Detentions

[mummyflood]

DS2, Yr10, is forgetting everything save his own name at the moment. So it was no surprise to hear that he had been given a detention last Friday for not handing in some science homework. The only problem was, he did not tell me - it was given on Wednesday morning, and the letter from the school arrived sometime on Friday itself - I physically received it at 2pm when I came in from work, the detention was to begin at 3pm.

I absolutely did not have a problem with the detention per se - as I say, we are having big problems at home with his forgetfulness. They could give him a detention every evening this week if he is as forgetful at school - I support them fully. However, I believe that by law parents should be given 24hrs written notice of an afterschool detention ?? - as this letter was written and posted on Thursday, the maximum I would have received would have been about 7hrs if the post arrived first thing. DS says he didn't receive a slip from the teacher, and this has been confirmed with his HOY. Of course the school were very defensive when I queried this, and said that the written letter is merely back up for the slip given to the child. Furthermore, DS is adamant that teacher said 10mins, the letter said 20.

Anyway, I rang the school on Friday, and asked could the detention be rescheduled as he was needed at home urgently that evening - I work split shifts and was at work again until 5.30 so with the short notice couldn't alter plans. His HOY agreed, and I confirmed that i was very supportive of the detention, just not at such short notice. The problem is, to date, the detention has not been rescheduled, so yet again, after reading the riot act to DS and telling him how I back his teacher in her discipline, etc, it looks as though it has been either overlooked or let go. My question is, is it the done thing to chase the school and actually ask for a detention?? And should I discuss with the HOY the fact that a) he didn't receive a detention slip and b) that I received considerably less than 24hrs notice?? I want to be a supportive parent but how can you when the school don't keep up their end??

I'm surprised that there was a posted back-up notification. They don't do it at at our school and several times DS1 has had a detention without me knowing about it. I tend to be laid back about that -- it's my fault and my son's fault that I don't find out in time and I would far rather he had the detention (like your son it is for forgetting , ansl ofor being too disorganisaed to get bus and make it to school on time) than lose it. I would chase up for a repklacement detention. I have more than once asked school to back us up by giving a detention.

I can certainly understand your difficulty on that day (and I sympathise), but I guess I would say that you are lucky they have the postal back up, and that perhaps you should work with your son to make sure he tells you about detentions (hard, I know, when the whole reason he was given the detention is forgetfulness).

Yes, there is a requirement to give 24 hours written notice for any detention outside normal school hours. The notice can be delivered to you personally, left at your last known address, posted to you at that address or "by any effective method". The school may argue that giving a slip to your son is an effective method, although it clearly hasn't worked in this case. Of course, posting a letter may not be effective either - it may be delayed or get lost in the post. But a letter that is lost in the post still counts as giving you 24 hours notice!

Schools can give 10 min detentions at the end of the school day without notifying parents. Anything longer must be notified in advance to home.

We work on the assumption that writing it in the kid's planner on Thursday would be 24 hour notice for Friday.

If the child doesn't tell their parent, that's their lookout. It does cause the odd ruction; most of our students are bussed in from outlying villages, so parents occasionally get a sheepish call from a child who's in detention, hasn't told mum/dad, & needs picking up at 4.30...

In your case I think I would ring school &, um, remind them that ds owes a dt for being forgetful...[hwink]

This is exactly the sort of thing I do - give a kid a detention, agree to re-schedule it to avoid inconveniencing his family, then forget to re-arrange. Good job I'm not a HOY! [hgrin].

I heard today from a behaviour specialist from our LEA that Call Me Dave is planning on ditching the 24 hour notice thing. She wasn't sure when it would be coming in (indeed, she thought it might already have done so) which would mean that schools can keep students in without any notice at all. A collegue of mind said that at his previous school, a text message is sent automatically so that parents are notified if their child has a detention after school. I think that sounds like quite a clever system.

