D for Punctuality

[Olena3]

Hello,

My daughter’s school marks students for punctuality as part of the official yearly report. I have a few questions. The marking is completely subjective and arbitrary. There is no set grading policy. It is also not consistent throughout the year groups or the school. I have a son at school as well. Just what the teacher “feels”. Different teachers will give different grades.

Q: How many lates deserve the lowest grade possible? My daughter’s attendance was 95.81% but she got a D for punctuality because she was late 11 times last year. The school says an attendance of 96% “is celebrated and encouraged”.

Q: Should there be a transparent clear grading policy or is punctuality marking usually left to the teacher’s discretion?

Q: Just so I gain prospective, how many time are you guys late per year? Is a D really warranted in my case?

Q: Do all schools have a punctuality mark on the yearly report or does it differ from one school to another

Punctuality is strictly measured in accordance to policy. Being late to a lesson disrupts it for others and time matters. 11 times is quite a lot. Does it really matter what the score was? It’s not something that ever shows up on a CV. Work on her not being late again.

My son is in year 11 and has never been late. We know we have potential issues getting him in some days so always time things so we have a lot of leeway.

11 lates in one year is a lot. As a parent you need to be working with the school to discuss why and what can be done to change it.

I can’t remember if our school grades punctuality but 11 lates is a lot over the year. A D sounds just about right for that.

Wow, being late 11 times is a lot! I’m surprised the school has not called you about this. That’s twice each half term, so every 3 weeks your child is late. You need to work on getting this to zero or once a year. My kids are in upper secondary and have never been late.

11 times is very poor. This is not something to go into battle over. You are not in a strong position.

11 latest is a lot. Persistent lateness is really disruptive and shows real disrespect for learning so maybe the teacher is responding to that.

Yes 11 times a year is a lot. I’m not sure my children have ever been late. Maybe once or twice in their whole school career to date?

I would have been called in for that,11 times is a helluva lot.

Maybe speak to the teacher?

My DC don't get a punctuality mark on their report - they get a number of lates per year, but there is no grade associated with it.

How does your DD get to school? If she is reliant on public transport then 11 lates in a year doesn't seem too bad to me. My DC get the bus and are sometimes late when there are roadworks or bad traffic. They can't catch an earlier bus because the one before is two hours earlier! Less understandable if she gets a lift or walks.

I've got 4 dc, the oldest has left school now, youngest in year 4 and I'd wager they've not had 11 lates in total between them.
Would your work accept you being late in 11 times in such a short period?

I lived less than five minutes walk from my senior school/sixth form, and I had the worst punctuality record* in what was then the near 100 year history of the school. Something ridiculous like 36% of days on time in my last year.

I don't think I've ever been late for work (outside of things beyond my control). I wouldn't worry about it, unless it's part of a wider issue.

*My record was broken a year after I left by my younger sibling.

Also, there are usually two ways that punctuality is recorded: 'late' and 'late after closure of registers'. At our school the gates open at 0830 and close at 0840. Registers close at 0850. It gives the children 20 minutes to get to class before lessons begin properly (0830 to 0850 is socialisation time). We don't give a grade for punctuality (we don't give any grades) but it is recorded on reports.

My DD was late twice in her whole school career. Once in Primary when I discovered nits as I was doing her hair and once as a teen when the school bus broke down.

Basically, your child lost school time and disrupted everyone else’s school day 11 times.
We are rural with a 30min trip to school for my youngesr. My oldest takes the bus and train to secondary. Both have been late a lot less than that (6 times for the oldest- we plan around train delays most days - and if he is late, around 60 other students are as well, as it means the trains were a complete mess).

perhaps punctuality includes being in lessons on time throughout the day and handing in work on time ?

11 lates is not good though .

You must be very proud.

Instead of arguing about it start putting things in place so it doesn’t happen. Punctuality is important for the future especially going into the workplace.

🙄

Isn't it simpler to turn up on time?

Well I was until my bloody record was broken!

My issue - particularly with 6th form - was that even if we didn't have lessons until 12 (or sometimes after lunch) we were still expected to come in and 'study', AKA, mess about listening to music in the common room.

My argument was that I'd do zero studying in the common room, but I'd do maybe an hour at home on my own between doss sessions. They weren't having it so I just kept getting marked late 😩

Schools are trying to prepare children for the world of work one day. If they were late 11 times for work in a year, that would be a disciplinary. If lateness persisted, they could face dismissal for being unreliable.

11 lates s not acceptable and the school are totally justified in choosing to highlight this on her report in such a way, to try and help you as a family understand this and work on it.

Instead of feeling aggrieved, you all need to take a long, hard look at yourselves and vow to sort out the time keeping issue in order to help your daughter grow into a more responsibility adult one day. If you give her the impression you think the school are being unreasonable here, you won't be helping her at all in the long run.

11 late a is a lot. The majority of children are never late.

At least now you know that 11 is out of the ordinary.

Your daughter is in primary school and has been late 11 times. Maybe instead of feeling annoyed at the school you could support her in arriving to school on time everyday like the vast majority of her classmates. Most children don't arrive late 11 times over the whole course of being at the school let alone in the space of a few months.

Regularly arriving late is incredibly disruptive to both your daughter, the teacher and her peers and means she's missing a lot of learning.

Late is late. There’s no discretion.

If I was late once every two weeks, I would be fired and unless there is some huge drip feed you are frankly taking the piss.

But sure, question the system and the teacher’s “feel”. That is definitely the problem…