Given detention for lateness on tube strike day

Don’t be a nob. It’s impossible to never ever be late. You can leave some contingency time but it won’t always be enough. Sometimes there are extreme circumstances such as in this case. The school should have taken that into account. While it’s important to have discipline and standards, it’s also important to model reasonableness, fairness, empathy and flexibility. Rigidly followed rules often lead to unfairness, as in this case.

I suspect that very few people were given the option to work from home.

We had a school like yours, they were big and strict but sold us on their capability and experience of helping SEN kids. We ended up taking them to tribunal, and he eventually was moved after a period of Alternative Provision, to a more suitable school. They seemed to say anything to get new pupils through the door. They also said he didn't have any needs, even though he received an ASC diagnosis shortly after starting, but his new school helped us secure an EHCP and he'll hopefully be moving out of school and into EOTAS soon. Some schools are just not helpful at all, and it felt like they were gaslighting us.

If they were really being prepared for adulthood, they probably would have WFH on tube strike day. Your lack of empathy for a parent of an ND child is astounding.

Op has already said, the school was not her choice. She was allocated it.

I agree with you op ( wicked perhaps the wrong word) some things are unavoidable, I find schools to be run by little demi gods at times

You have a child who suffers from anxiety, yet you send them to a school you know is incredibly strict about things like lateness- that seems a strange choice, schools like this do not make adjustments for these kinds of problems- it interferes with their results, which interferes with their ranking, you need to find a school with a more appropriate environment for your child, if this is a big issue.

I hate schools like this, but sadly more and more are going this way. My DCs school is not an academy, but now has a head who has brought in a zero tolerance approach to things like uniform infringements, with completely disproportionate consequences. It’s not preparing kids for work, it’s causing them to lose respect for adults and “leaders” who behave completely unreasonably.

Everyone I work with has struggled hugely with getting into work this unless they are close enough to walk. It’s been a nightmare. This school should be ashamed of itself.

We all knew about the tube strike, but I don’t think anyone was quite anticipating how awful the roads were going to be! Unless you’re commuting around London neighbourhoods (not walking distance) then you can’t appreciate how surprisingly difficult it has been. I would not punish a child for being five minutes late for school this week, that’s just stupid. Besides, being five mins late clearly means she left earlier than usual considering how long all journeys are taking.

I mentioned upthread how a friend spent 90 mins on the bus yesterday to do a journey that’s usually half an hour.

I was travelling on buses and walking for three hours total today (taking children to and from school on the bus and to a tutor on the bus elsewhere) - it would normally be about half that.

Truly, we should give the tube drivers what they want - we really need the tube!

Very unfair. And I don't agree on all this 'it's good practice for work'. Half of my office worked from home today to avoid the strike all together. Several team members were late. No one batted an eyelid.

Likewise I didn't get penalised because I forgot my access pass.

These things happen!

If it's an academy I think you're a bit stuffed though. If it's LA-run you can complain to the LA.

It's always an academy when you have ludicrous rules like this. Same with uniform rules.

And preparing for adulthood.
Most jobs have flexible/ flexible working / hybrid or full working from home.

School doesn't prepare you for adult hood. It's there to institutionalise you and make sure they are conditioned to think like you. Thankfully the majority of parents are seeing through this smokescreen and speaking up

I am sure there were. And do you know why? Can you think just for a moment why some children might arrive on time?

Because they didn't need to use the Tube!

I live way outside London but I was on time into work on Monday morning. Because I don't need to use the Tube, I can walk from my London arrival point.

And there it is blane the parent for a schools failings. God forbid a school actually have some sort of contingency plan to enable disabled children cope with such a massive change to their daily life. Employers have people working at home. Why the feck arnt schools sorting this. They did it during covid. Why not now.
Come back when you have nd kids to manage and keep alive then we may take you seriously. Jesus if you wanted to give trolling lessons you'd make a packet.

Not vile but a sanctimonious keyboard warrior who hasn't used their brain cells. Probably also a SAHM who doesn't have to work for a living and leaves her DH to do the commuting on a strike day.

I think it's completely ridiculous to give detentions for lateness in strike week.

And to the pp on page one, I imagine surgeons either stayed overnight or cancelled operations. Or just started late. Or lived somewhere where they didn't need to use the Tube.

I would simply tell the school that my dd wasn't doing it (assuming it's after school). But I assume its an academy with no accountability and therefore nowhere to escalate such as a local authority.

I have no idea what the school thinks it's achieving with this sort of thing. If they want their pupils to arrive on time, they could try asking their union to talk to the RMT.

Mum of 2 nd kids . One has no time concept the other thrives off routine and has had 0 support from senior school. He's at college now just passed his English gcse and doing a level 3 btec. It will get better lovely. Schools are awfulnfor sen kids.

How many hours earlier would you consider good enough try?

The child physically can't walk to school.
Let's say it would take 15 minutes by tube, but the tube is closed.
Let's say it would take 30 minutes by bus on a normal day.
Let's say that the traffic will get stuck, so the bus can take an hour.

This far it is somehow predictable.
But how would you estimate whether the first bus will actually open the doors for you, or the second one or the third one?

This punishment has negative learning value (the child did set up earlier and had nearly made it).
The "preparing for adulthood" is a nonsense - many adults would work from home, or agree different starting hours, so they don't add up to the congestion. Good preparation for the adulthood would be to mark the first hour or two optional, so the children wouldn't have to join the big trafic and would let the people who really have to get somewhere get there first.

No Givedog, many, many students, teachers & workers despite their best efforts, were late.

YABU. The tube strike was announced well in advance, and presumably, many, many other people (teachers and children) made the effort to get there in time. Get up earlier next time.

And your reaction sends strong hints you are a bad parent, excusing your child for something that’s patently their (your) fault is no way to prepare them for adulthood. You and they should accept the punishment and suck it up.

Knowing there was to be a strike makes little difference. The ops child left a lot earlier than usual & was still (a few minutes) late.