Pink bib sanctions

[Happydays38]

My 7yr old son has been involved in a few playground altercations -- he has come home with cuts to his head, bruising and very shaken by the experiences. His teacher feels he is not entirely innocent but does admit that the other boy involved is more to blame. Anyway, my issue is that both boys now have to wear fluorescent pink bibs at playtime so they are easy to spot for the teachers - am I being over sensitive feeling this is very labelling and belittling and reminiscent of the dunce hats?!?! While the pink does not bother me, my son is very distressed by the colour and older children are calling out all sorts of insults. Can anyone advise on whether this is common practice and if it is help me understand the benefits.......

I've never come across it (as a parent or a teacher, nor heard of it from any friends who are either parents or teachers).
I would feel very uncomfortable about it too. Not the colour per se, but the public shaming aspect.

Yes wouldn't be happy with this at all.

Even without the name calling, it seems like humiliation rather than punishment, and it's doing nothing to try and Prevent the situation arising just makes them easy to spot and the spot the altercation once it's happening.

And what the school are doing is almost at least condoning bullying by marking two children out as different, and as you say it's not the colour per se, although I think they could predict what older boys would say. Are they doing anything about the bullying?

I don't think there are any benefits

This is a bonkers strategy. Really unfair and unhelpful. I wouldn't be happy about this at all.

I wouldn't like the idea at all, even without my own child being involved.

If the staff are unable to adequately supervise the boys, they need to look at other methods of dealing with the issue. They also need to look at why these altercations are happening.

At our school they would deal with it in various ways depending on the cause. They could be sent to a supervised room instead of the playground. There might also be some work done with them on how to manage disagreements without pushing and hitting. They would not be given bibs.

Will the school now be dealing with the name-calling by making the older children wear bibs too? And what happens when other children call those children names? Should be a lovely pink playground...

How many are 'a few'?

Because 'altercations' which result in injury are not normal either, and it sounds as if what your DS has been doing is fighting, that it has happened often, and that therefore this measure is something that has been reached by escalation, not a bolt from the blue.

The best message for your DS now is that if he doesn't fight, he won't be punished for fighting.

I guess the benefit is that he is still allowed to be outside and running around and playing. Many other schools would make them sit inside or on a bench outside.

How long is it for?

Haven't come across this for punishment, but one of the schools I looked round for my DS (who has ASD) made all the children in the SN unit wear blue bibs at play / lunch times. The intention was to make them stand out so lunch time staff would find it easier to keep an eye on them. I found this distinctly uncomfortable and it was one of the reasons I rejected the school. I feel that anything that marks children out like this (for behavioural or other reasons) makes them a target for bullying.

Our school had a similar practice. Children wear yellow fluroscent jackets at breaktimes in the infants (i don't think it continues in juniors). All children wear these on school trips so i dont they see a stigma.

I'm not sure of the criteria to wear them but there is an ASD unit at the school and I know a child who is legally blind wears one.

My children were told that children wearing a yellow jacket might not respond to the bell and line up and that was ok, they might be allowed extra playtime, they are also allowed on the playground when it's not playtime (presumetably with a 1:1). Also that when running around at breaktimes that they had to give 'way' and extra space to children wearing the jackets (who I assume might not be able to see them out might struggle with other children in their personal space).

No I wouldn't allow this to happen.

Thank you so much for all your comments - this is my first ever mumsnet post and I can see why it's so great !,
I'm off to make an appointment with head teacher today, thank you xxxx

I think this is pretty awful tbh. No matter what has been happening regarding behaviour, it's wrong to humiliate children in this way.

I hope you can get some sort of outcome from your meeting.

I would object to my ds wearing a bib of any colour. Good luck with your meeting.

Yes, equivalent of a dunce hat! Its humiliating and not acceptable. I am sure it breaches a guideline somewhere. (Because its for bad behaviour, not safety)

If he is having issues with one particular child, I would suggest that they zone the playground with a buffer area in between. That way if there is an altercation it will be clear which child went out of 'their' zone in to the other child's area.

This worked well when DD2 seemed to be in conflict with another child.

All of our reception children wear hi vis jackets on the playground for the first month or so at school, so everyone can Identify them easily and keep an eye on them, but that's a whole year group. We would never, ever consider putting a hi vis jacket on just one or two children. It's very wrong.

Well, the alternative is they either stay inside supervised by a teacher (who frankly won't want to spend her break doing this) or they sit on a bench outside closely monitored by the playground supervisor but excluded from the other kids.
Which do you prefer?

I'd rather there was something done to prevent the altercations happening in the first place floggingmolly and if a punishment must be handed it out it should not under any circumstances encourage humiliation or name calling!

I can see that the intention isn't to punish or humiliate, but it seems that this is how your DS is experiencing it so you are right to raise it.

Playtimes are busy and supervision is generally minimal. If there is a ratio of 1 adult for every 50 kids for example, it will be very difficult for them to keep an eye on specific children.

It's not the equivalent of a dunce's hat. It's a way of making sure the two boys are clearly visible in a crowded playground, the alternative being making them sit at the sidelines close to the supervisor
Letting them disappear into the crowd to beat the crap out of each other unseen is not an option...
Irrelevant; but I sincerely doubt the teacher "admits" that the other boy is more to blame than your son, op. Even if she thought this, she'd hopefully have more sense than to say it.

I would have a problem with this. There are many other alternatives for dealing with the behaviour, not least by working out what is behind it. It's also disgraceful that other children are being insulting- is that behaviour being addressed?

I agree. If wearing bib cannot be changed, whoever insulted them should be made to wear it as well?

I don't think it's appropriate to mark children like this but I do wonder what you are doing to address the fighting OP?