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.
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I haven’t rtft but have skim read some of the comments. I think people are taking it too literally, and I’m sure it won’t be upheld that way. But the expectations laid out don’t seem unreasonable, I’m sure they won’t be expected to plaster a smile at all times. But the overall message seems to be of respect, concentration and manners. Of course if there was a loud bang you’d turn around. Clearly they mean concentrating during lessons and not messing around and chatting.
I don’t see the whistle as treating the kids like dogs either. It’s just effective at getting the kids attention, surely. Like a P.E teacher, or lifeguard, or signalling the end of break, like a lot of schools already do.

How ridiculous. I hope every parent who talks to her about this or anything else for that matter reminds her to SMILE if she forgets. Batshit indeed.

Hahahaha the comments here are hilarious.
The story is more than likely fabricated ( from a disgruntled parent).
Probably one kid went home makes crap up and helicopter parents have a melt down and believe every word that comes out of their little darling.
How gullible.

Ì don't think always smile means literally walk around with a grin on your face 24/7 I would take it to mean be pleasant and I don't think that is too much to ask for, when I am in work or in public I am pleasant and courteous.

Tbh I don't think it is bad. I don't have any experience with UK schools but watching tv shows like Educating Yorkshire and the like I was always struck by how foul the behaviour of a lot of the children were and how zoo like the schools appeared. In the school I went to and my sons it is expected that you are pleasant, that you engage with the teachers in a positive manner, that you maintain focus in class etc. Mouthing off in class/looking around you/talking etc would never be tolerated, the students would think you were a dick and you would be given detention but no one does it ever because that culture just isn't there.

Some of the micro managing like needing permission to pick up a pen is too far but a lot of it should be how all schools are, no looking out the windows, pay attention in class/ stay focused, address teachers correctly, be courteous when spoken to by a teacher are all real basics.

This sounds exactly like the evil planet in A Wrinkle in Time.

They all had to bounce their balls at the same time too, when they all came out of their houses to “play” at the same time.

I wonder whether the resulting behaviour and GCSE results are more to do with the children who stay in these schools are the type to be more able to perform to the rules of the school and don’t have any SENs/ADHD type issues.
The pupils who do have these issues are filtered out so what you are left with is those that are able to pass GCSEs and on paper it has gone from a failing school to a successful one which it would have done anyway if you got rid of all the children who have any sort of issues

I have had experience of schools that would rather your dyslexic child who can’t read and write and fidgets in his chair leave rather than bring down the SATS results.

On paper the school looks amazing compared to other schools that try to help those with SENs but it is a false report

I don't believe kids would be punished if they didn't smile at all times while at school. It's just too hard to believe

Why would teachers want to whistle at children? why don’t they just use “line up” “quiet please”. Why aren’t words appropriate for human children?

@OSullivans

Hahahaha the comments here are hilarious. The story is more than likely fabricated ( from a disgruntled parent). Probably one kid went home makes crap up and helicopter parents have a melt down and believe every word that comes out of their little darling. How gullible.

Apparently the rules were sent home to parents. Many have backed them….pretty gullible to make assumptions that it’s tru or not true without doing some research.

I did look a bit closer before commenting here.

Did you?

I think it’s fine.

“Smile” and “eye contact” rules are not about masking emotion or behaving like a robot. They’re about having a pleasant, collaborative and respectful demeanour. Something so many kids lack. Why should teachers have to put up with glares, sneers and sullenness.

The rest is just sensible logistics. I know the Michaela school well. It is similar and it does get very good results.

@Chikapu

Whistle commands? They aren't dogs ffs. She sounds batshit.

Ah, exactly my thought.

I actually clicked on the thread because I thought it was going to be a jokey one about dog training classes.

All that smiling and being 'upbeat' to order sounds very controlling and unhealthy.

Are they going to have unpleasant men patrolling the corridors yelling 'cheer up love, it might never happen' at all and sundry?

Maybe it does work at the Michaela school, good for them, but I still wouldn't have wanted my DC to have attended a school with that sort of ethos.

I voted YANBU but , apart from the forced smiling and upbeat responses, having read the Micheala school article, I've changed my mind and I think the approach has merit.

Secondary schools can be frightening places. I remember the constant underlying threat of violence at my school and it wasn't even that bad a school. If this approach deals with bullying, makes pupils feel safe to go to school, able to learn, not too afraid to go to the toilet or eat lunch in the dining hall. then I am all for it.
I would like to send my small, shy and sensitive boy to a school like this if I had a chance. I think he would be safer there.

They can go to fuck. Id never let a child of mine be treated like a dog. The research sounds bonkers.

Would love to hear from some teachers on this thread, esp the perspective on how distracting and debilitating low level disruption is (to teachers and kids) which I assume this sort of school seeks to quash.

When I see news like this I always imagine those headteachers in the environment they want to create for their pupils. Would be funny to watch teachers reacting to the whistle, never looking out the window, and walking in a single file, all in the same blue skirts. They also must learn something they have no interest in in order to pass some silly exams.

These people demand respect from their pupils, but have zero respect for them.

