Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To raise a formal complaint regarding school isolation

664 replies

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 07/12/2018 19:13

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 Hmm 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.

OP posts:
jacks11 · 07/12/2018 21:31

The "could have been blinded" child was also throwing acorns with gusto. This was not a bullying or malicious incident it was silly playground stupidity and a whole days isolation for just ONE of the children involved is pointless and baffling actually

Have to say, I agree with this. Throwing acorns was extremely childish and very foolish, but really not hugely outrageous behaviour. IMHO an appropriate punishment would have been being taken aside as a group and given a significant bollocking from the headmaster/mistress, leaving the children in no doubt that they had been extremely foolish and that it was never to happen again. Possibly even add in a detention on top. BUT all the children who threw acorns should have been in trouble, not only one child.

The child who was injured was also throwing acorns, so not an innocent bystander. There is also the issue that this episode has taught OP's son (and possibly the other children involved) that not only is throwing acorns a bad idea (good lesson) the real mistake was being honest enough to own up, thereby getting yourself into big trouble whilst everyone else gets away with no punishment at all (not a good lesson, TBH).

OP has said that she initially supported the school in as much as she agreed that rules are rules, and so if the rules are that her son has to be put in isolation for a day then that's what had to happen. I do think that on the whole you have to back up the school's disciplinary policies, even when you don't agree. So I would have agreed that the OPs DS needed to be in isolation if that's what the rule state. Though I do think it excessive and I do think it is wrong that he was the only one punished. And although I would support the school to my child, I would probably have a chat to the headmaster about it. However, if you are going to put a child in isolation, then it needs to be done properly even if it is last minute.

In addition, if the school have said a member of staff will contact OP regarding a concern she has raised then they should do that in a reasonable time frame (even if they don't think the complaint has merit). OP has tried for over a week to contact them, and they still haven't got back to her. That is not acceptable really.

Moreisnnogedag · 07/12/2018 21:31

Or @MissMarplesknitting you could phrase it as “my own child was messing about throwing acorns around and by chance he was the one who got hit. His mate owned up immediately and apologised. After making sure he was okay I pointed out that he could have easily hurt someone else and that he also shouldn’t have been so silly.”

MissMarplesKnitting · 07/12/2018 21:33

Ah yes, but that's the response of the ideal parent.

That's not what the school will get.....

SmileEachDay · 07/12/2018 21:34

For everyone saying it has “become draconian” - what schools used to do is fixed term exclude loads of children.

(Personally I think FTEs have a bunch of quite serious risks attached to them and there is masses of evidence to say they don’t work but that’s by the by)

Most LAs have a strict policy of reducing FTEs to zero. With no additional money to support children who struggle to manage.

ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs · 07/12/2018 21:35

Exactly! A suitable punishment could have been a 1000 word essay on why throwing acorns is a daft thing to do. At least that would have involved some thought

Hyppolyta · 07/12/2018 21:36

I was just thinking the same about exclusion.

If a child can not go in isolation, exclusion would be the obvious alternative.

Cauliflowersqueeze · 07/12/2018 21:36

Never heard of isolation before and thankfully my children's schools don't have this form of punishment

I think you’ll find they probably do. Unless not a single child ever misbehaves beyond a detention, or they do fixed term exclusions.

They might call it “remove room” “exit room” “internal exclusion” or some name like “oasis” or “calm space”. Schools have to have somewhere they can place students who are not in lessons for some reason.

SmileEachDay · 07/12/2018 21:37

1000 word essay

No.
Don’t make writing a punishment.

BachAtTheMoon · 07/12/2018 21:38

The difference being that schools have to declare FTE's to the LA, which is a trigger to OFTSED, if there are too many. Isolations are a grey area that don't need to be declared and therefore don't affect the schools behaviour stats.

Cauliflowersqueeze · 07/12/2018 21:41

Detention doing extra work or cleaning classrooms or litter picking- fine.

Extra work - parents would complain it was making work a punishment

Litter picking - parents would complain it was against their human rights to do this

Detention writing lines- annoying and pointless but ok.

