Serious incidents between pupils in the school holidays

[Foxesandsquirrels]

Out of curiosity, how do schools go about dealing with serious incidents in the school holidays? As an example, things like serious fights between pupils, pupils being caught shoplifting, arrested etc. Things that would get you, at the very least, some sort of suspension in term time. I don't expect schools to sort this out, but this sort of thing ends up getting dragged into the school eventually. Do they just come back in Sept to deal with the collateral damage? Do social services take over or is there some sort of DSL on duty the whole time?

Not really anything to do with the school.

Its nothing to do with the school.

I actually wouldn't expect shop lifting or fights outside of school to get a school punishment in term time either.

So why do pupils get suspended for this sort of thing during term time? Even if the incident happened on the weekend.

Out of school fights get a suspension in all our local schools as it puts the school into disrepute.

I've never heard of that happening. Unless they nick something from school maybe

Never heard of a pupil being suspended for shoplifting or being arrested.

Yh maybe shoplifting was a bad example. It would probably get a referral to social services but the fights thing definitely a suspension.

Maybe if they're in their school uniform at the time?

At DDs school they'd only get a suspension in term time if they were shoplifting or fighting while in their school uniform.

Hopefully the teachers are allowed to have a break and instead their parents, neighbours, the community, police, children’s services etc will deal with it.
I don’t feel people should be contacting schools in the holidays or weekends and expecting a response.

Parents should be dealing with this out of term time. School is open for 190 days.

I agree wholeheartedly. I was hoping to hear from someone in that position to get some clarity. I feel sorry for them that they go back in September and have to pick up the pieces from all the mess that's happened in the holidays.

They don't generally. Usually parents will get the school involved by asking for the kids to be kept apart or they might say it is bullying which also happens at school. If the kids are in uniform and on way to and from school this might mean they get involved. However they will not be involved in the holidays. If someone attacks someone else it will be for the police not school.

In DDs school it's whenever.

You mean if it happens in the school holidays, parents will contact the school?

Travelling to or from school, wearing their uniform.
Anything else is outside their remit, surely?
Punch ups in the street and shoplifting would be a police matter.

Where on earth do you live that the summer holidays result in “all the mess”?

No. All the schools I know in our borough would suspend a student for out of school fights even out of uniform.

Inner London. They result in a lot of mess.

I would assume this would only be true if they were wearing their school uniforms? The school can’t be ‘brought into disrepute’ if the kids can’t be identified as pupils, which is impossible if they’re wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

No idea how this could be enforceable at all.

I work in this area - all the meetings continue with police and other agencies, schools don't attend in school holidays. To be honest I dread the school holidays as it leaves a gaping hole in the process.

It's not as easy as saying parents should deal with it, lots of the children involved don't have parents who want to or can.

Maybe it's due to the dynamics in area you live in OP, this isn't normal practice in a lot of places, fights would only be addressed in school if it happened in uniform.

Fights are almost always recorded and shared everywhere. They get to someone in the schools pastoral team within days, sometimes hours.