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Secondary education

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Are schools less or more strict now? How many detentions did you get compared with your DCs?

19 replies

Foyled · 04/03/2011 15:47

Fairly lighthearted this but I'm not sure that schools are less strict than they used to be. I was at secondary school from 1972 to 1979, I got the equivalent of three detentions.

As for the DCs one got the same as me, the other has clocked that many in a week. Blush

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bruffin · 04/03/2011 15:53

I don't remember getting more one or two and they were group detentions.
DCs' school give out lots of detention depending on the teacher. One used give a det for top set if they got less than 75% in a test. I had words about that as DS has SLD problems and was coping with learning two new languages and he was getting very stressed about it.
DD got threatened with a another det last week from her form teacher if she got a det for getting 3 marks on her expectation card. They get dets for not doing homework etc. I don't really have a problem with them as the school does have high expectations of behaviour etc and dcs have thrived there

bruffin · 04/03/2011 15:55

Not sure if I was clear but DD was being threatened with detention for getting a detention Shock

bruffin · 04/03/2011 15:57

But if you go back to my mums day. She was a grammar school girl who went to one of the Haberdashers school and they got detention for being seen in town with their uniform on, or her friend got detention for having royal blue knickers instead of navy blue. I think they were also banned from lyons corner houses or something!

Foyled · 04/03/2011 16:20

Oh I didn't count class detentions, I got a few of those, think they are less common now. I also forgot about getting kept in for low scores in a test. In my mother's day I don't think they had detentions, probably got lines or something.

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Foyled · 04/03/2011 16:21

Detention for detention is unfair!

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bruffin · 04/03/2011 16:36

DD thought it was as well, but I did say take it as a compliment. He said to her that he thought she was slipping and needed to pull her socks up.

roisin · 04/03/2011 20:48

I had no detentions.
The boys (11 and 13) have had none so far.

Granny23 · 04/03/2011 21:12

I only ever got two detentions, both for being late. The second time the supervising teacher realised we were all from the same village and accepting that our bus failed to turn up let us all go. Still meant we had to walk home as our bus had already gone - probably empty.

I did, however, get the belt, (Lochgelly Tawse) so often at both primary and secondary that I lost count.

Foyled · 04/03/2011 23:09

roisin you and your family are angels!

I have to add I only got one detention the others were being kept in either at lunchtime or after school, but I think these equate to a modern detention. Granny23 if you got the tawse I don't suppose detentions were relevant, how about your children?

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roisin · 05/03/2011 07:39

Well I am obviously Foyled, not sure about them!

The boys have very occasionally had "breaktime detentions" for forgetting a tech apron or forgetting to hand in homework. But that's usually just 5 or 10 mins.

roisin · 05/03/2011 07:42

At my school if you got a detention you sat it the same day - stayed behind school for an hour with the teacher who you misbehaved for.

These days with written notification to parents and so on, it is always 2-3 days distant from the event and can be 8-9 dats beforehand! Or even longer if detention is full.

At the school I work at some students are in detention every week and usually have no idea what specific offence they are in there for. So it's not really effective for them. (I think it is a deterrent for others.)

My school has Saturday morning detentions as well! :-o

bigTillyMint · 05/03/2011 07:46

We didn't have detentions at my primary or secondary. though I did have to stand outside my HT's door a few times in primaryBlush

DD has never been in any trouble so far, and though DS was a bit of a pain in class when he was younger, he has never had any detentions so far, but he has yet to get to secondary schoolWink

Granny23 · 05/03/2011 12:47

Foyled - my DD's school did not do detentions because of transport difficulties, children having to walk home in the dark etc. They did however get lines or a punishment exercise from time to time - usually for some ludicrous 'offence'. Thankfully corporal punishment had been abolished by the time the went to school.

Foyled · 05/03/2011 15:14

DDs school have lunch time detentions and then after schools for worse things. I included the times I was kept in at lunchtime for this reason. When I was at school 'proper' detention was on the Friday of the week you committed the offence in, if you were naughty on a Friday you had detention the following week so you could warn home you were going to be late, no notes to sign or anything like that.

We sometimes got essays to write as punishments but again I only got these as 'whole class' punishments. I remember having to write two sides on Manners.

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harvalp · 05/03/2011 16:03

Only one, I must have been a goody goody. And the one was a prefect's detention rather than a staff initiated one...

mummyflood · 05/03/2011 20:31

I can't recall having any - think they were handed out only for major issues, and IIRC were for at least 30mins a time, none of the 5 or 10 mins they have today.

DS1, 17, had possibly one, not including whole class ones, DS2, 15, has had quite a few - mostly for forgetting to do/hand in homework, and he has also forgotten at least twice to go to the detention itself Blush

Foyled · 05/03/2011 21:41

I thought they were an hour long, but I do know teachers often let the kids off early! Seems they are more popular these days...

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Kez100 · 05/03/2011 21:49

It tended to depend on the Headmaster. At my comprehensive in the late 70's I had one very victorian, traditional Head Master and just going to school was scary. I never got a detention but through fear as much as anything. Although descipline was good it was still a dire education.

When he retired, we had a more modern Head join. It was a pity I was only there for a year as it was a much less stressful place to be, but that was the start of a fall in discipline there. It ended up being a complete fail of a school.

I had no detentions.

So far, my children have spent 5 years at our comprehensive, never had a detention and love school.

Foyled · 05/03/2011 22:20

Fine line between knowing the boundaries and being a nervous wreck! Unfortunately this varies between pupils I think.

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