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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Did anyone have to go into solitary confinement as punishment at school?

106 replies

TippyTinkleTrousers · 03/09/2017 17:23

I saw an educational psychologist last week as I was suspected to have dyslexia.

She asked about school, explained I was distributive and she asked how they punished. This is secondary school I'm referring to.

It was solitary confinement and she seemed shocked. I always assumed all schools did it and it was better than being canned as they did at my dads school.

If we were in trouble we would have between 1 day and 2 weeks in the what they callled The Focus Room. Depending on how bad we had been.

It would be a room of about 8-10 kids, with dividers in between all of them so the kid could see the teacher but no one else.

You would have a break away from one another and at a different time to the rest of the school. Same at lunch time.

You literally saw no one else and spoke to no one the whole day. Or days depending how bad you were.

I spent a lot of time in the 'Focus Room.'

The ed psych seemed appalled but I just took it as normal. I wondered if anyone else's school had this or similar?

OP posts:
MaisyPops · 03/09/2017 22:41

Me too sandy.

The 'he/she was JUST...' brigade or the regiment of 'but so and so...' and when it all gets a bit much you can get a full house on bingo with 'you're picking on him/her'

user1498726699 · 03/09/2017 23:11

DS is finally starting his SN school this week WannaBe for Yr11. He was at an academy. He could have been moved a long time ago but for the Head blocking us getting an EHCP as he believed that DS should behave as any NT child and ask for help. He didn't want SN children at the school. He really is a cunt.

GreenTulips · 03/09/2017 23:15

I find it sad that they shit the SN needs schools, all that expertise and training gone to waste.

Until they have the staff to deal with the children who bully - along with teacher training on additional needs, then sadly there are letting down an awful lot of kids

BertieBotts · 03/09/2017 23:42

Agree my school wasn't rough. Which is possibly why it was one or two desks in a corridor rather than an entire room but I don't think it would necessarily be unusual to have a whole room. It wasn't a very large school - about 180 pupils per year IIRC.

MaisyPops · 03/09/2017 23:50

bertie
My school wasn't rough and we had a sinilar thing to you.

My current school now as a teacher is similar but we have a full internal exclusion set up.

Honnestly, I think the attitude to school/teachers has changed over time. I don't doubt there were some troublesome kids/parents when we were kids, but even just in the last 5 years I've seen an increase in parenta calling up to undermine schools etc, which I sometimes thinks changes the way behaviour is managed in schools.

ASauvingnonADay · 04/09/2017 00:08

@MaisyPops I am dreading the parental complaints of 'well he said he didn't do it so he ain't doing your stupid detention' etc etc.

GreenTulips · 04/09/2017 00:22

LOL - My son was caught up in something and he wasn't part of the problem. However when asked to explain and had the chance to correct the issue he didn't. He asked that I ring school and tell them he was innocent. I told him he had his chance and that as he 'did nothing' to improve the situation, or walk away, or tell the teacher the truth - then I didn't see why I should. He did the detention.

PollyFlint · 04/09/2017 00:34

Kids were definitely taken out of classes and had to do all their work on their own for various misdemeanours at my school, which was a comprehensive in the 1980s/early 90s.

wannabestressfree · 04/09/2017 06:09

Sorry to be a pedant and you obviously feel aggrieved but heads don't block ehcps. The level of need has to be high. Cynically it could be your sons age and value for money.

I am glad he seems sorted and I hope the new school does him wonders.

ASauvingnonADay · 04/09/2017 06:23

Heads generally welcome EHCPs. They often mean either more funding or the child moving to somewhere more suitable (if that is the case).

ASauvingnonADay · 04/09/2017 06:24

And greentulips - that is good! Sounds like perhaps he did 'do the crime' anyway! Kids might be wrongly accused occasionally, but not often.

BoneyBackJefferson · 04/09/2017 06:28

It has always been the case that ECHPs have been difficult to get.

At one point if the ECHP wasn't in place at primary you stood no almost chance of getting one at all.

