Sick of the pressure high school kids are under

[Pisssssedofff]

We got caught in road works today. My 14 year old was literally shaking at the prospect of being late and if she had been they are all lined up in silence in the school hall at break time.
Meet the head of year at the gate and explained to which the cheeky bastard said get up earlier - road works are following a fatality at the weekend so not planned - to which I said er no.
He then went on to explain if a member of his staff was late they would be disciplined - to which I explained a member of his staff would be a professional adult then not a child without a driving licence, bus pass or ability to get school without a car and would have some decision making authority in there place of work and deciding if the journey was viable on a day to day basis.
Is it me or are they expecting adult behaviour of kids and yet when they inevitably fail they treat them like kids

[SaltyMyDear]

That is dreadful!

Persistent lateness needs to be dealt with - but the odd unavoidable, explained thing should be let go!

I've never worked in a job where I'd be reprimanded for lateness in those circumstances. I'd guess most adults don't.

Nothing you can do though :( Schools can do whatever they like

[ilovesooty]

Schools can't do whatever they like. That's why they're under pressure which unfortunately filters down to the pupils.

[Pisssssedofff]

I said that too that I understood they had targets ... He denied that was the reasoning and said it was about fairness and whilst I was there another kid in my daughters class arrived a little late ... We are talking 10 mins with the excuse the bus was late - no doubt caught in the same road works - man with clip board tells him to catch an earlier bus 😳 - and then highlights he can't let my dd off without letting bus boy off, to which I suggested he let both off as shit happens

[Pisssssedofff]

They just undermine themselves sweaty this small stuff - bus boy just rolled his eyes and walked off - teacher did sound a tit

[weegiemum]

Thats just crazy. Our school issues late passes but unless its regular, no-one is punished. Our dc (12, 14, 16)} were late last week on the one day dh drives them - because of an accident on the motorway. `they got it recorded - of course - then it was off to the first period class.

I think your school is out of order. I might not be popular.

[JenniferYellowHat1980]

What a fucking jobsworth. I'd be making a complaint about his shitty attitude specifically and the rigid policy generally. If I got stuck in a traffic jam caused by an accident on the way to work, I'd be unavoidably late. You can't plan an extra half an hour into every journey just on the off chance.

[JenniferYellowHat1980]

Oh and I'm a recent teaching escapee.

[Bobochic]

I think it's fine for schools to record all late arrivals but, as PP say, shit happens and there is no reason to be unpleasant about occasional tardiness to people who are otherwise punctual and organized.

[Eolian]

Jeez. Teachers get a bad enough press without jobsworths like that giving us a bad name. Sometimes circumstances mean that people are late. Big deal.

[Pisssssedofff]

I was trying to explain to him the effect it had on the children, the stress and upset it adds to our already crazy mornings ... 4 kids stuffed in a corsa it's never going to be a barrel of laughs but honestly they are all the same at that school. Target setting I nearly walked out of, my girls are straight A students and the twatty head of year told me that then looked at DC3 and said so can you think of anything you could do better ? Like what grow wings and learn to fcuking fly ? Nightmare

[jessica29054]

It's school speak though, that, isn't it? Better now than it was.

[WankingMonkey]

Ugh yes this is a big issue for us at the moment. A few weeks back DSS2 had been ran into by a bike on his way to school. No real damage but a rather large cut..he came home to get it dressed and cleaned and such so he ended up being about 30 mins late for school. His teacher was threatening to give him detention at one point! Despite being clearly able to see what had happened and having it explained to her.

I understand they have targets and stuff, but commons sense wouldn't go a miss sometimes. Never really understood the 'member of staff' analogy either, the staff are there to work and should be professional (though again, case by case..would hate to think someone was genuinely held up and someone went down their necks about it..unless it was regular) and I don't really think its too fair to hold the students to exactly the same standard as the teachers..

[GreenPetal94]

This all sounds stupid. It is not like that at our school. They only care if your child gets a series of late marks, one off is fine.

[Thefishewife]

Sorry op that's just YOUR child's and or may be just yur child

We lived quite far for ds school we literally just rung up told them the issue and they googled traffic watch

You can see pretty accurately these days were traffic is and they said fine no issue

[Pisssssedofff]

As it happens I Called ahead too in anticipation of this pantomime. But of course they don't communicate with clipboard man "manning the gate".