Cameras and schools WDYT ?

[sandy cheeks]

I'm wanting to hear from parents who have security type cameras at their kids school do they help prevent bullying?
And do they work out what happened in the school yard(incidents) insted of just the hearsay?.
I'm curious as ds has been comming home saying this and that happened, so and so did this and is now starting to act out himself.
I'm unsure what is going on down there the teachers r saying maby ds is a bit immature but his comming home telling me kids have kicked him in the private parts and had a few strange marks.
I know kids r kids but all I seem to get is hearsay and I dont know if ds is telling the truth, in kinder he was full on(running around, jumping off everything) but never did anything nasty now I'm getting different/conflicting reports :confused:
So I was thinking why dont they have cameras in the yard they only have 4 teachers on duty for over 650 students how do they know whats going on ?
I know my lil jonny is no angel (well his mine) but his far from mean and this is not behaviour I have seen, I will say he will fight back if he gets into a altercation ie someone hits him but I have not seen him go out of his way to hurt anyone.
I just want to know whats going on ? Even if it's ds I want to know what exactly is happening and what his doing but know one seems to know and It's doing my head in :confused:
TIA

[mum23girls]

We don't at the primary school. The highschool have onsite police and it still doesn't stop the bullying/violence :no: I am afraid nothing will. Kids will just keep getting sneakier.

My DD comes home with stories, and sometimes they are just stories. It is hard to know, unless they see it for themselves. I tend to have a casual chat to the teacher if it seems strange. I did this once and DDs teacher did tell me she has started copying some more of the unpleasant kids, so we had a chat with DD just to point out again what is right and what is wrong and encouraged her to get new little girls friends. That seemed to work ok.

[Mumtotwokids]

We don't but I wish we did as I too have to go on stories from my DD and other children's stories. It is very frustrating. Other children are complaining the DD is mean to them. When I hear DD's side it sounds as though she has just stood up for herself. For example - a little girl runs up her mum crying that my dd is being mean. I ask DD and the other friend who were playing what happened and they state that other girl pushed past them on the monkey bars and as they swung past they 'hurt' them. So DD told them to not psuh past. I imagine that DD would not have said this in a soft voice, she would have said it aggressively as she would have been annoyed (she has a temper....of course it's from her fathers side...;)) So what do you do apart from tell your child off for being mean!:confused:


But if there were cameras would every little thing be blown up into something bigger than it needs to be ???? Is this he said she said part of growing up ??? As absoultely frustrating as it is. What did our parents do when there was not an option of camera ?

[BigRedV]

I haven't heard of cameras in primary schools.

I'm a teacher, but as a parent, I would be speaking to the principal if I was you about the ratio of teachers to students on playground duty.

We have about 380 kids in our school and every lunch time, there are 8 teachers on duty.

[Mumtotwokids]

We have just under 400 children at our school and one teacher for the front playground and one for the back playground ! 8 OMG we're way short.... ! AND we have small class sizes (18, with 22 MAX) so there is no excuse for not enough teachers. I will be taking this one up with the Principal.

PP is there a ratio that they should have?

[BigRedV]

We have just under 400 children at our school and one teacher for the front playground and one for the back playground ! 8 OMG we're way short.... ! AND we have small class sizes (18, with 22 MAX) so there is no excuse for not enough teachers. I will be taking this one up with the Principal.

PP is there a ratio that they should have?

I was just trying to find it on the NSW dept website, and the NSW teachers' union website but couldn't find anything.

I did find one but it was for the ACT which I think would be right for most states anyway, it said 1:100 on the playground.

We have 3 playgrounds, canteen, library, computer lab and quiet games but there are teachers in every area, and 2 in some areas and we always have a teacher whose duty is to wander around the whole school. It means teachers have 3 - 4 duties a week but anyway, has to be done.

[sandy cheeks]

Thanks girls for ur posts I'm glad I'm not the only one :o

I spoke to the principal about the amout of teachers and he said it was up to the committee and at the schools discretion:rolleyes: so then I had a ring around till I got hold of the education department and asked them who also told me it was up to the school no set ratio guidelines from them:thumbsdown:

This is so annoying how do they expect to stop bullying when they have no idea whats going on and have inadequate supervision.

I dread to think what high school will be like:dizzy: and all the kids with their mobiles seem to catch more of whats happening than the teachers.

BTW it's not the teachers I'm upset with it's the government/department ed for having no set ratio I know teachers need a lunch break as well.

[BigRedV]

Thanks girls for ur posts I'm glad I'm not the only one :o

I spoke to the principal about the amout of teachers and he said it was up to the committee and at the schools discretion:rolleyes: so then I had a ring around till I got hold of the education department and asked them who also told me it was up to the school no set ratio guidelines from them:thumbsdown:

This is so annoying how do they expect to stop bullying when they have no idea whats going on and have inadequate supervision.

I dread to think what high school will be like:dizzy: and all the kids with their mobiles seem to catch more of whats happening than the teachers.

BTW it's not the teachers I'm upset with it's the government/department ed for having no set ratio I know teachers need a lunch break as well.

Which state are you in? Call the education union or your local newspaper. The principal is not going to like any bad publicity :no:

[Boobycino]

Wow... I've never really thought about the teacher ratios at lunch time.

