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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DS punished for class prank

301 replies

upsideup · 26/10/2018 16:07

DS1 is 9 and in year 5.
Last day of school, the teacher left the room for a couple of minutes and DS suggested that the class should all draw back circles on their foreheads and then act normal when she comes back in, he thought it would be a good halloween prank that she would find funny. Most of his class did it, I don’t know how many didn’t but it was only a few.

She didn’t find it funny which is fair enough, it’s not. They were asked whose idea it was and ds eventually owned up, he had to stay in a break to go and speak to the head teacher. I was phoned to be told what he did and that as the ringleader he will have to stay in every lunch time the first week back.
Obviously in the less than five minutes the teacher was gone ds wasn’t able to bully/force 20+ kids into doing it not that he would do that anyway, he mentioned it and they all decided it was a good idea to draw on their own foreheads.

AIBU to think it’s not really fair that he is the only one to get such a harsh punishment from this? And that everyone else who did the same thing is basically let off?

OP posts:
teaandbiscuitsforme · 27/10/2018 13:22

Agnes Need the loo - absolutely not. You'd have to wait for a break or get another member of staff.

You'd only leave the room if you absolutely had to.

youarenotkiddingme · 27/10/2018 13:25

I really don't think he sounds like a bully 🙄

Seriously have you lot never come across 9/10yos.

Left alone- 1 suggest something outrageously idiotic. All find it hilariously funny and copy. As no risk of any harm or someone getting hurt I very much doubt they thought too much about it. They're kids. Kids so stupid things they think adults will find funny.

I can't imagine being in some of your heads.

Newspaper heading.

"Snow forecast for 3 months over winter"

MNer reads "Return of the ice age" 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️

MaisyPops · 27/10/2018 13:26

What’s the big deal about that?
A lesson is being disrupted. Learning time is being wasted dealing with silly disruptive behaviour.
I assume as you have no issue with that you'll be perfectly fine when a child shouts out, wastes lesson time, prevents your child learning, argues back with staff, the teacher has to spend 10 mins of a lesson dealing with the class clown and talking yo them outside instead of actually teaching etc.
After all it's only lesson disruption. It's nothing massive.

When children have their GCSE teaching routinely interrupted by idiots who want to be the clown (having been told from the ages of 8 or 8 that they're so hilarious and the mean teachers wabt to ruin their uniqueness) , that's ok is It? After all they're only making jokes. What's the big deal?

It's a sad state off affairs when some parents actually think lesson disruption isn't a big deal and shouldn't be dealt with.

Fairenuff · 27/10/2018 13:26

And a teacher should be able to leave a room for a few minutes. What if they need the loo?

They have to wait until break time like the children do. In an emergency, the teacher should send a child to get another adult or evacuate the whole class and take them to another adult.

We have procedures in our school for this sort of scenario. I cannot imagine what had been so urgent that she left them on their own.

They should never be left unsupervised. It's not the teacher's fault that this happened but equally it would not have happened if she had not left the children alone.

Lizzie48 · 27/10/2018 13:29

Well, teachers don't like pupils going to the toilet in lesson time, so they shouldn't either, should they?? Otherwise, it's one rule for the teacher and another for the pupils, wouldn't you say???

As some PPs have said, it is bad practice to leave the class unattended. What if something bad were to happen? Thankfully, in this case, it was just a stupid prank. But there are horrendous cases of bullying in some cases. What if the child pulling a knife on a child had actually stabbed them? Who would legally be responsible apart from the class teacher? The parent of the victim would want answers. (The child is below the age of criminal responsibility.)

No one is saying that the ringleader shouldn't be held responsible. That isn't the point.

Thisreallyisafarce · 27/10/2018 13:35

Well, teachers don't like pupils going to the toilet in lesson time, so they shouldn't either, should they?? Otherwise, it's one rule for the teacher and another for the pupils, wouldn't you say???

The only reasons I object to students going to the toilet during lesson time are a) safeguarding b) missed learning and c) malingering. I don't do any of those things as the teacher. If a colleague is happy to cover me for a bathroom break, I will go.

Thisreallyisafarce · 27/10/2018 13:35

Well, I "do" safeguarding. I don't need to be safeguarded.

Lizzie48 · 27/10/2018 13:39

If a colleague is happy to cover me for a bathroom break, I will go.

