To be raging about this school scheme?

[Promdiddlyontomtom]

Hi, name changed as potentially very outing.

Have found out recently that my daughter's school has introduced a 'Points for Prom' incentive newest low.

The school get good results.

The demographic has some challenges and therefore they have a VERY strict regime and the kids are controlled with strict policies and sanctions (and a little praise- the balance is well out). The kids get detention if they don't get 100% in HW for example.

This is, IMO, the lowest they have gone.

Their newest bright idea- the young people have to earn 'behaviour points' to be in with a chance to get a ticket for their Y11 prom.

Apparently there's not enough spaces for all pupils (they only have spaces for 2/3 of the pupils... so find a bigger venue then!)

This is not an incentive and should not be used as a reward for 'good behaviour'.

Surely this is just a control tactic. A punishment for not toeing the line.

AIBU to think that all teens should get the opportunity to go to the end of school celebration? It draws the line after 12 years of compulsory education, a stressful period of formal exams, and friendships going in different directions (there's no sixth form). It marks the end of an era. Why should they be told they cannot go? Why shouldn't they be able to mark the end of years of education - for some this may have been a struggle all the way through- with their friends. There'll be no closure.

For the record, I've no concerns that my daughter will be excluded. I just think it's an awful idea.

What do you think?

I miss the days of end of school disco in the school hall. Cheap and cheerful

I have not 'twisted' that. They have to repeat and repeat the tasks until they get 100%. If they do not score 100%, they get a detention.

There is no need to be so rude.

I actually like the fact that prom has to be earned rather than being a right. The idea of not having enough spaces for everyone will introduce an element of competition and keep them on their toes to work harder.

It is not. If they do the homework, they are expected to repeat it. If they don't get 100% (in multiple tries), they get a lunchtime detention.

If they don't bother at all, they get an after school SLT detention.

Well I have only just found out about it. I thought I'd refer to the good people of Mumsnet to see if I was on my own to think it's unacceptable before I write to the school this week. People here have made some good points so I'm glad I checked my rage here, first.

And you are mad about prom?!

I would be saving my energy to look for a new school.

That seems to be a good way of describing it.
It sounds awful. OP I hope you and other parents will be kicking up a stink about it. But from what you've sayid about how the school generally managed behaviour, I don't think you'll get anywhere, sadly.

Parents are yet to be informed about the ins and outs of the 'Points for Prom'. This has come to our attention by our kids (who are all saying the same thing. It was told to them in an assembly).

The school sanction the kids for not having the correct equipment (they have line ups daily and equipment checks a few times a week). When they are spotted without their shirt tucked in/without a sharpener or something that breaks a rule, they get a negative tick. 3 ticks = an SLT detention.

Isolations are given if you call out 2x in a lesson (used to be a day and a half with an after-school detention as part of it, now it's just a couple of lessons). I understand it's to stop low level disruption and enable kids to learn but taking them away from their teachers for asking the time (after a warning for talking) is a bit much. It's the same sanction if you love a chair or tell a teacher to f-off.

The school has had 4 different heads since we've been there.

Wow.

UK. They are now called proms.

I think the venue size is one thing and they should have a venue that will take a year group.

I don't see an issue with the prom having an 'earn it' attached. Many schools do it. For lots of students it is an easy earn- because they do the things that are helpful to them. For others it helps them focus. They usually include things like:
Attending 15 (or another set number) of revision sessions between January and May
Completion of all practical/coursework work required by the exam board
At least 95% attendance (or a target set) between January and start of exams.
At least 95% punctuality (or a target set) between January and start of exams.
No more than 6 behaviour reports (or whatever the school calls them) in Y11.

They are not onerous and motivate many students who need a bit of a boost. I've not come across a student who hasn't managed to achieve them.

Attendance at a Prom is not a right. There will be students whose behaviour does warrant them not being allowed to attend- teachers supervise proms at night, in venues away from school premises, are not paid to do so and often have to pay for their ticket to attend. Doesn't seem unreasonable to me that a student who has bullied or assaulted other people would not be at a prom. I know of a school who banned a Y11 boy who was repeatedly truanting (in school less than 30% of time) and turning up at the school gates absolutely pissed and being aggressive. Quite rightly staff were not prepared to supervise him at an in-town venue on a Friday night.

A quick google of UK and Prom would inform you.

This is inexcusable- this type of this could put a kid off learning for life! Our school tried to implement this at 80%. I (and many other parents ) went apeshit! It’s a teaching failure.,if a kid doesn’t get the homework then the teacher has failed and needs to support the child not punish them!

