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.

From what I remember the OP has said her DD has been on the waiting lists for other schools for several years, and they don't intend to send her younger siblings there.

Just in case you are building up to say 'why don't you move her then?'. Unfortunately 'parent choice' is more of a myth than a reality.

i had already seen that

my question was whether her daughter was happy there

no more. No less

Also … buses were not running… many buses were terminating earlier and affecting the bus routes…. I waited 35 minutes for a bus that didn’t turn up… on the countdown it kept saying it was coming … but never arrived…. Those days it was all so unpredictable.

most of the people in agreement with school most likely do not live in London and have never had to navigate such a strike …

I think it's just a turn of phrase......not literally meaning evil lol

I actually find it quite abusive behaviour on behalf of the school … which is kind of evil …. It’s a very spiteful response to a situation out of everyone’s control

In my son’s school they don’t give detentions when there are unpredictable issues with public transport. What on earth does a detention teach the child in this situation?
Leave at 4am just in case?

I never said that. I have issues with their Draconian punishments.

My daughter is happy with some aspects: she has brilliant friends. With a ND child that is very important, and for that reason she is no longer on waiting lists for other schools. It's a bit of an academic point anyway, as nowhere has space.

I have told them I don't want my child to be doing these detentions. I don't know that we can refuse them. The school keeps on escalating if a child doesn't attend detention (rising to exclusion then suspension with worrying speed)

Op, you said you used to live near the school but moved?
Is moving back an option? I suspect that this situation will come up a fair amount over the years.

Our old school would have around 100 kids in detention every day, for silly reasons. I once said that as one was due to a fatal accident closing the route, and many kids were late for something uncontrollable, they should at least give the detention to me as I was the driver.

What on earth does a detention teach the child in this situation?

It teaches them that there's no point in trying, they'll be in detention anyway so why bother. It teaches them teachers are unreasonable and not to be trusted. It teaches them school is the enemy.

This. My DS lives in North London and works at an FE college, also in North London. Normally takes him an hour by tube to and from work. He messaged on Monday evening to say it had taken 3 hours and 10 minutes to get to work in the morning (so was late, despite leaving extra-extra early) and 3 and a half hours to get back that evening (after the bus they were on was suddenly terminated with lots of stops left to go and they all had to get off and walk). He said it was bedlam at all the bus stops he saw with people waiting. It's over 8 miles from his flat to the college, and he has bags and resources to carry, so walking isn't practical (and still would have taken over 3 hours anyway) and cycling is similarly impractical.

So I fully understand why the OP's DD wasn't able to be punctual. I've worked in education too, and fully appreciate the need for discipline and maintaining standards and expectations in behaviour and punctuality, but - as my DS and others have said - it was the total suspension of practically every service that made this strike worse than others previously. (And he's thanking his lucky stars he moved colleges to North London last year - before that he was commuting across the river to South London - dread to think how the strokes affected those with that kind of commute 😟)

May as well leave at the usual time and be thoroughly late, if leaving early and being 5 minutes late will get the same punishment.

You can carry lots of stuff on bicycles

Of course, some people go on cycling holidays, carrying tents, sleeping bags etc

On the other hand most people accept that it reasonable and proportionate to expect people to do their best in exceptional circumstances, and expect a certain amount of disruption.

A great lesson in life. It’s not the schools fault that there’s a tube strike, in as much as it’s not an employers fault. He should have left earlier

I'm just saying bicycles aren't as impractical as pps make out. London, like paris has really upped its game when it comes to cycling infrastructure, it seems crazy to dimiss it as an option in this day and age.

They have draconian punishments
They often refuse to make reasonable me adjustments to those with a very valid need
You don’t have faith in SENCO
and I sure as hell will not be sending my younger children to this school.

I read it as you could not stand the school. I don’t think I would in your shoes!

Great she’s happy there at least

Out of curiosity.. how much earlier? Half an hour? And hour? Two… three?

Because OP’s child did leave earlier! She was only 5 minutes late.

Plenty of adults, including teachers, were HOURS late. The world kept spinning.

Sometimes people think things in life are unfair.

not all employers would tolerate lateness by even 5 minutes, certainly 8n the private sector, where there is much less tolerance.

Resilience is important, it’s only a detention. Move on

I have just got a bicycle because I have a route with good cycle lanes (so good it is mostly along a National Cycle Route). In between lanes I will cycle on the pavement and give way abd apologise to pedestrians. Although it annoys me when cyclists are on pavements! But I don't trust drivers.

DD's school route doesn't have cycle lanes. It will freeze over in hell before I let her cycle in. I would rather have her alive, thanks, than on time during a Tube strike.

Claiming that EVERY school child had cycling as a option (health matters aside, there is no health reason DD could not cycle) is ridiculous. Some routes are well served, others are downright dangerous.

As i said in a previous post, a friend's sons cycle daily. There are no cycle routes from home to school, but they use quiet residential streets. One of them has still been knocked off his bike, and the driver didn't stop.

Christ, I'm saying it's not that simple and you know it isn't! Yes, in some cases, in some locations getting another bus may have worked out. It also may not. There's no guarantee it would have done here - and presumably if it were that simple that's what OP and her daughter would have done.

Yup, no guarantee.

Yes, that's the point. It was unpredictable. So not a case of "you should have made an effort '. Because making an effort didn't necessarily mean getting there in time.

Ok, some employers are arseholes (in some cases the time precision is crucial, but hardly in all cases). Is it better to raise a next generation to put up and shut up, getting used to that the school or employer have a right to be unfair, or to raise the next generation (including next generation of employers) in understanding that life is complex, in some cases it really depends on the timelines and in some cases we give it a good try, but the world doesn't stop if it doesn't work by a few minutes?