To ask school to stop sending me these texts?

[SquiglePig]

I have 3 kids in same high-school.

They've started to send texts to parents everytime a child is late to a lesson, basically saying 'your child is late for lesson, please don't allow this to happen again etc'

My kids are never late to school in the mornings, ever.

It's my responsibility to get them into school on time, which I do.

I've had the discussion with them about getting to lessons on time but what can I actually do?

I feel like once they're on school grounds I don't really have physical control over how long it takes them to get to lessons even though I keep telling them.

Also it's not a text to my phone it's a text via the school messaging system which means I have to log in to see it.

I'm at work and I don't know if it's something important or not and have to check and I can get in trouble for being on my phone too much.

Please don't think this is me saying I have no responsibility over my children's behaviour in school, of course I do but I feel that I do not need to recieve a text every time one of them is late to arrive to a lesson when I've got them into school on time.

In my day there were teachers in the hall to usher kids to their lessons?

😂

At my DC secondary, it's a straight detention for being late to a lesson. Without good reason, it says, but the kids rarely get to explain why they are late.
I've found after one detention each, they have stopped being late.
Is there no sanction on the DC at all, just the message to the parent?

@SirAlfredSpatchcock - in a nutshell!

Exactly.

It’s not a ‘what happens at school, stays at school’ situation.

Op’s kids are causing disruption. She needs to know, so that she (and the kids’ dad) can do something about it at home.

It is so hard for some kids to on time for every lesson, especially the younger ones. The corridors are massive and crowded, they get lost etc. If there is no leeway from the teachers I don't know how they expect them to teleport from one end of the school to the other.

But yes, have a word with your kids and find out what the problem is.

I think YANBU because really, you don't need to be automatically texted umpteen times, a teacher should email/call you for a discussion if your kid/kids have a problem with consistent lateness within the school.

As for PP saying "if there were something important, the school would phone"...not necessarily...

DS2's school had boiler issues earlier this year, involving kids being sent home as soon as they turned up (sometimes by bus/taxi), being told "it's fixed" then an hour later "it broke again" etc.

All the communication from the school was via the app - when I phoned the school about arrangements for DS2, they didn't pass it on and his teacher messaged me on the app about it!

It is the school's job to make sure their students are punctual to lessons. I think that school pushing that onto parents and telling them to make sure their kid doesn't do it gives the kid no agency nor any responsibility to do it themselves.

It is the parent's job to make sure they have enough to eat outside school and make important decisions about the child's development, and make sure that conditions at home are good for learning. I don't think that's a difficult distinction.

No teacher expects a child to "teleport" 🙄
If the whole class is a little bit late, there's an issue in the corridor or whatever. Fine. If everyone else is seated and registered and someone turns up, there's a problem with the child.
Teachers understand the issues of moving around a school site. We are also aware of repeat offenders.
If 3 siblings have a problem, it needs to be looked in to.

Moreover, I think the elephant in the room may be in your assuming that the teachers don't want to annoy you with the messages.

They will know very well that just grumbling and muttering about it in the staff room will do nothing whatsoever to resolve it; but by sending you messages that you likely will find annoying, whenever you need to address a problem with your children, they will be hoping that it will spur you to action - to prevent yourself receiving the regular irritating messages, even if you really don't care about your kids behaving properly or the teachers being prevented from doing their jobs.

@Spinet the parent needs to investigate with the children exactly what this problem is, and remain in communication with the school.

What would you be expecting the parent to do? Punish them at home for being late to lessons?
My DC has rather too many punishments at school for all kinds of things (forgetting pen, shirt not tucked in, etc) as two instances lead to detention - I never have to double punish at home. And as I said above, late to a lesson is a straight detention, I never have to be involved in that (though I do get an email!)

Being late for school or not having correct uniform is somewhat more in my hands, but really I'd expect a 15 year old to take this on board themselves and accept a punishment at school if they don't.

This is so true, I remember having a nightmare at secondary sometimes, especially with "stairs for going up, stairs for going down, one way hall ways" etc making the journey longer or if you had to shower and get changed after PE (we had to change into swim suits to shower after PE and therefore get changed twice!)

