To wonder what has happened to my Son's school

[k2493]

Just posting for thoughts

Both my kids have gone through the same secondary school. When my daughter started, the school was lovely and new with around 750 kids.

Fast forward to 2024 and there is now 1500 kids and it's become like a dictatorship.

Due to the number of kids, the school has put lines either side of the hallway that they have to walk within otherwise they get detention.

Every hallway is a one way system.

The minute they arrive in school, they have to remove their coats or it's detention even with no heating in the middle of winter. The other day my son arrived back to school to find that there were long queues outside while they did two uniform checks at the door. By the time he got in, he was frozen. Immediately he got shouted at for still having his coat on even though he had just stepped in from the cold.

He then went around the corner and got shouted at again even though he tried to explain it's really difficult to be expected to stay warm, keep moving and remove your coat all at the same time. Nope. Threaten with detention again.

AIBU to wonder what has happened to our education system? I'm lucky in that my son is quite strong minded and just brushes it off but what about the kids who's mental health this is impacting? Surely we want our kids to remember school as being enjoyable for their education and friendships rather than for being shouted at every two minutes for not walking between lines or not taking their coats off the minute they arrive in school?

Schools aren’t schools anymore. They’re like indoctrination camps. No fun lessons, just exam factories. Kids all look like robots when stood outside during a fire drill. It’s intended to prepare them for work. There’s no staff rooms anymore, you have to sit in the canteen and whilst you’re trying to grab something to eat/drink, watch over the kids too. There’s kids that wear coats and gloves in July and won’t take them off! But kids should be allowed to wear a coat in the freezing cold. Also, the toilets for pupils are gross - freezing cold taps - no hot water. No hand towels and a drier that blows out cold air. Most toilets are blocked too. I used to be a big advocate of our state school system but it’s an absolute disgrace now.

Preparing them for life in the fascist dictatorship that school officials aspire to run.

Have any parents gotten together to complain about this? It seems like a health risk for kids to be freezing every day.

why do you think it is the school system? Maybe its the school and likely the headmaster?

If the school building size has increased, staff doubled and budget doubled then my guess is it would still be the more relaxed school you remember.

Become a governor and see if you can change things?

how terrible 😞

It's awful. At my dds old school the teachers were allowed to wear their coats outside but the kids weren't. Staff who think the kids are theirs. No they aren't. Power trip from too many staff.

It might not happen in most schools but it obviously does in enough for many posters to have written about and be concerned about it. As well as the 2 schools my Dd's friends are at I'm also aware of it happening with my niece. So it's not as rare as you like to make out. I'm an ex secondary school teacher so I know what it is like. This isn't about that. It's about a certain style of secondary that seems to be fashionable at the moment. And yes as you say they change as they get older. But I'm talking about DC who have just started Y7! No they haven't changed so much over 6 weeks! And obviously the Primary school isn't the problem as my DD has settled well at her high school.

The coat thing is often because coats can conceal things that students shouldn’t have, unfortunately. Whilst some students are rule abiding, not all are. The reason so many school are trying to take a punitive approach to discipline is because working in secondary schools right now is so, extremely difficult. So many disaffected students, aggressive students, dangerous and unsafe students that leaders do not know what to do. Not to mention the pressures from the government to hit targets and the responsibility put on teachers for the work students put in and subsequently the results they achieve.
a very, very sad place to be right now.

That sounds really difficult. Is there a Learning support centre at her school that she can go to when she is struggling?

Why are their so many more students? Has the Schools space also increased? In my local area there is currently a lot of anger as their are 4 new housing developments with between 300 and 600 homes each with no plans to increase the number of available school spaces or cramming kids into already over subscribed schools. Its unsustainable, no wonder schools and teachers are having such issues.

If they can’t manage poor behaviour any other way, that’s a school failing. This isn’t discipline. It’s control. Huge difference. One teaches positive things, the other causes resentment.

It's because the behaviour of pupils, and support from parents, has declined so much in the past few years they have to do it.

What the hell is this I'm reading about coats - is this true?!
My kids are not in secondary education yet but this sounds insane. It's so cold today why would anyone remove their coat until they are seated in class?

If this were true, the behaviour would have deteriorated in all schools.

Not sure if anyone has already mentioned this, but the removing of coats is to stop boys from hiding weapons up their sleeves. It's easier to see a knife/bottle/etc rammed up a jumper sleeve than a jacket sleeve, which makes perfect sense until you remember that the kids have to take a bag to school with them as well, and could easily put anything in them, so yeah, its kinda dumb.

All schools I know are now like this. Teachers say it’s because of the bad behaviour ?!

@ichundich If this were true, the behaviour would have deteriorated in all schools.

To my knowledge, it has.

My grandsons go to a school with the same regime - it’s an academy!

Yes, this is not about not having rules. My DD's school has lots of rules, including very robust ones around bullying for example. But they are sensible rules with proportionate consequences.

Sounds like a local school taken over by the Athena Trust: silly rules imposed with great zeal. Detentions handed out for minor mistakes (not having a ruler, shirt being untucked after break), having to report why you need the toilet. These schools sound more like prisons and I'm very relieved my DCs are beyond that stage. In my opinion imposing these draconian regimes is bound to make school a place to be dreaded and not a good learning environment.

The behaviour is fine at my DD's school (private). Children get detention for serious offences, not for forgetting kit occasionally. It's also fine at my DS's school (primary). 'There you go', you might say. But I say it's because both schools treat students and parents with respect rather than as enemies. What goes around comes around. Academy Trusts are awful; our local secondary has gone from 'Good' to 'Satisfactory' to 'RI' since it became part of Astrea.

Sounds like a local school taken over by the Athena Trust: silly rules imposed with great zeal. Detentions handed out for minor mistakes (not having a ruler, shirt being untucked after break), having to report why you need the toilet. These schools sound more like prisons and I'm very relieved my DCs are beyond that stage. In my opinion imposing these draconian regimes is bound to make school a place to be dreaded and not a good learning environment.

Week 1 would be a fashion parade with those who could afford it showing off their designer gear. Just like non-uniform days.

Week 2+ it would start to settle down as people decide they don't want their designer gear used in art/tech/science.

@mathanxiety I agree with you about uniforms in general. Having had DCs go to school in a non-uniform country it really wasn't an issue.

However many parents and schools are completely wedded to school uniform as being symbolic of something (discipline, belonging, whatever). Therefore getting rid of uniform will always be a tricky sell.

I think we are due a change in uniform fashion. Someone will achieve a turnaround in school performance. They will do this by making lots of genuine improvements in the way the school is managed. The only visible change will be that the uniform is more relaxed. This is what will be picked up in the press (cue photo of Head with head boy and girl wearing the new informal uniform of jeans and sweatshirt).

'Relax the uniform' will be all that the new super keen former PE teacher Heads pick up. They will ditch their blue suits and tan shoes and start turning up in a tracksuit.

Sorry don't know why I posted twice!