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?

YABU, it sounds like there is probably an issue with the culture at school and kids not being punctual generally if they’re having a big push on it. Does my head in as a teacher, you get some superstars always on time and cracking on straight away, but loads going for a meander or to chat to friends on the way with no urgency. And a couple rocking up ten minutes in with no understanding of why I’m annoyed by this! I’ve had the utterly ridiculous situation where children have been the first one there and then said “I’m early, there’s no one here” and walked off until their friends show up!!

What I wish parents would do is sit their kids down and say this is just ridiculous, I don’t care what your friends are doing, YOU personally need to be on time to lessons unless you have a good reason. If I don’t see an improvement by the weekend I will insert consequence here

I’m concerned by the number who seemed to think YANBU, with the exception of one particularly delightful year 10 group my lessons easily start 5-10 minutes later than they really should due to punctuality issues in my school. The amount of lost learning over a year is depressing!

They're not expecting you to physically get them to their lesson on time. They're expecting you to support the school and put a rocket up them.
Direct your annoyance at your kids for being late and disrupting the lesson and you at work. Once your kids make the effort to get there on time you'll no longer be disturbed at work

If you keep getting these messages, it appears there is a persistent issue.

What reasons do your children give for their ongoing lateness and what consequences have there been for them interrupting your work day?

How have you proposed to work with the school to sort this out?

Sounds like the school is doing the right thing.

So 9 times out of 10 when I got these emails about my DC the info was wrong. For example he might have had a music lesson, this does not count as an absence or late if the teacher has been informed. He had always informed the teacher. Sometimes he was taking a class test that had overrun because he has extra time and uses a laptop. Again information ha md always been given.

What sanctions are the school putting in place?

The hundreds of years ago that I was at school, you weren't ever late because there were expectations that you followed the rules or you were punished.

Unless you wanted the punishment you did as you were told.

What are the chances that all 3 children are constantly late for almost every lesson? This sounds like a technology problem / mis-reporting to me.

fatphalange · Today 11:09 "They are letting you know so that when you're inevitably brought into a meeting and if it continues, prosecuted, you can't say you didn't know there were attendance issues."

You think the OP could be prosecuted if her children continue to be late to lessons, although she always ensures they are never late to school? Really?

So what is your school doing about it?

The fact that so few people have pointed this out is a perfect illustration of how the Post Office got it so wrong over Horizon! If an IT system is suddenly reporting all sorts of unusual activity, the chances are that it's not what it says on the tin!

Delete the app and tell the school your household is completely detoxing from devices.

Not nearly enough, in my personal opinion. I think there should be far more detentions issued than happens currently! All that seems to happen is SLT walk around nicely asking students to go to their lessons. Years ago it was super strict and same day detentions were issued - I hate punitive punishments but equally suspect it would instantly solve 90% of lateness.

I think you should tell them that any communication unless an emergency is to be emailed to you. That way you can read through it quickly. Obviously start punishing dc for being late.

This is the school's job not yours.

Your kids should be in class on time.
Time to discipline them. The school
can do so much, but ultimately you’re responsible for them. You need to be told and be made aware that they have not been on time.
Getting access to education is a privilege many people in other parts of the world have no access to. The disrespect to teachers in this country is staggering.

When teens are late to lessons at my child’s school it is mostly due to being let out late from the previous lesson. I was told this by a head of department, totally agree they should get to lessons on time but they should also not be punished for not arriving on time when it’s out of their control.

My secondary age children get lunchtime detention, after school detention, Friday after school detention, Saturday detention in progression for each minor transgression, which would include late to lessons without a decent excuse. Eventually the school would be talking about suspension if it was a persistent problem. It is a private school though. I don't understand why this school isn't doing the same thing. How can you expect a parent to discipline a child for a 'crime' that happens in school when they're not there and they don't have the full context of what/why it happenned?

Ok if you get alerted to an incident like no homework, fighting etc I would be coming down on them at home and putting in appropriate sanctions, but I would expect the school to be doing that as well already? Other than ask the children why this keeps happening, whether they think it's accurate or not and then giving them a bollocking about time keeping and respect if they cop to it, what is this parent meant to do if she's getting multiple alerts per week?

Teachers don’t send out these messages, they log the minutes late and the admin have to send them out. Definitely give your kids a home sanction or allow them to continue being late to lessons and expect to get messages

I agree with the OP. Once they are in school, the school should have their own sanctions to deal with persistent lateness (if that is indeed what is happening).

OP I would ignore the text messages during the day, as there's nothing you can do about it.

However, if it were my kids, I'd be having some very tough discussions with in the evenings about what's going on at school and how their behaviours is now disrupting my day.

I'm a teacher, btw.

This.

That’s entirely possible. The OP hasn’t mentioned that the school have been wrong on the occasions they have messaged her, so maybe she will find this is the case when she follows up with the school.

But imagine this happening every day and by multiple pupils ? When your job is to teach said pupils. It gets very wearing and is unfair on the rest of them who easily manage to get to class promptly.

Honestly I just wouldnt read them during the day. The school would call if there was an emergency.

Maybe complain to your children that them not getting their arses to lessons on time is resulting in these texts, rather than complaining to the school that you’re receiving them. They’re all at least 11, they need to get their shit together to be on time to lessons. What are they doing that’s making them late?

This.

Sanctions at home as their lateness is starting to affect your work life.
If their actions are causing you issues, then they get sanctions at home.
Consequence of their actions.

They don't want the sanctions - they get to lessons on time.

This is between lessons, walking from one lesson to another.