children swearing in school -.whats the punishment?.

[momtothree]

Just wondering how different schools deal with swearing!

Well my primary-aged children tell me that 'shut up' and 'stupid' are classed as swearing in school. If any real swear words came out of their mouths, I'm assuming they would be instantly vaporised, or something.

I recently started working in a year 2 class as a TA. In January, during playtime I was in the classroom with a few other children and one child uttered the immortal words "It's snowing! It's fucking snowing!" I kept him in and told the teacher but I don't know what happened after that.

What GCCPrimary said.
You have to judge the context.
Some children have no idea that the foul language they hear in every sentence at home is swearing, and they will need to learn that there are a lot of words that we don't use in schools. That, however is very different from screaming 'shut up' in someone's face (just referring to the first reply here) - it's about the intention rather than the word itself.
Same as with physical aggression.
If someone accidentally trips over another child's foot or leg and ends up breaking their teeth or a limb, I wouldn't "punish" the child they tripped over, just because the person was seriously hurt - they have no intent to hurt, it was an accident. However, I would deal severely with someone who swung a fist or kick at another person, even if they missed completely, because they intended to hurt someone even though their aim is rubbish.
The way you deal with any sort of behaviour issue should be dealt with in context.

I teach Year 1 and children in my class frequently come up to me to ask if something is swearing, because they've heard another child say the word. It's usually something as innocuous as "for goodness sake".

Occasionally I get told that a child has said "the f word", and I always check exactly what was said. Fortunately, it is usually "fat" or "fart"!

If a child does actually swear, I tell them that it's not a nice way to speak and that we don't use those words at school. Then I call the parents in at the end of the day. Most of them are mortified, but every now and then we'll get a parent who is quite blasé and will admit that the child will have heard it at home (usually blaming the other parent who didn't collect the child that day). I suggest that maybe it isn't a good idea to swear in front of their children.

At our school, it's only the older ones who will deliberately and knowingly swear, and luckily for me I don't need to deal with that.

PMSL at its fucking snowing. Actual tears!
Sorry. Not helpful!

Much hilarity at our school gates recently as an 8 month old came out with 'dickhead'. That family's children aren't likely to know what language is inappropriate for school.

Thanks love that a baby has the vo cab ....