About School and detention?

[Recallclock]

Prepared to be flamed.

Dd has sen and is according to schools own safeguarding team 'vulnerable'
Because of bullying and lack of options when we moved her her new school is out of Borough.

There has been a few times she has been kept back as a whole class detention because someone else wouldn't shut up talking and missed her connecting bus and got home very late leaving her waiting forty minutes alone at a bus stop and walking through the door at 6.30pm. (her school finished at 4.10pm but even keeping them back twenty minutes means she misses her commenting bus.)

I had a lot of involvement with the old senco who was brilliant and was in contact regularly but a new one has started and I have little involvement with her however I spoke to her on the advice of Mumsnet and asked for dd to be not kept back if she had not been involved due to her issues getting home and if she had to be given recall for herself if it could be done at lunch or if it had to be after school with notice so I could sort collection. She's never had individual recall.

I have just had a phone call now to say she is being kept back tonight as she hasn't done her homework. I'm not impressed she has not done her homework (she does have organisation issues as part of her sen) but she's not done it so fair enough.
I'm miles away with no car and can't get hold of my Dad to get her so my sen child will be on detention until 5pm and isn't likely to walk through the door until 7pm.
She also doesn't know the buses at other times so is going to be in a right state.

Aibu to have expected them to give a sen child 24 hours notice particularly when I have asked and they agreed or keep her in at lunch?

You have Peng I agree.

I would love to home educate in all honesty. After battling a system in which the government expects children with SN as square blocks to fit in round holes and completely failure by some in education to support my child's needs at previous schools to a point we saw the GP I'm worn out with the education system as as the majority of my friends with children with SN.

I have done it for a short period before. If I could afford to pay the exam fees I absolutely would. We have previous enquired about 14-16 year olds home ed provision at colleges. Either that or I would pay for her to go to a school that was specialist to her SN.

Sorry Peng I meant Ofsted are in school now following a previous recent assessment in which school failed every single area and the school lost probably more than half its staff and head teacher and senco.

Peng I’m guessing you don’t have children of your own as you are very dismissive of valid parental worries. I am a teacher too and recognise that rules are rules but can’t understand how no notice detentions are ever a good thing. You have no idea what each child has going on at home. The child with no one who gets home until 8, the child whose parent is in the pub and rolls in sometime in the middle of the night. They then have to get themselves home an hour later having missed the school bus. Surely that’s a safeguarding issue. What happens when a young person has to walk home in the dark after a no notice detention and something happens to them. Unlikely yes but surely a risk. Just saying it is up to the parent is fine but what about those young people whose parents can’t help or don’t want to help?

Sorry if I’ve missed it Peng but does your school do no notice detentions? If so they aren’t working. A behaviour policy followed throughout the school can improve behaviour without no notice detentions.

Peng - not all parents of children with SEN can move schools, particularly if the school is named in their EHCP. Home educating you usually then have to forfeit any therapies your child is entitled to etc. without an EHCP, finding a school is difficult.

Even for NT children, it’s not easy to just move schools

My safeguarding lead would have something to say about is throwing out students with no way to get home. Parents in pub, work, abroad whatever. The point stands.

I'd also like to say that most kids having dodged detention last night would have kept quiet and hope it wasn't followed up. Dd is going to see the teacher this morning to explain why she didn't turn up in case no one told her and to ask for the homework sheet to complete even though she thinks she has done it.
She knows by doing this she might get lunch detention instead.

Some parents live far from schools and buses where I live stop at 5pm. A detention could easily cause my child to be stuck miles from home.

Life happens and sometimes I don’t have a car available.

I’d expect the school to give me notice and to postpone a detention if I had no transport available.

And seriously if a parent had no way of getting to the child in that situation what would be the safeguarding policy of the school?

Recall sounds like the school is on the shit and teachers probably under massive pressure with ofsted in. I think you need to go in and discuss again your daughters needs with the SEN and safeguarding leads. It’s annoying that it looks like a mistake so I would chase that up too. Hope things improve for you.

Peng - Needs of children with SEND aren't really being met because of behaviour at your school

I hope you have informed their parents?

Surely the school in the OP did just that. Yes the parent could get on the train to get her dd but they didn’t ask if she couldn’t and there was no flexibility.

Gosh I really need to check this when I look at secondary schools. This is draconian!!

Usually schools inform parents their child’s needs are not being meet in writing or in a meeting. Have you informed the HT?

If the children in Pemba school have low attainment when they are coming in with good starting points none of their needs are being met adequately.

Pemba should read Peng.

Fair enough Peng. My area is very deprived. Students leave with excellent VA. Behaviour is an issue for some teachers but certainly not across the board. That would worry me if my child was in a school where behaviour was impacting upon achievement.

@Seniorcitizen1 It was the same for us too. My mother had to drive a very long way to pick my sister and I up and as there was no other transport home (buses didn't go to our village unless we travelled in the opposite direction for half an hour then waited for a 2 hourly bus to the village) then the school had to use a different method of punishment to detention. Loss of break times was one obvious one. (Not that we needed it)
There are other options the school can use.