Parents of pupils at Ninestiles in Birmingham complain the academy will ‘feel like prison’

A secondary school has banned pupils from talking between lessons, threatening detention to children who break the rule.

In a letter to parents, Ninestiles school in Acocks Green, Birmingham, said pupils would be expected to move around the building in silence when they return after the half-term holidays.

“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,” the letter read.

“This will ensure students arrive calmly and ready to learn and staff can give out any information they need to swiftly and easily.”

The school said that “all student movement including to and from assembly, at lesson changeover and towards communal areas at break and lunch” would be carried out in silence, but that pupils would be able to speak to each other in designated areas at break and lunch times.

“The sanction for breaking the silent corridor rule will initially be a 20-minute detention; any repeated failure to follow the school policy will result in an appropriate escalation of sanctions,” the letter said.

Some parents have criticised the announcement, with one woman, who didn’t want to be named, telling BirminghamLive, that she could not see the educational purpose of silent corridors. “It alienates young people and makes school feel like a prison rather than a place of learning,” she said.

“Would any of us go to a workplace where this was the case? As a parent, I feel this is creating an environment that works against learning, against what the school is there to do, which is to educate, not control and punish.”

Ninestiles, an academy school with 1,345 pupils aged 11-18, is rated “outstanding” by Ofsted. In a joint statement, acting co-headteachers Alex Hughes and Andrea Stephens defended the policy, but said it would be reviewed at the end of the autumn term.

“Ninestiles is committed to the highest standards of behaviour and we know that students arriving to lessons ready to learn can be further supported by doing so in silence at certain points in the day,” they said.

“This is already an expectation for arrival at exams and during fire drills and, as such, is simply an extension of that code of behaviour. We will review this change at the end of Term 2 and the views of our students, parents and carers will be welcomed as part of that process.”