School calling children piglets?

[GoToSleepBabyPlease]

Came across this on another thread but felt discussing it there would constitute a derail, so bringing it up here.

On a school website (link below):

'To make table manners fun at Hanford we have devised the ‘Manners Table’, a ranking system of eleven different levels with ‘Piglet’ at the bottom and ‘Royal Guest’ at the top. Each level has a different name to describe the behaviour, for example, a messy eater will be a ‘Panda’ or even ‘Cave Lady’ whereas those girls who have mastered dining rather than merely eating will be a ‘Favourite Auntie’ or ‘Best Granny’. When new girls join they start somewhere in the middle with the aim of working their way up as quickly as possible. If they should become a ‘Royal Guest’ they are allowed to bring their own jam to breakfast. Every Friday after lunch, Miss Morrey reads out the week’s manners rankings. If a girl is moved up then they are given a sweet while others may be warned or some even moved down.

1. Royal Guest (allowed to bring their own jam or other spread and can also move people up and down)
2. Best Granny (allowed to move people up and down in manners)
3. Favourite Aunty
4. Primrose
5. Panda
6. Cat (can go to Tuck Shop on Sunday)
7. Squirrel
8. Hyena
9. Boa Constrictor
10. Cave Lady

10. Piglet'

AIBU to think that referring to children as piglets doesn't exactly model good manners?

hanfordschool.co.uk/wellbeing/manners/

I would have loved to go to a school like this and I'd love to have the money to send my kids there when they were younger.My kids sit outside on a bit of tarmac eating their packed lunch whilst most of their peers eat their lunch at breaktime because you can buy bacon rolls then.

[quote littleredberries]@SleepingStandingUp haha exactly! But calling these children names is not indicative of "manners" at all.
But my daughter will probably just go to a normal school here in Germany so I can sleep peacefully 😴[/quote]
See I don't think it's name calling, they're not going all Mrs Trunchball and calling the kids out, I don't see it any differently to having your frog on the red lilypad or shooting on the thinking chair

One flaw if if there's say 90 children with 9 seats per table even if number 10 has impeccable manners they can be total because they aren't top 9. And it's unlikely the top 9 are suddenly doing to go down? Not unless something as simple as using the wrong knife causes it!

Same with bottom. How do you improve if you can't move up because the space doesn't exist on the table?

@itsgettingwierd

One flaw if if there's say 90 children with 9 seats per table even if number 10 has impeccable manners they can be total because they aren't top 9. And it's unlikely the top 9 are suddenly doing to go down? Not unless something as simple as using the wrong knife causes it!

Same with bottom. How do you improve if you can't move up because the space doesn't exist on the table?

I don't think there's a piglet table at one end and a queen table at the other?? I think all kids have their own rank so Persephone might be a piglet after chewing with her mouth open and dribbling but she's still on a table with Florence who has manners worthy of QEII. Peer influence and all that

Surely you can teach children good table manners without this unnecessary complication?

Ok sleeping that makes sense.

But does Phersonome then have to watch whilst Florence and the other queens eat Florence jam? That's just cruel.

I get table manners but this just seems unnecessary.

Although reports from girls who've attended show it isn't necessarily as awful as it seems and it's possible it's done in jest.

Still not my way though!

I'd assume Persephone does indeed watch Florence and Artemis eat their jam but that's ok with me. If Florence wants jam she can eat nicely.

Honestly I can't see much fault with this school. Might not be your cup of tea, but there is nothing wrong with encouraging table manners, playing outside, and gently learning how to socialize.
I see that former pupils have only great things to say about it (but you seem to ignore that)
Does it bother you because it is for rich people?

Okay, so.....

There isn't a set number of cats/ squirrels/ best grannies at any table - each child has their own rank - which is not necessarily publicly known, though you might ask someone who has been behaving very nicely what they are, and maybe move them up. But everyone is addressed as Florence/ Persephone not Piglet/ Boa Constrictor.

Tables are also mixed age and the table plan changes every week so that everyone in the school knows each other well, as they will eventually have been on a table with everyone and will have had to make conversation with everyone (making conversation is a big part of the whole manners shebang.)

Regarding one's own jam, that is only allowed to be brought out at supper, which is the only meal that juniors and seniors eat separately. The whole school, regardless of manners rank, is given access to jam/ honey/ peanut butter/ chocolate spread (though that last always used to run out super quickly!) the point of being able to bring your own is that you can bring something different to those listed above/ have your own Nutella that doesn't run out/ have specifically smooth or crunchy peanut butter depending on your preference. However, those ranked below panda are not just sitting around eating dry bread! Also, you might share your treat with your friends (whereupon you run out in two days and are back to eating school honey. As far as I recall, this is what inevitably ALWAYS happened.)

That's hilarious! Not somewhere I would send my kids though.

I don't really understand teaching children 'manners' by calling them derogatory names?

@Mugginyouleftrightandcentre

That's hilarious! Not somewhere I would send my kids though.

I don't really understand teaching children 'manners' by calling them derogatory names?

It isn’t a derogatory name, it references the character in Winnie the Pooh.

10 levels! Looks like someone with too much time on their hands to me!

It isn’t a derogatory name, it references the character in Winnie the Pooh.

So it's just a coincidence that the child with the worst manners is named the 'character is winnie the pooh' that is also a name often associated with greed and bad manners? What about 'Cave Lady'?

Honestly truly, there are so rarely any piglets or cave ladies that those particular ranks may as well not exist. They essentially function as a cautionary tale.

Cautionary tale - don’t spill your food or you’ll end up being known as a piglet. Niiiice.

I don't see how it's any different to having your name on the sad cloud rather than smiley sun.

At my DB's school, the bottom group in swimming had to wear red trunks, and were called 'dods'. Dod came from 'danger of drowning', but I don't think any child thought it was derogatory. When they were promoted to a 'safe' and allowed black trunks, they felt proud. A bit like the person above who was a brick before she became a dolphin.

You would have to do a lot more that spill your food. Spilling your food is an accident, and not something that you would be moved down for. To be either a piglet or a cave lady, you would have to be deliberately and consistently rude for weeks. Like I said, it is very, very rare that anyone becomes either. When I was at Hanford, 30 years ago or so, 1 girl was made a piglet in 5 years. She is not scarred by the experience, and is in fact considering sending her daughters to the school, because she loved it.

I'm going to check this school out.
It does remind me of brownie guide hand inspections, you would stand behind the guided and show her your hands and she would send you to the good or bad hands group

I always have very cold, eczema hands so was always In the "bad" group. I remember a girl being highlighted as the best as she had lovely warm, smooth hands... which she had been sucking whilst in the queue to get them that way 🤢

Wow, I had no idea such places existed outside Enid Blyton...

'Mrs J' the headmaster's wife seems to do a lot of work - amongst other things, pastoral care, working out seating plans, and taking the girls for walks at the weekends. I hope she's an employee of the school - otherwise this is taking unpaid 'wife work' to the extreme!

@Puffykins It sounds so sweet! Love how it’s got so much personality still.

Breeding ground for bullying and good anxiety.

Table manners are great but do we need levels?

food anxiety

Hahahaha what the fuck 😂 Boa Constrictor

They're allowed to bring their own jam 😭😭😭

Does somebody who is behaving very nicely then go on to be an absolute rotter?
Does a piglet ever turn out to have a heart of gold?

Is Nutella a drug?