About this detention

[silentlyfume]

Sorry long!

Firstly dds new school is otherwise fantastic. it is this one point which peeves me. I am debating approaching so thought I would check here first.

Dds school has something called recall. If you have been disruptive or rude you are recalled until 5pm (school finishes at four)
I have no issue with this but they also use recall if you have not finished work in the time they thought you should or not got past a certain amount in a test.

Depending on the recall teacher they can either finish classwork or revise the test which I again don't have as much issue with or sit in silence for an hour.
Those who have been disruptive and those who have scored badly in a test are in recall together based on the idea that if they haven't scored enough they haven't revised enough.

This is really working sen dd up and making her very anxious. Shes very good in school but is often slow to finish work due to sen or scores low in tests. Especially when her spelling is awful in English and the test is to spell in her languages class and is getting in a state about it before tests. Essentially she could end up punished for having sen.

It also means that because of buses that she potentially could be left waiting an hour at her connection point for the bus in the dark alone. She is 13 but with learning difficulties so more vulnerable.

I am torn between telling her to suck it up and feeling I am being pathetic to having a word

Any ideas

[mintthins]

You need to have a word. If her statement means she would be given additional time in an exam she should not be given what is effectively detention to finish work. Even if she needs to stay in school to get done, they need to find her somewhere calm to do it.

[ClopySow]

It sounds bad. I don't think i'd be happy about it.

[scaryteacher]

Talk to the SENCO or the form tutor. I wouldn't have put a child with SEN in detention unless there was a very good reason to do so. Furthermore, I did my detentions at lunchtime as ours was a rural school and if you missed the bus the kid didn't get home.

Teachers do make allowances for different students, so there would be a difference in the scores I expected from students in tests, and in what work they finished.

[MrsHathaway]

Yeah, I don't think that sounds very much like reasonable adjustments.

It also means that because of buses that she potentially could be left waiting an hour at her connection point for the bus in the dark alone. She is 13 but with learning difficulties so more vulnerable.

For this point alone I think you would be justified in telling the school you do not permit them to keep her past 4pm.

[harderandharder2breathe]

She shouldn't be getting detentions for having SEN, can you speak to the SENCO? Not saying she should never ever get detentions but you're not saying that, but not for things she has no control over. She would get extra time in exams if her SEN mean she takes longer to complete work, so she should get the same consideration in class, impractical to give actual time but to allow work to be finished at home, or supported extra sessions, not punishment

[PurpleDaisies]

The teacher should be assessing your dd relative to what scores she should be getting making allowances for her SEN. She shouldn't get a detention for low results of she's worked really hard and done her best.

[Scarydinosaurs]

Sorry- could you clarify if she has actually been given a detention?

[ilovesooty]

Parents no longer have the right to refuse permission for detention but in this particular case I think you would be well within your rights to question the rationale behind this. Your daughter should not be punished for having learning difficulties.

[fastdaytears]

I'd be very surprised if your DD received a detention under these circumstances. Has she or is she just worried about it? It would seem really wrong if she did.

[CodyKing]

What time will she be home?

Seems a waste of time hanging round waiting for buses if one is missed - could she do catchup at home in the quiet?

Is speak to SENCO

Obviously if she's rude or disruptive it's different - mention that

[liz70]

Punishing children for not doing well enough in tests? What's next - bringing back the Dunce's cap? If everyone "revised enough", then I'm sure we could all be Oxbridge genii, each one of us.

I wouldn't be happy at all.

[RealityCheque]

Sounds like a shit school run by bellends. One size does NOT fit all in education.

[Ausernotanumber]

She has SEN. Surely a modification to the DT policy would be a reasonable adjustment ?

[Scarydinosaurs]

Liz70 I would issue a detention only if I felt a student deliberately didn't try on a test. But would frame it as a second chance. If this school has previously had terrible behaviour and refusal to do tests, then this would be a useful deterrent.

[SoupDragon]

Has she actually been punished?

[liz70]

"If this school has previously had terrible behaviour and refusal to do tests, then this would be a useful deterrent."

Oh, I'm not disputing that at all. But the OP mentioned detention simply for not reaching an accepted score in a test, with no mention of the child's perceived capabilities. It's that that I fibd objectionable.

[liz70]

*find

[myownprivateidaho]

I think you need to find out the facts before you go charging in. By all means make enquiries, but I find it difficult to believe that any school uses detentions for kids who are doing their best. It sounds like crossed wires to me.

[RainyDayBear]

It doesn't sound like she's been given a detention yet, and is just anxious at the thought of them. Can you have a quiet word with the senco about her worries and hopefully she can reassure her and you. I teach and have been known to give make students resist tests at lunchtime - but only if it was clear they hadn't tried their best. My expectations differ by student - an SEN student who gives a piece of work a good attempt shouldn't be sanctioned!

[LikeTheShoes]

Has she actually received a recall for academic reasons?

Assuming the teachers know about her SEN I doubt they would give her a recall, however they might not have explained this to her (I can sort of see why, if she knows there is no negative consequence for not studying perhaps she won't... But if it's making her anxious then their expectations need to be made clear)

Perhaps if she receives a recall she could use the school office phone to call you to ask to be picked up?

[RainyDayBear]

Apologies for the dreadful English on reading that back - half asleep with a dozing baby, usually I make more sense!!

[trafalgargal]

I'd drop the SENCO an email or make an appointment but my understanding is that although the school has this process it hasn't yet been applied to your daughter so you are just looking for confirmation that it wouldn't be applied for slowness as that is part of her disability (although obviously if she gets one for reasons unrelated like lateness or rudeness or not handing in homework that's fair enough). My son is on the spectrum he never got a detention for anything disability related.

[Scarydinosaurs]

liz70 I think the vast majority of people, including teachers would. I can't believe that's what is happening. But a low test score for someone who you know is very capable but refused to do the test would need a detention if they've done it as an act of defiance.

No one goes into teaching with the aim to humiliate children, it would be pointless making a student resit a test if they'd tried their hardest but still scored badly.

[silentlyfume]

Thanks.

Just to clarify she has not been punished yet but it has been repeatedly 'threatened' in lessons and it is making her ill before tests and very anxious/distressed at home. They are doing it in a 'if you don't get x percentage you are in recall ' manner.


But at the same time i don't want her to feel that she can not put the effort in and achieve to HER ability and not be punished which she of course feels should be the case if something is hard and she does have a tendancy to give up if something is difficult.

She isn't statemented as her last school were pathetic support wise and i didn't realise that I could apply myself at the time. At one point she was working at a 1a for some time.

With outside support and support at home and the new school she made massive progress and is mostly working at the old sats level 5 now so I am not sure she would get a statement now.

Will speak to senco. The homework tests they have had so far have been in subject she wants to do so despite meltdown at home before she has reached the percentage.

The languages one today might be a different matter.

[MerryMarigold]

Yes, I'd see the SENCO and clarify what the policy is with SEN students and mention your DD is stressed about it. SEN kids often have higher than normal anxiety. It will also help your Dd to know you are trying something and she can feel more peaceful with information to hand. You are not making a fuss. You are helping your Dd. If your dd has a low processing speed, she should be able to get extra time in tests.