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.
*

Because a person blowing a whistle at people with instructions is not the same as a bell

It has very different connotations

If there’s a PE teacher handy I will often get them to blow a whistle to alert the kids at the far end of our lovely school field that it’s time to go. They seem perfectly cheerful about it.

What “connotations” does that have?

The same PE teacher will often use the whistle to get fast attention in a noisy environment, which is really important for health and safety.

What are the “connotations” there?

Honestly, you’re over thinking it. Whistles are used in schools more than you think!!

Had a chat with my ASD daughter who's year 7 in a specialist alternative provision school atm. I see a few people have mentioned sen children wouldn't cope etc. My daughter actually surprised me in that she said it would of suited her. Quiet classes, strict routine, quiet when changing classes etc. She said with eye contact it's difficult and the whistle could be a problem but she's adamant if the mainstream academy that she tried to go to had this approach she feels she'd of been ok.

Instead she joined an academy. She lasted less than a week. Classes were too noisy and teachers were spending the first 10 mins trying to settle students....anyway she described it as hell, mayhem and unpredictable. I had to go fetch her during a lesson change and there were so many children being misbehaved and in large groups especially at lunchtime. It's no wonder she had a breakdown and had to be pulled out.

The eye contact, having to smile and the whistle just feel so bloody strange to me though

'Well yeah staff have to follow certain rules. In my extremely liberal school, we were all told if we failed to follow up on a certain school rule it would be a disciplinary matter. I totally agree with the headteacher on this, some staff were ignoring a school rule and it wasn’t causing a safeguarding nightmare for the majority of staff who were following the rule.

Schools have rules. They need to be followed by staff and pupils.'

Children having to smile all the time is absolutely a safeguarding issue.

I think that I would have been rather happy there. Everything would have been clear and explained and understood and calm and quiet.

Ditto dd.

Ds, on the other hand, who is an academically able, well behaved child, would be miserable.

So many people assuming that this won't work, why don't you try it? Perhaps not a permanent smile, but a pleasant expression instead of the resting bitch face you have been cultivating since you were a teenager. It is amazing what a difference it makes to peoples' response to you, and also the way you feel. I was a middle manager, responsible for 17 team members who had generally low morale, partly due to one key member, whose mood affected every one. A younger member of staff asked me once why I was never in a bad mood, I told them, of course I had the same ups and downs as everyone else, but made sure I modelled equilibrium and positivity at work, as to bring my personal moods into work would be unprofessional. It did make a difference to the team. It seems to have become a thing to look disgruntled all the time, and teenagers take it to the extreme, I think if it is done sensitively, it could work.

Children having to smile all the time is absolutely a safeguarding issue

Except that is not what is happening. That’s click bait.

'What “connotations” does that have?'

Rows of adults or children lined up in perfect uniformity in various regimes carrying out various to things the whistle blows.

Is what springs to my mind.

@SmileEachDay

Children having to smile all the time is absolutely a safeguarding issue

Except that is not what is happening. That’s click bait.

And its worked, adults genuinely believing students will have to permanently smile 😂

*'What “connotations” does that have?'

Rows of adults or children lined up in perfect uniformity in various regimes carrying out various to things the whistle blows.

Is what springs to my mind.
'What “connotations” does that have?'

Rows of adults or children lined up in perfect uniformity in various regimes carrying out various to things the whistle blows

Is what springs to my mind

What connotations do the scenarios in my post have?

Indeed SimonTJ

It may not suit your children and it wouldn't have suited mine, but there are children who haven't been socialised in even the most basic behaviour. They can then cause enormous disruption in schools which affects everyone's learning.

My eyes were well and truly opened in my first teaching job where pupils literally climbed out of the windows during lessons, kept their cigarettes inside their socks and preferred dismantling pens rather than using them, the pens belonging to the school as they never brought their own.I could go on. It certainly taught me a lot about classroom management but it wasn't great for the quiet, compliant ones who had to wait whilst I dealt with all the crap.

If everyone knows where they stand and what the consequences are, it frees up time to actually learn. The smiling thing is probably to counteract the many faces a teenager can manage, not all of them helpful.

@SmileEachDay

Children having to smile all the time is absolutely a safeguarding issue

Except that is not what is happening. That’s click bait.

I've asked a couple of times for a link to the actual policies because they sound totally bizarre.

Anyone got one?

@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.

I was thinking the same.....good ideas badly written

The smiling thing is probably to counteract the many faces a teenager can manage, not all of them helpful.

Depends on what it actually says though.

Does it say smile all the time

Or

When talking to a teacher look engaged and don't glare or scowl

Big big difference

@queenMab99

So many people assuming that this won't work, why don't you try it? Perhaps not a permanent smile, but a pleasant expression instead of the resting bitch face you have been cultivating since you were a teenager. It is amazing what a difference it makes to peoples' response to you, and also the way you feel. I was a middle manager, responsible for 17 team members who had generally low morale, partly due to one key member, whose mood affected every one. A younger member of staff asked me once why I was never in a bad mood, I told them, of course I had the same ups and downs as everyone else, but made sure I modelled equilibrium and positivity at work, as to bring my personal moods into work would be unprofessional. It did make a difference to the team. It seems to have become a thing to look disgruntled all the time, and teenagers take it to the extreme, I think if it is done sensitively, it could work.

this too.

