Okay, it had to happen, dd1 (Y9) has just brought home her first detention slip, for some rather complex scenario involving a misunderstanding regarding some homework which she had completed but not handed in to some deadline she says her group weren't told about. She thinks the teacher's being a bit unreasonable, but has (rather sensibly) decided to take it on the chin, "because if you keep arguing about it and insisting you're in the right, it just makes the teachers really hate you."
Said detention slip is a masterpiece of pomposity, as befits dd1's lovely but v. old-fashioned school. The following passage did make me choke on my coffee though:
"I think it important to point out that the school has a legal right to detain pupils after school, with or without parental permission."
Is this really right? I have no intention of taking issue with it, was just interested to know whether schools do have the absolute right to keep kids in even if their parents object. It's the history dept, amusingly, so you'd think they'd have heard of habeas corpus.
Does anyone know what the law actually says on the right of schools to give detentions?