AIBU to think missing five lessons as a detention seems counterproductive?

I doubt isolation is being given as a first consequence, it's usually the last option when other things have failed. His behaviour must be pretty poor. I'd be focusing on that.

Well it might

If he is missing the classes he likes that might be more effective than missing the class he doesn’t.

He can clearly behave when he chooses, every pupil has teachers they prefer to ones the feel “don’t like them” or whatever, if he’s GCSE - he needs to put the personal aside.

Our son is in GCSE year and yes disruptive/disrespectful pupils are removed to isolation. The rest of the class (and the teachers) just don’t have time for this.

He’s 15/16 he needs to make up his mind, he only has until May in classes then he can make decisions what subjects or where to study. If this is the new Head’s method, you will achieve nothing this school year arguing against it. Not in enough time for anything to change for your son. So he needs to suck it up basically. He’s not the only one hundreds of thousands of other pupils manage it.

It’s not unusual.

School are trying to get the best outcome for everyone here. There will have been several steps before your DS being sent to isolation for the day. Look online for the behaviour policy.
He’ll probably actually get more work done in isolation as he’ll not have his audience to perform in front of. If he doesn’t do any work in isolation that’s his choice, he is choosing to fall behind.
He's responsible for his own behaviour.

Local schools here have a system of escalation: 1- reminder, 2- name on board, 3- removal for a 24-hour period. It does work, and that’s because it’s universal. There’s no subjectivity around ‘this kid behaves in lessons ABC but should miss lessons XYZ’ or ‘she’s normally great, must just be having a bad day so I’ll let her off’.

If you’ve been reminded twice and choose to muck about, off you go. You miss social time and the things you enjoy as well as the teacher or the lesson you don’t like. You don’t rejoin your class until you’ve done the whole 24 hours (eg lesson two to lesson two, and if you fail you go home and then back into referral rather than just straight back into class).

This system is paired with an effective pastoral team who will be working with the referral team to offer appropriate intervention to anyone whose behaviour is sending a message.

In the best versions, it works well. Some people need reminding that they’re not special and rudeness won’t be tolerated; some people need more support and their behaviour is indicative of that, so they can get the support they need.

Op - I agree with you that missing lessons is counterproductive for you son, but what about the kids who just want to get their head down?

Is the 'punishment' so that your son will learn not to disrupt lessons in future, or is it a pragmatic step that allows a day's worth of classes to be conducted without disruption for the other members of the class? I would have thought your son would have learnt by year 11 if he was able to, so maybe it's the latter?

He also has my sympathy in a school system that can be very one size fits none but he'll be leaving in around 8 months. Does he understand that he just needs to get the best out of this time and then he can be at college doing just subjects that he has chosen and in an environment that seems to manage without a string of complicated punishments?

I agree, OP. The Department for Education bangs on about how important attendance is and how missing just one day is disastrous, yet it sanctions this sort of nonsense.

So children get into a vicious circle - they miss lessons, when they go back they don't understand what's being taught, they act up to disguise it, they get sent out again. And people wonder why there's a discipline problem.

No, of course I don't expect individual tuition. I asked, as the poster said the child would still be " taught ".
In my limited experience they are just given work to do and told to get on with it. That's not being taught in another room.

If he can behave in other classes, he is making a choice to misbehave in this one. I would take what he says about what he did with a large pinch of salt. And ignore references to other pupils. They are not your concern nor do you know exactly what their situation is. Your son is using them as a dead cat to minimise what he has done.
Isolation is one of a raft of consequences for misbehaviour. For your son's sake, I would advise you to contact the school to chat to his pastoral head about his behaviour generally and how to support him and the school.

Are you really suggesting that 121 teaching should be provided for a student in isolation due to bad behaviour by subject teachers?

Schools struggle to recruit teaching staff. There are never teachers free and available for 121 teaching.

This would not even be the case at Eton or Harrow. Let alone at the local state academy secondary school.

He'll be given subject relevant work and left to do it on his on in isolation.

No, we prefer him not to have misbehaved in the first place, therefore not needing punishment... and the other children had a lesson without disruption.

Thank you! This could be a game changer. On balance we decided against something longer acting because of the appetite suppression and the knock on impact for sleep, but on a Friday when he doesn’t have to be up early the next day that could make the difference.

