Some questions about suspension and general school punishment

So I go to a top private school in the UK, in year 10 (Taking two gsces this year and the other ten next year) and recently one or two events have made me question the rules surrounding punishment at school.

Firstly is an issue directly relating to me, as I'm sure most of us have had in our time it school, I have a teacher (my English one) who is completely out to get me and picks on me in class, this I can cope with but recently he has given me various detentions which were for reasons pretty much made up, as well as emailing my form tutor and parents. Whenever my teacher asks me about it I say 'Well its just completely not true, ask anyone in the class to testify' but he says something like 'so am I supposed to believe your teacher is lying?', I was wondering what to do about this if I can do anything, it feels like if I report him I will be ridiculed and I am constantly in conflict with him.

The second is the main issue and although I was not involved lots of my friends were and got punished. Basically it was a Sunday and 20 kids in my year were in school for DOFE practice (with only one teacher), so at lunchtime some of the kids decided to go up to the roof/balcony of the school to eat (there are tables and chairs). Three of my friends while they were up their decided to go a bit further and climbed onto a glass roof of the school concourse (stupid I know). So the next Tuesday all boys who did DOFE are called into a room and the teachers basically said 'Someone from another building saw you climbing on the roof, called the school and took photos, so we know who it was, everyone who didn't do it can leave now'. They then got everyone left to admit to it by claiming they had pictures. It later became clear they didn't had photos and had tricked the kids into confessing, my first question is are they allowed to make up evidence to coerce kids into an admission? They have received their punishment today, the three kids who climbed on the glass got a three day external suspension, and everyone who went up to eat lunch got four hour Saturday detentions. My second question is surely these punishments are too harsh? There are no signs saying you cant go there, the door was open and there are literally tables and chairs, especially as they have no proof. My last question is will the suspension go on their records? i.e. will universities see it? One of the kids was on track to become head boy (one of the cleverest kids in the year, captain of football, cricket and waterpolo teams). Will it go on their UCAS forms? As most will probably apply, and likely get into oxbridge Also is their a way of their parents protesting against the punishment and is it advisable?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

celloel

20

Original post by David.gring

x

What are these 'made up reasons' your teacher has supposedly been lying about? In all honestly I find it incredibly hard to believe that a teacher has been falsifying accounts of poor behaviour just because they 'dislike' you. If it is true, however, speak to the teacher in question first of all - tell them you feel their detentions are unfair and that you do not feel you are doing anything wrong. Do not act like a whiney child trying to wiggle out of detentions - just simply ask why you're getting them as you do not feel what you are doing is wrong and explain you feel they are being somewhat unfair. They may then start to think about what they are doing. Then, if they continue to give you detentions for whatever reason, go to the Head of Department to continue to complain - be affirmative that you do not feel you did anything wrong and you feel the teacher is picking on you. Perhaps mention you don't get detentions in other classes?

As for your friends, they completely deserved the punishment. They climbed up onto a glass roof - that is incredibly stupid and dangerous. Think of the cost to the school if they had damaged it for repairs, or the health and safety problems arising had they fallen off, the trouble the teacher would have been in through no fault of their own, etc. School is there to educate you and discipline you, so you can become a valuable member of society. They are trying to show the children that there is a zero tolerance policy for idiotic acts that can seriously danger, harm and damage property or people - the school can't have children running around doing seriously dangerous things without adequate consequences. Their 3-day external exclusion is well deserved and will hopefully teach them to think before they act. It shows your immaturity to think they should get their parents to worm their way out of it - something they really deserve due to their own actions.

As for the other ones, if the balcony/roof area is not open for lunch during normal school hours, then the school are fully within their right to punish the children for going up there on the Saturday. If not, then it is highly likely the teacher told them not to, or to go to a certain area, or the children were doing something dangerous. They're not going to punish kids for no reason - going onto a roof of a school building without permission (even if the door was open and there are tables there) IS a reason for a deserved punishment.Grow up and face the music - every stupid action has consequences. Do the punishment, learn from it and think before you do things.

Universities will only know about the exclusion if the teacher writing their reference decides to put it on their reference when they apply to university in Autumn of Year 13, but it is highly unlikely a teacher will do that after almost 3 years (keep in mind they also like their students going to top universities - it looks good for the school, so they have no reason to mention a stupid event 3 years earlier, that they presumably learnt a lesson from).