The way the article is written makes the expectations sound ridiculous, but when you look more closely, they make a good deal of sense (apart from the smiling...).

Whistles: I'd guess these are used on the playground, as a means of communication in a large outdoor area? Just like refereeing sports, or as heard in many, many other schools?

Paying attention during teacher explanations and instructions: looking at the person talking to you, listening carefully to what they are saying, allowing other people to listen and not distracting them with fiddling or silly noises, so everyone can hear and learn - basic courtesy, surely? Picking up pens etc is related to this - it stops a child starting a task without bothering to listen to the instructions, so they either miss the point of it (so they are not learning what they need to) or they interrupt the teacher's explanation two minutes later to ask what to do - disrupting everyone else's learning.

The not turning around thing stops the child who makes a massive and disruptive drama of turning around because somebody coughs or drops a pen, pulling any other easily-distracted children off task and interrupting everyone's learning. It also allows the teacher to pick up on silly noises and behaviour, without the child saying "But X Y Z were turning round too!"

These expectations are very similar to those of my relaxed and laid back girls' grammar in the 1990s, just set out here in a rather unhelpful way. They are about respect for others and respect for learning. I'd be very surprised if allowances weren't made for additional needs.

Yes, @nanbread and @Bythemillpond, pretty much, the "naughty" kids who couldn't or wouldn't stick to the rules were excluded. It's also in an area with grammar schools and the distance for admission for the non-selective schools is pretty far and usually an address will have choice of several schools that they would get into based on distance. All that happened was that the parents who would do anything to make sure that their kids didn't go there started doing everything they could to make sure that they did get a place. It wasn't the school that had changed, it was the student demographic.

@MotionActivatedDog

Why would teachers want to whistle at children? why don’t they just use “line up” “quiet please”. Why aren’t words appropriate for human children?

Whistles are used in team sports, they’re an easy way to give a signal far away.

Someone saying line up isn’t going to let 1,200 children on the school field know that lunch time is over, a whistle will.

That would have killed me, I mean that quite literally too. I tried to commit suicide more than once when I was at primary anyway, but having these sort of rules would have made sure I got it right.

@MrsMerrick

The way the article is written makes the expectations sound ridiculous, but when you look more closely, they make a good deal of sense (apart from the smiling...).

Whistles: I'd guess these are used on the playground, as a means of communication in a large outdoor area? Just like refereeing sports, or as heard in many, many other schools?

Paying attention during teacher explanations and instructions: looking at the person talking to you, listening carefully to what they are saying, allowing other people to listen and not distracting them with fiddling or silly noises, so everyone can hear and learn - basic courtesy, surely? Picking up pens etc is related to this - it stops a child starting a task without bothering to listen to the instructions, so they either miss the point of it (so they are not learning what they need to) or they interrupt the teacher's explanation two minutes later to ask what to do - disrupting everyone else's learning.

The not turning around thing stops the child who makes a massive and disruptive drama of turning around because somebody coughs or drops a pen, pulling any other easily-distracted children off task and interrupting everyone's learning. It also allows the teacher to pick up on silly noises and behaviour, without the child saying "But X Y Z were turning round too!"

These expectations are very similar to those of my relaxed and laid back girls' grammar in the 1990s, just set out here in a rather unhelpful way. They are about respect for others and respect for learning. I'd be very surprised if allowances weren't made for additional needs.

Having read your post it has reminded me of my 1990’s girls grammar too. The pen thing- I’m not sure it was an official rule, I don’t think it was but it was very common for teachers to tell you to put your pen back down if you lifted it before they were done speaking. No one got in trouble for it though, we just put out pens back down.

Also my son with ADHD (also being assessed for ASD) I think he would much prefer a school with such restrictive rules as he struggles massively with classroom disruption by others. Not sure how he’d cope with having to smile and give eye contact though.

@OSullivans

Hahahaha the comments here are hilarious. The story is more than likely fabricated ( from a disgruntled parent). Probably one kid went home makes crap up and helicopter parents have a melt down and believe every word that comes out of their little darling. How gullible.

On the Times comments someone has posted verbatim from the school newsletter so I don't think it's made up. But probably somewhat taken out of context, maybe.

@OSullivans

Hahahaha the comments here are hilarious. The story is more than likely fabricated ( from a disgruntled parent). Probably one kid went home makes crap up and helicopter parents have a melt down and believe every word that comes out of their little darling. How gullible.

Well, if the story is fabricated, it's not just posters here who've been duped. Every national newspaper has a story about this. I would hope they did a little fact-checking first.

The pen thing- I’m not sure it was an official rule, I don’t think it was but it was very common for teachers to tell you to put your pen back down if you lifted it before they were done speaking. No one got in trouble for it though, we just put out pens back down

I don't remember whether my school had this as a rule. But how interesting that they just said put your pen back down and you put it down and they moved on. Nowadays it would be a detention and a concerned call home to the parents.

Someone saying line up isn’t going to let 1,200 children on the school field know that lunch time is over, a whistle will.

The bell usually lets kids know when lunchtime is over.