Is this punishment 'fair enough' and normal practice?

Is tarty really bad? it means prostitute. Yes, I would say that one school girl should not be saying another looks like a prostitute, quite definitely

Tarty is rude. I'm not surprised the school issued a consequence.
The school should apply the uniform rules fairly. All students should be held to the same standard.
But the two issues aren't the same and shouldn't be confused.

Tarty is better than slutty

And Floggingmolly's use of the word 'shite' neither has anything to do with pupils insulting other pupils' appearance, nor indicates poor linguistic skills.

Fwiw I think excessive uniform rules are a pain, but there is absolutely no justification in claiming that schools who have harsh or extensive uniform rules are therefore incapable of caring about the things that do matter. Your nieces' schools do not constitute proof of this supposed tendency.

Err? Why, exactly?

You would be marched straightaway to the detention room, Flogging!

It is interesting how the word "tarty" is not to be tolerated but hiding behind a name and saying someone else's post is "shite" does not really advance any reasonable discussion, does it? No wonder children talk in derogatory terms about each other and use such unfortunate language! They clearly pick it up from their parents. I don't encourage any of it, whether it be an anonymous poster or an 11 year old child that heard the term from her parents and didn't know any better. As an adult, Flogging, your linguistic skills should be more advanced and you should know better!

Your post is complete shite, borjorojo

Schools like this must have rooms full of detention pupils. I would have thought that, for a Y7 pupil, the teacher should have pulled her to one side and explained why the comment was unacceptable. It is just too easy to dole out a detention without any attempt to explain why this should not be said. Yes, it is heavy handed and won't change much.

Schools that go to these lengths over uniform tend to not notice important things, like quality of teaching. They should also enforce the uniform in all year groups if they want to avoid resentment. This, of course, was the root of the problem. It is too easy to continually reinforce the uniform with the younger ones who are impressionable and not bother with the older ones. Not the sort of school I would support. Rules are rules, but they apply to everyone! Not just the younger children.

I looked at the Prospectus of the school two of my nieces go to recently. Half of it was the uniform policy!!! Utter madness. Nothing about sport, music, drama, details of the curriculum, what children could achieve, how the school is run - just pages of uniform rules. Why does any school think this is what parents want? Or even need to know in a prospectus? It even went into detail about when Blazers could be removed!!!

It was a very derogatory way to speak about another girl so the punishment was deserved.

If there is a problem with unfairness in the way uniform rules are being enforced that needs to be addressed properly but it is in no way any kind of mitigation for insulting another pupil.

She really said 'tarty'? What a funny word for an 11 year old to use. Where I live the word they would tend to use is 'slag'.

Anyway, it's not acceptable for her to make insulting comments about other students. She needs to understand that the school policy doesn't justify her being unkind.

Yes, tarty is a hangover from the days when women could be blamed for being raped.

"Well did you see what she was wearing?"

It's best not to ever call anyone tarty or similar for wearing what they want to wear.

I think it's a disproportionate punishment. Teacher could have said firmly that it was a horrible and unkind word and that would have had an effect. It's not that bad anyway.

Dd's school is also incredibly harsh on y7s and then relaxed with the older kids.

I do agree that the school should be enforcing the rules throughout the school - not allowing y11 to do as they please! Sounds like pretty poor practice. Our y11s are trickier and we don't want to escalate up the behaviour policy as readily when they are in the middle of GCSEs and little time left, but they can't have completely different rules!

I agree with claraschu a detention teaches nothing. The parent and teacher should point out that you treat others the way you wish to be treated and move on with life. Detentions are the most ridiculous power triping-old fashioned waste of time and all they do is create rifts between teachers, schools, pupils and parents.

School was absolutely spot on. Tarty/tart is an outright insult and I fail to see how the girl didn't mean to offend anyone by saying it. Maybe she'll think twice before making judgy, snide comments behind someones back next time.

I think the school is encouraging people to judge one another by going on and on about clothes and makeup. But I am not a fan of uniforms at all, so I would think that, wouldn't I?

The school is encouraging a rebellious attitude by enforcing rules unfairly. Students hate this kind of unfairness.

There is a big difference between actual bullying and a year 7 kid making an offensive comment about a much older child. I think it is important to have a conversation with the year 7 girl and make sure she understands why words like tarty are unacceptable, but I don't know if the punishment is helpful.

The punishment isn't for a uniform infringement, it's for make an unnecessary and uncalled for comment about someone's appearance. Strict punishment therefore required and should be supported. Does not matter whether they are Y7 or Y11, you cannot make comments like that. Glad to see a school dealing with it appropriately.

So the parents agreed that due to rolled up skirt she looked like a tart/tarty going back to the 'fact' comment?!
Reminds me of doing this at school! Seems we didn't mind looking like barrels with all the bulk of the skirt rolled around our waists as long as skirt was tiny!- rite of passage almost at my school!

Strict uniform rules have nothing to do with it, it was an awful thing to say in any circumstances. Your friend might want to look at her own attitude regarding people's appearances if she thinks that comment wasn't too bad.

The reason I see the parents POV is that the school seems extremely harsh on yr 7 about things they aren't enforcing in upper years

Those are two different issues. The detention was given for saying a horrible misogynistic word, not for a uniform infringement.