Secondary teachers - could you answer a discipline Q please?

[WendyWeber]

What sort of offence would get a Y10 boy suspended for 3 days in your school? And do previous offences make it more or less likely that a suspension will be the preferred punishment?

TIA

No, it was not said to his face, was not intended to be heard - he said it to the other boy, as they walked away from deputy head's office (during lesson time so no other students around), but either too soon or a bit too loud.

I agree with all your points about the school, MB. It's just that previous deputy heads have been, although very strict, also very fair, & popular with the students...mind you he is quite new to the school (although not young) & the others have been there for years, I suppose that makes a difference.

DS2 is particularly miffed because until this he had managed to get through an entire term (wow ) with only one after-school detention, & that not for anything serious, just for not carrying the penalty-point/merit-point booklet they are supposed to have on them at all times - for him, that was very good behaviour.

(Thanks for taking the time to answer btw - how are you & the children doing?)

Not bad most of the time. Mn is a nice diversion

WW - I am sorry to hear about this about your gorgeous boy. My school has very different scales of punishment, but this is not necessarilyi a good thing. At our school you might get 3 days for stealing or being caught shoplifting (and truanting) in uniform. For swearing at a member of staff you would usually get 1 day.

But it does depend who students are rude to, and SMT have the authority to throw instant punishments to students (isolation or exclusion) in the heat of the moment, in the way that ordinary members of staff don't.

If a student has been badly behaved and is then spoken to some of them are very good at saying "yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir" with a very sincere and apologetic tone of voice, facial expression and body language, which can actually be quite irritating at the time, especially as it 'gets them off the hook' in many ways. But others sit there pulling teenage faces and mutter under their breath as they go away, which is infuriating in a different way. This can result in a knee-jerk reaction from the staff concerned.

Please encourage him to practise the first art, rather than the second.

A y2 pupil was suspended (3 days) for calling the HT "pooface." Was in front of whole class, so no option but to boot him out. He has previous, however.

Thank you, roisin - I just told him what you said about practising the art of abject contrition & he says he'll try (I didn't tell him you said gorgeous though, it would go to his head! How are your gorgeous boys lately, did I see that DS1 is in Y6 now & about to go to secondary school????)

ihatebikerides, I'm stunned that a Y2 would dare speak to the head like that (but also strangely relieved that the term used was such a 7-year-old one )

Hiya! Yes ds1 was 11 on Friday
He's going to the (state) school in the next town with a group of his mates to escape the schools re-organisation/Academy nonsense which is going on here. We didn't think he'd get a place, so we're mightily relieved.

Thinking of you tomorrow: hope it goes well.
Rx

aw, thanks, roisin!

It was OK actually - head is quite human & has a sense of humour which always helps; is perfectly well aware that members of staff are called names and stressed that they don't want to hear them. (Told that he should have waited until he got further away DS2 said "I was at the end of the corridor!" & head commented that sound carries in that corridor - ie he should have allowed for that!)

We both stressed to him that he needs to be always aware that anything he says or does at school may well be observed/overheard/reported.

The report from members of staff was glowing, which was nice - the actual offence sounds to come from a different boy - just (yet another) moment of madness really

I didn't put in janeite's suggestion in the end, not once the head had mentioned that the deputy may well be head of 6th form by the time DS2 gets there (the various deputy heads rotate responsibilities) - he's just got to a) not need to be hauled up in front of him again & b) think respectful thoughts in any future encounter.

That's if he gets there of course - any more offences highly likely to lead them to refuse to admit him (which would be both sad & frustrating because 6th form is 2 minutes away, nearest 6th form college 12 miles...)

I left him waiting outside deputy's office to make his sincere & heartfelt apologies. He has recently, unprompted, started shaking people's hands in formal situations so I'm wondering if he'll have managed that today &, if so, how deputy would take it

Glad to hear DS1 got into the school you wanted btw, I missed that before - and esp that a group of his mates are going - I bet he'll do really well

(He won't be at your school, will he? Just realised I don't know if you work in your own town or the next one!)

WW - that sounds like a very positive meeting. Hope he settles down again for next year.

No, he won't be at my school. I don't think I could cope with that, even if it were a school I wanted him to go to, which it's not!

He's a bit wobbly/emotional about leaving primary, and so am I tbh (but trying not to show it). The secondary has a 210-students-per-year intake, so it will take a bit of getting used to.