To be glad schools are finally hitting back

[Teachingquestion]

Over the last couple of days I've seen more stories about schools introducing new rules and sending students home who won't comply.
I'm in a really tricky school about to do the same (when we start back) and the staff are so relieved. Teachers on here : are you glad to see it?

What sort of rules?

Yes, schools should definitely “hit back” at students and transform the relationship into a combative one. What could be healthier?

Context is key.
What are the staff relieved about?

The biggest risk factor for really terrible outcomes for children - becoming the victims and perpetrators of serious crime - is being excluded from school.

If you want to celebrate school exclusion, fine. But people should be aware that when it's happening on a large scale, there may well be social consequences.

That depends on the rules, surely? If they are stupid rules that just make my life and that of everyone around me more miserable and annoying...then, no..I wouldn't be relieved. I'd roll my eyes and think, "for fuck's sake...chill"

I remember one school where we had to check all of the kids before leaving the classroom to head to their next lesson.

• Shirt tucked in?
• Top button done up?
• Tie done properly?
• House lanyard round their neck?
• House lanyard and tie underneath their jumper?
• Are they wearing a jumper? (If not, tell them to put on their jumper.)
• Do they have their pencil case and planner?
• Is their equipment in their pencil case?

Honestly,...life's too short for this. I don't care. I really do not care. As long as they aren't showing up half naked and are dressed for the weather and the fact that they are in school, I don't care about sodding top buttons.

I'm not a teacher but a parent who's DC at times have suffered both from being bullied and had their education set back by kids who know no concept of how to behave and their parents giving even less of a toss.

I'm all for those parents having their kids at home with them, filling their day how they want that way it leaves those DC that want an education to receive one and teachers wanting to be able to do what they trained to do.

What mustn't be allowed to happen in place of going to school though is for the DC to be allowed to roam the streets causing more havoc.

But that's not for teachers to sort out.

Start of term punishments in the media are usually for uniform violations which are ridiculous, petty and archaic. Many countries don’t have uniforms and their behaviour is not worse than in the UK.

I can’t imagine that make schools hell like the persistent bullies and violent kids being sent home because their right to an education is seen as more important than the rest of the class and staff being safe.

Definitely. It doesn't matter if someone outside a school cries about it in a local trashy paper and denounces the rule. If it's needed to manage the learning of hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of ill disciplined children well, then schools need to hold firm. There's far to much pandering to what individuals would prefer for themselves, when actually those kids and their parents are part of a collective group that's there for an important purpose.

The trouble with our current system is that there isn't joined up thinking. I was reading about a school where hundreds of children have left subsequent to a shift in behaviour policy. I'm sure there is less challenging behaviour now in that school, which is great for the remaining students and staff, but those children are somewhere. They haven't disappeared. Either they are making other schools more challenging, or they are out of education, with consequences down the line for both them and the communities they live in.

Which rules are you talking about.

I’m an ex teacher and Mum to ND children. Trying to get the SENCO to agree to the reasonable uniform adjustments recommended by medical professionals (soft trousers instead of tailored ones) took me 6 weeks.

There are some oddities about some school rules. Most are useful but some are archaic, cause young people to become less independent, make them uncomfortable and less likely to learn and punishments are often unnessary and leave little room for escalation.

schools have some pretty stupid rules sometimes. My daughters school definitely does. From personal and professional experience, I’m
convinced some people deliberately become teachers because they enjoy the power trip over minors.

The problem is it’s too late at secondary. They need to make sure things are straightened out at primary instead of bending over backwards to accommodate useless parents who won’t read to their kids or potty train them. All these harsh rules did for my well-behaved bright kids was make them anxious and put them off education.

If it's bullying and bad behaviour in class, absolutely. If it's obsessive uniform checks, absolutely not.

In a support group for parent carers of send children I met a mum whose DD was getting dehydrated in school because they were throwing away her water from the water bottle because it had a small amount of squash in it just enough to take away the taste of the water as the autistic child was very taste sensitive.

They were checking ALL the water bottles every day and throwing out any that contained even trace amounts of squash.

My eye actually started twitching at that one.

WHY make life so difficult for everyone when there's a simple adjustment for a child that finds the taste of tap water difficult and can stay hydrated that way.

I love you.
My SEN DD had a fab head teacher. He said' if I can see up it, through it or down it, you're not wearing it. Otherwise we're good'.
Top man who changed her life.

Isn’t that linked to the fact that in order to be excluded in the first place there must have been serious instances of socially unacceptable behaviour, though? It really doesn’t tend to be for minor transgressions of uniform or similar!

It stands to reason that someone who can’t or won’t follow school rules is equally unlikely to cede defeat when confronted by societal rules and norms.

None of the 'little' or 'annoying" rules being trotted out are actually inherently stupid. Even if they seem small and insignificant, it's powerful for the culture for everybody to do what they've been asked and staff insisting on this are teaching children a valuable lesson. They don't get to argue or opt out of what is the norm just because they have a preference. They're supposed to all be treated equally and play their part.

I hate these 'school rules' situations .
It is grossly unfair that schools turn into prison camps to control a minority of bad kids and that the majority who are usually average rule abiding kids end up being punished.
A workplace would be guilty of unreasonable behaviour /bullying if they treated employees the way some schools treat pupils.
Thankfully my 3 are now finished with school and they also had a very sensible head teacher whilst there.
It must be awful for so many decent kids going to school daily constantly worried about making a trivial little mistake and getting into trouble , no one should have to experience that.
I don't know the solution for the hell bats that cause mayhem in schools but i do know that living in a fearful tyranny is not healthy.
Just to add i'm no pushover as a parent and have no time for ridiculous parents who go crying to the press and social media .

My local school was the one featured in the news this week, I am all for firm discipline but this school is run like an army training camp and the rules are unreasonable affecting children’s mental health, such as not being allowed to congregate in groups of more than 2 at break time, having to take your winter coat off and put in your bag before you line up in the playground to go into school even in torrential rain, getting a detention for not having a glue stick when another child has just taken it from them so they don’t get into trouble.

The other problem is that the kids who don’t want to be in school know they will just get sent home by walking into school without their tie done up properly, in a town which is one of the most disadvantaged in the country we should be encouraging kids to engage with education and raise their expectations, in reality of lots of these children are spending months out of school getting further and further behind with their learning, often with parents who also failed in the education system and cannot support their children to have higher, achievable, aspirations.

The schools argument is they are preparing children for work and society but I have never worked in a place that has unnecessary, punitive rules that you are not allowed to discuss or challenge.

It depends what rules you are talking about though.

Some of the rules and associated punishments in some schools are absolutely ridiculous and out of proportion. I'm thinking about things like obsessive uniform rules and excessive punishments for not having a pencil etc.

I've seen a few stories about academy trusts being investigated for their behaviour policies leading to parents having to move schools or educate them at home.

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2025-07-21/strict-behaviour-policy-behind-exodus-of-500-pupils-from-school

The vast majority of schools operate like this now, so there is little or no parental choice other than home education. It's a massive national scandal IMO and schools are not fit for purpose.

Sending students home for wearing the wrong uniform is crazy, giving them a warning and to be prepared for the next day with the correct uniform is the right way to go.

And who do you think should provide the 1500 spare pencils that might be needed in a given day? Bet none of those kids forget to take their smartphone.

Like everyone has said, depends on the rules. We visited a primary school where the uniform code listed black hair ties only. Ok that’s fine. Oh but for PE they must be blue. Get over yourselves ffs.

Teachers are expected go above and beyond each and every day, unruly behaviour day in day out in lessons must be so demoralising