AIBU to find loud music every lunchtime at school too much?

[DesignedforRioting]

I live a few doors down from a primary school and I am very used to the sounds of the playgrounds, sports day, school plays, singing, end of year discos, danceathons, etc in the garden. I quite like it.

Since the end of the summer term, the school has started playing loud (and I mean LOUD) dance music/chart songs at every lunch break. One of the male teachers also talks to the children through the PA system. Again, this is really loud and intrusive.

It's a bit annoying to me as their neighbour as it's my lunch break and I'd quite like to sit outside in relative peace. But what I am really struggling with is how over-stimulating I imagine this to be for some of the kids in the playground. Classrooms are pretty overwhelming and some children probably like to get outside where they have more space and feel less surrounded by noise. Then they have to endure that. I guess I'm particularly thinking of neurodivergent children but not exclusively.

I absolutely love most music - and the louder the better for me, genuinely. Yet there is something about the type of music they are playing, how loud it is and the fact that it is every day that I find way too much.

That said, I really don't want to be the 46-year-old killjoy that takes the fun out of playtime. I'm unlikely to complain as I like to support the school but I am curious. What does everyone think? Reasonable/unreasonable?

omg! That would drive me crazy to hear it daily. I completely understand where you are coming from regards overstimulating the children, my youngest would be a wreck everyday after listening to that!

You're welcome to ask if they have considered the overstimulation issue and I imagine they will give you a rounded response, because before they started doing it I imagine they also took this into consideration and doubtless are reviewing this new policy on a regular basis.

That sounds awful for the kids and for you! I wouldn’t like to teach those children in the afternoon, they’ll be far too wound up.

If you don't have a child in the school who has an issue with the noise then I'd not mention that aspect of it. But as a neighbour of the school it's certainly reasonable to tell them your life is being impacted by this happening every day

We have the same problem at our local primary, but at least it's not daily at the moment.... The summer term is hell on earth, you'd think it was a rave some days (not an exaggeration).

I think its worth a mention. Its also worth asking the council to do one of those noise checks. I live next door to a school too, and agree that you sign up to lunchtime / breaktime reasonable noise, so expecting to be able to sit out during their lunchtime in any kind of peace is a little unworkable, but your school does sound ott.

I guess it's one thing having a policy and discussing it among teaching professionals and making a considered decision and it's another what it may be doing to individual children's nervous systems. They won't necessarily be able to share that with the adults around them and yet that is not to say it's not impacting them.
They don't seem to have taken the residents of the neighbouring streets into consideration either.

I don't mind the usual noise at all and don't consider it gets in the way of sitting quietly in the garden but this is intrusive - rave like as one post put it!

Wouldn’t it be lovely if that were so. But then 1/6 of all autistic children aren’t in school for a reason.

Well you're bundling two issues together as you did in your original post.

If you're worried about the children then ask the school - you don't seem to think they are very professional if you assume they aren't skilled in dealing with children, including any who cannot share information with adults.

If you're worried about your own peace then that's a different communication to approach them with. And you're perfectly entitled to do it - I wouldn't live near a school if you paid me!

I would like to think that teaching professionals will have discussed the pros and cons of doing this for the children they know abd teach daily. Im not saying I'd like to hear it every day or that I agree, but please don't assume you have thought of something the teaching professionals havent.

Yes for MANY reasons, it's not all down to music at playtime. That's a reductive statement to make (I saw the headline too in February) when most autistic children have a range of reasons why they find school challenging.

I would definitely contact them regarding how it negatively affects you.
I wouldn't mention the presumed effect on the children. You risk an arsey, we are the experts/ professionals type of reply,which would be infuriating.

Take your phone out into the garden and then call and ask to speak to the Head. It is outrageous that any school thinks that noise is acceptable. I have no idea why on earth they want to hype the pupils up for the afternoon periods either.

I agree, I find it quite patronising actually. Particularly given that all of the teachers I know actively make positive changes for the benefit of children.

OP I had this EXACT same problem. Went on for YEARS. In addition to this I live between a junior and primary and they had different music for each.

Played so loud I could shazam it in my bathroom.

Council took it very seriously and got it stopped. We also went up and down the road and got a petition signed by the other neighbours.

Don't live with it - you don't have to.

We were told it was to intergrate boys and girls playing together but the volume was awful!

I wouldn't mention the potential impact to children, I would simply highlight to them how loud the music is and the detrimental impact it is having to you. They are likely not aware of how loud it sounds to the neighbours

I'm sorry but how is it patronising to wonder if, maybe, not every single of the 400 kids in a playground want music blasted at them on every break they get from a formal classroom? You wouldn't just assume that 400 people in a work canteen would all want really loud music and there would definitely be a percentage of people that would go somewhere else to escape it or silently be hating it so why is it ok to impose that on children?
And I'm 'bundling the issues' because the issues are entwined. The music is being imposed on the children and on the neighbouring houses. Same issue. And it's being imposed because loud music does that.

Not remotely necessary or appropriate.
Talk to the school. Let them know.

I would struggle with this down the road from me. My daughter would have struggled with it massively when she was at school. She'd never have made a fuss though, not in a million years. I imagine there are kids at that school for whom this is yet another - in this case avoidable - challenge.

It's patronising to assume that none of that has been brought into consideration. Teachers do an amazing job for little respect or reward. Do you think they are all idiots and just implemented something with no thought at all? It's not the same issue, it's you being pissed off because of the music and inveigling the child aspect to make you look less unreasonable. Which you don't need to do, because if it is disturbing your peace it IS unreasonable.

It is mildly irritating to me AND I wonder if it is impacting individual children in the playground because I think it could. Both can be there without leaping to the conclusion that I am patronising and dismissive of teachers' professional expertise. That they will have taken it into consideration and decided to do it anyway seems worse to me.
I've never heard the word inveigling before. It's very inventive but it doesn't sound like a particularly great fit for me here, thanks.

As far as I know, constant loud music is a form of torture; YNBU.

I live near a school and have a similar problem with music and noise and when I contacted them to ask (pleasantly, politely) if they’d consider doing something about their new lights that illuminate the inside of my house like Checkpoint Charlie all night they were absolute arseholes.

Every so often they request support for planning permission. Last time they wanted to install klieg lights and a playing field 😀

On the other hand the noise is relatively predictable and probably preferable to random antisocial neighbour noise.