We gave up on detentions at our school because of the number of completely unsupportive parents who would phone in and refuse permission (a lot of our kids get buses, so that was the standard reason) and as an HOD, I spent far too much of my time trying to chase up kids who didn't show up. So I applaud any parent who actively chases the school to ensure that they reschedule. Good for you OP!

I think even if Dave gets rid of the 24 hour rule, most reasonable schools with transport issues will keep it. After all you can't strand a kid 5 or so miles from home waiting for the next public bus in an hour or more. Even worse would be what would happen if something happened to the child.

EvilTwins - Ditching the 24 hour notice would require legislation. It definitely hasn't already come in. However, it is true that prior to the election Conservative policy was to abolish this requirement so that bad behaviour can be punished with a detention the same day. I am not sure how this is affected by the coalition agreement.

I think the reason for the proposed change is partly to make punishment more immediate and partly to avoid the current problems many schools face with parents making it difficult to administer detentions, as you have experienced.

I would hope that most schools will continue to give some notice to the parents even if it isn't 24 hours. The idea of giving notice so that parents know why their child is late is good. However, the side effect of unsupportive parents objecting to any detention is bad.

For what it is worth parents do not have any right to refuse permission for detentions. They can object but that is all. The school may revoke or defer the detention as a result of the parent's objections but they are entitled go ahead with the detention. In this situation the parent can complain using the school's complaints procedure but this does not give them a right of appeal.

Thanks for all the replies. Things have got worse since I posted - he has received another detention for a separate subject (this time lunchtime) which he, in his wisdom, decided not to attend as he is adamant that he handed the work in to the science office and it appears not to have been passed on to the relevant teacher!!

I have just spoken to his HOY, and the three of us are going to meet after half term to discuss his issues. She is going to check how things are in class, as quite frankly, at the moment I don't recognise him. I confirmed that I am completely 'on their side' as far as detentions/sanctions go, but did add that I am a bit baffled by the system, as we still haven't heard anything about rescheduling Friday's. They do seem to have a rather disorganised method of notification going on, but are trialing notifying parents by text, which I think is a brilliant idea. We already receive messages about early closures, forthcoming exams, etc. which is really effective.

I always thought part of the reason for the notice period was so that parents could make the necessary arrangements, ie a DC who usually gets a school bus home might have to be picked up and if both parents work they would require prior notice of this.

Unless this scenario was also addressed by the government, I think any change in policy could very quickly become subject to a legal challenge ? you can?t have 11-year-olds left with no way to get home?

mattellie - The policy can only be changed by changing the law. It is in general very difficult to launch a legal challenge against a change in the law.

"After all you can't strand a kid 5 or so miles from home waiting for the next public bus in an hour or more. Even worse would be what would happen if something happened to the child."

Oh, vome on - we're talking year 10s here! 14/15 year olda!

Surely the 14/15 yr old isn't waiting in an isolated place? If they have to wait an hour for a bus they may think twice before they get another.

Sorry-get another detention. I think by that age you could just say 'serve you right'.

FWIW, I would not like to see the requirement for notice to be given to parents to be removed. I think it's important to be 'kept in the loop', not just about transport arrangements etc.

If my DS's are getting detentions for something they have done wrong, I need to know so that I can discuss it with them, preferably before the detention, and then make sure they have attended and what the outcome was - i.e. was the work completed, what did the teacher have to say, etc.

I think communication in High Schools can be bad enough for those who wish to be kept informed without removing another aspect of it. I accept that there are plenty of unsupportive parents, but there must also be plenty like me who actually want to play an active part in parenting and who want to support the school whenever possible.

Couldn't agree more mummyflood .

At our school there are several different types of detention ranging from lunch time to Saturdays. If they get an after school det and the sheet is signed by the parent then the amount of time is cut down, if not then it's a long one!

All dets/sanctions are uploaded onto their behaviour and performance record so they can't get away with it!!! Mind you most of the parents support the school wholeheartedly and "dob" their own kids in!

After schools are held on two days only, so there is plenty of notice.