To raise a formal complaint regarding school isolation

[HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend]

Last week a group of 20-30 kids were throwing acorns at each other in the school playing field, a child who also throwing the acorns, got hit in the eye which I've been led to believe required medical treatment, teacher asked who hit the child and DS said he believed it was his acorn, and that he was sorry, and did not mean to cause anyone harm.

He was given a days isolation plus after school detention, however on the day with only 10 mins notice.

His head of year called and said as he admitted it was him, they had no choice to follow the isolation process, however admitted they thought it was harsh, however rules and rules which we will adhere to and support the school with.

DS has NEVER been in isolation.

My AIBU is, Ds was made to sit in a 2 by 4 booth, being made to sit upright and face a white wall for the whole of the school day. NO SCHOOL WORK WAS GIVEN AT ALL

He could not tell the supervisor he had no course work as he isn't allowed to talk while in isolation, and tbh nor should even have to ask for course work, its the supervisors role to ensure DS has course work, which is the policy in DS school.

Only one teacher called the isolation supervisor to ask if DS was present, however did not send course work, not one of his other 4 teachers called to ask if he was present.

The isolation supervisor has confirmed all of the above is true his HOY has advised us that they have passed it on to the isolation manager who will be calling me, however even after chasing it up everyday for the past week and leaving messages for them to call me I am still awaiting the phone call.

My own DS ended up requiring medical treatment as he endured a headache with sickness and sensitivity to light, ds has never had a migraine before isolation, which the A&E doctors advised was the cause.

God forbid any of those crowing about 'assaulting' another child lets their child throw a snowball this year.

The school were in the wrong, isolation is not like being in prison, or shouldn't be - the child should be given the work that the class is doing at the time or coursework.

I wonder how many of those criticising the OP have adult children that have experienced isolation, or are all the little darlings still at primary and would NEVER throw an acorn?!

20-30 kids having an acorn fight and no supervision at all to stop it before somebody got inured?

Stop blaming this one child. OP was right to be concerned about him.

Thedukes
Why not punish the whole lot of them.

As far as I can tell the OP has never said whether the others were punished or not, nor would the school tell her if she asked.

WAS NOT solitary confinement

Prisons use this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank Christ my sons are not in school in Britain. It's bloody barbaric.

Iamrightok

In the schools were I have worked non-teachers wouldn't be allowed to observe teachers without the teachers permission.

Solitary confinement ffs

again I am not disputing ds punishment, only of that of his tretament while in the isolation unit.

I ask any of you

WOULD YOU ACCEPT ANY OF YOU CHILDREN BEING FORCED TO SIT UPRIGHT FACE FRONT, IN A BOOTH, FORCED TO FACE A WALL WITH NO SCHOOLWORK AT ALL FOR THE WHOLE SCHOOL DAY ?

Would you accept this without complaint, even when its against the schools own policy? THIS IS MY AIBU QUESTION.

dukes

No, they don’t.

boneyback I'm aware I'm talking about a different era, and I'm not suggesting we go back to that. My mum taught a range of pupils and her proudest moment was getting great results from her foundation class ( the poorest class educationally) She had lots of issues with the kids she taught, believe me!
I'm pretty sure that the OPs ds is NT and can acknowledge what he did wrong ( he owned up to it after all) . It doesn't sound like we are talking about a serial offender here.

The thing is those children you describe were working. If he'd been given work there's no problem. Instead he was basically told to stare at a wall (look ahead) which was bright white. That's where the problem lies.

And this is just one of the very many reasons I kept my children in school in their native country. Madness.

I can only go by what DS has told me and he says none of the others have been punished as far as he can tell/heard, only him.

However not the reason for me starting this thread.

So you have no direct experience of the British system duke ?

Thedukes
Thank Christ my sons are not in school in Britain.

yes the term recess gives it away.

The school fucked up by not providing work- does that mean that the teacher/ supervisor will now have to sit and stare at a wall for 8 hours?! Or would we find that unacceptable.

