School withholding food as punishment

[catgirl1976]

DS is due to start high school in September.

I’ve just seen a highly alarming thread about the school in a local Facebook group.

Massive disclaimer : Obviously people can write any sort of garbage on social media and it may well not be true and I will of course be speaking to the school at the earliest opportunity to gain clarity before taking any action but enough people have confirmed the allegations to make me a bit worried.

The issues raised are

1. Toilets are now pretty much all gender neutral. I can deal with that - I know enough about the law to be confident I. Challenging and ensuring sufficient single sex provision is in place so whilst I’ll be challenging if true I’m confident in my ability to do that.
2. Kids are getting a detention for being one minute late. I can live with that. Late is late. Important lesson.
3. Classrooms are 29 degrees (new building has thermometers in each classroom) and kids cannot have water during class or in the playground at breaks. Seems a bit mad. Willing to listen to the rationale and alternative arrangements if this is true.
4. This is the big one for me…kids are routinely being denied lunch as a punishment for bad behaviour. I am totally fine with appropriate sanctions for bad behaviour. E.g. mess about in the lunch queue eat lunch in isolation or miss break. But actually not he allowed to have lunch? To be denied food? Surely that’s illegal? I would have thought this was nonsense but at least 10 people have commented that their child has been denied lunch. No other arrangements or food just no food. So breakfast at home and nothing to eat all day. Surely this cannot be legal?

as said before I’ll check with the school about the truth of this and points one to three I can deal with but if point four is true and good is being withheld as a punishment…what would you do? There’s a transition evening coming up where I will have chance to ask questions and I’m gong to email the school asking for their response to these comments but surely a school can’t deny a child the opportunity it y to eat as a punishment?

Even googling I can’t find any incidences of this. It seems barbaric. AIBU or is this a thing?

Ground. Buildings have floors. When outside, the puddles are on the GROUND.

You're a teacher, you say?

Happy now?

I work in a high school, they won't be allowed their 'lunch break', but they will be taken to the canteen to buy lunch and escorted back or allowed to eat their packed lunch. It's called lunchtime detention and is very common. They will definitely be allowed to eat if they want to!

If you don't like the sound of the 'strict' school where there are rules and standards, feel free to send them to a unruly school where kids can get away with doing whatever they like. Trust me there are lots of them... usually quite undersubscribed as well..so you are highly likely to get a place.
Or home school and deal with the behaviour issues yourself...there are plenty options!

Whilst it all sounds bad, I'd be more worried about the water to be honest. Not saying any of it is acceptable, but the lack of water would be even worse in weather like this.

I can actually believe this unfortunately as my daughter's boyfriend goes to a different school where they are not allowed water bottles in the class room - even in this hot weather they have to specifically ask for permission.

My daughter's school has other equally ridiculous rules, for example, they must wear Blazers at all times, whatever the weather, to each class until they have been given permission by each class teacher to remove the blazer. I went to the same school, as did my mother actually, and it's an old building with many windows so it's freezing in winter, and like a greenhouse in summer.

And don't get me started on their attendance policy. Any child unfortunate enough to suffer from ill health or a diagnosed disability (as my child is) will be punished even further by not being allowed offsite at lunchtime with all their healthy friends.

By all means, make further enquiries, but I can actually believe it. Especially points 1-3.

As an aside @AlfietheSchnauzer many schools do have puddles on the floor due to the dilapidated state of their buildings!

Why is any child being allowed off site at lunch ?

Why is any child being allowed off site at lunch ?
I wondered this.
It's been a very long time since I knew of secondary students going off site at lunch, and even then that was only those students who lived a under set distance from school, the lunch break was an hour and parents had to consent and say they're responsible for their children when off site.

I had puddles on my desk two years ago. This year, it's just on the floor.

My computer has never been the same since.

@NeverDropYourMooncup is that because you moved your desk rather than an attempt on trying to fix the leak.

Its a wonder there isn’t a separate code for buckets in school budgets. In our local Trust it would appear a roof only gets priority for being fixed when the ceiling starts to fall in, as there is t the budget to do anything else, otherwise buckets will do and pretty much all the schools have strategically placed buckets

Tbf my year 77 was denied food as there wasn't enough money on her card. She isn't a free school meals child so tough shit. It was wholly us at fault as it is not a money issue but no one out of DH and I had done that bot of life admin. She had had a slice of pizza at break time so she was fine but she wouldn't make a fuss about it as sometimes she barely eats lunch as doesn't like any of it.

Year 77😂i mean 7

I think this OP is likely not in the U.K., we don’t call senior schools high schools here… so yea if abroad I’d expect air con.. their education is differently funded than us too

My area secondary schools are high schools. In the uk.

My DD’s school have just introduced a half hour lunchtime detention - since lunch time is only 35 minutes this wouldn’t allow for buying lunch… I think they should do detention they following day rather than the day the behaviour is, so the kid can atleast plan ahead and get something at break or take a packed lunch.
Although my DD’s school have lunch at 1.30 and finish at 3 anyway so almost not worth having a lunch break as late as it is!

Ah ok. Well I wouldn’t expect any U.K. schools to have AC

Or they could not get detention. Always an option.

Sadly they cannot avoid the detention as it wasnt their fault…

not true. In some areas of England secondaries definitely are called high schools. It is a throw back to middle schools.

Everything else aside, this is a terrible argument.

The question of whether punishments are appropriate isn't solved by saying "well don't do anything wrong, then". Others upthread have even implied that questioning a school's punishments upfront will tell everyone your kid is likely to be a right terror.

People should be able to discuss the appropriateness or severity of punishments, and the strictness of when and how they're applied. Simplistic "don't do anything wrong and you won't get punished" arguments address few of the concerns people will have, and silence legitimate dissent through shame or fear of being thought a potential wrongdoer.

Detentions were so rare and serious when I was at school that I only heard of one in the whole 5 years I was there. It involved a large group sneaking off to town on a residential trip and meeting up with French boys, or so the story went by the time it did the rounds of the younger pupils. I think the whole group was kept back after school, parents contacted, stern reprimands given. Apart from that, students were sometimes late, sometimes missing a tie, homework was sometimes late and the odd student was a bit cheeky. I can't understand why detention is needed so much these days. Teachers used to tell you off or your parents might be contacted, you might have to sit at another desk if you and your friends caused trouble, but they somehow got things sorted without normalising detentions. Nobody was ever deprived of food and teachers would rather you were in class.

@user9630721458 I totally agree. I managed to complete my entire schooling without a detention, and I was certainly no angel.

Why do we need to punish children? I thought we’d come along way in terms of dealing with prisoners For example that it was about rehabilitation, not retribution. And yet your average teenager, apparently needs punishing for being a teenager with an under developed Forgettable brain. Circumstances beyond its control i.e. financing, school uniform etc. I suppose we should be grateful they’re not still caning them. I rather get the impression that some teachers would like to.

Oh for goodness sake. Go and stand in front of a class of teenagers for a few hours or days .... And then let me hear you say what u just said.

Yeah I was thinking about the water one too! I don’t think they should be allowed to not let the kids have a bloody drink of water in the classroom or on their break! It’s literally one of the most basic human rights!!!!!

Water bottles in class are a relatively new thing. I'm just wondering how all the previous generations survived without them?
Not arguing against water bottles in class, but just trying to put this in perspective. It's not life or death really is it? If you have a drink at lunchtime and one after classes, don't think anyone is going to dehydrate.