Should teachers expect pupils to miss educational activities for detentions?

I would be asking why she is doing English Language a year early, if she needs extra tuition to do it. It seems to be that this kind of arrangement is for the benefit of the school not the student.

It is all part of the rush to certificate education rather than ensure that true learning is taking place.

It seems to be that your dd is under far too much stress. When I am stressed I forget things and find it difficult to prioritise. I would take this event as a moment to take stock.

I also think that she should get on and do the detention. The teacher has been very accommodating.

I did mean the phrase as asking if she was doing too much juuule rather than suggesting that academia has to come first; however as so much is placed on academic results (including entry to many music schools) any student needs to be careful that they have a balance and not allow themselves to become exhausted and overawed by the enormity of everything they take on; some kids can do it, others can't

I think your advice is spot on she should do that

it should be extremely polite

I teach Performing Arts and would be cross with a student who had to miss a rehearsal for a production or concert because of a detention. However, I would insist that the child went to the detention. When a child is involved in lots of extra curricular activities, it's important, IMO, that they realise they have a responsibility to do the standard stuff (ie get to lessons, hand in homework, stick to the behaviour policy) first, as NOT doing those things could jeopardize their position in the play/choir/orchestra. At my school, the PE dept takes a similar approach - no good being the star of the football team if you're a deliberate pain in the arse the rest of the time.

When I was at school, the HT took the opposite approach - I remember a really annoying case in my sister's year group where two boys were caught smoking in town when they should have been in school - one was suspended, but the other, who was on the athletics team, wasn't, as he was more of an "asset" to the school.

Sorry, OP, but I think your DD should have missed orchestra for the detention.

"It sounds to me like she has far too much going on and needs to cut back in order to meet her academic obligations;"

Why do her academic obligations trump the other things that she has going on? Who decides that the 'other things' won't benefit her more in the long run?

I do wonder about this sometimes and why the push is all for putting what is happening in school first.

she was given the homework in the the lesson but chose no to write it down. Sorry, but that is no excuse, she is in year 10 and must make the effort to understand her homework and to complete it; not rely on it being on the internet as there are too many issues that can happen - for instance, who is to say that the teacher was late putting it on and that the site itself was not at fault?

It sounds to me like she has far too much going on and needs to cut back in order to meet her academic obligations; is she struggling to keep things going generally now she is doing her GCSEs?

We would not prevent a student from attending their paid peri lessons, but we wouldn't worry too much about clubs (unless it is choir and then we'd have scary music teacher to deal with).

But if I told them the questions were on the internet and they weren't, then that's my fault not the students' that they didn't do the homework.

But noble you get them to write they have homework which didn't happen in this case.

I am strict about their homework presentation. As far as I know there isn't anything in their GCSE which requires them to copy information accurately from a board at the front of the room.

If th4e h/w was on the board, why wasn't it copied down? They need to learn to copy it accurately and if they can't read their own handwriting, how do they expect examiners to be able to when they sit GCSEs?

There we differ. I tell my kids to write down 'see internet' if they want to. Because for some of them if they look up the questions on the internet, they've got a chance of actually doing the right work. Otherwise, half the time they don't copy them down correctly, the other half of the time they can't read their own handwriting.

And don't ask me why they think doing questions on percentages is reasonable when we have spent all week doing fractions, because I haven't a clue.

If I had students not doing homework I had told them about just because it wasn't online then I would stop putting it online. It is there as an added check not instead of writing it down.

Crikey, what a lot of extra work the teacher is making for themselves.

If I had such a large proportion of students not completing homework for the reason given (not on the internet as expected) then I would be cross, but then ask for it to be in the next lesson, no excuses.

If I'd set a detention for something reasonable, then I would expect that to take priority over an endless stream of extra-curricular activities (I would make an exception for an important match or paid instrument tuition).

Just wanted to day thought people were being a little harsh on you and your DD circular, but meditrina seems to have levelled things off a bit.

I think your DD got tied in a bit of a knot with first the lesson and then the orchestra clashing with the detention and felt she'd lost all bargaining power, but the extra English lesson is clearly important as is her homework.

The teacher probably made a mistake but was I expect annoyed that nobody had asked her why the homework hadn't been posted, or found out from other students what it was as they knew they had been given some. She would be extra annoyed that so many of them had not done the work using the lack of information on the website as an excuse. I'm not surprised the kids did it, sounds like the kind of thing I would have done/or not done when I was at school.

But that is irrelevant really, I think Senua's approach is a good one and make it clear you aren't criticising the detention, but also ask as Meditrina suggests what she should have done.

Good luck.

Yes, you're doing the right thing in leaving DD to sort it out herself.

(Thought of the bleedin' obvious after I'd pressed post on my previous - but once she realised it wasn't available on line, then perhaps she could phone a friend who she knows writes it down from the lesson?)

Can I just say, fair or not fair, I think you've done the right thing letting her sort it out and I commend her for wanting to. It shows maturity and confidence and accepting 'life is sometimes unfair'; facing it the best she can.

I do think it is U to expect a pupil to miss compulsory activities for a GCSE subject, and also to miss paid instrumental tuition. But of any of her activities are not totally compulsory then that is when she should do it (can't see why she can't miss an orchestra session unless she is a soloist and her absence would make it pointless for all the other players).

And in this case, as there appears to have been an error in placing the homework on the gateway, then it is also unfair to punish the pupils who use that gateway.

I think it would be worth raising this, not in terms of when to fit in the detention, but to ask for clarification about why the homework was not available on the gateway at the right time - because you do not want this error to arise again (was it teacher oversight or an IT problem, if the latter, has it been fixed?). And to establish what DD should do should an expected homework not appear in future (email teacher? Find teacher in school? Get a hard copy from somewhere?).

Something that is couched firmly and supportively in terms of avoiding future problems should not go amiss.

OP I think you are losing sight of the bigger picture here. Your DD is in yr 10 so presumably is working towards controlled assessments. Therefore she needs to keep up with her classwork (& homework); this should take priority over extra tuition.
I think you are annoyed with the teacher for giving your DD her first ever detention. The fact that your DD doesn't want you to intervene maybe because she recognises, on some level, that the DT is justified.

Seems the teacher was in a bad mood that day. I think you should be more supportive of a teacher who is working hard for your DD to do well.