Sanctions used by the school

The vast majority of our students behave very well and will rarely receive any significant level of sanction.  The information below gives an overview of some common sanctions used by the school.  These are not exhaustive and do not include arrangements made by agreement with parents/carers to support an individual student.

Misbehaviour in lessons

Misbehaviour in lessons will be dealt with by the subject teacher.  This can lead to teacher or department detentions or referral to the Subject Leader for further action.  Where a student does not respond to advice, then departments will use a mixture of approaches such as department reports, department detentions, exclusion from lessons to work elsewhere, regular parent/carer meetings and/or referral to the attached Leadership Team member. 

Minor misbehaviours that disrupt the flow of the lesson and the ability of students in the lesson to concentrate are also unacceptable.  Issues that are picked up for noting would include: 

  • Talking whilst the teacher is talking or whilst work is in progress
  • Calling out
  • Inattention
  • Chewing in class

At both KS3 and KS4, incidents can be noted on IRIS (school reward and behaviour system), together with the level of sanction set.  

Misbehaviour on the way to/from school or out of lessons:

We expect our students to behave responsibly and sensibly at all times when representing the school or in school uniform.  For those few that let themselves down, the school will sanction accordingly.  Where investigations are required, the Year Team will normally carry these out.  Sanctions can include:

  • removal from social time (breaks/lunchtimes)
  • detentions at an appropriate level for the offence
  • Internal or Leadership exclusion
  • suspension
  • restricted access to certain activities
  • removal of privileges

Detentions

These are of varying length and can be set by individual staff as appropriate.  In addition detentions are also run by the Year group, Departments, the School and the Leadership Team. There are also Key Stage Detentions. 

Detentions can be given at breaktime, lunchtime or after school.  They can also be set at other times where this is agreed with parents/carers in advance. 

If a student is detained at lunchtime, time is allowed in order that the student can have lunch.

Logging on to IRIS allows parents/carers to see any forthcoming detentions and the reason for the detention.   

For more information on detention procedures, please click here.  

After school, detentions up to 30 minutes in length can be set without prior warning.  However, we will expect students to let parents/carers know that they are going to be late leaving school for delays greater than 15 minutes where this might cause concern.  

For detentions greater than 30 minutes at the end of the day:  Parents/carers will usually receive an email or other contact the day before, and also be able to view these on IRIS where the detention is a Year, Department, School, Leadership or Key Stage Detention.  There may be occasions when the detention will be scheduled for after school on the same day; in these instances, parents/carers will be contacted during the school day so that they are aware of the detention and its reason.

Departmental detentions can be given for a range of matters including: lack of homework, BfL crosses, failing to meet the standards set by the school or the department code of conduct, failing to return reply slips after reminders.

Year detentions can be given for “out of lesson” offences such as: poor behaviour in the playground, rudeness, repeated failure to fulfil uniform requirements, bringing in banned items, repeated lateness to lessons/school.  They can also be given for forgetting equipment regularly or for failure to bring the school journal to school.

School detentions will also be given where students fail to attend other detentions or as part of a punishment for a more serious offence. School detentions take place each week and last for one hour. They are monitored by senior teachers and regarded as a serious sanction.

Leadership detentions are issued for failing to attend school detentions.  All Leadership detentions last for 90 minutes. These are administered by the Leadership Team of the school and is a very serious sanction. Failure to attend the Leadership 90 minute detentions usually results in exclusion from school and the need to complete the leadership detention on return.

Key Stage detentions are rarely used, but will apply where the Leadership Team deems them appropriate given the nature of the offence and other circumstances.  These are usually 2 hours in duration on a Friday evening. 

Where detentions are notified to parents/carers in advance, it should be noted that this notification is to inform parents/carers of the detention and the reason for it having been given.  The school does not require parent/carer agreement to set a detention for students.  However, if there are reasons why a particular date causes difficulty, then we would encourage parents/carers to let us know. 

Internal Exclusion

A serious misdemeanour will result in an internal exclusion where the child is isolated from their peers to work under staff supervision for the period of the exclusion. An internal exclusion may last for two periods or be up to two days. Parents/carers will be informed of any internal exclusion as part of the discussion of the circumstances. 

Leadership Exclusion:

Suspension from school for a fixed term (or permanently) is the most serious sanction that the school can use. We therefore use it for behaviour that causes the school grave concern. However, the school uses supervised exclusion in school (leadership exclusion) in certain instances instead of suspension from school. These are the first such incidents of this severity/nature where:

  • the student’s response gives reason to believe that this is a “one-off” incident of this type

or where there are particular cirumstances which make this response appropriate.

Suspension from the School

Very serious offences such as: bullying, endangering the safety of others, wilful damage to property, open defiance, extreme rudeness, racism and repeated failure to meet our standards of behaviour will result in suspension from the school and can only be authorised by the Headteacher.
Each suspension is followed by a parent/carer interview at which the school will explain the reason for the suspension and decide whether or not to re-admit the student.