@NiceGerbil

Think this may be it

www.johnferneley.org/_site/data/files/users/9/files/2EEEC976ADD5477D01CE61F47F12D5FE.pdf

@queenMab99

So many people assuming that this won't work, why don't you try it? Perhaps not a permanent smile, but a pleasant expression instead of the resting bitch face you have been cultivating since you were a teenager. It is amazing what a difference it makes to peoples' response to you, and also the way you feel. I was a middle manager, responsible for 17 team members who had generally low morale, partly due to one key member, whose mood affected every one. A younger member of staff asked me once why I was never in a bad mood, I told them, of course I had the same ups and downs as everyone else, but made sure I modelled equilibrium and positivity at work, as to bring my personal moods into work would be unprofessional. It did make a difference to the team. It seems to have become a thing to look disgruntled all the time, and teenagers take it to the extreme, I think if it is done sensitively, it could work.

As it happens, I am one of the calmest and smiliest people I know, as often commented on at work. Still wouldn't have wanted to be instructed to smile at teachers, but clearly this stuff isn't aimed at me or any member of my immediate family, none of whom needed that instruction.

@queenMab99

So many people assuming that this won't work, why don't you try it? Perhaps not a permanent smile, but a pleasant expression instead of the resting bitch face you have been cultivating since you were a teenager. It is amazing what a difference it makes to peoples' response to you, and also the way you feel. I was a middle manager, responsible for 17 team members who had generally low morale, partly due to one key member, whose mood affected every one. A younger member of staff asked me once why I was never in a bad mood, I told them, of course I had the same ups and downs as everyone else, but made sure I modelled equilibrium and positivity at work, as to bring my personal moods into work would be unprofessional. It did make a difference to the team. It seems to have become a thing to look disgruntled all the time, and teenagers take it to the extreme, I think if it is done sensitively, it could work.

I look miserable as sin when I'm concentrating. It's unfortunately an inherited, naturally down turned mouth at each side, and when my face relaxes, like when I'm concentrating, I look miserable, I have a 'heavy' face that's got worse as I get older. Doesn't matter if I actually am though because you know, what someone else thinks on a snapshot of glancing at me and judging a whole person on one physical attribute is far more important than the actual truth. Doesn't really matter if I come into work having just won the lottery and ecstatic, when I start to concentrate, I look miserable to some people as I'm concentrating on my you know, work, that I'm paid to do, not manically smiling 24/7. I can smile and be upbeat with people to be greeted with "Oh I thought you were going to be really grumpy!" Or calls over of "Cheer up luv, it might never happen!" - perhaps people should stop being so damned judgemental on looks alone and start actually listening to what people say and watching what they do. Being told I'm constantly miserable is a fucking drain!

NiceGerbil

The behaviour policy currently on the school website - from 2020, under the same exec principal - references smiling. I posted it up thread. It also references many of the other things jumped on by the papers - but not quite in the way they have implied.

It’s possible that the new Head could’ve changed it to “smile at all moment” but it seems highly unlikely, particularly given her reaction to the articles over this weekend and the fact they are a “good” school with higher than national average attendance and attainment.

If a lifeguard blew their whistle while you were in the pool, would you say “don’t use a whistle, I’m not a dog!”. No, it’s a simple way of getting someone’s attention without constantly raising your voice.

@SingaporeSlinky

If a lifeguard blew their whistle while you were in the pool, would you say “don’t use a whistle, I’m not a dog!”. No, it’s a simple way of getting someone’s attention without constantly raising your voice.

😂

I hadn’t thought of pools.

I play a sport, we manage not to throw a strop when whistles are used at training and fixtures.

@blissfulllife

Had a chat with my ASD daughter who's year 7 in a specialist alternative provision school atm. I see a few people have mentioned sen children wouldn't cope etc. My daughter actually surprised me in that she said it would of suited her. Quiet classes, strict routine, quiet when changing classes etc. She said with eye contact it's difficult and the whistle could be a problem but she's adamant if the mainstream academy that she tried to go to had this approach she feels she'd of been ok.

Instead she joined an academy. She lasted less than a week. Classes were too noisy and teachers were spending the first 10 mins trying to settle students....anyway she described it as hell, mayhem and unpredictable. I had to go fetch her during a lesson change and there were so many children being misbehaved and in large groups especially at lunchtime. It's no wonder she had a breakdown and had to be pulled out.

The eye contact, having to smile and the whistle just feel so bloody strange to me though

At my school a miliion years ago (laid back grammar) bells were used and we all knew the routine. i get if its a bigger school than mine was (and maybe doesn't have bell system) then whistles are a cost effective alternative. If you are starting from ground zero, as this school appears to be, then maybe there is a need to teach some basic social skills like a pleasant and polite response when spoken to.....as I said, many good ideas badly written....but that's not exciting journalism

I just keep thinking of the Von Traps.

@SeaGreenUser

It's so good to see that those who made up the lockdown rules are finding meaningful employment elsewhere.

👏👏 So true. It's all going to shit

I just keep thinking of the Von Traps

Because that’s what the article posted (and the Daily Mail one it was a direct copy of) is supposed to make you think. There a have been comparisons to prison camps and Gilead.

It’s nonsense.