Wamberal Public School: Parents banned from walking their children to class
Parents have lashed out at a ‘ludicrous’ rule which bans them from walking their children to class at a Central Coast school — but now it has been revealed why the controversial decision has been made.
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Parents have been placed on detention at a NSW public school — banned from entering the main grounds to drop off and pick up their children.
Instead, furious mums and dads at Wamberal Public School on the Central Coast have been ordered to wait at designated “family meeting areas” — and if they step out of bounds they are told by staff not to go any further or to sign in as visitors.
Strict new security measures have been imposed at the school this year sparking anger from baffled parents.
It comes as education experts say schools have been left with little choice to enforce a ban amid a rise in parents violently attacking school staff and traumatising other children in the playground.
Parents at Wamberal have been told they can enter school grounds to drop off and pick up their children but cannot move past the basketball court and enter the main part of the school.
There is no actual physical barrier but if parents pass a certain point they are told by staff not to go any further.
The only way they can enter the school grounds completely is if they sign in as a visitor. As part of the changes the school is also looking at trialling a coffee van at one of the designated “family meeting areas” in the afternoons.
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Principal Paul Miller told parents the changes were due to security reasons, with a new gate installed as part of recent upgrade works.
But angry parents were in tears at a Parents and Citizens meeting on Monday night when they turned up to get the ban reversed.
“We were never consulted about this — it just happened,” parent Christine Dickson said.
“I have suggested we have 10 minutes in the morning and afternoon where we can duck in and find our children.
“My daughter has always been happy to go to school but now she’s anxious and doesn’t want to come.”
Father Darren Bambach said the installation of the gate as part of building works had made the school look like a detention centre.
“It’s a slap in the face to all parents,” he said. “I thought it was a family friendly school.”
Central Coast P & C Council president Sharryn Brownlee has also criticised the new rules, describing them as “ludicrous and unworkable”.
“There were no issues or concerns which would have led to this decision,” she said.
Parent Danielle Knight said many students were getting lost and distressed.
She said a back access gate to the school had also been blocked from parents.
“They feel like their parents cannot reach them,” Ms Knight said.
“It just closes off that sense of community and being welcomed into a school.”
However, principal groups say that across NSW, violent parental outbursts have left them with little choice but to impose similar playground bans.
A study of Australian schools found 45 per cent of principals had been threatened with violence and 42 per cent had actually been physically attacked in the previous years, with parents the source of the outbursts 30 per cent of the time.
The study’s author Prof Phil Riley told The Daily Telegraph: “Parents are, largely speaking, the perpetrators of the violence and that’s the problem.”
“It is a bad situation, and all the principals I talk to would love to have parents involved in everything in the life of the school but they can’t take the risk of the increasing number of parents who don’t have the same level of impulse control we would expect and fly off the handle.”
Secondary Principals’ Council president Craig Petersen said the rules were also to protect children from people just walking into the school. “One of the things principals take really seriously over the safety of kids … if we don’t have any control over who is coming onto the school site and when, then how do you protect kids from a whole range of people,” Mr Petersen said.
NSW Primary Principals’ Association president Phil Seymour said principals may also ban parents because they could distract teachers from the running of the class.
“Family members who stay around classrooms can be very distracting and schools sometimes set up “meeting places” to minimise the distraction,” he said.
“This isn’t about excluding parents/carers but ensuring teaching and learning can occur unhindered.”
Wentworth Point Public School last year told parents they must go to the administration block and authorised pick-up areas in the school before and after hours of school.
“Access to students, classrooms and the playground during learning time is not permitted,” it said.
However, some schools, such as Elanora Heights Public School, have taken a different tack with an ‘open door’ policy.
The state’s P & C Federation said schools banning parents was concerning.
“We support all schools having security fencing, but there is no reason why security fencing should stop parents from normal, everyday activities like dropping off and picking up their children,” a spokesman said.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell on Thursday said: “How schools manage the pick-up and drop-off of students is a decision for each individual school, made in consultation with their school community.”
The Daily Telegraph does not suggest any of the parents named in this story are violent.