Ninestiles Academy
October 21, 2018 | Author: Shannon Davies
Ninestiles Academy, in Acocks Green, have announced that there will be a silent corridor policy in place when pupils return from the half term holidays in November.
“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,” it stated in a letter addressed to the parents.
This will ensure students arrive calmly and ready to learn and staff can give out any information they need to swiftly and easily. Once the school day has commenced with tutor time at 8:40am all student movement including to and from assembly, at lesson changeover and towards communal areas at break and lunch will all be carried out in silence. Students will leave school in silence following the conclusion of their last lesson.
​
Those who fail to abide by the new rule will be issued with a 20-minute detention and “any repeated failure to follow the school policy will result in an appropriate escalation of sanctions” the letter said.
The school has been described as “prison-like” by parents, and the majority of them are disgusted that Ninestiles see no issue in treating children this way. Most recently, a Facebook group has been created called “Ninestiles Parents Against Silence”. There are currently 234 members who are frequently active on the page.
Ninestiles Academy, which educates 1345 students aged between 11 and 18 is rated “outstanding” by Ofsted inspectors. Mother of two, Marie Coggins, said: “It’s honestly appalling! Since when is it ok to treat innocent children that way? Surely this is not allowed, it’s a punishment!”
Having received multiple complaints, acting heads of school, Alex Hughes and Andrea Stephens released a joint statement defending the policy by saying that it is “simply an extension of that code of behaviour” and assured that it would be introduced gradually, corridor by corridor, and reviewed at the end of the next school term.
Jenny Bird, an admin of the Facebook group, has temporarily withdrawn her son from Ninestiles and begun home schooling until she decides on a suitable school for him. She shares that she previously had no concerns with the school, but it is currently “unrecognisable”.
She said: “I really just can’t believe that this is the situation now. This would have never happened if Dexter Hutt was still in charge. Everything that the school stood for has officially gone out of the window. They don’t have our children in mind at all. My son won’t be returning there, it’s really that simple.”