To admire the chutzpah of the Bodmin rebel prom?

My DC go to a school with behaviour issues in a deprived area (mostly well managed). The did you get on the parents group bemoaning this, that and the other. Parents who allow their children to stop attending school because they just don't want to go etc etc. I can see why some schools 'use' prom in the absence of other discipline working and particularly in the absence of parental discipline and boundaries.

I'm not sure about proms anyway. When I finished GCSEs in 1989 we had a leavers party where we all dressed up (minus limos and professional makeup) - but it was just in the school hall and was a glorified disco with a school meal. It was great!!

How judgemental.

These behavioural systems in schools comprising of isolation, reflections, detentions for small things like forgetting a hair band for PE or asking too many questions are ludicrous. Tell me how long you'd last in a job that gave you reflection points for forgetting your pen? Or banned you from the Christmas party because you had been off for three weeks with mental health issues during the year?

I hope they had a fabulous time and I strongly suspect it was way better than the school official version somehow....

The school policies sound so bonkers they must have been put together by someone who thinks the Bradford score is an appropriate sanction. (It's widely used in hospitals and other organisations as a punitive measure against staff who are off sick even where there are absolutely genuine reasons.)

It's like nothing has been learned at all from that little pandemic thingie. Plus as yet there's barely any acknowledgement at all by those in authority that people are generally sicker and more vulnerable after COVID, let alone the cost of living crisis...

Their policy is too strict - it needs to exclude students whose behaviour makes them a liability off the school premises, but preventing young carers attending and those with genuine reasons is not on.

It is real life as an adult, if they miss work or other commitments too often, due to illness or something else that isn’t their fault, there are sometimes real world negative consequences.

Students do need to understand that, although it’s a cruel way to deliver this particular lesson.

Oh yes, the inevitable post saying that teachers are leaving the profession because they’re not allowed to commit some random act of petty tyranny. As opposed to, you know, the actual issues forcing teachers out of the profession.

You may have left teaching because you couldn’t prevent some student with a chronic illness from enjoying her prom. But don’t think that you speak for anyone else. Unfortunately, this kind of attitude makes it harder to get parents to “support the school” as the mantra goes.

Stupid, inflexible rules - good on the Rebels, that’s the prom I’d want to be at! (If I went at all - I do think prom is a bit of an over-hyped nonsense that must cause so much stress and expense..)

It does sound insane. Where on earth do you go as regards discipline after issuing suspension for asking for a hair bobble.

At our school there was the odd person who wasn't allowed to prom because of really serious misbehaviour but almost everyone was allowed. I don't mind it being not permitted if it's "we can't trust you to behave on non-school premises, so you can't come" for one or two pupils, but clearly once you're excluding a massive proportion of the year the policy is disproportionate!

I think it's perfectly reasonable to bar students from a prom if they've got a genuinely really bad behaviour record of doing serious stuff, but it sounds like this isn't the case here. Barring them for low attendance is ridiculous.

I can't comment on this particular school. But from a general teaching perspective, prom is a massive PITA, and it would be easier all round if students/parents would organise their own! (Mostly they can't, because no venue will have them. This also gives an insight into why prom is such a PITA and why most teachers don't want kids who've racked up multiple behaviour points to be there!)

Prom is a bonus extra, it's not an educational right. If parents cause too much grief, schools will just stop organising anything at all 🤷‍♀️

That school sounds insane! Never heard of being suspended for asking for a hair bobble. I’ve worked in a school so am familiar with behaviour policies. My DCs went to a fairly strict school but anyone could go to prom as it was organised by the student body. The one I worked in was linked to behaviour which (unless was dangerous/intimidating behaviour) I thought was pretty lame!

