sorry but it is only the smallest minority of children, here in australia, that would have experienced war backgrounds. I assume the same goes for the U.K. My gosh, this is getting beyond a joke…..why don’t we ban buses from the school too because they are noisy and could also provoke fear (due to their size) and road anxiety……Just give it a year or so……..

I agree with this article. Under normal circumstances a bell or whistle to announce the end of the break and the beginning of school time is totally fine in my opinion.

Political correctness gone wrong. I think we are all over analysing everything these days with kids. First day of high school I thought there was an air raid siren at 9am only to realise it was the bell. I learnt it wasn’t scary.

A whistle is less aggressive then yelling at children.. This is pathetic

This seems silly. The kids will be expecting the whistle as playtime draws to a close

Omg what is next? They cannot tell kids off for being disruptive?

• • 
  • • june11 replied
    • 13 Jul 2016 , 11:43 pm

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  When the children of a relative of mine started school in the late 1980s -early 90s, amongst a few things when they started school they were told if they didn’t want to do what their parents asked them to do they didn’t have to. “kids have rights” Kids aren’t stupid. Many work out that Mum and dad are adults, so are their teachers……remember, they don’t have to do what they are asked to do if they don’t want to. If parents or other adults yell at them it is verbal abuse (not using bad language -just yelling). result: kids know they don’t have to do things…or do what they like and disrupt class. Now that generation is finding it hard to eradicate bad behaviour etc from their children. I know families that follow previous examples and teach good manners, right from wrong, to do as they are asked etc. Others don’t and you can easily tell the difference in childrens’ behaviour and general attitude.
  Some schools have strict rules, others if they do don’t enforce them. Some kids are in for a huge shock when they leave school and try to get employment. If they get one, a lot don’t want to do as they are asked.

Yep – this is just silly.

Don’t want any whistle blowers do they?

Ok so if I wasnt expecting to hear a blast ob a whistle then yeah i would jump because it gave me a fright but I wouldnt continue to be scared. Seems like someone has nothing better to do then to think up foolish ways to make a name for themselves.

I think this is crazy! It’s a whistle most kids want to play with then. I’m yet to meet a school age kid who is scared of a whistle

This will end us causing more problems if teachers cannot get childrens’ attention. How long before this stupid idea is scrapped?

Whistles were used when l did sports and l don’t see how it can scare children.

We grew up with the whistle, and it was never feared. As stated above, if taught what the whistles purpose is, then children will not be scared. I don’t know how a hand in the air will work for 120 children…

I find the all thing quite funny! What if indeed the kids don’t see a raised hand? What if you need to catch kid’s attention because of a dangerous situation?

Yeah I definitely don’t agree with this one.

I never knew whistles would be such a controversy.

This is a cotton wool society going into overdrive. No way will a hand be enough to get the attention of a rowdy group of kids. It will only scare them once or twice, if that, before they know what it is. I hope this doesn’t stick and become the norm