if they've continued.

If they stop but carry on next lesson then during a fun sit down class activity make them write 5 inter sting facts about each other "if you enjoy talking to each other so much then when everyone else is making paper aeroplanes you can talk to each other and write facts about each other".

Consequences should be natural. In adulthood if you can't settle you don't learn to settle by sitting facing a window. I was doing some work at my desk today and could feel myself fidgeting - so I got up and ran an errand and came back.

Movement breaks are needed by humans.

I don't get the whole idea of missing break at all. If I mess up at work, or behave outside of behavioural expectations, no one takes away my lunch break! Yes there are consequences but I really can't see a correlation between chatting in class and losing time to decompress outside - that is a time for fresh air, free movement and realigning so he can continue with learning in the afternoon.
A fairer punishment may well have been to separate them after repeated requests to quieten down, remove from class for a short period, lose house points for not adhering to the behavioural code.

yes they should, some of the time

I bet the new boy missed being able to play with your friendly ds at break time too.

… you mean for the children who miss break time because they have been disruptive?

Totally fine with that.

Fine with a teacher scaring the kids with his red faced shouting?

Pretty sure our school would restrictions him from mixing with others, either sat in corridor near office or a walk/run/outside play on his own in a separate outside area if a member of SEN team was available. No water should he be forced to face a wall.

Fine to do that.
What is not fine is what was said ‘which was basically ‘we will make it even harder for you by forcing you watch all the stuff you are missing out on.’
That sounds nearly saddistic to me.

The teacher sounds like a maniac! Why aren't they allowed to chat a bit? They're only 10!
Hopefully he gets a better teacher next year

For the children scared to death of a shouting aggressive teacher ....who by some MN would say would make them feel threatened and want a divorce....and the additional stand at the window shit.