Am I being unreasonable if I complain about this?

[Soapbox]

My DD who is in Y4 has been kept in at break time for the 4th time in the last couple of weeks because one child in her class keeps disrupting the English lesson.

I have drafted a letter to school saying that

1.whole class punishments are unfair.

2.keeping them in at break time serves to make matters worse as it deprives them all of the chance to work off some energy.

1. it clearly isn't improving the child's behaviour so some other method should be deployed and preferably one that is targeted at the child concerned.

DD is getting quite unsettled with the conflict I think and also the unjustness of it.

The child involved has always been 'difficult' and the school have really failed to find a way of addressing the issue. He was also kept back a year so is older than the rest of the children which may or may not be a contributing factor.

What do you think? Should I send it?

I have her parent's evening next week so want to send it so her form teacher (not the teacher concerned) has a chance to gather facts and be prepared.

I'd send it.

that's unfair i think.

something similar happened at my dds school she's 8. A boy in her class had some sort of temper tantrum and threw chairs and tables so all the class had to go into a different one.

I do feel sorry for this boy he obviously has behaviour issues.

But do feel it's unfair to my child to be disrupted.

It's hard to know what to do.

What does your instincts tell you to do??

Can see why you and dd are pissed off. Are you sure of your facts? Don't mean to be rude, but sometimes things can be interpreted differently - is it definitely the case that they are all being kept in due to one person's misbehaviour? Could it be that there is a focus for the trouble, but others join in, so the teacher ends up keeping everyone back?

As for approach, think I'd probably try to talk to the form teacher in your shoes. Having said that, ds is only in the nursery part of his primary so am quite possibly talking out of my behind.

Send it. Deffo don't agree with whole class punishments.

And from the SN pov, if my child was disruptive (which he can be in an innocent sort of way) and the whole class was being punished I'd be very upset and worry that it would turn the rest of the class against him.

send it.

Actually Edam is right. You should check your dd's interpretation of events is correct before writing.

sejdm9tm

My ds would be bouncing off the walls with no break/lunchtime exercise.

Is it time to ask what the school discipline structure is? THe school should be able to give you a copy.

Most schools don't punish the majority because of an individual - one of my last schoos had a policy detailing this was not acceptable. I'm pretty sure it is against the childrens act to give group punishments.

Perhaps the school can clarify their take on this?

that actually said send it .. but I'm not sure now .. maybe I'd call to speak to teacher first whether that is really what happened because I cannot imagine 4 whole class punishments in a row

Soapbox. It is me. Tried to catch you earlier as I saw you were here. I was looking at the live chat thing we were talking about on Saturday.

You never mentioned this before! She has missed break 4 times!! I can't think that DD would have been badly behaved so I am presuming teacher is punishing whole class so send it. Totally unacceptable.

I'd be more inclined to call the teacher instead - you prob won't get through to teacher directly - but leaving message with sec to have teacher call you with regards to this issue - still gives time for teacher to gather facts etc etc

it's hugely unfair to students to give a whole class punishment if only 1 ( or 2 or 3 even ) are responsible and the students will be very aware of this and lose respect for the teacher if this is the case.

Thanks all

She is very reliable, but I have put in the following paragraph just to cover myself should she be selective with the facts

'I assume that xxx?s description of events are reliable, which would normally be the case, however, I do understand that her version of events may be subject to her own interpretation of what has taken place. Nevertheless, if Amy?s own behaviour was such that she regularly deserves to lose part of her break times, then I would hope that the school would have taken steps to inform me of this deterioration in her behaviour.'

Speaking to them isn't really an option as DH is doing the drop offs this week and nanny does pick ups.

SPUDMASHER

I had purposely not looked for your MN name so you could post in anonymity all you wanted!

[Spudmasher is a good RL friend who is also a fabulous teacher! We spend every Saturday morning putting the world to rights while our DD's are in their dancing lessons - I think we must be the only parents who are begging the children to keep going to ballet so that we don't lose our Saturday morning chats]

Sorry. Could not resist. I had no idea DD had this happening at school!! You know I lurk on Education threads....

I would send it with that extra sentence. It's so unfair if that's what's happening (incidentally, you left dd's name in there)

I know Tamum - so much for sanitising it before posting

At least you only mentioned it once though, eh

I have nothing to hide from you Soapbox!! M god you here more than I would ever reveal here!!!!!