New Headteachers craziest rules

[glitterelf]

Last September we were appointed a new headteacher at my child's primary school. A few feathers have been ruffled and long standing school traditions abandoned. Today my child has come home and informed me of the latest crazy rule, all children are to wear their coats whilst eating their dinner as the head does not want children in the corridors after eating. AIBU in thinking this is batshit crazy and that children will undoubtedly be uncomfortable and too hot ? I'd love nothing more than to get the headteacher to sit and follow her own stupid rule.

Can they not put their coat on the back of their chair?

That's a ridiculous rule!

How old is your child? Are you sure they’ve got it right ?

I highly doubt children are making to wear their outside coat whilst eating dinner

Completely batshit.

See if you can set up a meeting with the HT to 1. Clarify that what your child says is absolutely true and 2. To air your concerns / give her a chance to explain her reasoning. Depending on how the discussion goes you can decide what to do next.

It's not a ridiculous rule to have to take it in to dinner with them
Lots of our kids forget to take theirs then have to go and get their coats after they have eaten. Except there's no-one inside supervising those who aren't on the yard. Which leaves it open for some to be silly.
Making them wear them while they eat is bonkers though.

My child is 6 however I've spoken to lots of parents who's children attend this school ranging from reception to yr 6 so it's confirmed that this did happen today and that they actually had to wear the coats whilst eating. I wish it wasn't true. The Head won't be there tomorrow as she's split between two schools. But I will be speaking to the newly appointed deputy head.

My guess would be it’s more along the line of school have had increasing problems with children messing around in the cloakrooms after eating so have said all children have to take their coat into the hall with them so they can go outside straight after eating

Crazy.
Our new headteacher has decided it's a great idea to sell hotdogs/ burgers/ pizza and other junk on a Friday breaktime(Primary). On top of the usual 'treat' Friday lunches an hour later.
This is supposed to be a school that has a healthy eating policy it preaches every other day

@Spied That's crazy

We send our children down to the dinner hall with their coats on as they are kept in the classroom. Whether they take them off when they get there is up to them. It means that children go straight out to play from the hall once they have eaten. Otherwise who would supervise them as they wander down the corridors? Its not safe for them to be going back to unsupervised areas.

At my old school you weren't allowed to bring in oranges or cheese & onion crisps for break time. This was in the 1980s.

I’m a lunch time supervisor and we ask all children to bring their coat into the hall, but they put them on the back of chair while they eat. It is so that we don’t have kids returning to cloak rooms and messing around.
But if the head expects them to wear them during lunch that’s madness.

@Shesellsseashellsontheseashore I have no issue with coats being taken into the hall or if children are choosing to wear their coats but this is a rule that the Headteacher has instructed the children to do today.

When head teachers make up bizarre new and impractical rules, parents should simply refuse to compel their children to follow them. And let the head know that’s the case. Just email in, saying “my child will remove his coat to eat if he wishes, and I have advised my child of this. Kind regards”

I think then you should clarify that the children have definitely been told to keep their coats on.

That's bonkers! Surely they'll be far too hot and getting dinner down a large coat isn't that practical! I would write, informing the Head, that your child will be taking theirs off and putting it on the back of the chair.

Can’t they just sit on their coats?

Some dining rooms don't have chairs. They have little round stools attached to the table.

We’ve also had to suffer a new head of site recently, changing long held traditions and riding roughshod over anyone who points out that actually things worked fine the way they were. A new boss with lots of new ideas, such a pain in the arse. I help out at my children’s school at lunchtime. Just one more daft rule for the kids to have to remember. There’ll be kids running back and forth between unsupervised areas that have forgotten their coats, from the classroom to the cloakroom to the dining hall.

Nothing head teachers think up surprises me anymore.
My dsil runs a school kitchen at a secondary and the children have to have proper plates even for a slice of pizza that they would prefer to take out. But guess who supplies styrofoam cups for her own takeout soup!

Better to start an open dialogue with a series of questions and then begin to discuss your opinions and your suggested solutions.

There’ll be kids running back and forth between unsupervised areas that have forgotten their coats, from the classroom to the cloakroom to the dining hall. hmm

Most teachers in Primary will remind children to get their coats before they go to the dining hall, this alleviates the need for children to revisit cloakroom areas. In every school I’ve taught in children take their jackets with them as they go straight outside after lunch. They either put their coats/jackets on their seats or under the table while eating. They wear jackets/coats to collect their lunch then take them off to eat.

OP I’d query wearing jackets to eat, is it not that the children wear jackets to collect their lunch then take them off to eat to save them carrying them?