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

What do you suggest a teacher does instead when they are leading an assembly containing lots of children?

How can they stop being 'lazy' and simultaneously lead a assembly of a hundred plus children whilst putting effort into disciplining a child who is repeatedly not doing as they are expected to do or told?

Please phone the school up and tell them that do you want me to message the number

I agree with you OP - this does not sit comfortably with me and I would be speaking to the School tomorrow to ask their version of events and why they used this type of punishment. My friend once made her toddler face the wall and it was so upsetting to see. We are no longer friends. It’s a very old fashioned method IMO and I wouldn’t be happy with my child being made to face the wall regardless of the circumstances.

A good lesson that actions have consequences - no harm done, and if he’s humiliated he will maybe be less fidgety next time.

As I was the naughtiest boy in the school for some years, pretty sore on the odd Friday morning 😂 I remain very thankful for an excellent education and loved my prep school and my teachers. It was excellent in every way and most went onto St Paul's, KCS etc... and many onto Oxbridge. It was an excellent grounding.

Ah, just seen your uodate that your NY child was fidgety, no the older NT one. Still a harmless punishment - did it work?

Argh, typos galore - should have been SEN and NT in there.

would be speaking to the School tomorrow to ask their version of events and why they used this type of punishment.

This is terrible advice. It is a minor sanction after he didn't respond to verbal correction.
You will get yourself a bad name if you do this OP. How are you feeling about it now after the various comments?

If he has developmental issues which make it extremely difficult for him to sit still and follow instructions, then assembly time needs to be factored in to planning for his needs.
When you next meet with school to discuss his support (or before that if you feel it is urgent), I would discuss planning for assembly is time and raise your concerns about the punishment.

I despair for society if teachers are incapable of disciplining a young child in less humiliating way. If this is the standard of teachers the UK is producing, god help us all.

We were made to stand facing the wall in primary school in the 1980s. Not a new thing, I'd think nothing of it.

We were also hit by teachers in schools the 1980's. We've found intelligent new ways of working. By the comments though, it seems a bit more (intelligence) may be needed in schools.

@Nameneeded

What do you suggest?

The teacher had spoken to the child multiple times to remind them of the expectations of behaviour?

Whilst leading an assembly of many children there is little else they can do.

Being inclusive of SEN means children attending assembly and being supported to achieve this.

If he finds it hard to sit still and needs to stim or fiddle, could he be near a member of staff to help supervise him that he can do this in a way that does not distract others? There are things like wobble cushions for example. He may need a social story to help him understand why assemblies are for quiet and listening. If every child fidgeted with water bottles it would be very disruptive and not be a calm learning environment!
So, it's about managing his needs whilst balancing the needs of others to hear the teacher and learn.

I would be very tempted. 😀I was a primary teacher for 20 years. It seems utterly bizarre to me that extra opportunities for faffing, fiddling, burping, tipping water on the floor, hitting someone as 'a joke' would be allowed in the assembly hall. Totally unnecessary and massively difficult for children who find sitting and being calm and focused incredibly difficult. If I was your sons teacher I would have kept him near to me so I could prompt better behaviour or remove him if he absolutely couldn't cope. I wouldn't have made him face the wall. My son has ADHD so I do understand how you feel.

It makes me sad to hear posters accusing teachers of being incapable or lazy because they cannot simultaneously lead an assembly and speak quietly to a child who repeatedly ignores instructions.

So many options but none that will be accepted by anyone here it seems. A bit of imagination, patience and understanding might help. Lead the child out of the assembly hall to draw/chat/be distracted in the corridor/class room/spare room.

There are always lots of teachers in assembly, it isn’t just one teacher leading the assembly and keeping all the kids in line.

So your child was able to carry out the instruction, and presumably learned something about this and not to do it next time? Maybe this was a good thing?
But it didn't sit well with you is that right? Just reading through it, it sounds like your child was fine with the incident?

I do wonder if he wasn't taken out of the hall which normally he would be if he was to disrupt , because they had very little teachers in today due to the strike there was just 15 tas and the deputy head teacher. I will be finding out the schools version tomorrow though

@Nameneeded

I'm sure every single teacher would love to have time or opportunity to lead one child out of an assembly to have a chat.

However you can't leave 100+ children alone to do so.

Assemblies are used by my school to complete lots of intervention group by staff. Some Staff also have a quick break then as they are on playground duty or they are covering others who are having a quick break by looking after children who have allocated 1:1 support and can't be left alone.

This is the reality of life in schools.

It is not that staff are lazy or incapable.

There are hardly ever lots of teachers in assembly nowadays. Sometimes one or two crowd-controlling an assembly hall of pupils so that other staff can get other stuff done. The idea that there are spare teachers to take one child out for a chat is laughable. Also, before you complain to the school, how sure are you he was told to face the wall? Or did DH just sit him beside her to stop him carrying on?

My 11 year old cannot sit still, especially in assembly, he has a quiet fidget toy that he has throughout the day to make sure he keeps himself occupied and doesn’t distract others.
If he was to cause too much distraction SENDCO would get him to sit outside the room which occasionally happens.

there was just 15 tas and the deputy head teacher. ..so no teachers? Who was taking the assembly?

My main take away is about the water bottle!! I don't understand why on earth any school would do that!