Keeping kids in to finish work

[Verbena37]

Hi,
Quick question.....
DS yr6 came home yesterday saying he had been given a lunchtime detention. What he actually meant was he had been kept in during his lunch time for not completing his English work in class.

He said he didn't understand the task and they didn't have long to do it and his writing has always been slower than his reading and comprehension work.

However, the school's own behaviour and discipline policy states that if a child misbehaves, they are given a verbal warning then their name is written on the board....adding a mark for every minute they're naughty and adding up those minutes to break time lost.

No wonder he thought it was a detention!
I've written an email I haven't sent yet because surely, as his teacher, if he can't complete the task in the expected time, she should be thinking perhaps he found it hard and needs more support with it.....rather than missing the only time he actually at school....break time!!

Depends entirely on whether he was just struggling, or struggling and so therefore chose to mess about.

As long as he was fed, I'd be supporting the school in the case of the latter.

No, he wasn't messing about at all.

I think you should discuss this with your DS, told him this is not a detention. But as the English work is important to be finished, so the teacher has asked him to finish it during breaktime.

The most important part is to find out, does this happen a lot? If so, what can he do to improve it? If he didn't understand the task, can he ask the teaher to explain it straight away. If he write it slowly, can he practice writing quickly at home. ( I think this is important, as exam time is always the same for everyone, if you are a slow writer, then you may not be able to finish writing in exam). If you are not happy for him to be kept in the class room to finish it, then what time can he finish it, maybe talk to teacher to bring it home to finish it?

How do you know for definite he wasn't messing around or just being lazy? The amount of times I've had a child do very little work but when they're presented with the option of finishing it at break they suddenly race through and get an appropriate amount done.
I have no problem keeping children in to finish work. I've had parents who have but I've told them that if they don't miss their own time to finish it then they can take it home. Surprisingly they tend to go for the break/lunch option.

I try not to keep kids in. Quite frankly they're a bit of a nuisance when you're racing round trying to cram a million things into your lunch break while inhaling a sandwich. One of my colleagues has (different) people in most days.

That's why in my email wombat, I've explained that of course it's appropriate if he was messing about.
He isn't lazy and hates to not finish work as he hates being singled out for anything.

Had a reply and it seems he wasn't messing about and because time had over ran during the lesson and quote a few kids hadn't finished, they were asked to stay behind to complete it. He just took longer than the rest!

Thanks for your replies.