1 hour detention at school...

daisiegg

Maybe he should count himself lucky...at my school there is a dreaded Friday night detention, which is two hours - 4 to 6 - during which the detainees sit in the hall, on chairs with no desks, and do NOTHING for two hours in silence. But this would be for worse crimes than missing homework once...

As others have said, it will be totally individual to the school, and even within the school, there might be different policies for different departments. In my department, if a pupil fails to hand in homework they have 24 hours to get it in, and if they still don't get it in after 24 hours they get a 30 min lunchtime detention. Only if they fail to attend that detention or if they forget another homework again within a short space of time might it escalate to an hour after school. I think as far as after school detentions go, an hour is pretty standard.

It might not be practical for your school to hold the detention at lunchtime. They may have meetings at lunchtimes or have to run tutoring or extra clubs etc, as well as doing lunch duties and so on. Most teachers that I know work solidly through lunch and it can be hard to find a suitable lunchtime to sit and supervise a detention.

Brighton_belle

Mara69 wrote: »

So the school should ask what the child's chosen method of transport is before setting a detention? If the child cycles then what? They shouldn't have the same punishment as the child that walks? Or gets the bus?

If the parents are happy for the child to be cycling, surely it is for them to decide if the child should cycle when it is dark?

Fair comment Mara (though I would never ever make one rule for one and another for the rest). It was just a thought - that's the great thing about forums, you get to see whole range of responses from which one often is offered alternative perspectives/made to think in ways that hadn't occured to you.

Rebecca01

I think an hour is excessive for the first offence.

As a previous poster has said , check the schools policy.

marisco_2

victory wrote: »

my son has two maths teachers, two different classes on different days, he was set maths homework, he forgot to take it in on the correct day, one maths teacher asked for it and he said he had not got it on him.

The next day he gave it to the 'wrong maths teacher' the other teacher was not informed and therefore put son down as not doing it.

So your son did the homework and handed it in when he agreed to, but to the wrong person. Why did that teacher not just use some common sense and proactively pass it on to the other teacher? Kids make mistakes. They dont learn from them when they are overly punished for a genuine error. 1 hours detention for what happened seems way over the top to me.

RadoJo

We used to get Saturday detentions - 9am until 12. A 1 hour detention was at the very bottom of the scale of punishments, so it's possible that this is a standard first time offence punishment at your son's school.

Nicki

I am in the camp as a parent where I never interfere or query a sanction imposed by the school for a misdemeanour by my child. As far as I am concerned, the rules are the rules, he knows what they are in advance and if he breaks them deliberately or by carelessness he has to take the consequences, just as he will have to do in real life. Very few things have uniform consequences - two different judges may hand out different sentences for the same offence, two different employers may decide differently on whether the same fault is a sackable offence or not. The only circumstances I would consider intervening (and this has never happened) would be if a very harsh punishment was handed out for something my child demonstrably hadn't done - in which case I would fight his corner for him.

If it is unsafe for the child to cycle home when it is nearly dark, then he needs to make his way home in the same way as he would do after any other after school activity, or the OP has to go and pick him up. And if she has to pick him up, then her displeasure at the inconvenience this causes her will add an extra sting to the detention, and make it even more unlikely her son will forget his homework again

pollys

At my son's school for offences such as having your shirt untucked or the wrong colour football socks for PE results in a 30 minute after school detention - you sit there in silence and do nothing. Not handing homework or handing in incomplete homework (like my son did) gets you an hours detention.

Harsh, but they know the rules.

Pollys

moomoomama27

Nicki wrote: »

I am in the camp as a parent where I never interfere or query a sanction imposed by the school for a misdemeanour by my child. As far as I am concerned, the rules are the rules, he knows what they are in advance and if he breaks them deliberately or by carelessness he has to take the consequences, just as he will have to do in real life. Very few things have uniform consequences - two different judges may hand out different sentences for the same offence, two different employers may decide differently on whether the same fault is a sackable offence or not. The only circumstances I would consider intervening (and this has never happened) would be if a very harsh punishment was handed out for something my child demonstrably hadn't done - in which case I would fight his corner for him.

If it is unsafe for the child to cycle home when it is nearly dark, then he needs to make his way home in the same way as he would do after any other after school activity, or the OP has to go and pick him up. And if she has to pick him up, then her displeasure at the inconvenience this causes her will add an extra sting to the detention, and make it even more unlikely her son will forget his homework again

Totally agree!


My eldest is a complete pain at the moment! Doesn't seem to nderstand consequences and continues o get detentions and other sanctions at school! I am 100% behind the school! Some teenagers have to go through this steep learning curve to " get it " and some just need to put a foot out of place and get it immediately! As a parent I think it's really important ( within reason ) to back up staff and show solidarity! It's been a tough few months for my eldest but she's finally getting that even if she doesn't agree with the " punishment" it will still happen and it's very slowly sinking in!

lilymay1

Nothing to add OP, but I remember my biology teacher always saying....

"You didn't forget...you chose not to remember"

It was always said with such hatred and venom that nobody ever 'forgot' their homework more than once

valk_scot

As to a one hour detention this week making it less safe for the boy to cycle home because it's darker then...what's he going to be doing in December when it will equally as dark when he comes out of school? Does he change mode of transport home in the darker winter months? Or does he keep cycling?