Does anyone else's primary school operate a zero tolerance approach to discipline

[citylover]

Ours seems to have recently started this (ther has been a def change) and my older DS and younger to a lesser extent have fallen foul of it.

I am not saying that disciplining is easy. However I am not convinced that this is the best way either.

DS1 is in Year 6 and I have told him to put his head down and just try to get on with it.

He is a very bright child and is bored stiff at school. Not that this excuses bad behaviour of course. But they are jumped on for anything - being a few seconds late, putting up hand and saying a teacher's name in test situation (this was another child, missing play to retrieve a ball from an out of bounds area (that I consider to be a worse offence).

Teacher pulled four boys out of class and phoned each parent, made the child speak to each parent. They had been pulling faces at each other. This of course is disruptive but so is the other course of action.

The school have written to me but have not come up with any specific incidents.

One example of it is that my youngest DS was jumping up and down in the lunch queue, was told off for it and had to miss his play.

He is not often in trouble btw.

I wonder if I am out of touch with modern methods. As I said there seems to have been a sea change in the place and it is not the happy place it once was imo.

it has a fantastic reputation btw

sorry written to me about DS1 threatening a lunchtime suspension

sorry written to me about DS1 threatening a lunchtime suspension

My ds went to a school with a 'fantastic reputation' that was just like that. We removed him pretty quickly. Punishing a child for jumping up and down in a luch queue is just ridiculous. Are there any SN chn at this school (adhd etc)

Yes there are quite a few special needs children there.

DS1 will be leaving in July so just needs to hang in for a few more months.

DS2 is unhappy at the school for other reasons (anxiety about using loos don't think its bullying)and I have said to him shall we look at other schools but don't think this would solve that problem.

Alot of the heavy handed discipline seems to come from non teaching staff eg lunchtime supervisors, office staff and caretaking staff but presumably this is with the full support of the head.

Myself and some of the other mums are quite perplexed by it tbh as we want to support the school but it's hard when they seem to be jumping on every minor thing.

This does sound a bit heavy-handed. Unfortunately, schools with well-ordered classes and "obedient" children often seem to be very hot on punishing children for the slightest misdemeanour. And some staff have a rather antiquated view of how children should behave.
We chose a school where behaviour is generally pretty good, though the intake is very varied, and now have to suffer DS getting into trouble for seemingly small things. Hopefully he can learn to just do what they expect!

Please forgive me for what I am about to say - but do you have any witnesses to these incidents apart from other children? In my experience, when children say things like "But I was just jumping up and down in the lunch queue" they have often forgotten (either genuinely or diplomatically) that the jumping up and down resulted in somebody spilling their water all over someone else, or in somebody getting an accidental elbow in the eye, or just that they had actually been asked to stop 47 times before the sanction was imposed. Just a thought.........ignore me if I'm wildly off beam!

no I don't unfortunately - that's the hard thing isn't it when you are trying to judge the situation.

All I do know is that there has been a change in their style and that other parents have commented upon it.

And that the non teaching staff seem to have become more prominent.

Anyway I am going to see DS1s teacher tomorrow and have offered to see the head so we will see what happens.

The letter must state the grounds for threatening lunchtime suspension. Sounds like you haven't heard the whole story. Have there been other letters written that didn't make it home - left in trays, down back of sofa?
(Sorry, genuinly not trying to make it sound as though your dc have lied or done anything wrong, but there must be more to it than a letter out of the blue.)

Thanks no the letter did not state the specific grounds for the lunchtime suspension I have asked for these directly from the head but have not received anything.

My ex H has also asked and has not received anything.

The initial period of lunchtime reporting was initially two weeks and a new one has been initiated without informing us. I will check with the mum of another child involved to see whether she has.

In that case they actually said her child was somewhere when he wasn't IKSWIM.

I will also search my oldest DS bag for any forgotten letters.

It is not such an issue for younger DS he has only been involved in the one incident.

PS The original letter did appear out of the blue - confirmed this with other parents!

Thing is, I bet the child in question doesn't jump about in the queue again and if you were visiting a school where all the children appeared perfectly behaved, you'd think that was a good thing. How else are they supposed to achieve it.

It may seem harsh and perhaps it is, but I know things run much more smoothly with my own children when I come down hard(ish) on the small things, rather than leaving it until I am at the end of my tether, or they have to be really bad before they get me to take action.

Provided they are consistent, they shouldn't need to employ the "discipline" often once the children get used to it.

'He is a very bright child and is bored stiff at school'

I'm sorry but regardless of their 'discipline methods' this sentence
tells me all I need to know about whether this is a good school or not regardless of it's reputation.

Thanks LC I just thought it was par for the course as they are preparing for SATS which are by their nature very routine. They are trying by giving extra stuff to some children.

I think after the SATS they will let them relax a bit.

I am hoping the challenge of secondary school will be enough for him. But we have to get there first of course.

I do sympathise with the school as it must be really difficult and he is no angel.

But I also think they have ishoos with handling boys.

I think you are probably right re the SATS thing but it really makes me annoyed that this is what schools seems to provide.

Hopefully secondary school will be better for him.

All I will say is that it is the low-level disruption that does more than almost anything else (if multiplied by the number of children who don't realise its effects)to adversely affect learning. And yes, parents and children seem taken aback when it's mentioned as an issue, with the "Yeah but no but.... he was only.... it wasn't just him... she was picked on....." response. (I don't mean you, specifically, but its a very common refrain). I wonder, if you've received a letter for what seems to be a first offence, if there have been a number of other things that have gone un-mentioned because, in isolation, they seem minor.