A school has banned its pupils from TALKING between lesson with kids ordered to 'walk-in silence' in the corridors. Chiefs at the City of London Academy Highgate Hill in Islington, north London, have ordered that children stay silent as they walk to and from their classrooms. The school, which has around 500 pupils, was previously called the Mount Carmel Catholic College for Girls, but was taken over in September last year and turned into a mixed academy for kids aged 11-18. The headmaster, Prince Gunnuh, said that any pupils caught chatting in-between lessons or walking on the 'wrong' side of the corridors now face detention. In a letter to parents and published on the school's website under the title 'Behaviour in the Corridor' the headteacher said there would be 'sanctions' for any pupil caught talking since the policy came into force on September 5.
Pupils were also warned to 'walk on the left' of the corridors or again face 'sanctions'.The headteacher stated in his letter: "There has been a further improvement since I last wrote to you about our expectation regarding the atmosphere in our corridors."However, there is still a noticeable level of noise during lesson changeover times, this has been very disruptive to ongoing lessons."We are aiming for a scholastic atmosphere in the corridors at all times."Hence from September students will be given a warning when they leave their lessons and will be expected to walk in silence, and on the left to their next lessons or break."There will be a sanction for students who break this clear expectation."The new rules which will see pupils given a 'first warning' if caught chatting before being put in detention if they are caught a second time have been blasted as taking the school 'back to Victorian times'.
Pupils also face having their mobile phone confiscated for an entire term if they are spotted fiddling with them in school and they are confiscated for two weeks if they are heard ringing in their bags or pockets.K en Muller, a spokesman for the local National Education Union, told the Camden New Journal newspaper last week: "Of course schools should require students to move around in an orderly way."But schools should also be joyful places and adopting 'silent systems' in corridors with children banned from speaking to one another like those that were adopted in Victorian prisons is unlikely to help make them so."Tamkin Anwari, whose daughter has just started in Year 7 at the school, said: "They are children, they are not adults, and we cannot expect them to stay quiet all day."When they are with friends, I am sure they will talk."Another parent, who was not named, said: "So teenagers are expected to walk to and from classes like monks who have taken a vow of silence?"If this works it will be a miracle, but to be honest I think a blanket ban on chatting is just daft and bound to fail."A City of London Academies Trust spokesman said: "Since taking over the school in September 2017, the City of London Academy Highgate Hill has seen examination results and the progress of the children improve significantly."An important factor behind this has been driving up standards of behaviour across the school."The new policy around the behaviour in the corridor builds on this progress by preventing lessons being disrupted by students in the corridors."We have a mobile phone policy that ensures all students are focused on their education while at school."These standards, coupled with exciting, engaging lessons have created a happy school where children succeed."