School's punishment of all boys in year 6

[htdt]

My son is in Year 6 and has done SATS this week, today was meant to be a fun day for them as they've finished all the papers.

But my son came back from school really upset as the teachers had separated the girls and boys and he says the girls got to do fun activities and given treats but the boys got told off and given a lesson on respect.

He's taken this badly and has said things like 'I must be bad because I'm a boy'.

It's such a shame because he's worked really hard and was otherwise enjoying SATS week, but now feels horrible about himself, the teachers who told them off and the girls getting rewarded when all the boys were punished.

I feel like I need to speak to the school next week and find out what's gone on and why. I also feel like making a complaint. But I'm not sure what they are going to do to make things better even if they did agree with me that it was not a great way to deal with some boy's bad behaviour and also very bad timing so should I just forget about it...?

Again the answer to combatting sexism isn't more sexism.

Again, this isn’t sexism.

Nope they really don’t, no more than girls. Plenty of kids that are different, gay or with SEN or who aren’t wearing the right shoes etc get that message on a loop and girls are often the worst at delivering it. Girls need just as much educating as boys if we’re going by that stance. If it’s all system go as regards collective punishment and we’re ignoring those who have been raised with the right values then girls need to be at the front of the queue.

🤣oh the irony

Treating someone differently because of their sex is sexism.

and as sex is a protected characteristic it is also unlawful to do so under the Equality Act 2010.

Excellent post! Pp can quote the Children's convention as part of her higher level complaint, imo, and Divkrns, maybe

Girls get the lesson about discrimination from the moment they’re born.

Megifer · Today 07:59
Lazy teachers love a bit of collective punishment rather than having to do work to sort the issue out.

nice

As a teacher I get fed up with the teacher bashing threads on here but this is definitely not one. If the accounts you have been given are correct then this definitely needs to be challenged - not for retribution but so the school review their practices in dealing with students. Apart from the unfairness for your kid, it's an absolutely terrible way to deal with what they presumably see as an early manifestation of misogyny as it will only serve to further alienate the boys from the girls and also more likely to create a distrust of teachers and schools in the boys. I would send an email to the head of year 6 copying in the HT and ask them to explain the punishment your child has received and their justification for it. You could ask for a phone call or a meeting if you think that's warranted. You don't need to go in all guns blazing but explain he was upset to be treated this way after his hard work and outline your point that you have otherwise been really happy with his experiences at school. Hopefully, as the TA has confirmed he wasn't involved in any poor behaviour and you gave a good relationship with school, they will be apologetic and seek to find a way to reassure him he's not at fault. I assume they will also have some other post SATs treats coming up?

I thought collective punishments were completely contrary to national
guidelines.

I remember the whole class being kept back for the actions of a small
group when I was at school.

I thought this sort of thing was no longer allowed?

This isn’t treating someone differently based on sex. This is a group treating another group badly. Girls and boys are not equal within society.

It is not remotely depressing that this is a thread of women who’ve missed the point that at the crux of this is girls, still, being excluded and told they’re less than. But yeah, issue definitely there is the poor little boy who we don’t actually know wasn’t part of it or does anything to stop his mates doing it.

So do plenty of other groups with far bigger difficulties navigating life.

This is about the issue of collective punishment which is wrong and not your feminist soap box.

If we are to ok group punishments then girls need to be part of that too and take a hit. Funnily enough in my experience it’s often girls as
regards disrespect, bullying, toxic relationships, etc that are far more troublesome in schools and if open season was deemed the way to go as regards collective punishment girls would take a far bigger hit.

Are we sure it was a punishment and not just a lesson in respect? Did they actually tell them off or was this perceived telling off? I have heard many teachers talk about the rise of Andrew Tate and incel culture being pervasive in primary schools so if it was a lesson around that then I'd have less of a problem.

What treat did the girls get?

Excuse me- since when is it the job of children to manage behaviour in school?

I hate to burst your stereotypical bubble but boys don’t all play together in a pack at school. Many boys break off and play elsewhere so I’d love to get your evidence that every single boy was involved in whatever incident occurred.

And yet it is treating someone differently based on their sex.

I can think of many times growing up that if we were to apply your logic to it that there would have been all girl punishments but there never was.

As for not treating people like individuals, any school that doesn't treat pupils like individuals is doing education wrong.

The only people that should be punished are those that did something wrong.
Because to do otherwise just means that we are teaching children that they might as well be bad as they are going to be punished for it anyway.

They do. And if a large group of white kids were actively engaging in the exclusion of children based on race I would have no issue with the class being consequenced.

The behaviour of some girls towards other girls is a completely different issue. And I assure you it’s a problem with boys against boys as well. You’re comparing apples and oranges. Treating people badly because you aren’t nice is not the same as a collective group treating another collective group badly where the commonality is a protected characteristic.

Feel free to come up with examples where there’s been a sudden power shift and girls have the power and are able to discriminate against a protected group.

love when posters don't come back to apologize for their disparaging remarks

I would love to see your evidence that he isn’t part of an ongoing issue. This level of consequence is likely to have come from persistent ongoing issues.

I would if my child wasn’t racist and had not taken part in racist behaviour, had been tested hard all week for the good of school data and had lost out on a reward.

No it isn’t a completely different issue.

Some people on this thread fundamentally dislike boys, full stop, and should be honest about that.

You must be aware that some parents will think this is lazy surely? Not sure why that's horrendous.

Didn't call teachers monsters either, that's a bit dramatic.

This.

I’d love to see your evidence that every one of 100 boys were complicit when they don’t all work and play in exactly the same spaces.

It is incredibly unlikely that EVERY SINGLE boy in Year 6 deserved this punishment, but I agree you definitely need to talk to the person who made the decision to punish them in this way to find out what, if anything, your son did to deserve it.