If you set a detention - you turn up!

[Youarentkiddingme]

DC in year 7 so 11 years old. Just started secondary which is a lot different from a primary.

Pupils told to bring book to read during tutor time. Numerous students forgot. Reminded next tutor but again a few forgot. Third time set a detention for 15 minutes after school. Fair enough - however I do think at this stage they should be guilding pupils about how and where to record themselves reminders. They already have to remember so much stuff and they are still learning.

Told that it would be Friday after school. Arrangements made to get home after as school bus would have left.

Friday the 5 students turn up at tutor room and wait for tutor. She turns up 10 minutes later and tells them she forgot and should have emailed parents and sent home slip to sign and they would have to do it Monday after school.

Two of the pupils have a sports match Monday after school. Tutor has still not emailed parents or sent home a slip to re arrange for Monday. May use the I forgot reason again?

AIBU to think that if you set a detention for 5 students for forgetting something and then forget yourself you don't rearrange it for another date that affects sports matches at the last minute or potentially you made need to arrange again because you forgot to send out the letters?

So far this school are showing a lot of signs of punishment for simple mistakes (fair enough as they say they are to help student change their behaviour) but there's little evidence of modelling good practice to the students.

The pupils themselves aren't arguing the detention, aren't even cross with the teacher for forgetting - however have just overheard them laughing about the teachers at the school thinking fear of getting things wrong is a good way to get them to behave but clearly it didn't teach them to be organised or follow rules!

So many words about absolutely nothing.

Catford I'd kindly suggest as you are the poster who clearly couldn't read the apparently huge amount of words used (the fact it's not my child!) and seemingly uninterested in joining in this discussion that this isn't the thread for you and you perhaps stop investing in it and take up a hobby?

Your child or not, your detailed analysis of something so trivial is utterly absurd. There was never any real discussion to join in with.

(Also, the hobby remark was my parting shot - bit naff to recycle it!)

Yet your still here reading it

If a teacher is 'gentle' at the beginning of the year regarding homework etc then it isn't going to help the children in the long run and also, the beginning of the year is crucial for setting ground rules and expectations.

The teacher made a mistake and shouldn't reschedule the detention but the detention was correct in the first place. Two warnings first because they 'forgot ' their book!

Children need to take a book throughout primary school so this is nothing new.

But the children didn't quibble the detention and were all there doing the detention.

The teacher should not be making them do the detention again, just because she wasn't there. that's not the fault of the children, that's her own fault.

I spend a lot of my time saying write this in your planner - I would say 30% ignore me completely. Then I get parents moaning that they haven't had any homework sent, has a detention due to not doing homework that doesn't suit......

I tell them to get their planner out, write this down, write it on this page, etc etc etc. A week later I then get students not completing homework as they haven't written down what I have told them, even with lots of reminders.

I wouldn't make them re do the detention but I do think students need to take some responsibility.

Last week I spent about two hours of my 3 day week chasing students about outstanding homework. Phone calls, emails home, issuing faculty detentions, making sure the work is available for them to complete in the detention etc - not the best use of my time. I teach 180 students a week and currently I am chasing about 20% of them weekly to get homework done!

Noodle stop chasing them about the homework. I used to send one email home and that's it. Up to them after that.

Fortunately my school now has an online system that shows when work is set and has been handed in, so it's down to the parents to check and chase.

I have never given a homework detention; the clue is in the name and it's the parents' responsibility to make sure it gets done.

It's my job to make sure the work is do-able and is given adequate time to do it.

Sadly SLT not on board with that theory. Have been told last week we must phone all parents re missing homeworks! It's really getting me irritated as parents complain if no homework or complain when detentions set for not completing it - can't win!

What age kids, Noodle?

When my daughter was about 9/10 if the teacher was wanting permission slips back & kids were saying that they'd given them to their parents, she would tell them not to blame parents & that they still could think about it themselves & remind their parents!

Secondary mainly year 10 but also yr 9. So 13-15 year olds.

My son is in year 8 and I asked him about this – he says that if you have an after-school detention and the teacher hasn’t turned up after 10 minutes the kids can go and don’t have to do serve it again. Which is quite right – I don’t see why kids should serve two detentions because the teacher forgot. The original detention for forgetting something three times seems reasonable. That said, in my son's school it would be a 15 minute break-time detention, not an after-school one.

His school sets detentions for any forgotten/not done homework (first time, not after 3 times) – generally 30 minutes after school but parents are always informed in advance whatever the law says and Mr Gove might have said. I find it astonishing that a school would consider it ok to keep a child at school without telling the parents or giving the parents a chance to object because of a medical appointment or transport problems. We live very close to the school so it’s not an issue, but I’d expect to know why my son was late home from school and I’d also want the school to rearrange if he had an appointment (eg orthodontist about 3 months’ waiting list for appointments). I think they would, although the policy says they’ll get a fixed term exclusion if a parent won’t let the child do the detention. To be honest though, if a school thought that it was proportionate to make my son miss a long-standing appointment that was difficult to rearrange for something like forgetting homework, and really did insist on a fixed term exclusion rather than simply moving the detention to another day, I’d be looking for another school for him.

As for phoning the parents every time homework isn’t handed in? thought we were teaching the kids to see the consequences of actions, but clearly not. I would have thought teachers really had better things to do as well.

I think on this occasion I would send a note in to day did was prepared for detention on Friday but can't do Monday as you have not received notification via email and she is representing the school at an event.

I speak as a teacher (primary) and as mum of a dd who started in year 7 in September. I do believe that Year 6 could receive better preparation for secondary school, most schools try but it could be improved IMO.

In my daughter's new school Year 7's have a card that is signed for minor issues such as forgetting a book, piece of equipment etc. You have a maximum of 6 chances before a detention and this seems to have worked well.

She went in today and asked tutor if DT was tonight. She said she'd need to let sports coach know.
Teacher said no, she'll arrange for Friday this week as she forgot to email parents over the weekend.
My friend is ringing the school on the basis the teacher has just done what the pupils are in detention for.

I think that the parents should refuse on the basis that it has been done tbh.

Emails over the weekend?

Wouldn't take any notice of them myself, so if she decided not to do that I would understand.

But the teacher keeps letting herself down by saying that she forgot!