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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Golden Time. Does anyone else feel uneasy about it?

74 replies

Roseformeplease · 22/08/2012 18:59

My daughter's school has recently had a total change of staff including a new, rather domineering, head. The school is a tny, rural one and had an excellent reputation with no behaviour issues at all and an outstanding inspection. There have never been any " behaviour management" systems in place before. The pupils worked really hard, got on well and played together. The new Head has put in place "golden time" which is taken away for bad behaviour. I am very uneasy about this as, up until now, good behaviour has been its own reward. They have not needed an incentive.

Can the Mumsnet jury let me know what the feeling is? I would be interested to know if it actually works or, as I suspect, it just teaches kids to behave for a reward rather than as a habit.

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marge2 · 22/08/2012 19:02

i don;t like 'golden time' at our school as the kids basically play video games on the internet. They have to take turns so it causes arguments. I think they should be being taught personally, not just dossing.

EdithWeston · 22/08/2012 19:05

If behaviour is as good as you say, then all this means is about 20 minutes a week of additional non-lesson activity.

Perhaps not every child that will ever enter the school will be a paragon though.

vodkaanddietirnbru · 22/08/2012 19:06

ds (5) loves golden time and takes in beyblades to play with the other children. DD also likes it and often takes something in to play with too. She has never mentioned playing games on the internet at golden time either - they only get an hour in a friday afternoon for golden time.

juniper904 · 22/08/2012 19:07

Why has the school had a total change of staff, including the head? That sound unusual, to be honest. Maybe things are not working quite as well as it would seem.

I think golden time is used for two main reasons- 1) lots of well behaved children are often over looked because the teacher expects them to be good, and they get no thanks for being well behaved as standard. Sometimes this can be disheartening in today's culture where every sneeze deserves a certificate and can make children upset parents complain to the head 2) new management want to make a mark. I always think of when a new lion takes over a pride; it kills all the cubs from the last lion and marks its territory to make its intentions clear.

Original poster

Roseformeplease · 22/08/2012 19:13

The school is tiny and had two teachers, one of whom was the head. She retired and was replaced. The other teacher was a probationer (Scotland) and only had a one year contract. We tried to keep her but she was made to leave to free up the spot for another trainee. There has been a huge fight! Now I agree about the lion! Not sure if it is relevant but the new Head is ex-army!

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OhBuggerandArse · 22/08/2012 19:17

You won't get the head to back down, particularlyif she's keen on making her mark. You might be able to get her to think about using the golden time more creatively, though - in our school it's used for all sorts of enrichment activities, often with visiting session leaders coming in to do activities that there wouldn't otherwise be a space for in the curriculum.

kilmuir · 22/08/2012 19:19

think its ok, you are only talking 20/30 mins. may not lose all the time just a percentage of it.

Original poster

Roseformeplease · 22/08/2012 19:23

Partly I am annoyed as it wasn't broke and the head seems determined to fix it. We were promised minimal change and this is just wasting time. Worryingly, they are playing dodgeball during golden time - a game more akin to bullying IMO.

However, as a teacher myself (at another school) I question this kind of behaviour management system. Really, there were no behaviour issues before, at all, ever.

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MigratingCoconuts · 22/08/2012 19:30

As a teacher yourself, you will know that there is always a period of adjustment when a new Head starts at a school. this Head will want things done their way and it's his/her right as Head to plan strategies as s/he sees fit.

It's what s/he has been employed to do.

I'd wait and see how it works, personally, before judging.

juniper904 · 22/08/2012 20:03

I give my class a pshe type target on Monday morning, and they 'earn' golden time throughout the week. It encourages them to reflect upon their own actions. They always end up with about 30 minutes anyway, but no-one ever seems to clock that!

I don't think golden time has much use, but then there aren't many things you can teach successfully at 3pm on a Friday anyway.

Rosebud05 · 22/08/2012 20:08

Really, there were no behaviour issues before, at all, ever.

I'm sorry, but this is a ridiculous statement to make.

Though this ....

Worryingly, they are playing dodgeball during golden time - a game more akin to bullying IMO.

takes the biscuit.

Original poster

Roseformeplease · 22/08/2012 21:22

You may question the behaviour thing but it is true. It is a tiny school (under 20 in 2 classes) and in a small rural community. There might be the odd forgotten homework or chatting but no issues at all. I work close by and we also have no issues at all. Non selective, state schools but tiny class sizes and a close knit community.

As for dodgeball, I really think a game that involves firing footballs at other children can only go wrong - and has. Previously they played happily at their own games or went to the music room but now they are indoors in a small room firing balls at each other (unsupervised) when it rains.

It can be bullying when the object of a game is to hit someone. And I found the game personally awful and humiliating when forced to play it in the USA long before it was imported here.

Friday afternoons were always for music making ( a real strength of the school).

