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.

I do believe you, because I too taught under a headteacher who had some peculiar ideas.

There were several aspects to this (including bullying of staff) but one also took the form of extreme control around interactions at a particular point in the school day (staff would be given a formal warning if they disobeyed). She also ignored or disbelieved any signs that staff were unhappy, claiming that negative findings on staff surveys etc were a conspiracy. However, she ran an outwardly successful school and I do feel that she was also right about a couple of things (she was the only HT in my teaching career who ever spoke about social inequality and actually put in some measures to remedy it!) so a stopped clock etc…but it wasn’t a comfortable place to work as you never felt ‘safe’.

Headteachers do actually have a lot of power and although apparently several governors had not supported her for years, apparently it was not possible to make any change. There is a national shortage of headteachers and if a school is outwardly successful, according to Ofsted, then what grounds does a governing body realistically have to remove a headteacher?

I won’t say exactly what happened, but she did eventually get moved on by the LA. However it involved an element of chance (a serious incident occurred) for the situation to arise. I suspect that the LA then saw their opportunity and took it. But the post above about complaints is probably correct - you need a body of evidence to build up in order for it to be taken seriously.

However, the story doesn’t quite have the ending that you might expect. Even after the HT had left, the culture proved quite entrenched and difficult to change. Bizarrely, some of the same patterns began repeating themselves with the new HT (previously the DHT). I saw this for myself. I moved on at the end of the year but understand that there was quite a period of change/uncertainty and the school then failed an Ofsted a couple of years later.

Sorry, I thought OP said it wasn’t an academy

@User78678

I've never made a complaint but I am a school governor. In terms of the complaint you have to follow school policy. There will be a complaints policy on the website. Every stage of complaint make sure it's documented. If the head says no. (Likely) Escalate to the next level. Be clear it is a complaint.

If the head presents it as a 'behaviour management' policy, and it is having a positive impact on behaviour then you may struggle to get it changed.
Where you might be able to challenge is the lack of transparency from the school about the arrangements for break times and segregation.
FWIW my children are in a very small primary school. It was only when I raised concerns about the number of injuries my R son had got over a 2 week period during break that changes were made. The playground was segregated for different age groups and lunchtime staggered to reduce the numbers out at the same time. Guess what, he has not had a repeat of the injuries.

They go in the hall in assemblies, but they aren’t allowed to talk in there. It’s pretty much go in, hands joined and sit straight down and face forward. I’ve only seen this when I’ve gone to watch assemblies, I’m obviously not there looking through the window every Friday to witness every week 🤣🤣
The classes take it in turn to go into church. I like to go occasionally during the week and there will be a different class there when I’ve gone in. The whole school has never gone into church together.
Communions are done on separate days, the whole year group does not make that together. They take turn with class trips. That could be because the school vehicles aren’t big enough to take them all as a year group though.

The formal complaint route has been well explained up thread, that would have been my view. I'd also take up the point that it is a lack of community for the children. Check the values of the school. Your children are losing something by not knowing more people.

Do you work at the school? Are you the Head? Why else would you behave in this manner?

You start with the complaints policy and ignore all other well-intentioned advice. Petitions will achieve nothing, and parents will just sign hoping that it will be resolved and then get frustrated when nothing happens. The press will antagonise the head, they don’t respond, let it die down and it goes away, you also have no control over what a reporter writes and sad face photos. The MP’s first response should be have you made a formal complaint.

There was a poster on here who followed advice of well meaning posters and what should have been a straightforward legitimate complaint ended up in a mess. (I ended up giving her some advice via PM, she admitted she should have ignored the well meaning advice and used the complaints policy.)

Has anyone emailed or written to the head yet? We do for much smaller reasons!

Obviously I will do, I’m not going to ask for advice and then keep everyone in the dark, I’m not that person. But I imagine that this is something that will takes months to sort and won’t be done by the end of the week. You need to go and deal with your issues.

One of the parents did speak to him in person about her child being allowed to play with others, and he said that it’s too much trouble to allow them to “fraternise at the border/boundary line”. That’s when we said we will fill out the surveys and see what happens there. Tbh we really thought ofsted would do something, especially as they asked the older children about the bubbles. Because why else would they bring that up unless it has been brought to their attention? So we thought oh yea they’re really taking it seriously, we’ll see a big change in September!
But sadly that didn’t happen.

I will message the other parents tomorrow, there’s no point now because I start work in 5 mins and won’t be able to get into a proper conversation about it until tomorrow and everyone wants to relax on a Sunday anyway lol
I will pass on this advice to them, I feel more confident now. At first I was unsure what to do with it being the headteacher that we’re doing up against, but I feel ok about it now.

I will message the other parents tomorrow, there’s no point now because I start work in 5 mins and won’t be able to get into a proper conversation about it until tomorrow and everyone wants to relax on a Sunday anyway lol
I will pass on this advice to them, I feel more confident now. At first I was unsure what to do with it being the headteacher that we’re doing up against, but I feel ok about it now.

OP best not engage with this user.
They are currently on 4 other threads and revelling in causing hurt and animosity with people just looking for advice. Some vulnerable. I’ve counted 20 posts so far. You only have to do a username search to see this.
All I can see from their posts is someone who wants to spend their Sunday morning enraged in negativity. It probably stems from a previous trauma. Hurt people hurt people. Or at least try to.

Serious suggestion to speak to a journalist! This needs a light shone on it and sometimes putting things in public eye is the only way anyone in authority will actually be shamed into stopping this madness.

I don’t think press will achieve anything at this stage.

The HT I mentioned had had a press furore a few years before I joined. It all died down as the majority of parents decided to comply with the policy (which was actually a sensible policy) and, if anything, had probably confirmed the HT in her views that protests/surveys etc meant very little.

Complaints and working via the governing body are the way forward.

has no child moved to the school in this time from another school and they’ve told their parents about what has been going on?

Good luck OP 🙏 At least, if families know, it'll be very difficult for things to continue like this. You can unite and make your voices heard! It's an awful and frankly abusive situation for the children: it seriously impacts their developement. Anywhere you present your case, you'll find support because it's so objectively wrong what they are doing!

hope a journalist Is reading this

I would all make meetings to discuss. Perhaps soon it will be easier for him to change it than keep having parents in! It doesn’t sound like the staff like it either.
Id also make a complaint and then also go to the governors if nothing changes. I can’t see Ofsted helping tbh.

How about an anonymous letter to local radio or suchlike? School stuck in a time warp etc? Might kick up a bit of a stir?

that an unnamed primary in manchester
has maintained strict covid bubbles for the past 4 years
and this was kept from the parents and “leaked” by a teacher

I imagine the real story is that none of these children, even those that joined the school in year post covid and siblings separated from each other in the playground, never mentioned to their parents before the teacher “leaked” the other day

That's so sad, my DD has friend in the year above and below and plays with them in school sometimes. One girl the year below lives on our street and they've been playing all summer, it would be really sad if they weren't allowed to "fraternise " at school!

yes

and they’d have mentioned this to you surely at some point in the past 4 years!