Keeping child in at lunchtime for failure to complete work

[Elizabeth1970]

Is this reasonable that my child's school have decided to keep her inside at lunchtime if she has not completed her work, she is in yr 1.
She struggles with writing so takes a long time even at home with no distractions ( only child ) to complete a writing task so I feel it's very unfair she is banned from going out after lunch, instead being sent back to class to continue the writing task.
Break times are unaffected so she has 15 minutes at 10am and another 15 at 2pm but this is all most days now.

I think a big issue is that often at this age extra needs havnt been identified & children who have difficulties focusing & concentrating are the ones who need outdoor activity the most.

Ds was often kept in at break to finish work becsuse he was slow/distracted/poor attention. Losing break meant you might as well forget getting anything out of him the following lesson. At home when he lost concentration during homework I used to send him to run up & down the street before coming back in to continue.

He wasn't diagnosed with an asd & slow processing speed until the end of year 7.

@Astoria7974 That is one of the most depressing things I've ever read and the reason I took my kids and skedaddled from the UK when they reached school age.

Yes Alexander, although some would probably still try to punish him for his special needs

@JulietInJeans - How is that depressing? I raised my dsd to learn how to read and write (and do basic sums) before she started school at 4 and used to build on this at home. So nursery was for building social skills not academics. If other parents can't or won't do this & leave it all to the school then the child will suffer. At the end of the day the school is doing the right things here by trying to nip underperformance in the bud - it's the mum who's making up excuses to weesel out of her responsibilities.

Yes armpitz unfortunately they still do.

Year 1? That's terrible. Yadnbu. Kids need as much free playtime as they can get.

Astoria - my DS could read before he began school & the reception teacher said he was the best boy reader they had for several years (independent school)

It's been proven that physical activity helps concentration & learning.

One of my twin dds year 1 had additional needs (sensory issues and motor coordination along with speech hearing and hypermobility) she has been kept in a few times and the meltdowns I have when she gets home is unreal. It's very hard for her to sit still all day she needs to let off steam run and play and most importantly socialise!!!!! She is a complete loner and will stand alone and needs lots of encouragement to mix with her classmates. I and an OT have told them that they shouldn't keep her in it's counterproductive but do they listen... no not one jot because they don't see evidence of bad behaviour at school!

YouTheCat choosing to work through your lunch hour is totally different to not being allowed to have a lunch hour. I've worked through my lunch hour many times, if my boss had told me I wasn't allowed to have a lunch hour because he didn't think I had worked hard enough I would have introduced him to my union rep.

But also if you fucked around and chatted instead of doing any work you'd end up getting fired so not exactly he best comparison.
I think people have very low expectations of 5 yr olds if they think an nt 5 yo shouldn't be expected to do a small amount of age appropriate work.

I didn't notice the OP saying he child had been fucking round and chatting instead of doing her work, I thought she said her child struggled with written work even at home with no distractions. Perhaps we aren't on the same thread.

The op has said even if the child was chatting she still wouldn't agree with her being kept in so its not clear why the work wasn't done.
If the problem is inflated expectations of what the child can do in a given time then the op should take that up with the teacher. But to say that if your child is chatting you just want them to bypass that piece of work is unreasonable imo.
I would imagine that by this time in the school year the teacher is well aware of what each child can do if they put their mind to it.

similar story to obviously marvellous.

sometimes ds does not complete enough work because of his disability, or do his homework because of his disability. therefore he gets kept in.

he needs the break time more because of his disability.

sometimes the school can be really thick. ex teacher speaking

I despair. it is illegal for children to be disadvantaged for thier disability but do they give a fuck. no. this is how we do it and nothing will stop us.

Black eyed

Oh I feel for you as a parent in the same boat it's so bloody frustrating! I'm looking at moving them tbh just that schools so over subscribed as we all know! My ds year was a very full year. Also I worry if moving her will send her on a spiral better the devil you know and all that it does annoy me though she really tries at school - a little less so at home at weekends as she is very overtired. They get a lot of homework too. It's hard to know what to do isn't it?

YANBU
There are developmental and educational reasons for break time.

Exactly . And the kids who fidget/ squirm/ disrupt / are distractible are the ones who benefit from breaks in the fresh air the most .

Astoria7974

I'm also depressed by your post - mainly due to it's ignorance and lack of empathy. There is literally no advantage in starting formal education early; it's detrimental to long term academic progress. Although you can get away with it with some kids and score a short term advantage over their peers many children are not neurologically ready to start reading and writing before 5 and though you can force them somewhat it can have very negative effects long term.

There are proven long term negative impacts on academic performance and mental health in children due to lack of free play and time outside. There should be no reason to deprive a child of their free time. If a child has wilfully misbehaved (and some children simply cannot concentrate as long as others so I would not include lack of concentration in this) there should be consequences but missing recreation shouldn't be one of them.

So when do they do the work they've missed then? If it's sent home they will be missing out on recreation time at home doing it.

They should be given less work. For example slow professors can do every other maths question & fast workers/those with more concentration given extension tasks.

It's not rocket science, teachers should be able to differentiate. (Dh is a teacher & I have worked in extra curricular education)

Given less work if they are chatting?
My son has asd and dyspraxia and is given less work. I still expect him to do what he's capable of without fannying around. And if he did choose to fanny around then he'd have to do the work at another time. In reception that would be during child led play in the classroom or break/lunch time.

So presuming the teacher is differentiating and they have a manageable amount if work and still waste time chatting. Do they just not do any work?

The OP never said her dd was chatting.

In the case of simply chatting I would expect the teacher to gently remind the child to stay on task & if it persisted for the work to be sent home ( being sympathetic to any asd/adhd style traits of losing train of thought or constantly going onto another subject )

Children have very short attention spans & as they develop at different rates many are simply not able to focus on a single task for the same amount of time as others are. The thing is to try & slowly build this skill up.

So you'd make the parent take away the child's play time rather than doing it yourself. How is that better?

The difference is that it could be completed at the weekend maybe when the child was alert & rested & not under a time pressure.

In a school day taking away a 15/20 minute playtime means the child has no chance to let off steam & recharge for the next session of learning.

The parent could judge the best time for their child, for some that might be first thing in the morning, before breakfast, or maybe afte school after being given an hour to play in the garden etc etc etc.

Or at the weekend when it's just a short period of catching up in an otherwise day full of playing/sport/dance