School where children must smile all the time, follow whistled commands and never glance out of the window

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

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".

.......

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.
*

MilduraS

Hasn’t Japan one of the highest rates of suicide in young people and was reading about how they are predominantly on 31st August/1st September
School starts on 1st September

There is no way my autistic, dyspraxic dd could do that. So she doesn’t get to go to school with her friends because she has SEN or special allowances are made and she is made to feel even more different.

Also aren’t we supposed to be telling teens that a mixture of emotions is normal, feeling blue is ok. Always having to have a smile is pretty shit for mental health.

If you don’t like a school with strict rules don’t send your kid there. Locally our extremely strict school is oversubscribed because the more relax schools get poor results. Behaviour is dire and many pupils feel intimidated for a lot of the school day.

This^^
I would have hated this school and grumbled about it for sure. But much rather preferred this if the alternative was an animal factory with drugs and violence.
Why can't we all have just nice middle-class schools with small classroom sizes and nicely behaved kids from good families

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.'
Lovely for the kid coming back to school after a bereavement

Sounds like many customer facing jobs really. Where is the outrage?

These all sound like quite normal rules to me, just expressed in a way that has got people's backs up. It's basically:

Be polite and respectful to teachers (smile when spoken to, respond, use sir and miss)
Pay attention (sit up, face front, don't gaze out the window all lesson)
Don't try to move about in huge groups (single file entry to classrooms and 2s in corridor)

All of those things were normal and expected at my crappy Scottish high school in the 90s

As has been pointed out, the problem is that parents presumably chose the school on the basis of a more sensible set of rules. Just finding another school at the drop of a hat isn't a practical proposition

Again referring to the school near to me (a similarly very strict one). That is the oversubscribed school, it is fairly easy for parents to get a place at the less strict schools in the area. The less strict ones are the ones with places available.

@Bythemillpond

MilduraS

Hasn’t Japan one of the highest rates of suicide in young people and was reading about how they are predominantly on 31st August/1st September
School starts on 1st September

I'm not sure about that though have to clarify I wasn't suggesting the strict schools I mentioned were a good thing! My housemate went to a normal Japanese school and had a very average experience like the rest of us. She didn't paint a good picture of the special schools and felt sorry for the children who went there but explained it was a stereotype that wasn't the norm. Those children spent most of their waking hours under pressure to work harder and be top of the class from parents who cared more about their kids performance than their happiness. They're the same children who end up in corporate jobs in Tokyo where hours spent at your desk are more important than actual output. You could be the most efficient person in the office and finish all of your work by 5pm but if you left on time it would still be career suicide. Definitely not the type of culture I'd aspire to emulate. We were a mix from U.K., Japan, Germany, South Korea, Chile, Venezuela and Argentina so we had a lot of conversations comparing our experiences growing up.

I think most secondary schools have similar expectations. They just look bad written down.

They are not expecting everyone to walk around with a fixed rictus grin, just a friendly acknowledgement when an adult addresses you.

They are not going to be handing out detentions if you glance out of a window, or look around at a loud unexpected noise either. This is to minimise low level disruption. Imagine teaching a class of teens where a third have done nothing except gawp out of a window, a third won't stop turning around to talk to a mate or catch their eye, and a third are slumped so far down in their chair they're practically under the desk.

Whatever the rules, there will be flexibility for teacher judgment. Standards in KS3-4 are slipping and good teachers are leaving the profession. I say try anything that might help to improve standards. If it hasn't made a difference in a year you can moan but at least try it.

And I'm certain reasonable adjustments will be made for sen learners.

Hasn’t Japan one of the highest rates of suicide in young people and was reading about how they are predominantly on 31st August/1st September
School starts on 1st September

I can’t find data supporting this statement. Do you have it?

I would have hated that school. You can't force people to smile all the time. It's creepy. And it's not being respectful to have a big fake smile plastered on your face either. It sounds like that fucking Michaela school. Special needs kids would be screwed as well. I'm autistic, I know I would have had problems.

And what if a kid's parent has died? Are they supposed to be all smiley then?

Ah seen online there are quotes now and they all say the same.

'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'

It does say always smile.

Well then. That's ridiculous and trains children to mask their emotions. Yay.

