Children being treated like prisoners

[User78678]

What is everyone’s thoughts on children not being allowed to talk to or play with children from other classes?
Context….
The school classes were allowed to mix until covid hit and they then had bubbles. The headteacher decided it is easier to control the children and less bother for the teachers if they kept the children in bubbles. So here we are in 2024 and this school is still using covid bubbles.
If a child tries to talk to a child from a class other than their own, they are told off and punished for it. They are not able to make full use of the playground because each class has a small designated space, and they must not cross the “border” or “fraternise at the boundaries” or they will be in trouble. Even if the child has a sibling in another class, they are not allowed to go over and talk or play with them. It’s a two form entry and half of the year group have not seen the other half since 2020, other than in passing, because they are taken out to play at separate times.
The headteacher will not budge on this rule and is happy to keep treating the classes like they are wings in a prison. The children are being denied the opportunity to build friendship making skills because they are kept with the same class and not mixed up each year. They are not able to develop their social skills, and a lot of children in the classes don’t get on because they don’t get any space away from each other but they just have to deal with it. The children in key stage 2 are served lunch in the corridor and have to eat in the classroom. The children in this school don’t know any different, they believe all schools are like this. So you can imagine the shock they have when they go to into high school. I personally know of a child who had to be reassured for months that it was ok to speak to children from other classes and talk to them at break times, because the fear of getting into trouble for talking outside of the classroom boundaries was instilled in him from primary school.

@User78678 If it’s a church funded school then do you have an inspection from the diocese? Could you pursue that route maybe through church, priest, bishop etc?

Sorry I meant that reception classes are out together, year 1 are out together and year 2 are out together but the two classes are kept separated in the same playground. The reception and key stage 1 aren’t all in the same playground.

I could try 😊

That's awful. Making friends across classes and year groups is really important. It helps the children grow in confidence and the older ones at ours are encouraged to think of themselves as taking on more responsibility for modelling behaviour to the younger ones as they get older.

I'm not generally one for a Daily Mail sadface but this is definitely one to go to the papers about. Not with the covid angle though. That's a bit of a red herring now. It might have started that way but it's nothing to do with that anymore and just a very bizarre head.

I'd question why parents haven't acted sooner and voted with their feet. Get your poor kids out of there!!!

Definitely not normal.

i have friends who have children who was in the year group old enough to remember being out in bubbles, and they both said they want to play with their friends but they can’t (only a few children was taken out of each class as a group to be spoken to).
I don’t know what year 5 said, and the ones below them wouldn’t know any different at all.
It was a staff member/parent who brought this to light and was seeing if anyone would be willing to stand up with them as a parent to do something about it. Every parent who is now aware of it has asked their child and they have said yes it’s true, and they all had no idea that other schools all play together. I’ve been told there are more problems with the kids being in bubbles because they are constantly with the same children and don’t get any breathing space or a break away from them if they’ve had a falling out.
But like you said If the staff have all said it’s working out better then sadly ofsted aren’t going to listen to the parents.

I'd leak this to the press. Ask to remain anonymous if you're worried about repercussions but I bet they'd be all over it.

At the very least it would warn parents looking at schools what to expect.

I would be absolutely raging if DSs school ran like this. We also have a 2 form entry so to make breaktimes manageable year groups are paired for morning break and then lunch time. Eg morning breaks Yr 3 and Yr 4 play together, lunch time Yr 3 and Yr 2.

Even their reading groups are spread across the years.

Awful

You haven't said whether you have complained to the governors or diosece..I'd have thought if you were so unhappy with the situation you'd have been writing to anyone and everyone you can...

How biazzare, could a reason be to stop bullying?

In this school year 3,4 and 5 go out together but are kept separate. Then they go in and the other half of year 3,4 and 5 come out. Year 6s all go out together at some point but they are kept in each classes designated space and are not allowed to mix with each other.

I just saw this. This sounds insane and cruel

Madness.
How is this healthy or normal.. do they enjoy the power.

In my primary school the two junior classes were separated from the bigger children for safety but this is just madness. Does the school have a board of management or a parents association? If there is a group of parents who aren't happy then the group should begin the formal complaint process .

I asked a TA and she told me it’s just easier for the teachers to manage the classes. For example if a child from class A argued with a child from class B at break time, it’s too much trouble to sort out and Teacher A would have to phone teacher B to sort it out. Where as now if they argue it can be sorted out without the need to speak to other teachers. And they don’t all go in the hall to eat because it’s less chaotic and quieter if the upper key stage eat their dinner in the classroom.

This is bonkers.

That’s what it was like when I was in school, year 3 and 4 at the bottom and year 5 and 6 at the top of the playground. I’m not sure how they mixed it before covid because I didn’t have a child that was in key stage 2 then, but my friend said her son said they all played together apart from year 6, they came out once they went in.

Contact the press

I honestly think they enjoy the power. The school is very strict, it’s all about getting the top marks in everything and the kids are constantly pushed to be the best. It’s good that they are helping them reach their potential but all they do is work hard, and then told to work even harder. There are no rewards for it, apart from certificates in each subject for the child who was the hardest worker in that subject. There are barely any school trips, no school discos, Christmas parties, residentials, nothing like that.

Would they be interested in something like this? I imagine they’d have to contact the school but the headteacher would play it down and make it sound like it’s a good thing.

The head is failing in her duty to build a school community with this very strange approach.

Complain en masse to governors.
This is utterly insane.
In our local primary there is a buddy system where older pupils take care of and befriend younger ones. The age mix on the playground is one of the delights of the school. They all mix happily together ... and it does not make any extra work for the staff.
As for punishing pupils for mixing .... what the hell!??

This is completely bizarre. Hasn’t anybody gone to the governors!