That is the main point here. The class shouldn't be left unattended. If you're not doing that, there's no issue.

ladyme · 27/10/2018 13:47

If this was my daughter I'd explain it that the teacher needs to be able to trust the class if she needs to leave for five minutes. They need to follow her instructions. So if she says, sit here quietly, that's what they should do.

This time it was harmless. It might not be every time.

BoneyBackJefferson · 27/10/2018 13:48

Lizzie48

It really isn't the main point at all.

The main point is a child that is messing around and being sanctioned for it.

MidniteScribbler · 27/10/2018 13:54

But I would see the funny side. And I would have done if I’d been the teacher too. Circles on foreheads? What’s the big deal about that?

Exactly. What is funny about students drawing a circle on their forehead? There is absolutely nothing funny or noteworthy about that. It isn't clever. If a student did a decent prank in my classroom then I would find it funny and laugh along with them. Circles on foreheads? Pathetic and not funny.

nottakingthisanymore · 27/10/2018 14:02

The key to all of this is that op admits that her sons behaviour in the past has been poor. Two weeks worth of poor behaviour- not just a one off. This is probably why he’s been punished. Also we only have op’s version of events. As I said before, most children behave well in school but some are persistently naughty. I suspect that in the majority of these cases it is because they always manage to convince their parents that they were just being a bit silly and weren’t that bad. The parents laugh about it or openly criticise the teacher in front of their child resulting in lack of respect and more bad behaviour.

Lizzie48 · 27/10/2018 14:09

@BoneyBackJefferson

As I've said several times, the OP's DS needed to be sanctioned, I don't dispute that. But i nevertheless also don't think a class should be left unattended by the class teacher. Why can't both points be true??

Lizzie48 · 27/10/2018 14:19

I would certainly be saying this if my DD1, who is in year 5 and is very easily led, was in trouble for joining in with a class prank and was sanctioned. Although I wouldn't say it to her, I would tell her that she was a very silly girl for joining in and had only herself to blame.

Like it or not, classes shouldn't be left unsupervised because kids can't be trusted not to do naughty or silly things. And if they're not supervised, no one will know who is telling the truth; some kids are very good liars. (Again speaking as a child who others got into trouble.)

FishCanFly · 27/10/2018 14:52

meh. Do the crime - do the time.

SilverApples · 27/10/2018 14:58

It was a daft trick, from the class clown who has a history of low level, disruptive behaviour. He’s being a PITA again, the fact that he managed his behaviour for a few weeks shows that he is in control of it.
Teachers get weary of it being the same few twits over and over again, so possibly the punishment is a result of ‘Buggerit, him again? I thought he’d grown out of it. Obviously not’
He’s going to be even more hilarious as a teenager, enjoy the ride!

TeeBee · 27/10/2018 15:02

How is staying in for 5 lunchtimes excessive? The teacher is there to teach, not put up with people playing the jackass. He needed to made an example of because he acted like a total prat. I'd be backing the teacher up if it was mine...but then I run a tight ship.

SilverApples · 27/10/2018 15:05

The other effective choice is internal exclusion for a day, where you take the disruption away from the audience and everyone gets a dress-free day of learning. It’s always an eye-opener when a clown is absent for a day, and the dynamics are so different.

SilverApples · 27/10/2018 15:06

Dress free?
Stress free. Autocorrect and lack of editing.

TeeBee · 27/10/2018 15:08

But then the OP would complain that her little precious wasn't getting the chance to learn...never mind the rest of the class who have had their learning disrupted by him.

melin · 27/10/2018 15:12

The class shouldn't have been unsupervised but that's a separate issue.

And incidentally, children have to follow rules in school that don't apply to the teachers, because they are children and the teachers are professionals.

SilverApples · 27/10/2018 15:14

Oh, they are given appropriate work, just on their own.

SilverApples · 27/10/2018 15:15

I’m pretty sure that if I drew a big circle on my forehead with marker pen, it would be considered unprofessional and the head would want a word. Even more so if I’d got the children to follow suit

Lizzie48 · 27/10/2018 15:21

I would have thought isolation from the classroom doing schoolwork with a TA would be a good way of handling this? If the OP's DS likes attention and clowning around in class, then depriving him of the possibility of doing that is a consequence in itself. It also gives the other pupils who are behaving the chance to learn without being disrupted.

SilverApples · 27/10/2018 15:24

The first class I taught had a memorable clown who constantly disrupted with a string of low level antics. It’s wearing.
He must be 43 now. I hope his children are running him ragged.

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