Keeping all of class in when only a few "naughty"

[Helennn]

My ds is in year 5. His new teacher is a bit old school and strict, although my ds seems to like her and is doing well for him. She has been at the school for years and her dh is caretaker, just so you get the picture.

She has recently kept the whole class in for break when only 2 or 3 boys were mucking about in PE. She has done this before, sometimes when my ds has been the culprit.

So, I am quite happy for my ds to be kept in when he has been mucking about, but do not think the whole class should be kept in. If he has not done anything wrong then he needs his break to run off some energy (think labrador dog personality).

I have parents evening later, do you think I should say something about this, and if so what are the best arguments against it?

Thanks Honeymum, I missed your original thread so it was interesting to read. I must say I think discipline has to be stronger in year 5, I would be furious if my year 3 child was treated like yours was.

After sleeping on it I don't feel I actually gained anything yesterday by seeing the teacher, but if ds is kept in again when he has not been the one causing trouble I will take it further by asking to see the discipline policy and then going to see the head. Will def. try to get other parents on board as well though. Thanks for all the advice

Yeah, undermine the teacher!

Make sure your ds knows that you don't agree with her and why.

Maybe he could mention the Geneva convention to her?

It's not undermining the teacher though is it? Keeping the whole class in is lazy.

Maybe it is. Maybe there are better ways to discipline.

Maybe not.

I don't know as I'm not expereinced with keeping 30 children in order every day.

The OP obviously thinks she would know how to do it better. And after all this teacher is a bit old and only the caretakers wife.

I must say that I felt deeply uncomfortable speaking to the teacher never mind the head but my DD was begging me to do something, and I limited my comments about the teacher to the context of the behaviour management policy when I was talking to the head. I couldn't be sure that the head was aware of the teacher's "policy" (teacher's words not mine), and in fact he wasn't. I felt it was important to be able to flag the issue and the individual teacher's behaviour was almost incidental to that.

You felt uncomfortable?

Do you have 30-60 people (assuming mix of single and 2 parent families) who feel they need to 'flag up issues' about how you do your job with your manager?

aircraftannie, it comes with the territory.

If a teacher makes a controversial decision, it will be queried by a number of people and the only grounds for defence is to have a good reason for your actions and be able to explain it in a way that parents understand and won't contest.
The school behaviour policy is a nice, neutral area to begin with. Rather that the European Court of Human Rights.

Last Summer my nieces class had to forfit the school trip because of the "class" been naughty. She or her friends had nothing to do with it. And the teacher couldnt see that this was wrong. The culprits were never named and shamed, even though everyone knew who they were.

That's wrong on all levels.
But the flipside of targeting individuals and focusing on the disruptive PITA is the teacher is often accused of picking on an individual, not knowing the difference between lively and naughty, being prejudiced against boys/girls/name your group.
Bring back the pointy stick and the tawse I say.

Are you a teacher, aircraft annie? I talked at length about this issue with my sister and BIL both of whom are teachers. They were properly . As the next poster after you said, it comes with the territory. And, you need to bear in mind, I am not only on really good terms with the head, but I'm a governor too. And if it's school policy to sanction whole class punishments then I want to know about it.

And another thing, the whole class was being kept in daily, ffs. If the School Behaviour Management Policy doesn't have a view on this type of thing, then it well should so how could it not be the head's business?

The next poster after...that's me.
I'm a teacher too.
So is cornsilk.

aircraftannie - just to correct you on your comment, "The OP obviously thinks she would know how to do it better. And after all this teacher is a bit old and only the caretakers wife". You obviously have a problem with anybody questioning anything a teacher does then. If I feel something is downright un-fair then yes, I will discuss it with them, they are not God and I am responsible for my child's welfare. Taking it to the extreme, if a teacher hit your child, would you ignore that?

And as for the bit about the teacher being a bit old and only the caretaker's wife, no, she is not old at all, I would say mid 40's. My dh is a landscape gardener, dad a builder and mum was a secretary, so I certainly do not look down on somebody for being the caretaker's wife - in fact I abhor this type of arrogance. What I meant was that they are both well entrenched in the running of the school and any issues brought up by parents do not seem to have got any-where in the past.

Thanks to every-body for their comments, I shall wait for the next "no break" event and take it from there ........

Keeping the whole class in can work when they're in year 6. Because the peer pressure from the others can illicit good behaviour from those pushing it a bit.

However, it has no positive effect on very young children because they don't understand. It upsets those who have been good because they don't understand what they have done wrong and the 'naughty' ones aren't mature enough to understand the ramifications of their behaviour on their friends.

Besides, it's a foolish teacher who doesn't allow their children to have a good old run around at playtime. And those who've been a bit troublesome in lessons are usually the ones who need it the most!!!