Pupils banned from talking while walking between lessons under headteacher's silence policy

A headteacher has introduced a silence policy at her secondary school which sees children banned from talking while walking between lessons.

Val Masson claims the new rules have transformed pupils' behaviour at The Albany School in Hornchurch, east London since they were brought in a month ago.

Mrs Masson, who was appointed the school's headteacher in September 2016, said she wanted schoolchildren to benefit from an "academic atmosphere" and to build mutual respect with staff. 

Under her policy, pupils must walk between lessons in complete silence and queue on the playground three times a day before classes without making noise.

From September, Year 10 students, who are studying for their GCSEs, will also stay behind after school ends for four days a week to learn for an extra hour without speaking.

The policy is believed to be the first of its kind at a UK school.

Mrs Masson, 51, said the number of pupils in isolation for poor behaviour has halved since she decided to revive stricter teaching methods.

She said: "There are several reasons why we did it.

"We wanted a calm and academic atmosphere like a high-end institution.

"The second reason is that we believe in equality for all so even your meekest, most under confident child should be given the space to grow.

"And the third thing is that silence creates a very mutually respectful relationship between students and staff.

"It encourages a no raised voices environment. I don't agree with raising voices to children and usually staff only need to do that if there is a lot of noise.

"If it is a quiet environment, you don't need to raise your voice."

As part of the rules, students from years seven, eight and nine are made to queue silently in the playground three times a day - before school, and after morning and lunch break.

Teachers then thank them for participating and for their hard work.

Mrs Masson said the scheme was "divisive" when it was first suggested in meetings with other members of staff, but she says staff members have noticed a marked improvement in how calm many pupils are.

She added: "We've seen far fewer lessons starting late. Regularly lessons are starting way before the late bell.

"Before we did this, students were still arriving at lessons then but now they're beginning on average three minutes earlier.

"If you multiply that, it's 15 minutes extra teaching a day.

"When students don't settle, we have a relocation system that sees them sent to another classroom to settle down.

"That system has almost reduced to zero. We almost get no relocations any more and that's because a lot of distraction was happening at the beginning of the lessons."

Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, praised the scheme.

He said: "Schools use a range of techniques to encourage orderly behaviour and create a climate for learning.

"Headteachers work with the school community - including governors and parents - to establish the approaches which work best for their school and build a shared commitment towards the expected standards.

"Short periods of silence can encourage reflection and calmness in an age which is often noisy and frenetic."

The school has just under 900 pupils.