Reflection in my childs school

[C0lly]

Instead of detentions my childrens school sends them to reflection this is a room where they sit and do nothing and they miss out on lessons last week my youngest was 2 mins late for class (he went to the wrong room) and he was sent to reflection for the rest of the day 4 hours so he missed 3 lessons and his lunch break does this happen in other schools ? Thanks

I know Teen it won't work what if a child needs to go to the toilet for example ? They have had to move the reflection area to a bigger one and also there is no way of providing any work because how are they going to know what student in what year is going to be late and which subjects they will miss! Given that teachers are highly educated people it does make you wonder ...

They confirmed that being 2 mins late on one occasion resulted in your son spending 4 hours in reflection doing nothing and missing lessons?

I will Four and yes Opal they did confirm it !!

They are not allowed to go to the toilet in the 4 hours?

Wow sounds extreme

I assume they can go to the toilet when it comes to Lunch they send in a trolley with certain cold food on it unfortunately my son doesn't like anything like that so he had nothing to eat all day either !

it sounds fecking horrendous and I wouldn't want my child in a school which thought this was a good idea.

At my DCs school they are provided with something to do during detentions if they have no reading or homework.

And missing lessons for something so minor is ridiculous!

That is ridiculous! I would have thought the teachers would be expected to send some work over when they know the student is missing. That's how it should operate. Not that it should operate for a one-off late incident! A one off late would warrant little more than a stern word at my school. My entire class are often that late to one lesson as they come from music which is in another block and the teacher lets them out late. I don't punish the class I complain to the teacher.
As for the toilet, I ask them not to go between single lessons (no moving time) but to come to lesson and ask. But then I know some schools don't let students leave lessons.

Hi Lyn I would happily move my child if i could but that would mean alot of travelling to and from school and yes it is complete madness Doctor I emailed the school on Friday and said that this is the response

Please see attached expectations letter that has been posted to parents. I’m sure you’ll agree that students arriving late to lessons cause unnecessary disruption to the flow of the lesson and hinders the learning of all in the classroom as teachers stop start lessons to deal with late arrivals. It is an issue that the Academy has decided to tackle, and so far it shown very positive results. All students have had an assembly where they have been informed of the rules with regards to being late, and they are aware of the consequence of poor time keeping. The sanction may seem harsh, but it needs to deliver the message that being late to lessons is not acceptable. We agree, students should be in lessons learning, not sitting in Reflection; however taking a day out of their studies is a small sacrifice if it allows them to learn the valuable lesson of punctuality, which will have a positive impact on their overall achievement and academic success. Feedback that we have received from both students and teachers are that lessons are no longer disrupted by a constant stream of late arrivals, consequently students are learning more and the school environment is calmer.
We understand that there will be occasions when a child will be late in arriving to school, we ask parents to call and inform us so the child will not be sanctioned. The issues we are tackling are students dawdling and not getting to lessons on time, not those with genuine reasons for being late in the morning. I trust that you will support us in driving up standards at the Academy.

+I trust that you will support us in driving up standards at the Academy.*.

I would politely explain I couldn't support a school which used draconian methods to punish for pupils for being late.

If I were a pupil and thought I might be late in the morning I'd probably just not goblin to school rather than have to sit there doing nothing.

I would request the school re-think their policy.

Hi Lyn I did reply to this but have mentioned my sons name in it so not sure if its ok to post it on here ? If it I will but totally agree with what you have said

I would reply to that saying why are they not providing work to those in internal exclusion? I'm not sure, but I think that they are required to for this kind of action. It shouldn't be difficult for the school to arrange.

From your first post, I knew it would be an academy and I knew it would be part of a clampdown.

There must have been a real issue with dawdling between lessons, which the school want to stamp out.

In this case, I partly agree with the time in Reflection- but def think work should be provided, even generic work or a reading book.

Hi Doctor that's what I am unsure about are they required to provide relevant work ? Here is my reply to the above which I sent on Friday morning and I was told that someone would respond to me but they haven't and I am wondering if it is because I asked for an assurance about the work.

Thanks for your reply and of course I completely support good punctuality it is an important life skill and neither of my boys have ever been late to school but I personally think that one minute between lessons is extreme. If for example a child desperately needs to go to the toilet or if a teacher wants to have a quick word with a child on the way out of class which means that child exceeds the one minute to get to the next class.
Also in the letter it states that when the child goes to reflection they will do their work well this is the main issue I have with reflection they don't do any work !!!! So when DS was late by 2 minutes last week firstly he was't allowed to explain he had gone to the wrong classroom accidentally and then he missed core subjects to sit looking at 4 walls. I have no problem with either of my boys being sent to reflection if that is justified but I as a parent want them to be given relevant work to do while they are there can you assure me this will happen?

Hi Leccy have you experience with Academies ? I still don't agree with one minute I think its not enough time but that's my opinion and reading a book instead of being in Science English and maths seems to be a waste but again that's my opinion.

If a student is suspended we have to provide work. This is an internal suspension I would assume the same applies.

Thanks Donna does it have to be relevant work or can it be simply reading a book ?

I would hope it would be better than reading a book. But I would suggest that might be acceptable for the first hour while resources were put together. If they're running this system with this punishment I would expect all departments to have some work sheets ready to go for every year group. Shouldn't be too difficult to arrange.

Thanks Donna I will include your suggestions in my email tomorrow appreciate your help.