Punishment in school

[KatusM]

My child is attending year 2 in England. Yesterday he lost his break because we have not signed his reading record 5 times. He was not able to go out to the garden and was told if he did not tell me to sign his book he would lose his break again.

He is in a required curriculum level so this was not a boost club. This was a punishment because we did not sign his book. He read almost every day. He has no issue with reading. He completed his year 2 spelling target tests. So I believe he is on the right path.

I sent a very upset email to the school, of course they ignored me. I assume they will try to catch me in the school pick up and tell me a story why this is important.

Today morning my child had a breakdown about this and cried because if I did not sign his book he would lose his break again.

I am really considering taking this further because they do the same with numbots. If a child does not manage to complete 5 mins a week they lose their break.

Who shall I go to? Apparently other parents already put concern into the school but they ignore it.

Am I the one who overthinks this?

The punishment is unacceptable and I would make a formal complaint in writing to the head.

A primary school child (of only 7!) should not be punished for a parent's error.

If the head supports the policy, I would take it to the governors.

There are two separate issues here:

• Should the parent sign the book? Yes
• Should a teacher punish a child for a parent's error/omission? No

The teacher has acted incorrectly by punishing a young child inappropriately and the parent has every right to complain.

I honestly think if some schools could put parents in detention they would.

Teach your child to sign the book.

Can you tell us more? My dc used to read several books a day most days and we found the reading diary annoying and pointless. Lots of reading interventions seem to be.

Missing the point I know, but 30 minute break-that’s brilliant, glad to see some schools have such long morning breaks! Ours are half that.

Is this a state school, just out of curiosity?

Yes it is.

I always try to be nice, but that is it for me to you.

Now I feel you are really just picking a fight with me and everybody who does not share your opinion. You try to be nasty and call us insane and hysterical.

So now I write down my honest opinion about you.

I feel sorry for you, and your kids, if you even have any kids. You are a narcissist who tries to force everybody to accept the nonsense you talk about. However you are not clever enough to back up when you have been proven wrong several times.

1. You called me names and told me I did not admit my mistake several times. However I did. Several times.
2. Than you call me hysterical when most of the people ( including teachers with lots of experience) side with me.
3. you continuously ignore the fact the school punishes a child for something he has no control over. Tell me I cause the problem in the system because I stand up for a 7 years old.
4. You stated I teach my child to ignore rules, and I want to ignore them. Apparently you have some issue with understanding what you read. I checked all the policies that the school has in place. Non stated we have to sign 5 times. Did not inform us if we did not our children will be punished in a severe way. ( yes, that is server for a 7 years old ).
5. You try to force me to accept as you said: I let down my child. I did forget 1. Can you understand the numbers? 1 signature. They did not inform me upfront if we miss even one the kid will be punished.
6. Then when people tell you I did not let down my child and this is not a guilt or embarrassed birth post you try to force I let him down than say I did in small ways. I did not! I stand up for him, and I will not let him get punished for something he has no control over. Now I am sure you did let your kids down several times and they sure know their mum will never stand up for them. That is your own guilt which come through in the comments

You are a rude, miserable, pathetic person, who tries to be nasthy wherever she can. I hope you get some help because life sucks when you will be old and everybody distances themself from you. Seek for therapy, you need it.

I don't think that is a solution to teach to cheat at age 7.

I will sign his book to make sure of it. But the whole post is about my child being punished for something he has no control over.

I would bear in mind this may not be the whole truth! he may have been kept in for something else , or lost 5 minutes of his break.I doubt it was the full 30 minutes because the teaching staff don't want to spend this time with kids at break any more than the kids do!

Noting in it related to reading. Or missed homework.

It was the whole 30 mins. He did not anything else. They put a sticker into his reading record he lost his whole break and had to attend "bookclub" because he did not have 5 signature in his book for last week.

Katus - please don't rise to hamsterchump. They are deliberately being antagonistic, forgeting there are real people and real children behind the screen.

@KatusM I didn’t think there would be. That’s because it’s NOT a punishable behaviour. The teacher cannot punish like this and it’s clearly against the policy. You therefore have every right to complain. I would use the official complaints policy. This usually involves taking the matter up with the class teacher first, then if no resolution, the head. Lastly a panel of governors. This makes sure the complaint is officially logged.