Parents would complain it’s archaic or Victorian and that it makes writing a punishment

Thedukes · 07/12/2018 21:41

Christ, is it the military he's in or jail or something? You mean to tell me he had to sit upright, staring at a plain wall for 8 hours?

RaspberryRuffless · 07/12/2018 21:42

I would absolutely complain. That isolation punishment sounds awful!

The more threads I read on here about schools, the more I’m glad I removed my son to home educate him.

Thedukes · 07/12/2018 21:43

That would drive me personally insane, let alone a child.

Walkingdeadfangirl · 07/12/2018 21:43

Did the pupil have NO work to do? Because of course a pupil in isolation would never lie about anything like that. I imagine he just didn't have work to do that he liked.

Perhaps check with the school first before assuming the child is truthful and the school is in the wrong.

BumsexAtTheBingo · 07/12/2018 21:43

I wouldn’t argue the isolation. If your lad doesn’t do silly things like throwing acorns at people it won’t be an issue.
I’m also sceptical that he couldn’t get any work because he couldn’t speak. There must be some way he can communicate if he was ill or something - raising his hand? Sounds like he took the opportunity not to do any work for the day!

MiniMum97 · 07/12/2018 21:44

The kids were mucking about and someone got hurt. It was an accident. I find the fact that everyone is up in arms about this and one poor child got isolated for an entire day an absolute shocking indictment of how we are raising kids too frightened to do anything at all. Which seems to be the way your child has responded to this punishment. If they were bullying or deliberately chucking acorns at children that didn't want to be involved then that would be a different matter. Kids muck about and children get hurt all the time. It's childhood. And partly how children learn.

I would definitely make a complaint. Leaving him sat facing a wall for a day with nothing to do is disgusting and a completely inappropriate punishment. And he has lost a day's education. Not sure why parents aren't allowed to take their child out for a day because if the effect on a child's education but if a school do it it is fine. And to the teacher who said they don't have time to provide work but sorry that is not acceptable. If the school can't make provision to educate a child in isolation then they shouldn't be using isolation.

Thedukes · 07/12/2018 21:44

I would literally need to go to a boxing class before I went in to the school, or I'd risk exploding (boxing relaxes me).

Anasnake · 07/12/2018 21:45

Did he have a laptop ?

ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs · 07/12/2018 21:48

Just asked dd, and her school definitely doesn't have this punishment. Despite having kids who fight/ turn up with knives etc. They do exclude pupils.

My mum was a teacher, and a strict one at that. I don't believe teachers need this kind of punishment to control 12 year old children. Nor is it productive in any way

SmileEachDay · 07/12/2018 21:51

Just asked dd, and her school definitely doesn't have this punishment. Despite having kids who fight/ turn up with knives etc. They do exclude pupils

Perhaps excluding pupils isn’t working, in that case....

TeeJay1970 · 07/12/2018 21:51

Teachers need this kind of punishment to control 12 year olds.

movinggoalposts · 07/12/2018 21:52

Op, are you sure you want so much additional personal info on a thread that could well be picked up by a newspaper?

The response seems a bit draconian to me.

My DS’s school seems to be unable to punish the kids that taunt and sometimes hit him. I may print this thread out and suggest they adopt your school’s approach.

WorraLiberty · 07/12/2018 21:52

He could easily have raised his hand to get the attention of the supervisor and then told them he had no coursework.

This does sound very over dramatic OP.

nokidshere · 07/12/2018 21:52

1000 word essay

No. Don’t make writing a punishment

I once had to write an essay on the "life cycle of a blade of grass" as my detention punishment. I was very creative and quite enjoyed it.

As far as the OP is concerned all the participants should have had the same punishment, or a lecture, or a telling off, including the one that was hit accidentally.

Iamrightok · 07/12/2018 21:53

Op have you actually seen the room?
Our school has an isolation room. The students are not in booths but rather at desks with dividers between them so the students can’t distract each other.
So was your son in a room like this or a completely separate booth?