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.

Cheers

Definitely not fair with the strikes at the moment. It’s crazy out there.

Our school are very strict on lateness and they give detentions if anyone arrives after the bell even if it’s 10 seconds after. If it’s because of travel issues parents can email the school to let them know and then the child doesn’t have to sit the detention. I have had to do it a few times due to traffic issues.

OP said it in an earlier comment

Surgeons who arrive at work late due to a tube strike don't get put in detention.

I haven't RTFT but I hope 8 pages doesn't mean people think it's absolutely fine when everyone knows it's unfair.

Also school and work are fuck all alike and it's not 'practice' at all. Stop telling kids this utter bullshit.

I don’t understand why people are banging on about cycling with no knowledge of where OPs house is or where the school is?

Having cycled before in London I can assure you the cycle lanes are extremely sporadic and usually are shared with busses which constantly stop meaning you have to enter the main road. There are accidents all the time in London and I have seen many people be knocked off. It’s not a good option unless you are extremely confident. Bike theft is also horrendous.

Due to disability? If so should be appealed on grounds of reasonable adjustment.

School is definatly not practice for work. When in work can't you go to the loo ( yes I know the nhs and emergency services but that unique) . When do you have to ask to urinate and when do you need permission to drink.

Regardless of the lateness that statement is from someone who thinks the school system works. When it really doesn't.

Twll me you have no idea how schools work with neurodiverse kids without telling me.

Yes it's school dependant. But fro. Experience. Schools don't give a toss if ita because of disability

Or have to ask to urinate

They said “they” so we must assume gender neutral or non binary surely.

School put my ds in an isolation booth when his school shoes broke and the shoe shops were closed. Covid times.. Headteacher made me facetime from our local 2 supermarkets to show they had no suitable shoes... Removed him from the school soon after.

Most employers in London have protocols for days when public transport is disrupted.

For example they'd say you are expected to walk for an hour or, if they've got multiple offices/shops go to one near home.

If @Longingdreamer's son did all they could then detention's pretty harsh. If they left home at usual time and took no precautions against travel trouble then I've less sympathy.

I just take a punt. Sometimes DD, sometimes DS. You win some, you lose some

No, she did not

The problem with rules is that they have to be consistently applied otherwise they're considered unfair.

You're asking for inconsistency because you believe that's what's fair. Your logic is flawed.

Did you send a note explaining difficulties? Did you email the attendance office? Did you email the head of year? All in advance? Or are you saying all this after the event?

The fair thing would've been for you to give the school a heads up. This isn't the first strike. You would've known what this could look like.

So yeah, maybe think forward rather than reactively backwards to apportion blame. Not great if you also already knew what am impact this would have on your kid.

That’s harsh. When I worked in schools that wouldn’t have happened. Any type of punishment for lateness was suspended if there were train or bus strikes, or if we knew of any other transport issues.

It is a bit mean to be honest my two in high school were around 5minutes late yesterday despite their bus being on time.we live a 15minute bus ride from school and they got the bus at 8.30 which would usually get them there on time for 9am. There's roadworks going on in the area which caused a lot of traffic so I've encouraged them to get the bus 20minutes earlier so even with traffic issues they'll still be at school on time. Schools aren't fussed for a few minutes on a one off basis they're more bothered about persistent lateness without a good reason

17.25 OP says “her” so that’s how I deduced she was talking about a girl. If I’m wrong, so be it.

Our school never gives a detention if you phone in and say the child is going to be late; can you call in and ask for them to be excused?

I was in central london today. There was so much other stuff working. I didn't have any problem getting in or getting home.

I'm so thankful our school are sensible about these things. First time you're late it's logged and that's all. If it's persistent without good reason then it escalates but they do recognise that sometimes something unexpected happens an a journey just takes longer than expected.

I'm reminded of the time the coach fetching our kids from a residential just failed to turn up. We were cheering the staff for working out ways through the adversity, perhaps if it was OP's school they'd have put the staff in detention when they eventually got back instead.

Bit of goodwill goes both ways.

I think it’s completely unreasonable. Concerts were cancelled for goodness sake. But you’ll get loads of cunts on here that tell you your child should have camped at school in order to be on time and questioning why he can’t walk like they’ve never heard of a disability. I would challenge the detention politely.

My school cancelled late detention today. Normally they do the detentions same day but my head is a reasonable decent human being and cancels detention when there are genuine reasons - like tube strikes !