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 2

David.gring

OP

4

Original post by celloel

What are these 'made up reasons' your teacher has supposedly been lying about? In all honestly I find it incredibly hard to believe that a teacher has been falsifying accounts of poor behaviour just because they 'dislike' you. If it is true, however, speak to the teacher in question first of all - tell them you feel their detentions are unfair and that you do not feel you are doing anything wrong. Do not act like a whiney child trying to wiggle out of detentions - just simply ask why you're getting them as you do not feel what you are doing is wrong and explain you feel they are being somewhat unfair.

As for the other ones, if the balcony/roof area is not open for lunch during normal school hours, then the school are fully within their right to punish the children for going up there on the Saturday. If not, then it is highly likely the teacher told them not to, or to go to a certain area, or the children were doing something dangerous. They're not going to punish kids for no reason - going onto a roof of a school building without permission (even if the door was open and there are tables there)

In reference to the English teacher its things such as 'initiating conflict', 'disrupting the class' etc when what really happens is he ignores me when I put my hand up and when ever he does let me answer a question he then ridicules me for the answer (which is well thought about and not stupid, got A*s in Lit and Lang mocks) and when I confront him about this he proceeds to shout at me and insult me.

As far as the roof area, the door is open throughout the week and we have never been told its out of bounds (although one assumes it is) and they were not given any areas not to go to (they literally went everywhere, staff room, teachers offices etc but were only caught doing this).

Reply 3

celloel

20

Original post by David.gring

In reference to the English teacher its things such as 'initiating conflict', 'disrupting the class' etc when what really happens is he ignores me when I put my hand up and when ever he does let me answer a question he then ridicules me for the answer (which is well thought about and not stupid, got A*s in Lit and Lang mocks) and when I confront him about this he proceeds to shout at me and insult me.

As far as the roof area, the door is open throughout the week and we have never been told its out of bounds (although one assumes it is) and they were not given any areas not to go to (they literally went everywhere, staff room, teachers offices etc but were only caught doing this).

In that case, you are right - your teacher is completely out of order. Ridiculing a student for an answer (even if it were a bad response, which you've said isn't) is wrong and harmful to their ability to improve. I've known of teacher/student relationships like that and it is never a good thing for the student. You need to go to the head of department, or, failing that, the assistant head, head of year, etc - any of the senior leading team that you can, as it's clear your teacher is unreasonable. Tell them your teacher is ridiculing your answers in front of the class and it is deeply upsetting you. Perhaps ask to move class, if there is another one available to do this. If you need to, yes, your parents in this case can and should be used - especially in a situation with a bullying teacher. If the head of departments don't offer a way forward, or choose to ignore you/say you're lying, reply with "In that case, I wish to set up a meeting with you and my parents to discuss the way forward, as I do not feel I am able to progress adequately in a hostile environment as that one" (or something to that respect - just say you want a meeting with your parents). As long as they are the kind of parent to support you in this situation, it will likely be very helpful to bring them in to discuss how to move forward.

The students that got the exclusion - they still deserved it (going onto a glass roof is stupid and they need to understand actions have consequences). The ones on the balcony may not have - at the end of the day it's up to the school to decide who did and didn't deserve a punishment. I obviously don't know the layout of your school, and neither of us know exactly what the students were doing and therefore what the person that saw them told the school they were doing. If the students think the punishment is unfair, they can try talking to the school - but it's unlikely they will change their mind on this. It's probably quite a harsh punishment because it's a group of people and they want to discourage things like this occurring in the future. It won't impact their ability to apply to University (or anything in the future, for that matter, despite what scare tactics the school may use about permanent records), and, unfortunately, sometimes we've just got to suck up and do things we think are unfair (especially as it's only one detention and isn't a recurring situation).

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 4

doodle_333

19

In my experience most people who feel a teacher 'hates them' and 'picks on them' have done something to make this happen, whether it's at that moment or in the past. Really, teachers should give you a fresh start each lesson but it's understandable that if you've misbehaved at other points that they are watching you more closely and trying to stamp on poor behaviour quickly and therefore seem to 'pick on you'.

As far as the roof thing, unless your school discloses the exclusions UCAS and universities will not see it. If they were stupid enough to do it they deserve whatever punishment they get, end of. I don't think it matters about the photo thing, no it's not the most ethical thing to do but it did make them confess which means you all didn't get worse punishment. It's not really fair for you all to have 4 hours of saturday detention in my mind (think you'd have to murder someone in my school to get that) but there's nothing you can do about it.

Perhaps parents complaining would have more effect given they pay so much money but I don't know.

Some questions about suspension and general school punishment

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