Also, I'm with ReanimatedSGB on this, we should be challenging authority at times, the alternative is unthinkable, how many on here have said he should have told (arguably challenged) the supervisor about the fact he had no work to do.

Last but not least, I had some crap teachers that dished out unfair punishments, if my mum had backed them up simply courtesy of their status, I wouldn't have thought 'wow, from now on I'll be a model student', I'd have thought 'well, mum's pretty crap, no way will I bother telling her anything from now on'.

None whatsoever only the crap I see written here and the behaviour I witness of schoolkids over here.

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend
again I am not disputing ds punishment, only of that of his tretament while in the isolation unit.

And I think that most of us agree with you, the school should be following its policies of providing work etc.
And should be reminded of this in the most strenuous of terms

I moved here, but my boys remain at home in a less barbaric country.

OP
The fact you are a governor at your other child’s school is commendable. I wish more parents were like you and gave up their time to support their children’s school.
Your original post said formal complaint. That is very different to comparing to the school e.g. emailing the headteacher rather than making a formal complaint to the school governors.
Also, whike your son did not get work, as it’s his first time in the isolation room, do you know if this is a regularly occurrence? Maybe it was a one off and schools make mistakes.

Thedukes
but my boys remain at home in a less barbaric country.

which will no doubt remain anonymous.

Become a teacher then dukes, there is a massive shortage after all and you're obviously full of ideas

What are you actually teaching a child though by this sort of punishment? Terror? Fear of authority? What good are you teaching them, even if you agree with torturing young children? Do you see them becoming better humans because of the torture? What exactly do you think a day of torture resulting in a medical issue has achieved?

Thedukes

Come on, name the less barbaric country.

Good Lord, I think several posters are not reading the same OP, with updates, that I have. OP has categorically said she accepts that her DS has been punished for his behaviour, which he has admitted to. I don't think she has denied or minimised his behaviour. SHE HAS ACKNOWLEDGED HER SON HAS BROKEN RULES AND BEEN VERY FOOLISH AND THAT HE WILL, THEREFORE, BE PUNISHED.

However, she thinks, as do I and a number of other posters, that it is ridiculous that he was punished but none of the other children engaged in the same behaviour were. The behaviour in question, whilst foolish and childish was not deliberately vicious, bullying or intended to hurt anyone. Isolating one child as he happened to be the one who thinks he threw the acorn that hit another child, when lots of others were also throwing them, seems a bit ludicrous and I think has probably not taught the lesson that it could have done had they all been taken aside and given a firm bollocking by the head (and possibly all put in detention). It has, however, taught them that owning up to your mistakes isn't necessarily advisable. Despite this, OP has supported the school in their stance to put her DS in isolation.

She is annoyed about the fact that their own policies have not been followed, that her DS was told to sit in silence but not given work for a whole day and so lost a days education (but yet someone noticed he had put his head down for a few minutes and told him to sit straight). I find that particular circumstance absurd- whilst I'm sure teachers are very busy and finding time to send work down to isolation unit is a pain, my answer to that is that if school cannot properly implement isolation then they should not be using it as a punishment tool. Again, OP is not believing her DS over the teachers- the teachers have confirmed that he was not given any work and that their own policies were not followed in several other ways.

OP is also annoyed that despite being assured that the isolation supervisor/manager would contact her, this person has not done so. Nor has he returned calls or responded to messages. Even if the school think her concerns/complain unfounded they do still have to communicate with OP. It's not really acceptable for the school to not do what they have agreed to. In OPs shoes, I would leave one more message saying that if I had not heard back from the isolation supervisor (as had been promised) in the next 24 hours, I would be escalating it from raising concerns to a formal complaint.

Also a few posters have mentioned that they'd want OPs DS to be punished as he injured their child. This is hypocritical as the child who was injured was just as guilty of silliness/bad behaviour as OPs DS. He's not an innocent bystander, so whilst it's unfortunate he was injured that's the consequence of the silly behaviour they were all engaged in, just as OPs DS has been punished.

Thedukes
What’s your alternative punishment?
You’ve suggested 5 minutes in an isolation. Secondary school students would see this as a complete joke!