to think that giving a 6yo a playtime detention is not on?

[BrokenBananaTantrum]

DD who is in Year 2 and is 6yo got 7 out of 11 in her spelling test on Friday. She has been told that she will lose all her playtime on Monday to write out the spellings again. She was in tears when she got home and told us.

AIBU to think this is not on at all. They brought the rule in a couple of weeks ago that if they don't 8 or more out of 11 they lose their playtime. Parents have not been informed of this officially.

DH is taking her to school in the morning and is going to challenge this with her teacher. Would love advice on the best approach.

Thanks

Oddly enough, this was in place at my primary school and we did miss playtime and swimming for spelling mistakes (30 years ago I might add).

I can spell extremely well and do remember the ones I misspelt all those years ago!

Just saying it worked for me.

Unless the child has SN i think its fine...she'll learn her spellings next week!

Honestly such wish wash crap about dc. I've got a ds5 who has his teachers twisted around his little finger!

Dc need to learn who's in charge!

Ancient teacher here, it's disgraceful. No child should ever miss playtime because of a spelling test result. Tell the head tomorrow morning, he/she might not be aware it is happening. Tell the head your child will not be missing a playtime.

Of course YANBU, she is 6!

Harsh

6 years old is much too young to be punished for a few spelling mistakes. Agree that giving incentives is far better, and parents should have been told about this new rule. YANBU and so sorry DD is so upset.

out of interest, how old is the teacher? (or TA?) making these rules up?

ridiculous to "punish" a poor test result. What happens when the child had tried their hardest with lots of parental support at home,and achieves well by getting 6 right but that's "not good enough"

I would be livid

Thanks everyone for your replies DD has been upset again about this tonight so that is why I have not been back until now.

I am glad to know that most people agree that this is a terrible idea.
DD does try hard at school and DH and I are usually very supportive of the school but this just seems bonkers to me. It will only lead to her being put off.

The class is split into ability groups for phonics and literacy so ideally DD should be able to spell the word she is given but she does find spelling hard. She loves writing stories and does this a lot at home and I don't want this to put her off.

Think DH will initially be quiet calm about this and will probably go with the "we have heard this ..... its not true is it???" to start with

storynanny can I just tell them that she won't be staying in? will they accept that do you think?

DD's teacher is an NQT. This is her first job but she did do her PGCE placement at DD's school.

I think if you say you do not support them at all in keeping her in and will be speaking to the head and will escalate if necessary I would be very surprised if they kept her in

Sorry to hear your dd is so upset, sounds like my dd who is super sensitive to any sort of 'punishment'

DD ususally does well with her spellings but just seems to have had an off week.
girleifriend she is sensetive to punishment as she is generally speaking a good girl and she doesn't experience much punishement at home. If we do have to, we do get a big reaction from her but will stick to our guns. She is a sensetive little soul overall really.

Agree with others that detention is fine for behaviour, but not for doing badly in a spelling test.

When your DH goes in he should point out that it's completely unfair on children who are dyslexic, who aren't routinely diagnosed until 7 years of age, and it is also unfair on children whose parents don't do work with them at home. It's also worth pointing out that children need that morning break with a chance to snack, run around, and get fresh air to enable them to concentrate to the best of their ability for the second half of the morning.

That is quite ridiculous and very dangerous, as it gives children struggling totally the wrong message,

The lazy person who implemented this form of outdated ill thought out, punishment for getting a spelling task correct should resign and not go near children in a teaching capacity again. This outdated method was given up by decent teachers last century.

I would find a school where the teachers have had training.

So sad this level of stupidity still exists, I hope the person concerned realises they are shit at their job and finds a way of earning a living where they don't do damage to young lives.

Nice polite hat off,

Fucking hate that there are still shitty inadequate teachers allowed anywhere near children , Don't let the fuckity fuckwit anywhere near your child again.

nice polite hat on.

mention to the head that they need to update their training.

CloudsAndTrees DH is quite severley dyslexic and I know that there can be inherited traits of Dyslexia. But her reading is good - she is one of only 4 "free" readers in her class, having finished the reading scheme just after christmas. She is also one of the youngest in the class with her birthday at the end of July.
Is it possible she could learn to read really well but still be dyslexic?

My son would be for ever missing playtime if this rule came in.

I can go either way it may motivate some children but the vast may just give up because no matter how hard they try they are always going to give up because they are going to miss play time any way.

Detention for dreadful behaviour - fine.

Spellings. NO! How quickly will the poor child be turned off from education following that pattern!

Yes you can be a fluent reader and dyslexic as my daughter is. She struggles a bit with spellings but it took till secondary before her dyslexia was picked up.

Do you know whether this policy is the teacher or the head, my dds school had the same policy but it was the head who introduced it.

I think it's ridiculous. Is the teacher a newly qualified one. If a child was really badly behaved at playtime then perhaps this would be a reason. But absolutely not for getting spellings wrong. Some teachers are clueless.

I would be absolutely furious. It's fine to miss playtime for bad behaviour, but under no circumstances should a child be punished for being unable to attain a particular mark in a spelling test.

It's cruel and likely to damage your child's self-esteem.

I thought this kind of nonsense had stopped many years ago. Obviously not.

I don't know enough about it to be able to advise you BrokenBanana, but I would have thought so because dyslexia comes in more than one variety. There is a child in my school who is 6 and is showing signs of dyslexia, but the LA won't formally assess until the child is 7. I don't know if it's the same in all areas, but it seems to be widely accepted around here.

I'm sure if you ask the question directly on a thread title, there are people here that will know more.

I wonder whether the NQT is overly keen to make an impact and show that she can achieve results, so is pushing the children out of some desperation to succeed?

Either way, she needs to be stopped in her tracks - whether your DS finds spelling hard or not, negative incentives like this are terrible for the motivation of the children and can only serve to increase anxiety and stress...

Go carefully if you talk to the teacher/head though - I would make it clear you are not attacking the teacher, just this particular method that she is using, otherwise defences will go up and you won't get anywhere (personal experience!)