My first thought was that this isn't going to get the desired effect of getting kids to behave, because those kids that struggle to behave themselves are going to know straight away that they won't get a ticket due to the limited number, so they're not going to even attempt to get one. Many of those who are borderline for behaviour will self-sabotage because it's easier to do that than to try really hard and then go through the upset of not getting a ticket. So again, you get the opposite affect. Those who know they won't get ticket will probably behave even worse then normal as a kick back reaction to being excluded. The school sound bloody awful tbh.

This isn't a new thing in my experience.

Kids who didn't behave very well weren't allowed to go to my prom either and that was nearly 15 years ago.

They should have enough tickets to cover the whole year though, just on the off chance that all students do end up being able/wanting to go.

I imagine it's about wanting them to put more effort in rather than a slap dash attempt but I 💯 agree with you. There's a lot more I could say about their rules and regimes but it would be even more outing than what I've already said.

They'll have enough space for everyone. They won't tell a third of the cohort that they can't go. They've just told the kids that there's a shortage of tickets so they step up.

I quite like it as an idea. It is within their own control to behave, attend revision classes etc to earn points. I don't think I understand why op and some pp are so angry. They know what they need to do if they want to go. Natural consequences if they don't do it.

I think adjustments would need to be made for SEN pupils though. Attending after school revision classes for example might be too difficult after a full day at school.

There is a really easy fix. The kids don’t bother with the school prom at all and arrange their own. The school have no control over this. Our school never did a prom, every year the 6th years organised it ourselves. It had nothing to do with the school.

Suggest your daughter get a few of them together and float the idea around the year group. If enough want to go for it then help them book a venue and get them to sell the tickets now-ish, so they have a budget.

It's a new initiative so I guess they'll review it at the end of the year to see if it worked to incentivise positive behaviour. Worth trying I think. I'd get behind it as a parent. I certainly wouldn't be a parent complaining about a school trying to address behaviour issues.

Most secondary schools make prom attendance conditional - largely because it tends to take place off site, with staff volunteering to support it. Allowing all to go, no matter their behaviour, tends to result in an awful time being had by such staff.

That's awful. Based on that scheme my ds1 would be the only one of My 5 children to go to prom.

That’s awful. I’d be organising an alternative prom that all the students can attend. School and exams don’t matter as long as they do well enough to get to their next stage.

I also know of a parent who was 'fuming' that her son and his friend were told they could not attend the prom because they had been caught drug dealing just before Easter of Y11. She made a huge fuss and said she was organising her own prom, had a venue, was organising catering etc and already had 50 + Y11s who were attending her prom. She went to the local paper, on Facebook, complained to the LA, to Ofsted (who were uninterested) blah, blah!

None of the Y11 went to her prom- they wanted to be with the school, their friends and the staff who'd taught them and looked after them. Parents didn't want their children going to her prom. They wanted them looked after, properly supervised in a venue used to managing events like this. They trusted the school. Proms are usually lovely occasions and schools make a huge effort to make them fun and exciting and celebratory and a really happy end to that tough year. All the woman's shouting and mouthing off was just horrible, spiteful, hot air, as ever.

Well, it sets an awful example about people management, motivation and planning to kids! God help them if they end up in management and try this sort of shit with their employees and the Xmas party!!

Is this school run - and this is not an uncommon situation sadly - by people who went from school to uni to PGCE to school without any other experience of the world...?

Look, I understand considering excluding that tiny, hopefully non-existent, set of kids who OBVIOUSLY CANNOT be trusted to behave well enough at the prom itself. The ones who will bring a backpack full of Class A drugs and then stab someone. But that's it.

This is not an academic situation. This is, as you said, a rite of passage. For those kids whose only power is the gift of friendship, how shitty and heartless is this? Pretty much all the major religions value compassion and community so that's not even an excuse.

I was a well behaved and extremely academic kid who was occasionally thumped by a few of my more troubled classmates, and even so I'd've thought it was a nasty, spiteful thing to do, to break up friend groups on THE big social event of the year.

But surely the aim is to have all children there and only exclude the very small minority that can’t due to significant issues that can’t be overcome. An experience everyone who possibly can should attend to mark the end of school?

Thats quite different to planning to not have 1/3 of the school at the prom and utilising it as a year long form of punishment. I don’t believe a whole 1/3 of the school have behaviour so difficult they couldn’t attend a prom.