A Birmingham school has been compared to a “North Korean gulag” after senior staff introduced a ban on talking on the way to and from classes.
From 5 November, any pupils caught chatting in the corridors at Ninestiles Academy in Acocks Green are liable to receive a 20-minute detention under the school’s new discipline policy.
The new “silent corridors” policy was unveiled in a letter sent home to parents of the senior school’s 1,345 pupils.
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From the start of the school day, “all student movement including to and from assembly, at lesson changeover and towards communal areas at break and lunch will be carried out in silence”, the letter said.
The school management adds that children are also expected to exit the school in silence at the end of the day.
First offences will be punishable with a 20-minute detention, but, the letter warned, “repeated failure to follow the school policy will result in an appropriate escalation of sanctions”.
The letter assured parents and children that pupils “will be able to ‘relax and socialise’ in allocated speaking areas”, the Daily Mirror reports.
The academy’s co-heads say the move will keep pupils calm as they transition between lessons, leading to improved behaviour within the classroom.
However, some parents are unimpressed with what they see as a draconian measure.
One mother told Birmingham Live the rule “makes school feel like a prison rather than a place of learning” and creates an atmosphere that does not prepare pupils for the adult world. “Would any of us go to a workplace where this was the case?”, she asked.
Another parent told the Mirror the silence policy was “oppressive and utterly unnecessary”, more fitting for “a North Korean gulag or a monastery” than a school.
As the story spread on social media, however, many commenters voiced their support for the tough disciplinary measures.
In a joint statement, acting co-headteachers Alex Hughes and Andrea Stephens stood by the new rule, but added that the policy would be reviewed at the end of the upcoming term.
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