To tell the school my child will NOT go to detention..

[Nataliaa]

DD year 7 has been given a 30 minute detention tomorrow afternoon, after school. Since starting secondary, she has received 2 detentions- 1 for forgetting her PE shorts and 1 for not completing homework.
I fully supported the school and the consequences DD had to face on these 2 occasions. She did learn from each time and since then, she has always been organised with PE kit and completing homework.
DD is well behaved, works hard and all school reports have been brilliant so we have no concerns.

Back to today… it is 31 degrees and the school allowed blazers to be left at home, but still expected the children to be in their shirt, ties and trousers (the school recently banned skirts, and does not allow shorts so all children are in trousers. All year round)

During lunch break, DD loosened her tie and untucked her shirt as she was so hot and sweaty… and then forgot to tuck in her shirt and redo tie before going back in.
She walked into English and straight away the teacher told her to tuck the shirt in and do tie, which she did.
Then whilst sat down she untucked the shirt again… she then got up for something and the teacher noticed the shirt untucked and as she had already been told once, she was given the detention.
DD tried to explain she was just so hot and sweaty, she felt she couldn’t concentrate and loosening the shirt helped.. she was then told off for answering back.

I do not agree with this detention at all. Other local schools have let kids go in wearing PE kits in this heat. The teacher was not wearing shirt and tie- she was wearing a floaty and cool summer dress.
I can’t think for the life of me how an untucked shirt would affect DD’s education, and why it’s more important to stick to a strict dress code rather than doing whatever is comfortable in this heat!!

I have never been in the position to disagree with the school, and not sure what would happen if I refuse to let DD go to this detention… also not sure if that’s setting the wrong message to DD, as I always encourage following school rules!!

Any advice? Is this a hill worth dying on? What would you do?

The way English schools behave over uniform is nuts.

I would absolutely not send her to a detention for this. It's insane. In fact I think I'd be complaining that their uniform policy is potentially dangerous to health in this heat

Sounds ridiculous, I'd be phoning the school about that. What a waste of time.

Ours are allowed to wear their pe kits today and tomorrow, YANBU.

Yeah I'd be contacting the HOY on this one to advise DC will not be attending.

Totally OTT.

Yanbu but good luck in fighting it. My DCs sadly go to a school where they are ridiculous about uniform. I will never understand it but complaining about it has got me nowhere.

It really is isn’t it?! I’ve always been baffled by ties being compulsory in so many schools. Why do they need to be dressed like they’re off to the office at 11 years old? Their uniform is certainly not designed with comfort in mind. DD’s primary uniform was just polo shirt and school sweater/ cardigan. Any grey skirt or trousers. Red summer dress from spring term onwards. No idea why that kind of uniform can’t be implemented in secondary!

It wasn’t the untucked shirt. It was the answering back. But I agree it’s too warm for collar and tie.

YANBU. Contact the HOY. When I was teaching, on hot days ties were not expected and untucked shirts were ignored.

She was told to tuck her shirt in the she deliberately undid it when teacher wasnt looking - that could be construed as basically giving the teacher the finger

True! I was quite surprised DD spoke back like that, as it is not her usual nature! Think she was so hot and irritable.

Sounds like she was rude, answered back and repeated the behaviour she had initially been reminded about. School are being completely reasonable.

Agreed. Us Scots just look on aghast. See also fines for a few days off.

And then she answered back.

whilst I think a tie and a shorts ban is ridiculous, I think your daughter was cheeky here. This isn’t about the uniform, it’s about her attitude.

Yeah, it's not really about the shirt, it's answering teachers back about anything.
I think I'd do the detention but I'd try to push a bit more on permission to loosen tie/shirt for the rest of the term.

No I wouldn’t do anything. She disobeyed the teacher, she takes the punishment- even if it is a bit harsh.

@Nataliaa they aren’t dressed like they are off to the office - I work in a large law firm and people very rarely wear suits and ties these days.

Can you ask for risk assessment of how they manage heat in classroom with such a silly uniform rule?

I would let her do the detention for answering back but would query their uniform policy

And also not really having catchment areas and kids being spread across different schools.

am also Scottish

Do you know if the other kids managing to wear the uniform without complaint?

I do agree in general about relaxing uniform requirements on days that are unusually hot, seems a bit anal to be so strict irrespective of the bigger picture.

i remember being shocked when I moved to Scotland. Kids wearing hot pants to school and having their ties loosened. I wore my black jeans.

when I lived in England they were sooo strict about uniform, and shoes had to be bought from an approved place, everything with school logo on

Yes but the Scottish education system is currently in the toilet so .....

Yabu, as the detention is for breaking a rule again two seconds after she was told not to, and answering back.

I would maybe ask for clarification and speak to the teacher involved before you decide if you want to die on this hill. Get the whole story.

Your child will only be telling their side of the story. Maybe she was rude.

Nothing to fight. School is told she isn’t attending the detention.