Secondary discipline - what are our rights?

[manitz]

Dd1 is y11 just got a detention for tomorrow but works after school so can’t go. I’ve emailed school to suggest a different evening and got no reply. May get something in morning.

She doesn’t generally get detentions so this is the first time it’s come up. How do schools generally view after school work? Do they recognise that it’s a commitment that outweighs their punishment?

We got the letter at 3 today and det is at 3 tomorrow. She won’t be attending detention as that is not enough notice to have time off work imo. Im happy for her to be punished another evening..,

[MrsChollySawcutt]

What kind of work is an 11 year old doing 3 eves per week after school? No way I'd be allowing my Y7 child to do that, he gets tired enough just doing school, homework and clubs!

[manitz]

Mad vixen thank you. I’ll look at that tomorrow.

I am insisting she goes down to 2 evenings and also keeping an eye on her school work. She has mocks in November and is starting revision soon.

I had no idea about work permits but that will help my case. To be fair she has already acknowledged 3 evenings is too much but just didn’t want to rock the boat at work so just needs a push.

However she didn’t miss this homework because of lack of time, I think she just didn’t see it as important as she concentrated on her gcse coursework instead.

[Numbkinnuts]

It's a yr 11 child so 15/16 in GCSE year.

[spanieleyes]

Yr11, not 11yr!

[meditrina]

Our school lets you change to the next scheduled detention time (I think they happen two days a week) as long as it is a parent who requests it in writing.

This is because they know that they do not know everything about a pupils home life and commitments, and does not seek to punish excessively or in a way which causes undue difficulty.This is what a good partnership with parents looks like.

(They always change if it's an A team player and there's an after school fixture, so it works both ways)

[manitz]

She is 15. The 11 year old only works one evening obvs

[Numbkinnuts]

OP.

please check work permits. On school days during term time she can only work 2 hrs.

Not sure whether school will be sympathetic. In addition her employer may not covered by insurance if they are not complying with permits.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I think that’s a fair compromise, meditrina. It’s once you start letting pupils pick and choose a detention time that suits them that you end up on shaky ground.

[manitz]

Thanks I’ve just had a look at the link. She is only doing 2 hours so that’s fine. Just need to check the bylaws about permits and will ask work if they’ve sorted them out already.

I’m going to press her to drop the third night and will have a solid look at revision timetable to make sure she can go to everything she needs.

[MrsChollySawcutt]

TBH her being Y11 is worse- I also have a DD in Y11 and she is working really hard for her GCSEs. Right now she has pre-mock exams and is revising every night.

Working 3 evenings a week is going to severely impact your DDs GCSEs. I'm sure the school will take a very dim view of her working on school nights in Y11.

[BarbarianMum]

At our school they give you 24 hours notice of a detention. If the child doesnt do it on that day they get a days internal exclusion instead. There may be some flexibility for important medical appointments but that's it.

[FruitofAutumn]

how is she going to cope when there are after school revision sessions later in the year?


Not all schools this- ours (grammar)certainly doesn't run any out of hours revision!

[CaramelAngel]

I thought about this with Y10 dd's volunteering with a Rainbow group as the Rainbow leader might find it inconvenient if she was expecting dd as an extra pair of hands that evening to help with activities. I thought I'd probably ask if it could be moved to another day (not specify when we wanted it) but then if they didn't confirm this was ok she'd probably just have to tell the Rainbow leader why she couldn't come.