Our local parent group have set up an alternative prom for children who aren’t able to attend the school prom. Reasons for non inclusion are similar to the Bodmin school but there is a high percentage of children who are homeschooled because the local school was failing them. It’s on this week and I hope they have a great time

I think its fair enough to exclude kids whovare genuinely problematic....any type of violence or bullying or disrespect to teachers is fair enough.
But the reasons given by the school were pathetic

My Y11 has excellent attendance IMHO...she has been off only for genuine illness this year and her attendance dropped below 90% at least once due to that.
Behaviour points for forgetting pe kit or being late are not examples of poor behaviour its something most people do but if someone does it more often than others you need to look at the reasons....whether its because they are a carer, or they have adhd

Of course people have hair and make up booked. It's not a reflection on the "type of parents". Schools are really bad at communication in my experience...the language used is never clear and notifications come out very late.

What an awful post.

The behaviour points were for forgetting things. Another girl who was a young carer with a chronic stomach condition was also banned.

I too have a child with ND. School attendance annxiety, feeling different,forgetting things can be a huge part of it. My daughter has been in and out of hospital with Anorexia which she has now beaten. She actually spent her prom curled up on a hospital floor but I’d have been livid if she had had it taken away from her just for being ill afree all her hard work. I’m staggered said college can get away with it as some kids must surely be eligible for reasonable adjustments.

Half the student body excluded from it shows a massive failing in the system.

And it seems nearly 50% of the kids are going to the rebel prom, if these have all Been uninvited from the main prom there is something wrong with the school’s discipline policy. Such a measure should be for pretty extreme bad behaviour.

My daughter’s attendance was 60% in Year 13 due to illness. She’d have been gutted if she hadn’t been allowed to go to prom. I hope these kids have a great time.

Good for them. Everyone should be allowed to celebrate the end of school. Regardless of attendance and minor rule breaking.

It's a shame the bbc don't the difference between uninvite and disinvite!
And people say SPaG isn't really important!

@shieldmaiden7 then you for sharing your story. It's nothing short of horrendous!

‘We had her make/up booked’
of course they did -you can tell they type of parents they are…
She had behaviour points -it wasn’t just attendance.
Entitled kids and parents -no support for the school -no wonder teachers are leaving in droves.

This is awful to read how inflexible sone schools are and, it seems, downright wrong to issue suspensions for spurious reasons. It’s so counterproductive.

Just to add, not all schools in the English system are like this. I work in an academy as a (‘bog standard’ 😊ie no additional responsibilities ) classroom teacher and we would never not allow someone to prom due to attendance issues and very rarely stop someone from attending due to poor behaviour. We are in no way perfect but we all aim to work with our students, not against them. I can think of one example when someone did not get to go to ‘prom’ in the last ten years.

My daughter has terrible attendance, not because she can't be bothered to go in, but because she suffers very badly with her mental health. She's autistic and many ND children suffer from EBSA. It isn't right that children are penalised because of health issues, physical or mental. When she's in school, she works hard and her behaviour is exemplary. My DD probably wouldn't want to go to the prom anyway but I would hope she would at least be given the option.

This kind of behaviour point system with links to attendance is disrespectful and dehumanising to pupils and puts so many kids off school completely. They make school a miserable stressful experience particularly with the school behaviours policy apps being on kids phones and all the kids comparing their points. The kids who have missed time may not be able to make up the points, how demotivating.

The rewards and sanctions for attendance punishes those the most vulnerable kids. the ones with very difficult home lives, trauma and SEND. The young carers like that girl who was interviewed.
To have a leavers’ prom and then to disinvite kids like that is so small minded, and says really crushing things to the kids about some adults in the adult world.

This prom is just one example of the wider policy problem. I really hope that some parents at this school or elsewhere, will have the time and resources to legally fight against these pathetic behaviour policies with rewards and sanctions that are linked to attendance, They are heavily discriminating against kids with SEND, those withh challenging life circumstances and health or mental health issues.

This sounds awful. But just to point out, you’re talking about the English education system - there is no British education system. The Scottish system is completely different and much more flexible, without this obsession with attendance, SATs, OFSTED, etc. Much more child-led and inclusive.