It says a lot when a school listens to parents. It is expected that schools adhere to policies and don’t make them up on the hoof. Basically a behaviour sanction can only be given because the child has done something. Also homework is not mandatory. Not doing it cannot be punished either! It’s not a requirement of being in a school to do homework. Of course it’s better if dc do, but it cannot be enforced by punishment. Hope you get somewhere and this is stopped. Cannot believe it’s a state school to be honest. Awful.

Because at that age school should be about fun, curiosity and rewards. All this is doing is instilling fear and anxiety, and turning a 7 year old away from learning.

It shouldn’t be about tick boxes. Tick boxes unfortunately are prevalent everywhere, but this is one dtep too far. It has NO educational value. So therefore is unecessary.

@KatusM what's daft about this is a parent could sign the book but never actually read with their child at all and they could be the child that might need some extra input with reading at school 🙁

One of the fellow members in our school chat group is the governor of the school ( it is a twist of fate she is a developmental psychologist for young children in specialised schools behaviour management ).

Following steps happened so far:

• one of the fellow parents ( whom child was not attended in bookclub, but the child did not want to go to school after the bookclub) write a very long email to the school requested the information how and when all of the parents had been informed related the reading and numbots consequences and also requested information about the policies in place related the above.
• The above-mentioned governor has emailed the school stating several studies related to a punishment they used in early year education specifically KS1. Also requested written confirmation about the policies in place, and specification.
• I wrote an email addressed to the class teacher, the head of English and the Deputy Head where I did question the situation and the judgment based on 1 week of check instead of the whole term. I stated how upset I am that my child was punished for a mistake I made.
• One of the mums had a very upsetting meeting in front of the school with both class teachers. Where they become very argumentative and defensive. Ignoring the questions. She questioned when they are planning to carry out the SATS because the pressure on the kids is extrem. They left without an answer.
• Same mum's husband emailed the school related to the way they talked to her and how they happily ignored any formal information request.
• One of the youngest girl in class ( still age 6) signed her own reading record for the rest of the year. Mum got upset. Sent an email to the school related to this and stated the child being put under stress unnecessarily and the school delivered a very wrong message.
• Another parent sent an email related to numbots and referred to the policies stated Year 2 required to do 1 game as part of the homework. Not 5 mins per day as for the rest of the term they told the kids to do. The numbots still setted for 5 mins per week.

I know all together 19 parents made a complaint. None of us get any answer.

I think with that many parents making complaints the school will be forced to respond. That's really good that there's so many of you agreeing that this is an inappropriate consequence. I hope they respond soon, and apologise to the children.

I'm not in the UK, my DD has finished primary school without me being asked even a single time to read with her at home (I still read with her but not school books and with zero pressure). She learnt to read just fine, and could choose to read what she wanted to, for pleasure, in her free time rather than read the less interesting books they have at school (she had to read those at school but they never came home)

Exactly. ,

Just sign the book

I really love this comments. Have you read mine?

I missed 1! 1 signature! For the whole term. I only human, I assume the one I missed was the reading one of the evening. I packed his bag and forgot to sign.

Wife of a recent ex teacher here. Please tell all the parents that from now on they must use the phrase " I wish to make a FORMAL COMPLAINT" in their communications. That way the school HAS to respond within a certain time frame.

• One of the mums had a very upsetting meeting in front of the school with both class teachers. Where they become very argumentative and defensive. Ignoring the questions. She questioned when they are planning to carry out the SATS because the pressure on the kids is extrem. They left without an answer.

If both ckass teachers are doing this, I would imagine that it is being forced on them from above. No teacher wants to sacrifice their lunch break to sit in with children.
I would insist on a meeting with HT

On previous comment I stated I believe this was the head of English.

Remember you aren't obligated to reply to me, but if you keep on and now with loads of uncalled for insults to a stranger you know nothing about, it's really no wonder that I also keep replying. You posted on a public forum. If you can't handle criticism then you might want to rethink that in future.

All I've done is point out that this isn't the school or the teacher's fault and for some reason you can't handle that at all, to my mind that comes from a place of irresponsibility and deflection which is present among so many parents and children now sadly.

Save your pop psychology thanks, it's really not landing.