Draconian or what?

[swedishmum]

Or maybe I'm over-reacting. Dd (Y5) has just moved into a Y5/6 class with a new teacher. Spelling and tables tests were on Friday. If a child gets more than 2 out of 20 wrong they lose all breaks for that week. Apparently one poor boy is losing all his breaks plus a bit of lunchtime.
I'd really appreciate views of others - any teachers?? - before I draft my letter. Should also add I don't really rate her in a few ways (I speak as a teacher who has previously worked at thye school).

TIA

Thanks Majorca - we have tapes in the car but recently we've reverted to songs for the baby to save me having to sing her favourite (the balloon on daddy's bike goes up and down) - maybe we'd better get back on the tables. She's been using the Maths Invaders game on the PC today.

It's nice to write a letter cos it is cathartic but it makes it much more formal , so if you have an easy relationship with the Head you will get a quicker reaction and outcome from a chat tomorrow am- plus you get to walk away from the playground knowing that it is going to be dealt with and so you can rest easy.
I always take the "ds has told me and I wonder whether she has perhaps misunderstood.." type of approach which means that it isn't too confrontational.

Yes flahsingnose it was about the rucksacks.
Basically the head said she never meant to 'ban' but rather 'discourage' their use. She said some people needed them more than others (ie those with lunch boxes, those who walk to school) and that the school would do their best to accomodate them. Hooray!

SM you could write the letter, just to compose your thoughts. Then leave the letter at home and have a chat.

Well done on the rucksacks spidermama. Nice to know there's some common sense. Just realised how much junk dd1 carts around her sec school all day so will be changing her school bag at the weekend.

Deeply, deeply stupid.

Losing breaks are a punishment for bad behaviour. They should not be a punishment for not acheiving academically. IMO it's extremely bad practice to confuse bad behaviour and lack of acheivement. The two ought not to be made synonymous - unless of course, you want to de-motivate less brilliant children. Getting more than 2 wrong, is not necessarily a sign that the child hasn't prepared or worked hard. 16 out of 20 may be a brilliant result for one child, the result of many minutes poring over spellings, while 18 out of 20 for another child may mean she's spent the whole time when she should have been learning the spellings, out on her bike because she's lazy but brilliant.

This punishment system doesn't recognise that.

Puzzling. If it were 1952, I could understand it.

Good post calig.

Breaks are there for a reason.
Children can not be expected to sit in class all day. It is extremely important that they have time out and the chance to interact with peers. Missing one break won't do much harm but missing all the breaks in one week is outrageous.
What is the teacher trying to achieve? She'll end up producing a class of kids who hate going to school.

That's ridiculous. I mean, Anymore than 2 wrong? That isn't particularly bad. God, if this had happened had my brothers school he would never have had a break/lunch! Terrible, complain, complain, complain!

I've done this in the past but only if they got less than half and after the second test ont he same words because they had done so badly the first time and not learnt the work (words appropriate to level etc etc and fitting in with work etc etc) With a Year 7, 8 or 9 class BTW

oh and not a week's worth either- just 10 minutes or something

dd's problem was her tables - apparently it was the first time they'd been tested with qs on the interactive white board then they had to keep looking down to write down answer. Short time span and dd has astygmatism. This system would be even more of a nightmare for dyslexic ds.

If my child was kept in at breaks for this reason I would be knocking at the head's door immediately insisting that my child gets their break time and if they felt my child had a problem with their spelling/times tables they should give them some small exercises to do at home which I could help them with. No way would I stand for this, get down there and firmly but politely make your feelings known and let other parents know as well what's going on.

Will let you know how I get on tomorrow. Thanks for all the advice - I knew I wasn't mad but sometimes it's really great to have some back up.

My ds1 has just started yr5, they are tested on their times tables every week. After they had completed their first test the teacher said she wasnt interested in whether they had a good score or not, just need to improve their score every week.

Much better way of motivating the kids imo ds1 only got 25% right, knows he has to try even harder for next weeks test, and wants to improve himself.

Ds1 would miss breaktimes for a year if punished for mistakes!

I remember when I was in school (eons ago I know) We were kept in at break if we bit our nails!!!

Can't say I got very far this morning though I got a few points across. Will wait for feedback when the head has checked a couple of things out with the teacher.
I really wish I wasn't about to start some teaching practice there - I hate confrontation. Also starts getting too close to the whole professionalism thing. May start by having a quiet word with a parent governor whose wife teaches there.
Think I'll change my nickname - would be pretty obvious to anyone round here who I am!