I've got to be honest.... my feeling is it shouldn't be less than a classroom really, like, 30 to 1 seems intense to me, but 100 to 1 seems totally and completely unmanageable.

Taking into account that teachers have 12 weeks off a year... and... i KNOW thats for planning the term ahead, but my step mum was a teacher and she certainly wasn't using the entire school holidays to do school work, so wouldn't it just make more sense to have all teachers on lunch duty - half take the first half hour and half take the other half?

I know its not the same thing, but most childcare is a 30 minute lunch break.

Or teachers could eat their lunch in the yard with the children?

I dont know, theres got to be a way to make it work. The duty of care cant start and end with lunch times.

This has gotten me truely freaked out that it can be a 100 to 1 ratio. I know they're children and aparently they can fend for themselves :confused: but no wonder bullying is so bad.

Come to think of it, when I was in primary school, I was bullied quite badly, and occasionally physically, and only ONCE did a teacher actually see it. I've not really thought about it like this until now, but seriously, isn't there some form of duty of care! I know its their lunch break, but no wonder children are being bullied!!! And from experience, not all children will 'tell' on their fellow students for fear of further bullying. I ended up spending my lunch times sittting in front of the class room because it was safe there and I was 11 at the time.

I dont want to send bub to school now :no:

[sandy cheeks]

:hugs::hugs: Chel87 the do good stuff as well.

But yes its scary they dont have to have 1 to 100 either the could have 1 to 200 :crying::banghead:
It makes me so mad that the dep wont do anything or have any guidlines and as for going to media I do love his school and wouldn't want to do that to them iykwim other schools in my area have less teachers out at lunch so to me it's not the schools prob more the local/state government for not bothering to have any guidlines.

[Boobycino]

:hugs::hugs: Chel87 the do good stuff as well.

But yes its scary they dont have to have 1 to 100 either the could have 1 to 200 :crying::banghead:
It makes me so mad that the dep wont do anything or have any guidlines and as for going to media I do love his school and wouldn't want to do that to them iykwim other schools in my area have less teachers out at lunch so to me it's not the schools prob more the local/state government for not bothering to have any guidlines.

I'm sure they do... but.... thats really scary to think that for 1 hr a day the chidren are effectively unsupervised.

Thats really scary!

Well, I've got 5 years to scream and shout about this to the govenment till bubba starts school - otherwise he's just gonna have to get home schooled :D:yes:

[BigRedV]

I've got to be honest.... my feeling is it shouldn't be less than a classroom really, like, 30 to 1 seems intense to me, but 100 to 1 seems totally and completely unmanageable.

Taking into account that teachers have 12 weeks off a year... and... i KNOW thats for planning the term ahead, but my step mum was a teacher and she certainly wasn't using the entire school holidays to do school work, so wouldn't it just make more sense to have all teachers on lunch duty - half take the first half hour and half take the other half?

I know its not the same thing, but most childcare is a 30 minute lunch break.

Or teachers could eat their lunch in the yard with the children?

I dont know, theres got to be a way to make it work. The duty of care cant start and end with lunch times.

This has gotten me truely freaked out that it can be a 100 to 1 ratio.

In an ideal world, there would be loads of teachers on duty :yes:

But, it is just not feasible :no: At our school, we have a 25 minute recess (5 mins supervised eating time by the classroom teacher) and a 25 minute lunch (10 minute supervised eating time for all teachers with their class) that's it.

For example, at my school, we have 18 classes, so 18 classroom teachers, plus a library teacher, 2 computer teachers (who job share so they are not there on the same days) and a few other teachers for special assistance and reading. So, let's say approximately 25 teachers.

In one day, there are 3 duties in the morning, 2 on the playground and 1 in breakfast club, there are 7 duties at recess, 4 on the playground, 1 on canteen, 1 on rover (wandering around the whole school) and 1 detention duty. At lunch there are 10 duties, 4 playground, 1 canteen, 1 library, 1 computer lab, 1 rover, 1 detention, and 1 teacher on duty for quiet play where children can go into a classroom and play board games etc. In the afternoon, there is bus duty. So, all up, there are 21 duties.

Most teachers have only 1 duty free day at my school. Let's not forget though that whilst we do get 11 (not 12 - there are only 5 weeks holidays over Christmas in NSW) weeks holidays a year and, no, not all of the holidays are spent planning but a majority of it. But, whilst we get our planning done in the holidays, we still have the day to day preparation for the class. In a primary school, we would teach 4 literacy lessons a day and about 3 segments to the maths session, plus whatever lesson is being taught in the afternoon. Sometimes the staffroom at my school is deserted because people are in their classrooms marking books, getting the next lessons ready.

Teachers need a toilet break and time to eat too. We can't just leave our class unsupervised and pop to the loo.

Everybody in every workplace is entitled to a break throughout the day. Teachers can't expected to be on duty from 8:30 to 3:30 (which is the time receommended by department for duty of care) without any break at all.


Primary school teachers also do not get hardly any time off class compared to high school. They get 2 one hour sessions off class per week to prepare things or call parents, make appointments to meet parents or fulfill any other responsibility they may have like organising excursions, writing reports if it is that time of year, organising school athletics/cross country/swimming carnivals.

It is sad that children get bullied but most teachers are doing the best they can :yes: