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School bans bags so boy turns up carrying books in a microwave


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Posted

Wow, the head's response is confrontational in the extreme! Someone needs to learn some diplomacy, especially when dealing with the press.

 

Perhaps they could also benefit from an increase in basic common sense.

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Posted (edited)

Secondary school bans talking in the corridors to keep children calm

 

A secondary school has banned pupils from talking between lessons, threatening detention to children who break the rule.

 

In a letter to parents, Ninestiles school in Acocks Green, Birmingham, said pupils would be expected to move around the building in silence when they return after the half-term holidays.

 

“We know that behaviour is already of a high standard but we want and expect more from our learners, and so from Monday 5th November students will move around the building in silence during change over times,” the letter read.

 

“This will ensure students arrive calmly and ready to learn and staff can give out any information they need to swiftly and easily.”

 

The school said that “all student movement including to and from assembly, at lesson changeover and towards communal areas at break and lunch” would be carried out in silence, but that pupils would be able to speak to each other in designated areas at break and lunch times.

 

“The sanction for breaking the silent corridor rule will initially be a 20-minute detention; any repeated failure to follow the school policy will result in an appropriate escalation of sanctions,” the letter said.

 

Some parents have criticised the announcement, with one woman, who didn’t want to be named, telling BirminghamLive, that she could not see the educational purpose of silent corridors. “It alienates young people and makes school feel like a prison rather than a place of learning,” she said.

 

“Would any of us go to a workplace where this was the case? As a parent, I feel this is creating an environment that works against learning, against what the school is there to do, which is to educate, not control and punish.”

Edited by Arthur
Posted (edited)

There are schools where extreme measures are necessary from time to time. How they are implemented and how they are communicated is vital though.

 

The bag school has a very serious point about the weight of school bags and the harm they can do to the carrier. A very heavy backpack slung over one shoulder makes the carrier not stand straight. Done daily for 7 years it could lead to a lifetime of back problems.

 

Many schools don't seem to have lockers these days. When I was at school, we had lockers and never carried bags between lessons. The bag was used to take homework between home and school and that was it.

 

As for the walking silently thing, it can be used successfully as part of a clamp down on poor behaviour. One of my MAT schools did it. The habit of desirable behaviour is established and then the rule can be relaxed. The school in my MAT is PFI and has a sound system across the entire building. They played an excerpt from Vivaldi's Four Seasons pretty loudly during lesson change over which was calming and killed conversation anyway and made for quite a pleasant thing to listen to.

 

Where some schools go wrong is in commincating this with parents and children alike... and sometimes they do communicate successfully but their local rag unhelpfully spins it out of control. One of our local rags is controlled by Mirror Group and the standard of journalism is sensationalised click bait.

 

I admire this lad's style. This one could have been handled better by the school

Edited by elsiegee40
Posted
There are schools where extreme measures are necessary from time to time. How they are implemented and how they are communicated is vital though.

 

The bag school has a very serious point about the weight of school bags and the harm they can do to the carrier. A very heavy backpack slung over one shoulder makes the carrier not stand straight. Done daily for 7 years it could lead to a lifetime of back problems.

 

I wholly agree that how things are communicated is the biggest issue - but I'm still skeptical that banning things wholesale is preferable to focused education on the issue. Perhaps banning bags over a certain size would be a better, more proportional option for this school. (it would still be spun into nonsense by the gutter press, but is far more defensible)

 

I do like the idea of playing music during lesson changeover - I'd probably use a rotating list of things to prevent a Pavlovian response developing, but if I ever go back to working in a mainstream secondary I'll definitely suggest it!

Posted (edited)

 

I do like the idea of playing music during lesson changeover - I'd probably use a rotating list of things to prevent a Pavlovian response developing, but if I ever go back to working in a mainstream secondary I'll definitely suggest it!

 

Hmmm, let's see... classical music for lesson changes?

I'll kick off shall I?

 

Ride of the Valkyries?

Dies Irae from Verdi Requiem?

Flight of the bumblebee?

Last movement of William Tell overture?

Third movement (March) from Tchaic 6?

Dambusters March?

Walton spitfire prelude and fugue?

Funeral march from Mahler 1?

 

I can just imagine the fun I'd have if they let me loose on that PA system!

Edited by stevejp
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Posted
Hmmm, let's see... classical music for lesson changes?

I'll kick off shall I?

 

Ride of the Valkyries?

Dies Irae from Verdi Requiem?

Flight of the bumblebee?

Last movement of William Tell overture?

Third movement (March) from Tchaic 6?

Dambusters March?

Walton spitfire prelude and fugue?

Funeral march from Mahler 1?

 

I can just imagine the fun I'd have if they let me loose on that PA system!

I did say Calming music which is why Vivaldi was used! :D
Posted
Hmmm, let's see... classical music for lesson changes?

I'll kick off shall I?

 

Ride of the Valkyries?

Dies Irae from Verdi Requiem?

Flight of the bumblebee?

Last movement of William Tell overture?

Third movement (March) from Tchaic 6?

Dambusters March?

Walton spitfire prelude and fugue?

Funeral march from Mahler 1?

 

I can just imagine the fun I'd have if they let me loose on that PA system!

 

I was thinking more along the lines of Yakety Sax, but I'd support all of those. You can add Beethoven's 5th and O Fortuna from Carmina Burana too...

Posted (edited)
I was thinking more along the lines of Yakety Sax, but I'd support all of those. You can add Beethoven's 5th and O Fortuna from Carmina Burana too...

 

Ooh, yes - Carmina Biryani - that's one us percussionists look forward to!

 

Or, to take another tack, how about the Derek Bourgouis Serenade? Imagine the fun watching the kids trying to march silently along the corridors in alternating 10/8 and 11/8 time?

 

think I'd better stop now before I get turned into a frog...

Edited by stevejp
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