Detention

[Rachna83]

My daughter got a 30 min after school detention due to not having PE kit twice. She borrowed school kit. She has since told me she lost her kit so I will need to buy her a new one. I asked for some clarification from school as I felt detention was harsh. They explained it was school policy and all children are aware. I get that and the need to be responsible at that age. I asked what policy they are following as I couldn't find anything on the website. I was told PE policy. I asked for a copy but she was very reluctant but eventually said she would email. I followed this up and was sent a screenshot of a Microsoft word page with the relavent section I thought this odd so have asked for the entire policy as a pdf. This has been met with a blunt response of it's not relevant and the part sent is all I need to see. Now my child has already done the detention but I am finding this really odd. Should schools have something concrete or can they just issue detention for something like this?

Teachers don't have time for all that nonsense. Forget the kit, do the detention, end of story.

So your annoyed that your dd's kit is lost and you will have to buy new kit but you don't want to support a school policy designed to encourage children to take more responsibility for their PE kits.

That's been dealt with, she got detention. What hasn't been dealt with is why the school either don't have a behaviour policy or they have one that is some sort of secret.

She obviously hasn't had access to a behaviour policy. I had them for my kids, more than one school. They never had detentions because we looked at the policies and knew what was required of them.

@Iwasafool you know as well as I do that they aren't normally hidden away due to ofsted.
But is this something that needs confirmation?

The OP was questioning the sanction because she didn't know what it was.
Don't you find it a bit odd that this policy seems to be a secret? How do kids follow the rules if no one tells them the rules or what the sanctions are for breaking them.

Is there a policy?

I know it isnt normal for them to be some sort of secret but the OP can't find them, the school hasn't pointed her in the right direction to find them and they haven't sent her a copy. That is odd isn't it.

I think really the school have just rolled their eyes at another parent who thinks the rules don’t apply to her child.

any parent who tries to cause trouble over such a simple issue is doing nothing more that causing trouble and teaching their child rules don’t apply to them.

Do you really need a policy to tell you you’ll get into trouble for not bringing your PE kit twice ?

Which rules? The secret ones in the secret policy?

And the behaviour policy is available. But the OP seems to expect it to outline every possible violation rather than a general over view of expectations.

“arrive at all lessons with the correct equipment” is all that’s needed for this scenario

No, the really obvious ones like you need a PE kit for PE

There are many good teachers at my local comp. I worry that, amongst all the other tasks they have to do, spending their lunchtimes responding to numerous parent emails like this will take its toll and be a contributory factor in many good teachers leaving the job; there're very few people wanting to take their place.

I'm honestly shocked that there are some people so dim that they need a policy to tell them to take kit to a PE lesson. How will they cope in life?

Good Lord, support the teacher and school. She forgot the PE kit TWICE. Get over yourself and your little precious.

Where are you getting the idea that the PE teachers won't have told the kids they need to bring their PE kit and they'll get a detention if they don't bring it or a note twice?

I was met with similar resistance recently when asking for policy, not related to your DCs issue but the head wasn't keen. She eventually cut and pasted relevant bit and told I'd need to do an FOI if I wanted to see the entire thing.

My sons school was like this. Getting any policy from them was met with a response like I'd asked for a kidney.

She obviously hasn't had access to a behaviour policy. I had them for my kids, more than one school. They never had detentions because we looked at the policies and knew what was required of them.

Oddly, I have better things to do with my time than scrutinise all the policies for my dcs' schools and never went through them however my dc were fully aware that there was an expectation that they turned up to lessons with what was needed for the lessons. There was a natural assumption that if then then didn't there would be consequences. You don't need a behaviour policy for that, you just need normal, common sense.

Yup

It is not unreasonable to expect a clear policy that is communicated at the start of term and easy to access at any time.

I agree with this as a general point. Getting detention for forgetting PE kit is pretty standard and I wouldn't have queried it. But since you did, I don't think it's reasonable for them essentially refuse to let you see a copy of their behaviour policy.

You work in education and you are challenging a detention for missing essential lesson equipment (PE kit) twice just because it's not explicitly written in a document? It's not an ad hoc system. It's a basic rule that applies to pretty much every child in every secondary school in the UK.

@MissBuffyAnneSummers

It's a fair reason for detention but I surprised schools still do after school detentions- not allowed at ours. Detentions are at lunchtime.

I hope that its not teachers that are taking these detentions.