School putting child in isolation because parents haven't paid lunch fees

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

Apologies for the DM link, and in case there's another thread on this (couldn't find one, but it's such a mumsnetty topic I can't believe no-one else has started one).

A school has threatened to put a child in isolation for their entire lunchbreak every day until the parents pay the £75 due for the term's school lunches (which are 1 week overdue).

Daily Mail article:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3713583/Superhead-claimed-Britain-s-education-broken-puts-pupils-detention-lunch-restricts-food-parents-failed-pay-school-meals.html

Link to a picture of the letter from the school:

twitter.com/RichardA/status/758941460741758982

WTF are the school playing at? In what possible circumstances is this OK?

I thought schools generally don't supply stationery? Yes lots of teachers buy it out of their own money for poor pupils

My ds with and would t even survive a morning in this environment.
I suppose at least that would save me £75!

No differentiation? No learning styles? No room for anything less than perfection? There's even a bit about how children fasting won't be excused from pe but the coaches may make it a little easier for them.

Did anyone notice from the website that a high number of pupils appear to be from ethnic minority backgrounds and the school has a higher than average FSM population?

It scares me to think a high proportion of these children could be refugees who've escaped this type of autocratic fearful lifestyle to now be placed in education and living it again.

all the schools ive known have basic stuff, biros pencils etc, if they generally dont and the schools i have experience of are unusual in that respect then fair enough.

Primary school aged children should not be properly fasting.
The Muslim secondary school near me still has PE when children are fasting.

has anyone seen the letter? is it just me or is it extremely poorly written?

A school that trumpets its high standards so insistently should really take more care with technical English in its letters home. 'Overdue' should be a single word both times it is used, and 'sandwich' shouldn't have a capital 'S'. The construction 'within this week' doesn't flow well, though I'm not sure if it's an actual mistake or just a bit clumsy. And I don't think 'faithfully' should have a capital 'F' either. I wonder what kind of apology letter I'd get if I emailed my corrections to the deputy head.

i spotted those and more Mornington......so we have pupils treated like they are belong in Divergence, scrabbling about for dosh and botching a letter that gets published to the population.

Sucks to be you Daenarys

pupils treated like shite,

wtf is that extra line doing there i deleted that off ffs!

This is an interesting take on the matter

behaviourguru.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/the-michaela-debates-would-that-it.html

ive read that reply and the passive aggressive faux concern opening line told me all i need to know. bottom line is they have used food and humiliation as a punishment.

i suspect if i withheld food from ds1 i had cooked for the family, instead only giving him a Sandwich [sic] and made him sit in his room as punishment to his dad for not paying me maintenance id be reported to SS

I spotted this on twitter and have mentioned it in another thread.

As for the school trying to say there is a backstory .............nah im not buying it.

Ive seen and heard of too many instances where a child is put in isolation just for wearing the wrong coloured socks.

This school sounds draconian

IF they are going to single children out for being poor to punish them for the parents economic status then why are they making parents fork out God knows how much for uniforms so they dont "look poor" and cant be singled out for it.

And that goes for all schools not just this one!

For me, it's all a bit too "Please Sir, can I have some more?" What's next, picking oakum during detention to earn the school money to reimburse unpaid lunch fees.

Dickensian.

the more i read the more i get the feeling that theyhave their weird policies to weed out the lowest class kids, god forbid they have to deal with the offspring of hard up parents that may mean they might actually have to use some energy and brains to discipline appropriately. 0

I read the reply too.

Sounds like the parent was very uncooperative and confrontational. However the fact remains that the school punished the child for the actions of the parent, which in my view is unacceptable.

There've been a couple of times this year that i've been late with lunch money...twice ds1 has had it in an envelope in his school folder and forgot to hand it in and it stayed in there for a week. Another time I just plain forgot and caught up the week after.

Whatever the reason, to take it out on the kids - both punishing and humiliating them - is fucking awful. I would be spitting feathers if I got that letter.

My kids school has started sending out texts on Sunday evening saying that they will not feed children who's parents have an outstanding balance.

Seems fair enough.

Bloody hell have you read the deputy head's blog?

hackingattheroots.wordpress.com

To be honest, I like the idea of a structured lunchtime. Much better than the gobble and go canteen of the school where I work, which has some very priviliged children in it (and some very under priviliged) but the canteen looks like a warzone after lunch, with half eaten food and rubbish flung on the floor and canteen staff expected to clear it all up.

Just read the latest entry in that blog, OP.

As ever, staff at the venue said they’d never seen such polite children.

Funnily enough, when our children come back from a school trip, the teachers always report that the staff at the venue say exactly the same. After all, they want our repeat custom, don't they?

Yes Bubble have read it.

Very weird and cultish - gives me the creeps.

Turning the kids into robots that say robot style - 'have a nice day' !

The blog just hankers for admiration and recruits.

I started counting how many times the blog mentioned "silent", "in silence" and variations of "not talking". I think I lost the will to live.

"We believe in zero-tolerance. We do not make exceptions. When we say we have high standards, we mean it. If you think it is mean to give a detention when a pupils doesn’t have a pen, Michaela isn’t the school for you.

So, if you have a learning disability that means you have difficulty in organising yourself, Michaela isn't the school for you. If your parents can't afford to buy this stuff for you, Michaela isn't the school for you. If you come from a chaotic home where your belongings get appropriated by other people, Michaela isn't the school for you.

All of that means the school operates on the basis of unlawful discrimination. If they're trying to teach children to have a respect for rules and structure, maybe obeying the law themselves would be a good start?

If I were at a crowded tourist attraction and a group of schoolchildren insisted on lining up single file so that, unavoidably, they got in everyone's way, I wouldn't be at all impressed.

I note that Ms Birbalsingh goes in for calling parents "mum". It's unbelievably patronising and generally a sign that the person in question can't remember the parent's name. If anyone tries that on me, I like to point out that I'm not their mother, I'm not calling them "teacher" (or whatever) but using their actual name, and I expect them to show me the same courtesy.

jesus that blog

what a dreadful place