Given detention for lateness on tube strike day

[Longingdreamer]

My child was given a detention today, despite there being a tube strike in London, which has caused travel chaos. They early but were apparently still late: roads are almost at a standstill it seems.

They get very upset by detentions, due to underlying neuro diversity.

Aibu to think that the school shouldn't give these on a strike day for minor lateness?

They usually give them, even if a child is only 1 minute late, but it seems wicked when it is out of their control.

You are an adult im presuming not a 12 year old child.

If there's transport running, why can a twelve year old not get on it?

Strangely the kids from city of london school managed to get in.They were everywhere in rush hour.

Well you can't get on a bus if it's full, no matter whether you are 12 or 45.

Those outside of London don’t appreciate the rest of us not having a tube system at all

Having lived all over the U.K. - you really need to understand that in the event of a tube strike traffic is gridlocked. Not “that journey took twice as long as normal” gridlocked. Not moving in 40 minutes gridlocked.

I live outside of London, but even I understand that the number of people living and working in London and relying on public transport is absolutely vast compared to pretty much anywhere else.

Approximately one million people use the tube at the time that OP 's DC would be going to school (there are four million tube trips per day) Adding a million people to the number who already use the buses and taxis at peak time, means that the transport system simply won't cope.

It's bizarre that so many people on this thread can't see that.

Lots of those children wouldn’t have used the tube to get in. Where I live and my journey in isn’t impacted at all.

Some kids dont do well with change. Regardless of how much you prepare them. Gotta love ableism.

They may well have been everywhere at rush hour, but you don't have the first idea whether they ALL got in on time. For starters the school's pupils will be coming in from very different addresses. Some of them will have had straightforward journeys or been able to walk. Others on much busier bus routes or caught in gridlocks.

As I said in an earlier post, in the late afternoon I witnessed 11 year old pulls begging to be let on a bus that was packed and refusing more passengers.

Yes, and a lot of them use the district line.It depends where you live.

Mansion House is the closest station district and circle line.

I think it’s really unfair. My secondary school child was five mins late because of the tube strike - and so were half the children! He didn’t get a detention.

Is her school one of the known, strict, London academies?

The roads are insane in London right now and journey times are completely unpredictable. Traffic everywhere, bus service is reduced as some drivers can’t get to work without the tube, queues at bus stops. I met a friend at a hobby yesterday and it took her 90 mins on the bus to get there when it would normally take 30!

The teachers may have been close to on time, but “on time” for the teachers is probably 8am as opposed to 9am for kids - and aiming to arrive at 8am will always mean you’ll be leaving when there is less traffic.

Of course, but it’s not much further from Old Street or Blackfriars. Knowing teens lots probably get the district from Blackfriars to save them a few minutes more walk.

Those saying you should cycle - you have no idea of what the Op's child's route to school is like.

We're in London too and my child generally has a 50 minute commute via tube & train. The most direct route to cycle would take her through some rather dodgy bits of London.

I wonder if there will be detention today!

Absolutely ridiculous. This is clearly outside DC's control and should not be punished. However much we may value punctuality it is inevitable that everyone will be late for something at aome point for reasons they couldn't control. To punish for this, imo, devalues punishment when there is no valid reason.

As for the people who would endanger a child by sending them into gridlocked london streets on a bike (presumably inexperienced) or have them set off in the small hours, I have no words. All to avoid a power-tripper giving them a detention. FFS.

The reality is that if you live in London you need to know how to get to your destination via different routes and get creative, because things like this are not uncommon. And kids who live here need to realise this and also realise that there’s not always leeway for them to be late and if that means getting going at least an hour earlier, so be it.

If it’s Michaela or one of its ilk, parents are told very clearly at open days what the rules are and that exceptions wont be made.

of course it’s unfair. But you get the benefits of this approach as well as the downfalls. There are lots of both.

it wouldn’t be the school I’d choose to send kids to or, as a secondary school teacher, to work in, but you chose it with presumably full understanding of its methodology, ethics and working practices.

You’re not being unreasonable to think it’s unfair, but this treatment of students is all upfront - honestly, I believe you need to teach a child what to expect before she starts a school like this so it’s depersonalised to an extent. Exceptions aren’t made, that’s how they work. And it’s why they aren’t the best schools for many students but serve others very well.

And kids who live here need to realise this and also realise that there’s not always leeway for them to be late and if that means getting going at least an hour earlier, so be it.

This was the sort of day where you could leave an hour early and still be 5 minutes late if you were lucky. Kids have no choice about where they live. They're not magically competent at 11, and no amount of competence is going to get them somewhere reliably on time when grown adults can't. Adults who are treated with understanding and accommodation when they can't.

Totally unreasonable expectation of children. Who have no choice about where they live, and families often have precious little choice about where they go to school.

As a teacher, I can promise you we do indeed ‘rock up late’ during tube strikes.

If you haven’t worked in London during a tube strike, then you might not understand the extent of the chaos.

I never said they would learn this by magic on day 1. But now this kid knows a) that the journey is taking longer than she thought and b) she gets a detention if she’s late. So now she knows to leave earlier.

Grown adults should be able to work this out. And yes, I’ve lived in London forever, through many tube strikes, terrorist alerts and all the rest of it. Never left the house without my mini A-Z. Nowadays we all have phones that can help us find a new route.

Do I think the detention is fair? Not really. But schools aren’t a democracy, parents and pupils sign up to their rules so best to crack on and find new ways to do things.

DLR was running, astonishingly that didn’t help anyone on my side of London. The roads become gridlocked, the buses are caught up despite bus lanes and they have nothing like the required capacity. Working around one or even two tube lines suspended is BAU for any London commuters. All of them closed makes commuting impossible for many of the multi millions commuting into town.

Many of the CoL pupils will not be commuting by tube, a sizeable number tube dependent will not have made it.

Just because you found a route does not mean that everyone can.

It's not Micheal, but similarities in ethos.

It wasn't the school I chose: again, it is common in London to be allocated a school that was not a preference, due to schools being oversubscribed. We missed our top preference by under 100m. Choice is a bit of an illusion for many Londoners.

She is off sick today, likely due to the anxiety caused by yesterday. Again, completely counterproductive for the school. They could have allowed her to be a few minutes late, but instead she is off for the whole day.

Actually the transport problems in London because of the tube strikes this week ARE uncommon. I don’t know where you live, but it is insane out there. Every line is striking. There aren’t as many buses and they’re full. The roads are blocked up with people driving or taking taxis instead. Bikes also everywhere - but biking looks pretty unsafe if you’re not confident.

Send your child to school with a sleeping bag and a packed dinner and tell the teachers that they'll be sleeping over in the school buildings tonight to make sure they're on time for school tomorrow.

If they object, tell them to quote the example of the surgeon given upthread 😂.

Some people are completely bonkers.