6 and 7 year olds being kep in at lunch time for forgetting homework

[DaanSaaf]

Year 2 ds just told me they have to stay in at lunch time and do extra work if they haven't brought their homework in.

Aibu to think that's a bit harsh at their age?

Funny how when kids come back telling parents X happens everyone assumes the kid is lying and it couldn't possibly have happened.

Yet when a kid tells a teacher they didn't want to do their homework suddenly their word is enough

@Giles

Just to clarify on this occasion it was class work.

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I wonder if the task the capable girl failed to complete was as dull as ditchwater.

When my children were in primary school I was working very pt and so was able to go in to class often to help. I therefore saw at least ten teachers in action week after week. None of them were punitive. The best of the lot was one of the warmest, kindest people I've ever met. She was also a very bright, interested, interesting person who had the confidence and the humility to say 'Oh, I don't know the answer to that - let's find out!' when a child asked her a difficult question.

There was minimal messing about in her classroom. It was partly because she had natural authority and presence, but it had a huge amount to do with the fact that she made the work so interesting for the children and she paced and structured the lessons really well.

@Gasp

You cannot always make everything exciting
What makes you think I'm punitive?

I think that's harsh and I would complain to the school.

We get a reading book, 5 spellings and a homework task each week.

We usually do it (save for the model castle this weekend which I found hard to understand) but if we don't I'd be livid if my child was punished for it.

In KS1 they are still learning to adapt to school. And I think the balance between learning and play at school is important.

No, you can't make everything exciting and one of the things children do have to learn is that hard work is necessary but does pay off in the end. I agree on that, but so much of the stuff kids are given in school (I'm thinking of worksheets) is dreadfully dull and not always taxing enough for the brighter kids.

As for why I used the word punitive, well, I'm afraid that's how you've come across to me on this thread. Keeping 6yos in at playtime and lunchtime to catch up on homework and classwork instead of getting a chance to run around and let off steam with their friends does seem very harsh to me.

@Gasp

Your opinion. Is that because of age? What happens when they go up to year 3, more excuses.

Homework set is dictated by school policy, which is usually written with the most vocal group of parents in mind.

I agree with this. I was a school governor and this was pretty much our head's view. Amongst the parents who felt strongly about this there was a 50:50 split between those desperate for the school to set and mark homework all the way through school and those who had set their faces against homework other than reading and a few spellings at the weekend. It was left to individual teachers to decide and that was a recipe for disaster.

We'll have to agree to differ, Linzey.

That's jogged my memory about moving up to year 3: when I was a child in Scotland back in the 1960s, on our first morning in what you would now call yr 3, our new class teacher got her belt out of her desk and explained that if any us misbehaved it would be used. And it was, not infrequently, and in front of the whole class. It was utterly vile and although I never suffered it myself it made me very frightened and unsettled. I hate to see people humiliated and hurt publicly.

Without enough play at that age they are likely to find it hard to concentrate in afternoon lessons. Seems counterproductive to me.

@Gasp

Terrible, but did the threat mean kids behave? Not really comparable.

@Theskyatniggt

Afternoon lessons are always more challenging for kids. I give mine a five minute break halfway through.

No, it didn't. It was the same kids time after time. Looking back, I expect some would now be diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and so forth. It was an orderly classroom but I wouldn't say we were learning self-discipline, more to behave well and get on with our work out of fear of the consequences.

But not comparable to being kept in, no. Much worse than that.

I don't keep them in the whole of break if they finish their work before the bell.

Just to point out kids who are know. To struggle or have a genuine reason are not kept in. Despite what people think I'm not an utter bitch.

We have an achievement gap due to some of the attitudes on this thread with excuse after excuse being trotted out to explain why poorer families are not 'good enough' to do

Maybe it is the attitude of teachers who can't see that it is their.teaching methods that are turning children away from learning.

Saying that not doing well in KS1 SATS impacts on the child throughout secondary school and in effect the child might as well give up at the age 6/7

You might not be an utter bitch Linzeyhun but there are plenty of teachers who are.

Ds lost his spark after the horrendous year at school. He was depressed and if I had got him diagnosed I am sure he was suffering with ptsd

It took a long time for him to sleep through the night without having nightmares.

The attitude that it does no harm to miss playtime is so wrong

I had to give up work to home school him

Do they still do KS1 SATs? I had hoped not. Our school kept those very low key indeed. Sadly not all the parents did. I well remember waiting to go in one morning and a mother said to my son 'I hope you're working hard getting ready for your SATs! You must do well in your exams now or you will never get a good job when you are older'. They were in year 2. Nod, smile faintly, bite tongue, move away quickly time.

Because @Linzeyhun she was a young child in primary school and your methods sound draconian.

In fact you sound a bit like my son’s teacher who completely destroyed his enthusiasm for school because she adopted a one size fits all “let’s punish them” approach.

Awful teaching who made my son feel like he was stupid because of her punitive petty and, quite frankly, inappropriate teaching methods. She seemed to take pride in the fact she was telling the children off and keeping kids in unnecessarily all because she didn’t have “time” to “pander” to the children.

But hey; most important thing is that your children do the homework. Even if it hasn’t no bearing on their attainment.

Just to point out kids who are know. To struggle or have a genuine reason are not kept in. Despite what people think I'm not an utter bitch

You mean the kids you judged to have a genuine reason. You may have got it wrong.

I remember one of my teachers claiming I got something wrong, made me repeat it. I did it differently which was wrong. Did it again, she told me I’d done it wrong and made me sit in at lunch to do it again. Which I did and it was the right way - but funnily enough it was how I did it the first time.... teacher was wrong but did they admit or realise it...

Of course they didn’t. It may have been a simple mistake. But it still burns me and I must have been about 8 at the time.

You need to ease up on the punitive punishments.

@Believeitornot

The word is strict. Rules have to be followed.

So a child in your class can go from 08:45 to what ever time lunch is with no break. When it is the time or at least it is in my son’s school is when maths and English is taught.

@Maldives2006

8:55 until 12;15.

@Linzeyhun

The best teachers are strict but fair. The worst are punitive and stick to the rules no matter what. And apply over the top punishments to young children.

@Believeitornot

Expecting completed work is not punitive?