Would you be annoyed by this . Son made to sit and face wall

[Douse]

According to my 9 year old backed up with a similar story from the 6 year old who has senco issues was being mischievous in todays assembly by fiddling with his water bottle . He (according to the kids ) was spoken to a few times and then was taken to the front of the hall by the deputy headteacher made to sit next to her and face the wall.

Its the facing the wall bit that doesn't sit well with me ? Thoughts please

Honestly I’d just move on and remind your dc to do as he is told . And Tell him not to take his water bottle into assembly so he isn’t tempted to fiddle.

Loads of issues here. Is he allowed a special fiddle toy? But is he trying to not do it. And fiddling with a water bottle and doing it repeatedly when asked is irritating for the teacher, so how can this all be appeased.

Ah, just read your update. I didn’t know he was fiddling with his bottle. Seems a different handling of the matter might have been best. Hard to take the bottle away from him though since he needs access to his water. I don’t know what the answer is, maybe they weren’t sure what to do either. But I see how you feel, how he would have felt, being put to face the wall. Hmm. What would be the best thing? Should he attend a class that is geared to help children who have disruptive moments due to sen? Although any child will do something like that on occasion. It doesn’t sound so awful to me.

He had to face the wall so he couldn't distract other children by pulling faces, grinning etc. If he finds it humiliating he should have stopped fidgeting when asked. No wonder teaching is so hard and nobody wants to do it anymore. I am so glad I've retired from.

It also seems discriminatory if child has sen.

Do children with SEN not need to be taught how to behave?

I would expect a good school to have different strategies for dealing with a child with SENs behaviour.

I thought from the OP it was the 9 year old but still think the child needed some sort of consequences starting with taking the bottle away. I still don't think sitting facing away from the rest of the children is humiliating if he was playing to the crowd as often happens.

I think facing the wall is fine - else he’ll have the entire assembly looking at him and he could easily get distracted or distract them.

I think it was a good solution.

What do you think should have happened in this situation?

The fact that this is a 6 year old with Sen not a nt 9 year old totally changes it for me. I don’t think it should’ve happened and I would want to meet with the senco.
What sort of support are the school giving, does he have a care plan, a ta? If they are not supporting his needs you will need to either make them or move him. So,e schools are better than others with additional needs.

Do children with SEN not need to be taught how to behave?

Yes, this is not how to deal with poor impulse control, some children need to fidget/ chew/ move to regulate themselves. This is not being silly or acting out, there is a difference a good school should know the difference.

If the child has SEN,,the method detailed in the OP could be counter-productive as it's highly likely to put the child into "flight" mode .

Instead, calmly removing the child if repeating messages has failed to another area of the school for calm explanations and behaviour strategies applied would benefit all better.

But here's the snag-very few schools are able to afford the adult/child ratios that make the latter possible... meaning everybody loses.

Glad you've retired also, you clearly no nothing about sen children.

I know that the term SEN covers an extremely wide range of issues and none of us except the OP knows the precise nature of her child's needs. Maybe there was a better way of dealing with it but none of us knows the situation and I expect the teacher doing the assembly was doing the best she could at the time. I don't think it was cruel or humiliating and teachers shouldn't be scared to take any action at all for fear of parents' reactions. I daresay the child has forgotten all about it now.

Ahhh "The Wall". Standard punishment when I was younger. And when my now 14 Yr old was in primary school, it was too. It's not unheard of in our area. Didn't occur to me that it would be such an issue for some parents if I'm being honest.

He (according to the kids ) was spoken to a few times

parents like you are why teachers are leaving the profession in droves

You mean because of parents of children with SEN?

So your child did understand the instruction to sit facing the wall and he was able to carry that out.

Does your DS have a 1:1 in school to enable him to be removed from class if their are occasions he distupts the class??

What is their normal action when he struggles to follow instruction.

Crap like this is why I’m glad my kids aren’t in school. Just lazy discipline. Even NT 6 year olds do fidget and wriggle, it’s totally normal and age appropriate, they aren’t robots.

Probably means parents who overreact to a non-issue. Home school if you don't like how teachers discipline. Why should all the other kids have to be affected?

😂 Old school was what I had at school. Wooden board rubbers chucked at your head with unerring accuracy. Nose jobs, where you put your nose on the desk corner and got smacked on the back of the head. The Slipper in the headmasters study on Friday morning every week for the unfortunate few.
This was all outlawed in 1989. I am not that old! My school was one of the best achieving schools in the country. Join the dots.

No one in earth needs to take a water bottle into assembly ,or anywhere else. Presumably the children have had breakfast and will have a drink and snack at 10.15- ish before going out to play. Water bottles are a totally stupid, modern day affectation that have no place in assembly. No one is going to collapse and die of dehydration in a 20 minute assembly.

It's not a non issue though is it? Do you think all children with SEN should be home schooled and hidden away so your precious children don't have to interact with them?

Why does a child have to be home schooled because teachers are incapable of dealing with someone with additional needs? He has a mental age of 4.5, nursery age. School knew that when he was enrolled and so different strategies need to be put in place. You have no idea how 'different' SEN children can already feel never mind being shamed in front of everyone.

Fear, clearly. How did you feel getting all those types of punishments?

It just doesn't seem like such a terrible punishment so not sure what the big deal is. What is the alternative, do nothing and everyone be distracted? I just feel sorry fir the teachers, they can't seem to get a break. No wonder they are leaving in droves