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.

Just to clarify I have no issue with the children now calling the lunchtime supervisors by their surname. I also have no issue with gentle encouragement to get children to eat a little more before going out to play but to tell children they are not allowed out if they do not eat all their food is a step too far as all children are different.
Our school is a small school and lunch start times are staggered and previous to yesterday there was never any coats in the hall. They do not have chairs only benches so they cannot be hung on the back of chairs.
Not once have I said I'm going to demand to be seen the deputy head is stood outside every morning greeting parents and pupils as they arrive. Our school too offers an open door however the head is not approachable and is only there half the week.

Not to comment on this particular issue but in relation to heads changing things, it's usually a good idea to wait a term or two hist to getg the feel of a place but every head. Head of dept, housemaster etc I've ever worked with changes things in 'their' domain. They have been appointed because of their vision or philosophy that they put forward at interview that the governors liked and wanted for their school change is hard and unsettling and not always good but the head's name is on the school sign. It is their school and they can run it how they see fit. Parents can choose to go elsewhere in most cases.

I've wurjed at a primary school and there are no chairs. Kids eat on benches. There would be nowhere to put the coats other than to wear them.

Our school isn't enormous, but not is our budget so our dinner staff is run on the minimum needed for outside, lunchroom and toilet access supervision.
Several of our cloakrooms are nowhere near any of the supervised areas and as we are a 2 storey school, nowhere upstairs is supervised.

At my old primary school in the 90’s we weren’t allowed to bring in fruit for snack at break time! Yes seriously, imagine that now. Then they introduced an even more ludicrous rule that we HAD to bring a small pack of Jaffa Cakes at break!

Yes, the headteacher was twat btw!

Some of this just seems like parents trying to treat the new Head like the new kid at school - who does she think she is, changing “long-standing traditions” etc?

Well, she’s the Headteacher. She gets to.

I would tend to agree that making the students actually wear their coats for lunch is a bit silly and would ask whether some hooks could be put up for those who preferred to remove their coats.

Op, I mentioned upthread about putting the coats in a plastic container at the end of each table. We have the largish bucket type ones with handles at either side. This really does work well. If the dinner hall is like ours, it can get quite warm and stuffy, too warm for a coat I would say.
I don't think it would hurt to bring the matter up in a reasonable way.

Just spoke with the deputy head who was quite shocked and said that the rule is that the older children in key stage 2 take their coats into the hall with them and that no key stage 1 children should have their coats with them. I explained that not only did my child have their coat with them that their understanding was that they had to wear them. I also said that it wasn't only my child who had said this but lots of children from both key stages. Apparently it's to stop children from messing around in the corridors and toilets which is understandable. The deputy said that she will be making sure that the children and teachers understand that whilst the older children need to take their coats with them they shouldn't be wearing coats inside school. The family support worked piped up that there is nowhere to store coats in the hall so I recommended tubs or boxes at the end of each table, her response was but not all coats have names in them 🙈

Right, so a misunderstanding. Maybe next time just ask the question rather than spewing all over the internet?

@TheSultanofPingu Thank you I recommended the method you use. It appears that the new rules weren't made clear to staff and pupils but they are taking that suggestion on board

Glad it's hopefully getting sorted. Sounds like a breakdown in communication about what is supposed to happen. The names in coats, or lack of shouldn't be a problem. I would imagine most dinner tables seat around eight, so I'm sure the children can be trusted to locate their own coat from the tub.

@thejollyroger whether it's a misunderstanding or not it was not picked up on by the head yesterday at lunchtime and not one single adult questioned it at the time. What's so wrong with asking a question on the Internet? From this thread I've found out how lots of other schools work and I've found it useful.

whether it's a misunderstanding or not it was not picked up on by the head yesterday at lunchtime and not one single adult questioned it at the time.

I don’t know exactly what you mean. Do you mean noticed the students were wearing their coats? If so, I think you may need to do some work on understanding how adults in a school prioritise issues. This is a very minor point, and they have quickly resolved it. You sound like a nightmare.

@thejollyroger Yes I would expect staff to notice that all the children were wearing their coats whilst eating their dinner and I'd assume they'd think it was strange considering that's not the norm and it's not generally the teaching staff that supervise lunchtimes. Whilst I may not work in a school I have done previously. You're entitled to think I'm a nightmare whilst I'm entitled to my opinions too.

glitterelf

For sure, we are both entitled to our opinions. I’ve given you mine. 🤷🏻‍♀️

@thejollyroger

Wow that was rather rude. Starting a thread on MN isn't exactly lodging a formal complaint - it's fine to make a thread and get people's opinions without conducting a thorough investigation first.

It could have been the lunchtime supervisors enforcing this. They can be mini hitlers and often are, like many other non teaching staff in schools. These people are untrained, often stupid and take directives to ludicrous extremes.

Will they pay dry cleaning bill? You could be washing a washable coat every night!

If they don't eat all their dinner no play

This bit bothers me.
This was the rule when I was at school in the 60s, it was awful having to force down stuff we didn't like or if we were already full.
I'm sure it contributed to a few pupils developing eating disorders.

When my son was at junior school, he didn't eat very much.
Instead of forcing him to eat it though, they told me about it and suggested that I switch him to a packed lunch instead, which is what I did. I'd have been livid if they'd forced him to eat it instead.

@Daisy7654 The majority of our schools lunchtime supervisors are either parents or grandparents of current or past children of the school and most are lovely. They are also trained in order to carryout their position.

@clarehhh of course they wouldn't although the school does have washing machine on site

@LizB62A My childs a grazer and will go days on eating very little then days of eating me out of house and home. I agree that gentle encouragement to eat a little more or to try new things is a good thing but nobody knows if another persons tummy is full and nobody should be forced to eat whilst at school.

go into to school and get the facts first or wait for a letter, I doubt your 6yr old has got this completely right