To ask school to stop sending me these texts?

Teachers used to usher kids to class because they mess about.

But kids also get detained by teachers after class, or get caught by the school bully on the way to class. Or they may need to go to the toilet, especially if they've been told not to disrupt lessons by asking in class.

But if the lateness is being reported via an automated message every time someone is put down as "late" in the register, it removes all context.

OP doesn't know if half the class were late after sprinting the long way round school, or if her kid fucked off to a vending machine and was the only one late, or what.

An email/phone call from a teacher saying "we know it can be hard to get from Classroom A to Classroom Z, but Harry is late much more often than the others in his year group and rarely has a good excuse" would give OP a clearer picture.

Your kids are causing disruption to your working day. Sort it out with them!

I suppose detentions are one way to go , although someone has to staff these detentions. From the magical spare time teachers have.
Another way is for parents to teach their children respect for others , and school, and not to meet up for a chat with their mates in the corridor, nor stop to Snapchat etc, go on social media. Or go to the water fountain and flick water everywhere. Or stop for a quick vape in the toilets. Just walk from a to b so that the teacher can check the register quickly and the lesson can start within minutes. Even the newest S1 ( Scotland) learns their way around within a very short time.

But OP is specifically talking about older children - and thus expecting them to have a level of responsibility, albeit that isn't supported and disciplined at home.

Nobody is expecting a 5 or 6yo child to know exactly where they need to be at all times and never to make a mistake or get confused/anxious about it.

I cannot begin to explain what a massive issue lateness and internal truancy is in schools at the moment and the impact it has on lessons.

This is so true, I remember having a nightmare at secondary sometimes, especially with "stairs for going up, stairs for going down, one way hall ways" etc making the journey longer or if you had to shower and get changed after PE (we had to change into swim suits to shower after PE and therefore get changed twice!)

What would you be expecting the parent to do? Punish them at home for being late to lessons?
My DC has rather too many punishments at school for all kinds of things (forgetting pen, shirt not tucked in, etc) as two instances lead to detention - I never have to double punish at home. And as I said above, late to a lesson is a straight detention, I never have to be involved in that (though I do get an email!)

Being late for school or not having correct uniform is somewhat more in my hands, but really I'd expect a 15 year old to take this on board themselves and accept a punishment at school if they don't.

@Spinet the parent needs to investigate with the children exactly what this problem is, and remain in communication with the school.

Moreover, I think the elephant in the room may be in your assuming that the teachers don't want to annoy you with the messages.

They will know very well that just grumbling and muttering about it in the staff room will do nothing whatsoever to resolve it; but by sending you messages that you likely will find annoying, whenever you need to address a problem with your children, they will be hoping that it will spur you to action - to prevent yourself receiving the regular irritating messages, even if you really don't care about your kids behaving properly or the teachers being prevented from doing their jobs.

No teacher expects a child to "teleport" 🙄
If the whole class is a little bit late, there's an issue in the corridor or whatever. Fine. If everyone else is seated and registered and someone turns up, there's a problem with the child.
Teachers understand the issues of moving around a school site. We are also aware of repeat offenders.
If 3 siblings have a problem, it needs to be looked in to.

It is the school's job to make sure their students are punctual to lessons. I think that school pushing that onto parents and telling them to make sure their kid doesn't do it gives the kid no agency nor any responsibility to do it themselves.

It is the parent's job to make sure they have enough to eat outside school and make important decisions about the child's development, and make sure that conditions at home are good for learning. I don't think that's a difficult distinction.

I think YANBU because really, you don't need to be automatically texted umpteen times, a teacher should email/call you for a discussion if your kid/kids have a problem with consistent lateness within the school.

As for PP saying "if there were something important, the school would phone"...not necessarily...

DS2's school had boiler issues earlier this year, involving kids being sent home as soon as they turned up (sometimes by bus/taxi), being told "it's fixed" then an hour later "it broke again" etc.

All the communication from the school was via the app - when I phoned the school about arrangements for DS2, they didn't pass it on and his teacher messaged me on the app about it!

It is so hard for some kids to on time for every lesson, especially the younger ones. The corridors are massive and crowded, they get lost etc. If there is no leeway from the teachers I don't know how they expect them to teleport from one end of the school to the other.

But yes, have a word with your kids and find out what the problem is.

Exactly.

It’s not a ‘what happens at school, stays at school’ situation.

Op’s kids are causing disruption. She needs to know, so that she (and the kids’ dad) can do something about it at home.

@SirAlfredSpatchcock - in a nutshell!

At my DC secondary, it's a straight detention for being late to a lesson. Without good reason, it says, but the kids rarely get to explain why they are late.
I've found after one detention each, they have stopped being late.
Is there no sanction on the DC at all, just the message to the parent?

😂

Does that apply with everything? Does the school get the right to decide whether your secondary-aged child is too ill to be in school, and take it out of your hands?

Do you leave them to fend for themselves for their evening meal? Maybe it's up to them to plan, buy and cook it; or if not, then it's the school's job?

This attitude is a huge problem in this country nowadays, where parents want all of the rights but none of the responsibilities of bringing up their own children. A secondary-aged child is (one would hope) more capable and responsible in a range of things than a little child would be, but they are still a child. Children need a lot of guidance, care and correction - and that is categorically what their parents are for. On the other hand, if you don't understand GCSE-level French verbs...? That is one that you can leave to the school, who will be more than happy to take the responsibility of helping your child.

Teachers to usher 🤣they barely have time for a wee!

You need to take this up with your kids.

Not the school

It's your kids responsibility to get their butts to class on time.

They are who is at fault here.

The fact that 68% think YANBU shows why there are big discipline issues in schools now. YABU because it's highly disruptive to teacher and all pupils for kids to turn up late to lessons, so of course they should text you every time. It's your responsibility to parent your children and make sure they behave at school. The school is expecting you to do something about it.

Yes, I agree with this: either they 'never tell us about anything' or otherwise they're 'always bombarding us'.

PP is right that they aren't going to just ping you a message if there's a very serious issue and/or emergency - they would obviously call you. It's not going to be something that can't wait until your next break time... unless you would prefer them to call you every time and expect you to answer your phone then and there, before demanding that you explain yourself to them?!

No, if the child has an organisation or compliance issue, the parent needs to find out what the issue is. If it's all 3 children, there's a problem there.
In discussion, something may emerge which could be useful to find out about. No decent parent will just wash their hands.

I'm assuming that school has set up their system to message parents everytime a child receives a late mark on the register. This actually sounds like a good idea.

As above, why are your kids being constantly late to class? Ask them what they are doing. There will be members of staff normally SLT on duty during every lesson moping up students who aren't in lesson. They are probably 3or4 max they can't chase every student into class each lesson. They are normally dealing with the more serious issues.

Talk to your children, don't complain to the school.