It is just a shame. I am rather ideologically opposed to golden time and may see what research evidence there is on its efficacy.

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AbigailS · 22/08/2012 21:23

I find this statement There have never been any " behaviour management" systems in place before rather unusual and confusing. I've never come across a school without a behaviour management system and a behaviour / discipline policy.

Rosebud05 · 22/08/2012 21:27

Why has their been a total change of staff? It sounds like there aren't many staff as such a small school, but have they all really left at once?

MigratingCoconuts · 22/08/2012 21:27

If there really are no behaviour issues at all then dodgeball won't be an issue, will it??

stargirl1701 · 22/08/2012 21:34

I don't use it anymore. It was very popular as part of the Jenny Mosley model 20 years ago. That was a whole school programme involving far more than GT.

As a school, we have moved away from the self-esteem model that GT is based on because of the research done on the last decade. The book Nutureshock is probably the most accessible way of accessing they research. We have moved to the resilience model that has been developed in Australia coupled with the Scottish Govt's Restorative Justice programme.

stargirl1701 · 22/08/2012 21:34

God, ignore the typos. On phone with auto correct.

Original poster

Roseformeplease · 22/08/2012 21:39

Thanks Stargirl. I have "Nurtureshock" somewhere and will re-read. My instinct was that golden time was outdated. Am interested in the resilience model and will google, thanks.

There were no behavioural issues in the school but my daughter feels behaviour has got worse and my experience, as a pupil, years ago, leads me to worry about dodgeball. There was, undoubtedly, some policy document in a cupboard somewhere and some kind of system; now we have one where they play as a reward for being good rather than being good because that is the right thing to do.

The only staff left are the dinner lady, school secretary and classroom assistant, all part time.

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Clawdy · 22/08/2012 21:40

"Golden time" in most primary schools is the last hour or so on Friday afternoon,when special activities,including outdoor ones,are available to all the class. If a child has misbehaved during the week,he or she may miss five or ten minutes of "golden time". Children really enjoy it.

juniper904 · 22/08/2012 21:52

I think the main point is that, whatever your feelings about it, the school will do as the school will do. As a parent, you have very little say about how they organise their curriculum. Even if you are a teacher.

My mum was a year 2 teacher for 38 years. She hated all the new initiatives and all the nqts coming in with their new fangled ideas. Maybe some of the ideas are out dated, but in the same way, no progress is made if we stick with what we know and what 'works'. Incidentally, I was an nqt as my mum bad mouthed nqts and I bad mouthed older teachers who were dull and reluctant to change.

auntevil · 22/08/2012 23:10

Think how effective golden time is depends on the age/school.
EYFS didn't have any - it's pretty much all golden time!
Y2 - worked well - often the same disruptive faces sitting quietly for the first 5 minutes of golden time as the quieter ones get to pick the best activities first.
Y4/5/6 didn't really give a ...... about golden time.

VonHerrBurton · 22/08/2012 23:24

I didn't think there was such a school - no behaviour issues, at all, ever..

Wow. They will be in for a huge shock in high school then, once they leave Our Lady of Utopia primary...

Just joking op. Jealous, I guess!

delphinedownunder · 23/08/2012 12:44

OP - I am a teacher at a small country school. Also two teachers. A roll of 32. We also have no behaviour issues. And I know that some will be incredulous, but we just don't. The children are like a family and all play together and brothers and sisters are in the same class. In fact, my own two children are in my room, as is the head's son. I tell my class that in other schools children have class rewards systems and I explain some of the things that might happen. Then I go on to tell them that I don't need a system because they are all so well behaved and we then vote for an end of term class treat to recognise their good behaviour. I have taught here for eight years (like I'm going to leave) and in that time I find it hard to remember instances of serious misbehaviour. It is the joy of small numbers and resulting strong relationships (also children stay in my class for four years and know I will stand no nonsense!) I would also be raining eyebrows at any management system where it is not needed. By the way, our little school is always looking for new kids if any one is interested ... Our strengths are music, philosophy, conservation, modern foreign languages, art and skiing, as well as literacy and numeracy of course. Go on, make the change!

Rosebud05 · 23/08/2012 14:11

FGS. 'Behaviour management strategies' include supporting, guiding, advising and role modelling with children about how to get along, negotiate, compromise, express themselves etc. I would sincerely hope that EVERY school does this.

Original poster

Roseformeplease · 23/08/2012 15:35

Delphine - my daughter was at "your" school until this summer and now she seems to be in a parallel universe, run like a large school with problems. It is all divisive and I can see why it might be necessary in some places (although it still makes me uneasy) but it was never needed before and I am certain it is not needed now. Yes, Rose, all schools do those things. But I specifically have an issue with using golden time (or a reward system) to maintain good behaviour.

And my secondary school is the "grown up" equivalent of my daughter's primary school. Always able to take more pupils! Superb results, tiny classes and no behaviour problems at all.

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