School has asked dcs to use only plain, undecorated pens, pencil cases, rulers etc. Is there any evidence that using 'fun' stationary puts kids off studying?

[comoco]

Is banning fun stationery now normal in primaries?

Feel bad for little ones not allowed fun 'character' pencil cases or rubbers etc they've been given as presents. Apparently they will now be confiscated. :(

I've never heard of this before - is there actually any evidence that kids study better with boring stationery? And won't kids get it all confused with everyone else's if it's all identically boring?

The evidence is the teachers reporting what happens in their lessons. They aren't saying there is a link between sparkly stationary and lower grades, just that the faff around sparkly stationary takes time away from lessons. What evidence do you want them to provide beyond their own experiences?

Comoco - if the previous policy had worked as well as you think it was working, the school would have had no reason to change it. Hence it seems obvious that, whilst it may not have been causing 'complete chaos', the presence of sparkly, fun stationery items in class was causing low level disruption that was getting in the way of the teachers teaching and the students learning.

Schools don't just change policy for the hell of it - that is the point of Cauliflower's post. They have got enough actual work to do - they spend their time doing that, not sitting round thinking of ways to piss off parents and make children unhappy.

A solid clear protractor without gaps and without colour is a totally standard item that costs about 50p, you can buy all the main bits in a set for about £3 this is very likely to meet the requirements of the list. The standard pens, pencils are likely to be cheaper than fancy stuff too.

I should hope there isn't any "evidence" that fancy stationery distracts, what a waste of money that study would be. This isn't government policy, it's what one school has decided based on the opinions of their own staff and perfectly reasonable.

Tbh, it's quite funny to see these posts. Saying she was "top of the class" to try to make a valid arguments... ..
Would stay away in RL, but quite entertaining in internet forum.

SDTG - correct.

OP
I'm interested to hear from those teachers who say stationery can distract

I'm a teacher. I'm telling you it can distract. No I haven't written a thesis on this with tested evidence from around the world - just experience.

Protractors with gaps in the middle are not as easy for measuring the angles because when kids start measuring they need to line up their lines with those on the protractor. And if there is a gap in the middle that is not as easy to do. Coloured ones are less easy to see through.

The school are trying to make it easier for your child to be successful. Just because they don't explain the tiny minutiae of every single decision and back it up with scientifically-approved evidence as to why they are doing this, doesn't mean they are just trying to piss you off.

To help you out, as you say I have no idea what that even means please see pictures below of

1. A protractor with a hole in it (do not buy this, your child will find this difficult to use as the school say)

1. A coloured protractor (don't buy this one either)

1. The protractor the school has requested you buy as it will help your child.

Hope this helps with your shopping.

Our School provides all stationery and it is in a little pot in the middle of the table. The School send texts every so often reminding parents not to send any stationery in to school as it can cause unnecessary problems in the classroom. As far as I am aware there is always plenty of adequate stationery for the Children to complete their work.

I think it is sensible and can imagine Children being distracted by sparkly stationery.

My Children have a couple of novelty pens / pencils, I think they are pretty poor and insist they use their standard pens / pencils for homework.

We are verylucky. In Australia I believe you're given a list of all supplies (tissues, glue, paper, writing pads) to be brought in at the beginning of the year!

and at comments saying things like 'there's no suggestion of theft - it's a school in an affluent area' etc etc.

Because poor children are all criminal.....!!!

And rich kids are all saints.

Please don't stereotype children like this.

just vacuous comments...

I have one class yr 8 class where they are allowed to choose one writing implement from their pencil case, then I put everything else on top of a high cupboard until it's time for the end of the lesson. Having anything else distracts and allows them to pinch something from a friend which creates aggro. It's my pen, no it's mine, no it's mine - a few weeks ago I had to give a kid one of my my pens to replace one that was apparently pinched, but could not be identified as they were generic ball points from a supermarket!

Some kids cope fine, but for others it's a huge distraction to try and choose the pen, or pay them out or whatever!!!

I attended private school from year 7. We had stationary lists. All assignments other than math had to be done in black ballpoint or typed. Math was done in pencil. Each assignment had to be headed the same way. No spiral notebooks were permitted. Even returned work had to be filed a certain way in our binders.
We each had a 2 page/week academic planner handed to us, which was put on the monthly bill. The school taught us to be organized. It really helped us get through heavy workloads.
All this fancy stationary nonsense is distracting.

My DPs where very disappointed to hear that most schools have moved to a shared pot of stationery now that I'm a teacher. The hours they spent naming all my pencils and pens.
I've already lost things in classrooms, time to sit down and name all my stationery!

Quite honestly, teachers are as bad as children for "acquiring" stationery from elsewhere. Anyone seen my wall stapler?

My "pencil case" is actually a bag for life

spaniel

Might be with my Sellotape dispenser, which was labelled clearly with silver pen

OP

well-off children steal things too. I doubt you'd be hearing about it.

Might be with my Sellotape dispenser, which was labelled clearly with silver pen

You have a sellotape dispenser
I would KILL for a sellotape dispenser!

I bought it myself, and didn't claim the money back or anything!