Are detentions compulsory?

[greengreytrue]

DS13 is getting a lot of detentions due to behaviours that we are working on.

Some of these are for such petty reasons that I’m inclined to say he won’t be attending e.g. shirt had come untucked twice.

Where do we stand?

Depends on the school I guess but ours would be fine with email from parent saying it can’t be done today and moving it to next day

Guidance to schools in England is that they can give a pupil an after-school detention without notice provided the pupil can get home safely afterwards. They should, however, ensure the detention is reasonable. Making the pupil miss a sports practice is generally regarded as reasonable, but making them miss a medical appointment may be unreasonable.

For clarity, the Education Act 1997 made it clear that schools in England and Wales do not need parental consent to impose a detention outside school hours. However, there was a requirement to give parents 24 hours notice of any such detention. Some parents used this to effectively block detentions if they did not agree with them. The requirement to give notice still applies in Wales, but it was removed in England by the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

Go where? Secondary schools are quite similar in their OTT behaviour policies these days (O say this as the wife of a deputy headteacher). Children should be able to attend a local school and the riles/sanctions should be reasonable. Female teachers often wear un-tucked shirts/blouses. It’s really not the end if the world. My children wear shirts at Leo art school and they are un-tucked 95% of the time - why would they suddenly be able to keep them tucked in 1 year mater at secondary?
I would decline the detention and tell the school to give you a call if they want to discuss OP.

Bizarre how many people think 'being properly dressed' is an unreasonable expectation.

To set out the legal situation again, a parent cannot decline a detention in England. Schools are not required to give notice of detentions and, whether they do or not, they can impose them regardless of parental consent (or lack thereof).

I can see the same AI generated response on google too 😆
In practice, decline the detention, attend a meeting and set out your concerns, raise a complaint about disproportionality if needs be. You’ll soon find less detentions are being given for BS. Speaking from experience as a parent, ex-governor and wife of a deputy headteacher.

You need to speak to the school about reasonable adjustments for uniform

I don't need AI to tell me the law. My response has nothing to do with AI and everything to do with knowing the law in England, specifically the Education and Inspections Act 2006 S92. The school does not have to give any notice of a detention and it can be imposed regardless of parental consent. With most schools, you won't even get a chance to decline a detention. It will simply happen.

the law (nearly set out at the top of your google search) and what happens in practice are two very different things. If the detention is after school eg, a school will almost certainly give notice. And regardless of notice, if the child decides not to go and the parents support that, there’s very little the school will be able to do for a rule break like an untucked shirt. The LA will expect the school to work with parents where there’s a disagreement like this.

Shirts do become untucked. Especially for active mobile teenagers.
Personally I think being given a detention for something like that is ridiculous and I disagree with people who say it's a bad lesson to encourage a child to question rules or to make a child think some rules are more important than others because some rules are more important than others. Schools who have Draconian rules for uniform infringement are not doing the children any favours

And if the children are brought up to respect rules and understand actions have consequences they don’t break them. I suspect in most cases it’s the short is out and the child reacted rudely when asked to tuck it in which gave the detention. I’ve had 3 teens, they rarely give the full story

I'm 100% positive that @prh47bridge didn't need to do a google search to know the law about detentions, @PurplGirl

Do you currently have any children in a strict secondary school in the UK?
If so, you would know it’s not that black and white.
I have 3 teens and one of them goes to a ridiculously strict school. So much so that it’s actually making them hate school. My other two kids are fine as their schools are firm but reasonable.
The strict school for example if they see your shirt untucked once it’s detention. If you turn to look at the clock behind you, or turn your head to a pupil behind you, detention. If you drop your pencil, detention. If you don’t have a working whiteboard marker (say yours ran out during that day) detention. If you accidentally drop a piece of litter and don’t notice right away, detention. If another kid tells you to shhh in class (even if you arnt talking - they are trying to get you in trouble) detention. If you try to question a teacher on anything you’ve been told off about or ask for further info, even in a pleasant tone, it’s seen as defiance- longer detention. If you are 1 min late to class- for any reason, detention. Shoe broke on a Wednesday night- you go in plain black trainers for 1 day whilst new shoes are being bought- detention.
Thats just a few examples but there are many many more. Some kids who are just a bit fidgety or forget they arnt meant to reply to another pupil in lesson, or who are a bit disorganised are in detention every lunch/ after school and on Saturdays.
So it goes beyond sensible and reasonable rules and some schools are far harsher than others, so you really can’t judge.

If he requires reasonable adjustments then you may have a case.

you would need to have a meeting with the school. And set out your concerns that the school is not working effectively with the family and what can we do about this….. all very polite and professional at this stage. No refusing detentions or encouraging child to break the rules. Negotiations from the pov of a concerned family who really want everyone to pull together…..

Not the case at all. As my above post explains. Some schools are far far stricter than others.

I’ m 100% positive that her wording was almost identical to the AI generated google search hit 😀

So? Presumably google knows the law too. I posted pretty much the same thing yesterday and I didn't google it either.

I wouldn't know that as I didn't bother with a Google search. I don't need Google, AI or anything else to tell me anything about education law.

My DS has detentions for the most ridiculous and petty things too, like walking home in 30 plus degrees in summer having removed his blazer and rolled up the sleeves on his shirt. Teachers was stationed to catch this sort of serious breech of uniform policy (in short sleeved themselves ofc). I couldn’t be asked to fight these detentions, but I had zero respect for the school and the teachers and was sooo happy once he was at uni and in the adult world. The pettiness was insane. This was a grammar school.

Don’t know about your school but the uniform rules at our secondary school weren’t anywhere near as petty as some of them seem to be today.

Your child isn't special to anyone else but you. The school rule apply to them. If you don't like the school rules maybe you need to find a different school. Alternately, you could home school him that way you can make your own rules and deal with his bad behaviour yourself. If he was my kid I'd be furious that he's wasting everyone's time with his defiant and disruptive behaviours. Even detentions need staffing and managing. Staff would much prefer to do their marking a planning without your precious to deal with.

Sure

Yes, indeed, sometimes people do just know what they're talking about. Perhaps you should do a search to realise why what you said was so silly.

No they are not my son is autistic and he doesn’t get any detentions.

In the school where I work we have a rule that shirts should be tucked in. I frequently encounter pupils with their shirts adrift, particularly after lunch or break. I say to them 'John, could you tuck in your shirt please?' They say 'OK miss' and we both get on with our day. If there is a different response that may escalate to a detention. If your son is getting a detention merely for having his shirt untucked unawares then you would be right to query this with the school. If he is getting a detention for challenging teachers when he is asked to tuck in his shirt then he needs to realise that his reaction has led to the detention .