www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/parents-slam-school-rules-always-24451911
Sounds horrific. I'd home educate a child rather than send them to a place like this. I can't help thinking one of the responses on Twitter I saw may be right - are they trying to drive out children with additional needs who might pull down the GCSE results? My daughter is an adult now but she would have been destroyed by an environment like this. She's very bright but on the autistic spectrum.
Parents have criticised strict new school rules which include "always smiling", never looking out the window and even asking permission to pick up a pen.
Natalie Teece, the newly-appointed headteacher at John Ferneley College in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, has drafted the guidelines ahead of the school reopening in September.
The new rules were delivered to parents in an e-booklet, along with three videos explaining the research and the reason behind them.
Ms Teece said that when 11 to 16-year-olds students return to class, they will be expected to "always smile" and learn to respond to a series of whistle commands given by staff.
They also must enter the classroom in single file, "never forget to say Sir or Miss", always sit up straight and must thank their teacher as they leave the classroom after a lesson.
Walking in a group of more than two people and looking out of windows in class are also banned.
Turning around "even if you hear a noise" is forbidden and pupils have to maintain eye contact with the teacher whenever they are talking, the rules say.
Kids have to wait to be told they may pick up a pen or ruler and if a teacher says hello to them they should make sure their reply is "upbeat".
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One rule about lining up said staff will be using whistles to direct kids, with five sounds meaning they must move to their line up area, and one indicating pupils should be silent.
Another about "tracking" the teacher said: "You don't pick up your pen or your ruler, or anything else, until your teacher gives you the signal.
"You never turn around - even if you hear a noise behind you. You don't look out of the window. You don't lose focus."
A rule on sitting up straight said: "You never slouch. Be sitting up straight you are demonstrating physical respect. [ ...] No exceptions. No excuses."
And another said: "You always smile. You are polite and welcoming. When you greet somebody you smile, when a teacher says hello to us in the corridor you reply with an upbeat 'Hello Miss!' or 'Morning Sir!' and you smile."
The guidelines inform students that they are "extremely fortunate to be in a school that is very popular" and must walk around the school only in single file or pairs.
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