Then a few years ago they re-wrote the requirements for ECHPs and now its a nightmare, we had a lot of pupils loose their support.

BoneyBackJefferson · 04/09/2017 06:30

Until they have the staff to deal with the children who bully - along with teacher training on additional needs, then sadly there are letting down an awful lot of kids

Unfortunately neither will happen.

No-one wants to pay for the staff.

and the training on additional needs would be immense.

justanotheryoungmother · 04/09/2017 09:08

I never had it, but we had isolation (then later referred to as 'supervised study' as isolation sounds too bad), but the school were so lax with it; there were always a few people in it every day, mainly for being cheeky/rude to a teacher.

justanotheryoungmother · 04/09/2017 09:08

OR I think you could opt to go in it if you were being bullied or picked on for a break from them. Funny how you'd be the one there whilst they were in the wrong Hmm

justanotheryoungmother · 04/09/2017 09:15

But all the kids would be in separate rooms.

BarbarianMum · 04/09/2017 09:16

Didn't exist in my school worse luck. Trouble makers were just given detention then stayed in class pissing around and distracting people.

It exists in all the secondary schools round here thankfully.

LilyWhites325 · 04/09/2017 09:53

We had this , I left school in 2010. You would be put in for all sorts, uniform , bad behaviour, not attending detention. They still do it now apparently, my friends little sister goes to the same school. It was a shithole and I managed to get my GCSES by working outside of school 😂

MissEliza · 04/09/2017 10:35

This exists in all secondary schools in my area. My son was put in it in year 10 for not wearing the correct uniform.

scaryclown · 04/09/2017 10:42

I got locked in the Home Economics Cupboard once. The stupid teachers were trying to teach me, someone who made paprika omlettes, rock cakes and porridge from age 6 or seven, the most basic basic cooking stuff, which I naturally got bored with. It was great, I ate a lot of sultanas.

Luckily there was no fire.

Beerwench · 04/09/2017 11:56

This existed in my school and does in my DD's too, I don't think it's that unusual. The difference is that now DD's school have a clear format of behavior and punishment, so kids and teachers know exactly where they stand. I was once put in isolation for my hair bobble snapping - it must have been a dodgy lot that mum had bought because it snapped at break when I was putting my hair back up, followed by the spare I had. Rule was in science to have long hair tied back (not disagreeing BTW) but I got seen in the line outside and asked why I thought I could flout the rules. I said I didn't my bobble had snapped and could I have an elastic band from the classroom to use for the lesson. Nope, you broke the rules so get into isolation. I wasn't particularly naughty or disruptive at school and I did feel very hard done by if I'm honest because it seemed very unfair and over the top, and (not that I thought like this at the time) I missed a practical lesson, all for the want of a 'laggy band'. My school were a bit like that though, they'd probably over punish small issues in good children to scare them into not escalating. And the 'lost causes' were just generally left to their own devices. The isolation room was a small room off the deputy heads office, and if there was a pupil in there she'd open the door so you were supervised, sometimes if there were a few you'd be shifted about into other teachers offices or classrooms but you were always alone, and had breaks and meals there and were escorted to the toilet when needed and the teacher waited outside. I think it was probably harder for the teachers than the pupils tbh!

HelloSquirrels · 04/09/2017 12:00

yes, we had it. it wasn't just for really bad stuff either, it was for all sorts including wearing incorrect uniform.

StarryCorpulentCunt · 04/09/2017 14:14

We had isolation. Wasn't that bad really. You chilled out in a room on your own with your work and had food brought to you at lunch. Boring but not what I would call psychologically damaging.

SomeOtherFuckers · 04/09/2017 14:20

That's just what isolation is isn't it? They did that in my HS when I was there (2006-2011) although I never had to go in x

JessicaEccles · 04/09/2017 14:24

I was in isolation quite a few times Blush. As a natural introvert, it was barely a punishment - more a easy way to do my work without then other noisy kids.
That Ed psych sounds a right delicate flower.