Exactly this. In order for a sanction to be effective it's if it acts as a deterrent for a CRITICAL MASS of the population, not whether it works for one particular individual or even a small minority of individuals. I work at a bog standard average state school demographically and approx. 90% of our students don't get a detention for their entire 5-year duration. A further 3% get only one or two detentions so they must dislike it enough that it's usually enough to curb the behaviour.

The same 5% of the population are in and out of prison all the time. That doesn't mean that prison is an ineffective deterrent. The vast majority of the population doesn't have a want or a compulsion to do maladaptive or criminal behaviour in society and for another significant chunk of the population, they are scared off things like theft, punching their annoying boss, speeding, stealing a sandwich from a cafe, groping someone on a night out etc. because of the threat of incarceration and all the consequences that come with it (loss of employment, social stigma etc.).

A sanction is effective for a populace if it acts a deterrent for the vast majority, not necessarily for every individual. There are some people where even the death penalty doesn't deter criminal behaviour.

Besides, detentions and isolations and temporary suspensions are the most severe sanctions schools are legally allowed to implement. If they weren't constricted by law and having to legally keep students in the building and provide them an education, the vast majority of educators would just like to tell disruptive or unpleasant kids "just get out of my school/classroom and never come back please". There is very little appetite amongst the general public to provide an education to people who ruin it for others.

If you or your son don't want him to miss out on his education, then work together to improve his behaviour. It is his actions only that are causing him to be in isolation. If he doesn't want to fall behind, he needs to make better choices.

@Icedvanillacoffee your son won't be missing much as I expect he doesnt do much in normal lessons 🙌

It will give everyone else a welcome break from his unacceptable behaviour.

Schools don’t use this sanction for no good reason.

This. Imagine you are the parent of a student who doesn't mess about and just wants to get on with their work. Those students and their parents must be delighted that the disruptive element have been removed.

if you decide to change schools I doubt anyone from the present school will try to prevent you.

Exactly. 3 doses a day. Maintain attention for the whole school day.

It’s to give everyone else a break from your horrid child. 15 is old enough to pack it in. If there is another kid who has spent all term in isolation, believe me the school will be aware and trying to sort something out. For some kids a mainstream classroom is just not the proper environment. But your kid is clearly just being an arse.

I guess for the OP and all the many parents like her I encountered as a head of year and a sendco schools are not trusted. This was the massive difference I used to find, either the parents believed we were doing the right things or we were stupid and vindictive and persecuted their children because we were bullies.
And I agree with the posters on the thread who have pointed out that he has done some bad stuff to be in isolation.
The other thing parents who hated us used to think was how much their children were missing whilst in isolation, as a teacher of 30 plus years experience I have to say your son won't be missing much as I expect he doesnt do much in normal lessons.

I understand your frustration. But if somebody is taken out a lesson it's because they are a disruption or a distraction to others. In other words a pain in the neck. It's not a detention.

Are they actually taught by subject teachers or just given work to do and supervised by a suitable adult?

Disruptive children stop other children from learning so I’m glad the school is being proactive. Lots of children have “unidentified needs” but at secondary age they are old enough to understand the effect their behaviour has on others. If your son is having difficulties then he and you need to find a way to approach this that doesn’t impact negatively on other kids.

What can you do at home? Stop acting like he’s the victim here. Talk to him about how his behaviour affects the rest of the class and encourage him to have some consideration for his peers. Ask his teachers for the work that was done in the missed classes and sit and do it with him at home: if he has to spend his free time catching up, it will be a much stronger deterrent. Raise him to be a responsible and considerate person not an entitled arse.

This isn't a detention by any definition that I know! At my son's secondary school, this is called Isolation. The child is removed from a particular lesson due to poor behaviour. They don't 'miss' lessons, they are still taught, just elsewhere, away from the rest of the class.

You can get top up methylphenidate for the end of the day.

In the same boat as you OP. My 15-year-old (who has ADHD) has a difficult relationship with one of his GCSE subject leaders and now spends every other Monday in isolation because when he has this subject last period on a Friday he’s tired, his meds have worn off and he simply can’t focus.

I have talked to the school about the fact that the punishment is not going to correct the behaviour, that he isn’t disruptive in other lessons etc. to no avail.

The difference is that this year the isolation work is at least appropriate to his GCSE subjects. You could ask the school if they would allow this so that at least the time in isolation is spent on core subjects?

I always thought of isolation as a kind of internal exclusion.

That might help in the thinking behind it.

They still have to sit in a room at school. It’s just a more boring one with less friends and freedom