DS punished for class prank

[upsideup]

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?

Your son sounds like quite a creative little chap, and a born leader. He’ll go far.

As a teacher wrote in one of my DS's school reports clowns prosper only in the circus

Leaders prosper everywhere...

motortroll

Maybe it's cos I'm secondary

Really?
You would still find it funny when have the class turn up late because they have been washing this off?
You would still find it funny when (if they haven't washed it off) they start to ask to wash it off in your class?
Or your would still find it funny when they are looking at each other and giggling about how funny it is when its your lesson and wasting your time?

Or maybe you are the teacher that just passes on the issue to the next lesson?

It was your sons idea so yes, he should get the worst punishment. A whole week of staying in at lunch seemed a bit far, until you said He does have history of not paying attention and messing around they've come down hard because he is getting other children involved and once that starts happening it is a very slippery slope to a disruptive, difficult to control class.

Whiteboard marker does come off skin btw but you have to scrub a bit, better than permanent marker but still a pain, especially on kids delicate skin - I've made my hand sore before while scrubbing it off and kids foreheads are much more delicate than my hands.

All positive that your ds is taking this with good grace. I think under the circumstances the school is coming down hard because your ds needs to learn he can’t continue to disrupt the class. As others have said, he has a lot of very good skills. So perhaps now is a good time for him to start to learn a little how to channel that energy.

motortroll
Because encouraging a 9 year old to disrupt learning with a stupid prank means by the time he gets to us he considers himself the class clown, wanders around like the big I am, insists on getting the spotlight on him by acting like an idiot and ends up being the type of student lazy students love to have in the class and hard working students hate.

As someone said to me being a bit of a terror might be cute and funny when they're 4 but it's not so cute at 14.

I think the prank wad a funny idea. I think any UKS2 child who thinks them getting some laughs is worth disrupting others needs bringing down a peg or 2. Time and a place for joking etc.

Sounds like the teacher might be sick of his acting up and decided to take a stand. Hopefully your DS gets the message and cops on.

I remember doing something very similar at school, but unfortunately we tried to 'prank' our French teacher, who had the best poker face in the world.

She came back in to the class, taught the class as usual (which must have taken some doing, given the sniggering and jostling), and then sent us on our way.

BUT HERE'S THE TWIST: that class was the last class between periods, so presumably she had a word in the staffroom, and so no other teacher even acknowledged it. Ergo, we spent a lot of our time walking around looking like d*cks trying to to get a rise out of teachers.

As an adult, I've realised she was a genius.

Totally over the top. I would have ignored and let them go home with it.

If a punishment was needed then a day of missed breaks would be enough for something so silly.

However, I would always back the teacher even if I didn't think they were being fair. My boys were told that if they wanted to do daft things that's fine but don't come moaning to me that they got in trouble for it. And if they say "it's not fair" my reply is usually "I know"

Leaders prosper everywhere...

Not if they are clowns.

Maybe it's cos I'm secondary but omg if this is exacts what happened the teacher needs to lighten up!!!

Yup its because you are secondary. Primary parents are far more likely to come in and complain.

He has been in trouble before so I am not surprised that he got a harsh punishment. It isn’t the first time he misbehaved. You need to support the school here and I think the fact that you are questioning the punishment might explain why your son has been in trouble before. The vast majority of kids behave well in school so the teacher was probably fed up of your sons poor behaviour.

The kids drew a circle on their foreheads - not a derogatory nor racist symbol, just a circle. Anyone with a sense of humour would have laughed.

And this is funny because??

SoupDragon
Correct.
I've had GCSE versions of the OP's child.

I have zero time for that nonsense. Other students were getting pissed off with clown's ridiculous need for attention, repeateded attempts to disrupt. Sometimes I'd be ready to challenge him and a student had already told him to shut up and quit being an idiot. They didn't like having him in the class.

I'd have him in isolation for a week's worth of lessons eventually. Why should other kids suffer because some wannabe clown wants attention?

The kids drew a circle on their foreheads - not a derogatory nor racist symbol, just a circle. Anyone with a sense of humour would have laughed

On top of all of his other bad behaviour already this term. No they wouldn't

So what if the parents had gone apeshit? The school could have just pointed out their child chose to do this and suggested they had a word.

Oh right, yeah, because all the parents would have just gone "oh right, that's OK then, as you were".

Or perhaps they would have been straight onto Mumsnet, ranting ranting about how "The Teacher" had lost control of the class, wasn't paying due regard to the state of little Johnny's sensitive skin etc etc etc.

I'm not a teacher. But I do deal with other people's children. And this sort of behaviour is a complete pain in the backside. When it's a couple of kids at home it's funny. When it's a sizeable proportion of a class getting the sillies and wasting time scrubbing ink off their faces it's really not that amusing for the tired, stressed adult in charge.

Sorry, but I spent a lot of time in school having class disrupted by kids like this. I'm not convinced by OP's (totally unbiased!) opinion that her little cherub isn't that bad, really, bless 'im. Point is, he played a prank, he got shown that school lessons are not the place for it. End of story.
Much love,
Satan

I think it’s fine to hold him responsible since it was his decision to do it but overall the punishment seems harsh.

I think as well they are probably doing it when he starts the new term to set the tone going forward for the term in case over the holiday he has forgotten his behaviour was unacceptable by people reinforcing the opinion the school is in the wrong by over reacting.

she didn't think it's funny, it's not

Actually I think it's very funny 😂
As far as pranks go, completely harmless. X

@Tigger001 OP has said he has already been badly behaved this term.

20 people ganging up on 1 person sounds a bit like bullying. Not a particularly nasty example maybe. But he was seeking to confuse the teacher and presumably get a laugh for the class at his/ her expense.

Also... the class is there to learn and he attempted to derail the learning for the whole group.

If it was my kid I'd support the teacher/ school and back up with a hard word at home.

I think the punishment was OTT really, there was no actual harm done. But I think it's happened because of your DS's previous bad behaviour, as PPs have said. Either way, in these circumstances, I would support the teacher if it was one of my DDs, because it is important to learn how to behave in class.

I remember as a child being in a class with a few badly behaved children. Our class gained a reputation for being a class full of naughty children, and sometimes there were consequences for the whole class, even those of us who hadn't misbehaved. I hated it.

Why was the teacher out of the room for 5 minutes? In our school we are not allowed to leave children unsupervised at all, not even for two minutes. That is a safeguarding issue which should be addressed imo.

I would back up the teacher, don’t undermine him/her. Your son has learnt a harsh lesson, by instigating a prank (I also found it quite amusing), he risked an unknown punishment. The punishment was a bit harsh and yes the others should also have been punished, but perhaps next time he will think twice before pranking the teacher.