I cannot begin to explain what a massive issue lateness and internal truancy is in schools at the moment and the impact it has on lessons.

But OP is specifically talking about older children - and thus expecting them to have a level of responsibility, albeit that isn't supported and disciplined at home.

Nobody is expecting a 5 or 6yo child to know exactly where they need to be at all times and never to make a mistake or get confused/anxious about it.

I suppose detentions are one way to go , although someone has to staff these detentions. From the magical spare time teachers have.
Another way is for parents to teach their children respect for others , and school, and not to meet up for a chat with their mates in the corridor, nor stop to Snapchat etc, go on social media. Or go to the water fountain and flick water everywhere. Or stop for a quick vape in the toilets. Just walk from a to b so that the teacher can check the register quickly and the lesson can start within minutes. Even the newest S1 ( Scotland) learns their way around within a very short time.

Your kids are causing disruption to your working day. Sort it out with them!

But if the lateness is being reported via an automated message every time someone is put down as "late" in the register, it removes all context.

OP doesn't know if half the class were late after sprinting the long way round school, or if her kid fucked off to a vending machine and was the only one late, or what.

An email/phone call from a teacher saying "we know it can be hard to get from Classroom A to Classroom Z, but Harry is late much more often than the others in his year group and rarely has a good excuse" would give OP a clearer picture.

Teachers used to usher kids to class because they mess about.

But kids also get detained by teachers after class, or get caught by the school bully on the way to class. Or they may need to go to the toilet, especially if they've been told not to disrupt lessons by asking in class.

Gosh yes, showers after PE !
Doesn't happen now, no time, although on another thread this week some people seem to be happy with their children wearing their PE kit to school, and all day after PE. 🤢ever been into a classroom of sweaty adolescents?

No. You misunderstand.
If it's the whole class, the individual child will not be registered as late.
If they are, it means that everyone else has arrived and they haven't.
It is communicating a problem to the parent. They then need to ask the children what the problem is.
No parent needs a "contextual email".
If the child is always later than other children, it's a problem.

I think the school should be more responsible for things that happen at school than the parent.

If the child is sick at school, then I would respect their judgement that the child should be sent home.
Obviously school would not be involved in the evening meal.

I wouldn't know what I could actually do to stop my child being late to a lesson. Of course I can remind them of the importance of punctuality and I could say "no playstation if you're late again" but I would rather this was dealt with at school if it was an occasional thing, but would like to be involved if it was a more serious problem, like, he's always late for history, or late for a lesson on a daily basis.
The consequence of a punishment at school, missing lunchtime, detention or whatever is more relevant to the "crime" than something a parent would impose.

Would school send something urgent on the school messaging system? My children's school uses the messaging system a lot, but for urgent things - like when my child has to go home early, school will ring me.

But ALL messages that they send will be important to a greater or lesser extent. They aren't texting you to ask if you want to claim for being mis-sold PPI or to buy a duster for £35!

For something like boiler problems, snow days etc, a mass message is an ideal method of informing everybody quickly and efficiently. What else should they do - get all the staff to set up an ad-hoc call centre to phone every parent with the same message, and then find that lots of parents don't answer, or otherwise complain about being disturbed at work when they do?!

On the other hand, if your child had an accident or a medical episode requiring serious treatment (other than maybe a plaster or a couple of puffs of their inhaler before quickly feeling much better), THIS is when I'd expect them to call the parents.

Personally I don’t think you can opt out of these texts .

I presume they are auto generated by electronic registers - so if the kid not marked as being there - the computer automatically sends a text.

If your kid has a genuine emergency at school - I’m pretty confident they would pick up the phone and call you . If it’s a text about the school trip / school fair / another reminder about appropriate uniform etc you again don’t have to interrupt your day and log in / action it that second .

log in at your convenience - if they have been late with no plausible reason - you bollock them / sanction them as you feel fit.

…don’t let their automated system ruin your day!

Personally I don’t think you can opt out of these texts .

True, you probably can't; but there IS a very easy way to avoid receiving them!