Negatives for poor test result

[Floottoot]

DS is in year 8.
His MFL teacher ( also his form tutor) gave the class one day's notice of a CLA test.
The day after the test, she used form time to read out a list of students who had been given negative behaviour points for not doing well enough.

DS was one, and he's really upset by it. On the one hand we've told him he'll just have to suck it up, but on the other hand, we're a bit surprised that publicly naming and shaming those that didn't do well enough is something that still goes on. ( they weren't told there was an expected mark they had to achieve, nor what marks they actually got).

Thoughts?

I have no idea what a cla test is but ... Do you get negative behaviour points for not doing well in a test? That seems odd. More likely that the points were for not revising or messing about when the test was on. I think you need to find out.

It was definitely for a poor result - the teacher has detailed it on his online profile.
CLA = common language assessment.

Not surprised he's upset - how are such negative behaviour points used? Is there a punishment other than being embarrassed and humiliated and having it recorded? (that's bad enough)

I'm not actually sure,elkiedee. I'm guessing that if you rack up too many behaviour points, you'll get a talking to or maybe the school will contact us with concerns?
I've suggested he has a chat with the deputy head of academics to express his concerns and see what he says. My worry is that this sort of teaching strategy will have the opposite of the intend effect and, instead of inspiring him to try harder, will turn him off the subject completely.

Ds1's school use negatives for poor test results too (at least in the top sets when poor results tend to be down to a lack of preparation). I dont think they are read out though - and they get ample warning of assessments/vocab tests.

We've spoken to the deputy head of academics this morning and he's going to look into it - it's certainly not the norm.

While I don't agree with DC being punished solely for poor test results, they should absolutely be punished if that result is because they didn't work hard enough.

My DC are punished at home if I feel they aren't working hard enough for school, so I would fully support the school in any further punishment they wanted to give.

Especially in Year 8, it's vital that any laziness or poor work ethic is got rid of at this stage before more important exams later.

Whilst I agree with your comment about effort, how does a teacher judge effort in that situation?
In my DS's case, I'd actually been called by the school nurse the day the test was set because DS was unwell and he was out of the house from 7.05 am until nearly 8pm straight, due to extra curricular activities.Not sure what punishing him has achieved, other than making him anxious about future tests, and I'm particularly concerned about publicly shaming.
Fortunately, this seems to have been a blip in school procedure, and not the accepted norm.

Are negative behaviour points really seen as punishment? (my DS never seems remotely bothered when he gets them, and he's had them for e.g. not bringing his English book to class when the teacher had it).

I think a teacher can judge "made some effort to revise" versus "made no effort to revise" unless the DC has SEN which means they might revise very hard but struggle to retain it.

I do think schools shouldn't set homework for next day, but in your DC's case he could still have revised after he got home, while he was travelling or in the morning. Part of being at secondary school is learning to balance your time. Not sure you can argue he was too ill to revise but well enough to do a load of extra curricular activities!