Parents of children attending Outwood Academy Ormesby in Middlesbrough have slammed the school for new rules likened to those of a military camp, with one mum saying kids are being forced to 'stand like Hitler'.
Mum of six Samantha Sawdon described feeling outraged when she found out two of her children, Tyler, 15, and Tilly, 13, were instructed to stand with their left foot on a line and raise their hand in silence after break time.
Samantha told Teesside Live: “They are not happy. They have even said kids are shouting ‘Heil Hitler!’ when they are doing it.
“It’s like a military camp – it's like a salute. Why are the kids having to raise their hand?
"It's just not positive. We shouldn't be giving out that system to children. It's a really bad thing to be putting out there.
"I feel they are being turned into performing monkeys.
"What are they going to do next? Rub their tummy when they're hungry? It's an unnecessary action."
Samantha emailed the school regarding the new rules on Monday (10 April), but has not yet received a response.
The 40-year-old added that ‘a lot of parents aren’t happy about it’ as they believe it’s simply ‘gone a bit far’.
She continued: "They're being treated like little children. My son is 15 years old and he's about to leave to go out to work.”
Lisa Thompson also has a daughter attending the school, and she is also outraged by the new ‘military camp’ rules.
The 39-year-old said: “It's not good, I'm not going to let my daughter do that in school.
“They're doing a stand like Hitler.
"I think it's disgusting, it's disgraceful.”
A spokesperson for Outwood Academy Ormesby told LADbible: “We introduced this process for entering the school at the start of the day and end of social times this week, and the feedback from students in school has been really positive, which makes these complaints all the more surprising and saddening to hear.
“Although we only introduced this process at the turn of the year, children across the country have been lining up after break and lunch times for decades and the raising of the hand is simply a gesture that informs the teacher that the student is attentive and ready to enter the classroom.
"Again, this is something that happens in many schools.
“Also, we want to state clearly that if any student is heard saying phrases like those the parent has alleged, this would not be tolerated in school as it is completely unacceptable."
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Abbi Murray