At what age is it acceptable for a teacher to keep a child in at playtime?

[lucy5]

My dd is 6 and in year 2. There seems to have been a tremendous leap in the amount of work, expectations etc from year 1. The teacher explained this to us in a class meeting, saying that she was upping the ante [sp] in preparation for year 3.

This teacher is rather strict and has already made one of dd's friends cry after shouting at her. Dd came home last night rather teary, because she and others had been kept in for not finishing their work and had to finish it over playtime.

I understand what she is trying to do but it seems a bit much at 6. My dd has always loved school and I have never had any trouble getting her to school, she has never cried at being left etc but in the 3 or 4 weeks since she has been in this woman's class she has come home teary.

Do I act now or let the teacher do her thing and hope dd manages to latch on to the idea that she has to speed her work rate up?

Well in Yr1, the teacher at DDs school kept them in for 5mins as a punishment, but shouting till they cry and keeping them in to finish work seems a tad strict.

But what was the reason for them not finishing the work, were they messing around maybe?

My dd1 is 7 in yr 2. Her new teacher this year is a dragon and very strict. I wouldnt comment to the teacher, they will be expected to work harder than the year before. Push them hard i reckon!

On reading the title I assumed your DD had been kept in as a punishment for some misdemeanour rather than to finish her work. So I am rather at that idea and would be if it happened to DS who is also in Y2. I think I would speak to the teacher but approach it in a way that you are concerned that it is putting DD off school and was there a particular reason on this occasion or does she do this often. Open up a discussion and see what results.

It does depend why they didn't finish their work as to why they were kept in BUT personally I don't agree with teachers shouting at children, no need to shout ever unless you have lost your temper and that IMO is unprofessional. I'm not talking about "BE QUIET" to the whole class by the way - that is a matter of being heard and necessary but shouting at an individual is unacceptable.
I certainly disagree with 'pushing them hard' at that age. I don't think children should be pushed at all, encouraged yes, but 'pushed' FGS!! they're only tiny.

There is plenty of pressure to come at secondary school, allow them a childhood first that's my humble opinion.

It depends, my ds also just started in year 2, had to miss a bit of playtime this week to finish off his work.
I didn't mind (in fact approve) as he is the master of procrastination. This has been a problem throughout year 1 and if after missing a few minutes of playtime he stops faffing around and actually finishes his worksheet or whatever, it has got to improve things.

I agree with you Wisteria.

I am not saying my dd is an angel and I know that she can be a giggler[sp]and at least one incident was because they were fussing, fidgeting etc.

She does write very slowly and is left handed and often gets her letters the wrong way round which the teacher has been quite hot on. I think she is worried about getting it wrong. I don't mind her being kept in for 5 minutes but I think the whole break is a bit excessive.

I also do not agree with chn missing playtime. They really need the time to run about, especially in the infants. Could you suggest to the teacher that dd brings unfinished work home rather than miss play?

this happens with my ds who is in year 2. He struggles to concentrate sometimes and so doesn't always finish what he is doing. So keeping him back is fair enough.
However he is only just 6 and it does take him longer to do stuff than others-and when he gets kept back for trying his best and taking care over his writing-I feel very cross.
The end result is that he will rush his work-not trying his best in order to play alien invasion in the yard!

I must admit I am a bit frightened of her myself and i am a teacher [ not primary]. It has just made me cross because dd has always been really good at school and was incredibly shy when she first went. I moved her from the Spanish system to the International system because she was having a hard time. Her confidence has really grown in the last two years and I am worried that this teacher is going to knock [not literally] it out of her. anyway ds has woken up. Thanks for the advice

My ds has just started in year 3. His reading is not at all good but maths is fine.

The children have to be in school by 8.55 (school policy) but DS's teacher has told all parents that they must be in the classroom at 8.45 to do their spellings or they will be kept in at playtime.

She is very strict and does a lot of shouting. DS has always been willing to go to school but now has a new "Symptom" every morning, trying to stay at home.

I'm waiting to see if the teacher calms down once they are all terrified of her but am strongly considering speaking to the head as a lot of mothers in the class feel the same.

Sorry this is long but it's really getting to me.

DS2 was kept in quite a lot in the spring term of last year in Y1 and he was very down on school that whole time. He is a bit of a daydreamer, but more importantly very young in his year. I didn't feel that keeping them in was right at that age, and in fact would tend to make the problem worse - what he needed was a break from the work to run around and be 5.

DD is in year 3 and there is now the possibility that if the children have not completed their work and the teacher feels that the reason for this is a lack of effort or poor behaviour they can be kept in - but we did have a parent teacher curriculum meeting at the beginning of term to explain exactly how this would work and under what circumstances. I would ask for a similar meeting to explain discipline policy to parents?

I think that missing playtime for misbehaviour is one thing, I am not sure about sheer laziness. At this age they need their playtimes to let off steam.

Surely it would be better to make her miss golden time to catch up the work.

In the Y1 and Y2 class I help in we sometimes keep them in for a few minutes to finish an exercise.