is keeping a child in at playtime a standard punishment in infant school?

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ds2 is in reception and his behaviour is,erm,somewhat challenging at times(have posted about it before).today he pushed his friend off of the climbing frame,the head called me into see her when i picked him up and explained that they had been messing about and play-fighting and ds2 had gone too far.

she said he is being punished by losing his playtimes next week and will have to sit in the heads office instead.

now,while i totally agree he has behaved badly and should be punished,i really dont like the idea of missing playtimes,and i cant help thinking it will make him worse as he will be climbing the walls if he doesnt get a run around.he is only 4(5 next month).

is this a normal punishment or is it a bit crap?

crap
of course it'll make lively boys behaviour worse if they don't get to run around

I think (although am not 100% certain) that this is something that happens at DS1's school - although I'm pretty sure it's not for the whole week - just that day/the next day

What do you think the punishment should be?

I haven't read your other posts but if as you say, your ds is challenging, then maybe its the 'punishment' at the end of a long line of misbehaviour. Your ds' school has a duty to protect the other pupils so may have decided to keep him off the playground as this may be where he most struggles to control himself? I think a whole week is a bit extreme though. We always used to do one day and then the rest of the week, the child walked round next to us - thereby getting some fresh air.(I was a Reception teacher for 7 years before having my dc). You need to get to the bottom of this behaviour sooner rather than later - with the school's help.

They don't do this at DD's school. Think the teachers see the value of playtime especially with regards to lively children and them burning off energy between learning sessions.

I think that missing a whole week of play times is excessive, but missing one play time is reasonable.

The foundation stage does involve quite a lot of outside learning so missing play time is not as bad as you think.

Problems will come in year 1 where the curriculum is far more formal.

at my ds school (he is in year 1) - they spend playtimes in a 'chill out zone' - doing stuff on the computer etc - if they've been 'bad' or antisocial or whatever. I agree that this seems the worst solution to a lot of boys behavior problems as they often have too much energy/are too bouisterous etc and this is what got them into trouble in the first place. I almost think it would be better to give those kids extra physical stuff to do rather than sitting in somebodies office day after day

normal, although a week does seem harsh, although if you've been called in by head it sounds as if this isn't the first time his behavior has caused issues?

In reception they do tend to do quite a biit of outdoor learning though, also they will have some play at lunchtime as well so it's prob only the 20 mins or so in the morning he will be missing out on.

scienceteacher-i was hoping nobody would ask that.

i hadnt actually thought about the fact that they do alot of outdoor stuff at this time of year,and with that in mind it does seem like a fair punishment.

he has spent a few playtimes having to stay with the teacher in the playground in the past.things were improving before half term,he had about 4 weeks with no problems apart from a little silliness towards the end of the day now and then.he has gone right downhill since going back though

the class teacher gives me a report at the end of every day as to how he's been,and i have been speaking to the head about it regularly etc.plus the school nurse is looking in on him from time to time.

I think some schools do this but I think it's crap - particularly with primary children. As you say he needs to run about. I work in juniors and might keep a child in for 5 mins but never for a full play time.
It's a lazy punishment IMO.

What would you suggest as a punishment?

cornsilk far from being a lazy punishment it means one adult has to spend playtime supervising a single child when there are usually more pressing things to do, so it isn't a punishment schools take easily and in most schools is a last resort for persistent bad behaviour usually involving injury/harm to other children when all other measures have had no impact.

No one has told me what they would suggest as a punishment.The DC pushed off the climbing frame could have been badly hurt. This wasn't a one off incident, he has had to stay next to the teacher in the playground in the past, so clearly just talking to him about his behaviour is not having the desired effect. Missing the whole playtime is a way of making it clear that rough play on a climbing frame is not acceptable and won't be tolerated.

Perhaps their main aim is to protect the other children. Cant say I'd be best pleased if I was the mother of the child who was pushed to find him back out next play on the frame with my child.

My ds was in reception last year and had a few playtime issues - I would have been unhappy if he had missed playtimes. For young boys espacially they need to run around and expell energy. I feel although a punishment, it is not effective as it will have a knock on effect on his behaviour in the classroom.

Perhaps there is a smaller sectioned off area of playground that he has to stay in as opposed to having run of the playground?

Ds's school made a rocket type report card and he either got a smiley face or sad face each playtime and he brought it home at the end of each week so we could chat about it.

It will get better I promise you!

Lets not get carried away he is a 4 year old boy, not a knife weilding hoodie.

Making a 4 year old boy with too much energy miss his play time will just make it harder for him in class. He's pushed some children off a climbing frame. That's not that unusual.How do you know that talking to him won't help?

None of the 4 or 5 year olds in my reception class get a playtime EVER! as we don't have any.

oooh how interesting! What do they do in your school them mrz? (genuinely interested btw!)

The reception children arrive at 8.45 have lunch at 11.45 until 1.15 afternoon session is 1.15 until 3.15 because they are reception they have free access to their own secure outdoor area as is required by the Foundation Stage curriculum.

i texted the boys mum asking if he was ok and apologising for what ds2 had done,and she said he was fine and dont worry.

its not like ds2 is violent or aggressive,he is just silly and has trouble sitting still and concentrating, and when he gets together with this boy and another boy in the class they are all a bit rough.the teachers and head have told them they are not allowed to play together/sit together or anything.

dr.northerner-thank you.lol@knife-weilding hoodie

One missed play time is enough at this age imo.

Missing playtime and sitting in the head's office is a pretty standard punishment for routinely bad behaviour at dd's school. It's only done for a week when the child has repeatedly been extremely badly behaved.

Spending playtimes with the head is the very last resort once all other punishments have been exhausted - the big problem, though, is that there are very few other punishments which are suitable for such young children. What's left when there has been repeated bad behaviour other than removing the child from the situations where that behaviour happens most?

Maybe you could suggest an alternative punishment which you think is more appropriate, or which you think your son would react to in a better way.

It happens at ds1's school but a whole week of missed playtimes seems harsh.

I do think a reward chart is a good idea so maybe you should talk to the teacher about it so she can do it with your ds.

One of the boys in Year 1 with ds1 was a pain in the neck and didnt do any work at all and was so slow at motivating himself. The teacher set up a reward system for him.....if he gets 10 stars a week then he gets a superstar sticker (for completing work) and ds1 says he is doing well and not being so distracting all the time!!

We have an area called 'recovery' where you can be told to spend a lunchtime if you are naughty (disruptive etc) in the morning, or the previous afternoon.

One reason I can think of your ds being told to sit with the head for lunchtimes, if your head is anything like ours, is that maybe the head is trying to get to know your child better - our head spends a lot of time trying to get to know the children, and I know one afternoon ds1 and his best friend spent the whole afternoon playing snakes and ladders in the head's office with an older boy - this transpired to be because the head was really worried about the older boy, who had serious problems with his own peer group, and he wanted to see how he reacted with a younger couple of boys, where there was no pressure to 'be as good as them' or to 'keep up'. I thought that was really lovely, as the head himself was trying to tackle a problem the other teachers had reported, and that he had observed at lunchtimes. I wonder if your head wants to get to know your ds a bit better, and find out what makes him tick? That would certainly be the reason for this sort of things at ds1's school.

Although, as I say, going to 'recovery' is a fairly standard thing to happen (although neither ds1 or dd have had to yet). It would only be for 1 of the 3 playtimes, so if they missed their lunchtime play, they would still have 10mins play an hour later.