Controversial Behaviour Policy changes

[Chattonnoire]

I am looking to get some insight into the changes taking places at a number of Free Schools, especially London, that have been making dramatic changes to Behaviour Policy since Michaela Community School made headlines as being the strictest school in Britain:

time.com/5232857/michaela-britains-strictest-school/

metro.co.uk/2017/09/11/britains-strictest-school-bans-pupils-from-looking-out-the-window-and-smirking-6917747/

www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/13422769.The_secrets_of_Magna_Academy_s_transformation__Students_who_walk_silently_between_lessons/

I noticed, that the comments at the end of these articles were mostly negative from parents and students in these schools, and don't appear to be in line with the "hard sell" the schools are making it out to be.

The impression is that teachers are asserting control over the difficult and disruptive students at the expense of the rest; the average student is muted in these "silent transitions" to and from classes and expressed feeling unhappy and the environment oppressive and weird.

None of the students have the authority to question the new policy, too afraid of being given 90 minutes detentions on the same day regardless of any commitments they may have (Medical or Sporting...at the expense of either their health missing long awaited NHS appointments or financial loss for missed activities to lower income families, as many students on free school meals) for often arbitrary and minor and low level disruptions such as is listed on many of these schools behaviour policies.

So they are being taught not to learn any assertiveness, question authority at any point, to conform, never to speak out, contest or oppose injustice, and may in fact have long lasting emotional and psychological negative impact on these teen developing minds in the real world, where they may not be able to defend themselves from unfair treatment from employers, or even personal relationships.

I am concerned about how fitting and convenient it is for the staff of schools in managing the delinquents, but how damaging this can potential be for bright and able children to be treated with less freedom than correctional facilities. Mental health and self harm and teen suicides statistics are already depressingly high, and with high pressured expectations and penalised for low level infractions can sabotage a once engaged teen's self esteem. A friend's 14 year old son recently committed suicide. So this really touches a raw nerve.

I've seen how a hostile school environment can crush a student with so much potential too many times.

I can't help but thinK of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" with faceless children put through the grinder...sorry for the grim comparison....but I can't shake it.

Is this radical new Behaviour Control in developing adolescent minds a good thing, or setting them up to fail in the real world in order that the schools get "Outstanding" Ofsted reports as inspectors come and see automatons walking silently through schools for fear of punishment and exclusion?

Are any of you in these super strict schools and finding it great or awful?

*If you are a teacher or part of school staff, please indicate in your response, so an understanding of your perspective is made clear.

Thank you

TeenTimesTwo
I didn’t have option to find alternatives at this time as all other schools had shut for summer break. I called around to have discussions and possibly tours of other schools, but too late in the year.

I had hoped that this was an incident to put behind us as mynteen liked the school, teachers and his friends. I didn’t see it for the red flag that it was perhaps.

I thought, hmmm...this was poorly handled, but overall have been supportive and given my teen many concessions as an able student. So it’ll all start fresh in the fall term.

noblegiraffe

*he must remain at his canteen seat

Odd, a lot of schools don’t have enough space for the whole school to sit in the canteen at once and the aim is to get them out as quickly as possible.

Are you saying they have no free time at lunch to play sports/do clubs etc?*

Nope! None, and can’t move freely during that 30 minute lunch break. Must remain seated in canteen entire 30 minute lunch break

But it really doesn't. I've been in plenty of lessons where I'm sure I have looked out of windows and walked through corridors talking or had lunch without being forced to stay in my seat without things descending into chaos.

All teachers need to do is bother to enforce basic rules and have real sanctions.

So you’re not a teacher, Snuggy?

No but I did my time at secondary school. I'm no teaching expert but anyone can see that all these rules do is teach teens that some adults are twats.

Save us from people thinking they know it all because they once went to school.

These rules are not being implemented because the status quo of being more laid back was working. They’re being implemented because it wasn’t.

So why don't all schools without these rules descend into chaos? Why don't workplaces have rules like this?

And I am not defending every single rule. Some of them, like staying seated all lunchtime, sound odd.

I think it's a shortcut to teachers actually supervising kids in the corridor and canteen.

Snuggy because schools don’t all have the same intake.

Sometimes I think someone at these schools read Foucault's 'Discipline and Punish' and took the part about institutions as an instruction manual. Just dreadful.

There is a happy medium between chaos with no rules at all, and what schools like Michaela do, which is equally extreme.

I wouldn't object to it for a kind of bootcamp school for kids who have been excluded from regular schools but for people like the OPs DS it's not appropriate. He sounds a decent hardworking student.

It sounds like hell. My daughter (on the spectrum) wouldn't have lasted five minutes in a regime like that.

Why can't the students whose behaviour is poor be pulled out of ordinary classes and put into some sort of boot camp to be taught how to behave? I know the real answer is their parents would kick off, but I can dream.

So glad that my children are adults now and we don't have to deal with any of this.

Kids on the spectrum also struggle in schools where they are jostled in noisy corridors.

So supervise the corridors and punish those who cause the problems

Yes, I'm with SnuggyBuggy here. My daughter needed an orderly, predictable environment, but not one that ramped up her anxiety. Fortunately for her, our local girls' school could provide that without turning the school into a version of Alcatraz.

If you don’t want corridors to be noisy or silent, who will you be punishing?

Chattonnaire - it sounds awful that they aren’t allowed to leave their seat at break time, and also unhealthy! At my DDs Secondary school they have clubs at break time or are allowed outside to walk around. I would be extremely unhappy with this policy. I think you are right to question it.

Every parent draws the line of 'acceptable behaviour' in a different place. In most cases, it is just a bit below their own child's behaviour. Some of these rules are ridiculous - of course teens need a physical break from sitting in a chair. But equally, "no excuses" for low-level disruption is perfectly reasonable (provided reasonable adjustments are made for students with SEN). The amount of lesson time wasted on dealing with chatting or repeating instructions for kids who weren't listening can be ridiculous.

And most teachers would absolutely love those who are persistently disruptive to be properly dealt with. But equally exclusion should be a last resort, and specialist schools for children with behaviour problems are hugely expensive.

People who start fights, trip people, slam into people and actually cause trouble. Not someone walking along talking to a friend or smiling at someone coming in the opposite direction.

Hundreds of kids walking along next to each other chatting down corridors will be noisy and jostley even if they aren’t fighting or being arseholes. And chatty kids tend to be slow kids who are late to lessons.

We managed it and my school wasn't brilliant. People at work also seem to be able to negotiate crowded and often obstructed corridors (I work in a hospital) without problems.

I'm not bothered at all about noise in the corridors between lessons as long as it is just chat and not coming from aggression, screaming etc. I think children need a chance to chat during the school day, just as adults do during the working day. Surely there's a middle way between a free for all in the corridors and the kids moving round silent and expressionless like the zombie crowd scenes in Shaun of the Dead?

Have you ever considered that one school is not representative of all schools and people in the workplace are adults who are paid to be there?

Given that these schools seem to be becoming more common and parents may be assigned them unwillingly it's an issue. The OP didn't choose this.