@Nat6999

Sounds very much like Mercia School in Sheffield, whose ethos is if you don't like our policies find another school. My neice is a pupil & you wouldn't believe the pressure kids are put under, they are put in detention if staff don't think they are trying hard enough, not obeying any order within 2 seconds, daydreaming or something as simple as losing a pen, they have to take part in discussions at the table at lunchtime & can be punished for not making enough effort during the discussion.

I'd hate that as well. One, some kids dominated discussions and two, I was pretty shy. Michaela also has kids discuss poetry and stuff in their free time. Do teachers sit at the tables and make sure no kid monopolises the discussion?

I hated the disruptive kids at school as well and most of the discipline I would have been OK with, but it's having my facial expressions policed (I got plenty of that at home) and having every second of my time micromanaged that would be difficult. And no, I was not a bully or a badly behaved kid, I was a little goody two shoes. I was the girl who got picked on.

If she had been my kids headmistress, I would have been down there telling her where to get off..... without the smile.
My dogs respond to a whistle and my kids aren't dogs!
The only place a whistle should be used is on a sports field!

Also, I tried walking around work with a fake smile on my face pretending to be happy. It never worked. I'm glad I WFH and nobody is around to comment on my face.

I learned to always have a smile as a defence mechanism when young.

I have had loads of conversations with other smilers over the years- recognising this trait in each other. Always due to defence, in the way I'm talking about.

At work I always get you're always so happy! Such a friendly smile! Etc etc

For the many people with this type of smiling it's not great. It's s mask.

That's why this bothers me so much.

This and the other schools mentioned on this thread sound fucking awful.the opposite of nurturing.

SmileEachDay

This actually mentions that having fewer children puts more strain on the child to succeed
There are other sources where it says they are at crisis point with child suicides

asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Asia-Insight/Youth-suicide-Asian-teens-crack-under-growing-family-pressure

Dh worked over in Japan/South Korea/Hong Kong etc for an American company.
His job ended up when going around these offices was to stop the amount of time people spent in the office.
He ended up having to dismiss one manager as they would insist no one could leave their desk till 11pm or midnight.
He always got the impression of how much unnecessary pressure people put on themselves and their children which he didn’t see in a positive light.

If some poor kid is refused permission to go to the loo I hope they take a big smelly dump in the middle of the classroom, all the time having a big smile on their face and maintaining eye contact with the teacher!

For people who are concerned that SEN children wouldn't manage, take a look at the Michaela School website and you may be reassured

Take a look at their rate of pupils with an EHCP (it's below national average for England).

What's written on their website doesn't matter. The school my DC was meant to start always stated they were very welcoming and inclusive, until they suddenly made it clear that it wasn't the right place for him.

I hope the original article is total BS but if it is true, any parent tolerating this is basically a child abuser.

Homeschooling is the future, I just wish it had been my children's past.

Fantastic, it will get girls ready for all the lecherous men who will inevitably tell them to smile too 😑

Yes I’m sure there is absolutely zero flexibility for a child who has just experienced a bereavement

Good luck with relying on that in a large school. Teachers in my child's strict school were supposed all to have been made aware of his dyslexia and its effect on his organisational abilities so that he wouldn't be penalised for it. I lost count early on of the number of times I had to contact them about punishing him for being dyslexic ,and found that it came as a complete surprise to the teacher concerned.

Parents who dislike completely normal and sensible rules like the ones in the policy, tend to be the parents who are in complete denial about their little darlings behaviour.

Don’t be ridiculous @SimonJT

Objecting to policies that specifically discriminate against disabled children has nothing to do with being a lax parent. Requiring eye contact, banning any fidgeting or movement, dictating facial expressions and responses - even for NT kids it’s extreme, but for some it’s a physical impossibility and not because they are naughty. I could have sworn I’d seen previous posts from you stating you have experience with SEN but I guess not.

SEN is always someone else’s problem for some people. Not for those of us who have dc who could never manage to comply with these rules and not for want if trying either!

It would never be an issue for us as the chance of my boys being able to attend a mainstream school ever is extremely small. But I already know plenty of autistic children who’ve ended up traumatised school refusers because of much tamer disciplinary measures than this. I feel so awful for the disabled children already at this school, and for their parents who will be the ones on the receiving end of the meltdowns after days of masking.

Some of it makes sense as some schools would benefit from a stricter regime. However, a lot of it sounds like they're training sheepdogs!...sounds like it wouldn't be out of place in the handmaid's tale.