To think that a minute's silence was not appropriate in school.

[Easternmom]

My 2 DD (7&8) came home from school as told me that they had a minute's silence for 'the thing that happened in London where people died'. Someone in the reception class had disrupted it with a burp - so it was a story to tell me- otherwise I may not have known. However- they didn't give them any context or explain what happened etc- it seems it was tacked onto their prayers at the end of assembly. We do listen to the radio a lot and as they are older we have had several chats about things they hear in the news or at school. However, I feel that if the school are going to bring this up- they really should let parents know or give the kids time to talk about it. None if that happened. Also, very weird for the reception class- and even yr 1& 2 to have been there as they are, in my opinion, too young to properly understand and it just would have scared my kids at that age. Am I being over sensitive? They have never had a minute's silence for anything else, so it also seems odd to single out this awful attack out and ignore others.

My dc school did get same.. Likely assumed parents has discussed the tragic event. .
London is our capital so maybe thought they were showing support for our country by having the silence.
Primary school too.

It wasn't even mentioned at our school. I was undecided whether it should have been talked about or not, but on balance I find it strange it wasn't.

I agree with you about the minute's silence though, too much for little ones. A reassuring chat would be more appropriate

YABU.

I completely understand that- I just think it would have been more appropriate to have discussed it with the older children so they could have talked over their worries etc (school trip to London soon) and then had a minute's silence. Or sent a slip home saying that it had been mentioned and our children may have questions about it.

No idea if my Son's primary school had a minutes silence as he didn't mention it. Ours have done it for other things though. We did tell him what had happened on wed eve and I watched a bit of news with him so he was aware if it was mentioned either by teachers or other kids. Best to have an idea of the facts as things shared by kids are not always shared correctly!

I don't think it's wrong so long as the children are given context and time to discuss.

My children (11, 7 and 4) all understand what happened. They saw it on the news and asked what had happened so we explained to them in terms appropriate for each of their ages.

They talked about it with each other and if there was a minute's silence in school they would appreciate why.

I do think it wasn't the greatest idea to do it with no warning to parents first though.

I think it's lovely. London is our capital, and maybe the school felt as it was the capital it needed to be marked and rightly so.

It is an attack that happened and shouldn't go unmarked. Children are growing up in an unsafe world and that shouldn't be hidden from them.

YABU

Yab slightly u. My 8yo (year 4) and her classmates are watching newsround most mornings at the moment. So even if we hadn't already discussed it, they would have learned about it the following day in school. I think it's good for children to learn they can feel sadness and empathy for people they haven't met and that it's ok to take a moment to think about that.

the lack of context might have come from the children not listening in assembly properly so if it had caused any concerns at home I might have called into school and asked how the matter had been discussed there as x or y had got upset about it when home.

I think it's a nice gesture. It happened in London, in this country and it absolutely should be marked.

I should think a lot of parents had spoken to children of all ages about it, as this is the world our children are growing up in so why shouldn't they know about it? But for the parents that hadn't mentioned many a text or notice board in the playground to inform parents of the silence would of been nice.

My babies aren't at school yet but My nephew school also done a minutes silence

I think I should change the op title ( but can't see how to) as clearly that gives the wrong impression. I am NOT against a minute's silence, but I think it's strange that they didn't have any discussion around it and although, the older children will have some knowledge of what happened) children in reception will quite possibly not- and it's a scary thing to bring up without the proper support in place.

Or sent a slip home saying that it had been mentioned and our children may have questions about it

You expect them to do that whole rigmarole, when your children are perfectly able to tell you themselves? And you need telling that they may have questions?
Don't be so daft.

YABU.

They didn't do it at my children school, but it was talked about by the children independently of the adults. So actually, i think if it had been talked about it would have been better than play ground rumours

Children are growing up in an unsafe world

Surely not? Isn't this pretty much the safest time for children ever, in the history of the world?

5 people dead does not change that.

Why didn't you have the discussion? You like listening to radio and discussing news events??

YABU the kids if curious could have asked and would have been told

We did have the discussion. But I may not have had it with my daughter who was barely 4 when she started school. I think that you aim things at quite a different level to reception age children.

I am not aware whether my children did a minutes silence but I know my older one in year 5 discussed what happened at school. He told me his Teacher put on Newsround and they discussed it as a class.

Children are growing up in an unsafe world

Not really, unless you count the fact that 2 women a week are murdered by their partners/former partners, but that's not interesting enough to report in the press.

Terrorism is at an all time low, historically speaking. REPORTING terrorism is at an all time high, which is not the same thing, and there has been some discussion about how "helpful" that is.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/24/coverage-westminster-attack-media-politicians

it's a scary thing to bring up without the proper support in place
I don't think it is. Your DD wasn't scared. She only mentioned it because someone burped. imo that shows that the school handled it correctly and pitched it properly for the different age ranges.
Older DCs were probably given context and if anyone (in any age range) was upset, they would have been supported.

Oh dear God...

A minute is really not a long time. Teachers of even small children will ask children to be quiet and listen while they are talking. It is obviously helpful if children are given context/guidance as to how to direct their thought during such a period. But I am sure the school would answer questions as to how this was done.

Maybe they thought their parents would prefer to do this?

I am a TA and the events were only discussed in years 5/6 and only because the children were talking amongst themselves anyway. As for the rest of the school it was not discussed unless a child approached an adult about it. I think it's up to parents.

I do find it a little strange in that I don't remember having any school events marking IRA bombs, or Lockerbie, or the Hungerford massacre, in the 80s. Maybe terrorist attacks are less common now, so they seem more significant?