Don't bug me teacher, eating me breakfast.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by jambutty

I wasn’t describing a Truant Officer as avenging, I was comparing a teacher to an avenging Truant Officer.

You've lost me on that one.

I remember way back at the dawn of time when I was a pupil at the Accrington High School For Girls, Mabel B. Horne made it very clear that when we were wearing the school uniform we were representing the school. That included on the way to and on the way home from that school. At such times if we were seen by a teacher not to be wearing a tie, or beret (later corduroy cap) or to be behaving in what was deemed to be an unseemly manner said teacher would give us a very sharp piece of her mind.

If we had dared to respond in anything other than a co-operative manner we would have been queuing up outside the head's office next morning trembling in our regulation neatly laced up black school shoes.

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

I think we all (as a community) have some responsibility to each other......this proprietor lives in the area of the school...she must know what time school starts....and while she has no responsibility to ensure the children are in class at the correct time, she didn't need to undermine the authority of the teacher in the way she did.
The message she is sending out to these children is that it is OK to break the rules.....and she is sanctioning that.

I am very disappointed to read this story in the Observer, because in a way they are justifying her actions by reporting it in the way they did.

And if a child got onto a bus near the school to go into Accrington should the driver question the child why s/he is not at school? No of course not. It is none of his business. Well the same applies to the butty shop owner. It’s not her place to question where a customer is supposed to be.

The wrong message was sent out by the teacher angrily bursting into the shop and s/he exceeded his/her authority. What that teacher should have done is had a quiet word with the shopkeeper and explain that her customers should be in school. No doubt the shopkeeper would probably have responded favourably.

If you go in spitting fire and brimstone don’t be surprised if that’s what you get back.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by jambutty

Yes it does but only at the school gate. The only time that a teacher has responsibilities outside the school gate is on an official trip away from school or when walking the pupils from one school to another. Although from what I can gather if the class has to go to a different school for a particular lesson, this is usually done during the dinner hour unsupervised.

Some schools are reluctant to phone the parents of a pupil that hasn’t turned up for school to ask where that pupil is. And why should they? Indeed some head teachers have been heard to state that it is not their job to chase up missing pupils. It is the parents’ responsibility to ensure that their kids go to school and not the schools to make sure that they get there.

If there is such a thing as a Truant Officer these days then it is that officer’s job to apprehend any school child that he sees not in school. Whether s/he can forcibly march them there is debatable.

Anyone bursting into a shop demanding that the pupils should be at school can legitimately be described as an “avenging” somebody. In any case I wasn’t describing a Truant Officer as avenging, I was comparing a teacher to an avenging Truant Officer.

Do some reading on the current law regarding schools and truancy, you are way behind the times my friend.

The schools responsibility does not start and end at the school gates any more.

[WillowTheWhisp]

She wasn't spitting fire and brimstone at the shop owner though was she? She was instructing the pupils, pupils who are her responsibility, where they ought to be. We only have the shop owner's version that she was screaming like a banshee. I would like to hear the teacher's version of events.

[Tin Monkey]

Thankfully I can't see JB's post, although unfortunately I've read Willow's quote. It looks like another trolling mission from 'the great one' and should just be ignored. Either that, or he is totally out of touch with the modern world.

No doubt he'll respond by saying I've abused him, but equally thankfully, I won't be able to see it.

[katex]

Originally Posted by jambutty

[COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]

The wrong message was sent out by the teacher angrily bursting into the shop and s/he exceeded his/her authority. What that teacher should have done is had a quiet word with the shopkeeper and explain that her customers should be in school. No doubt the shopkeeper would probably have responded favourably.

If you go in spitting fire and brimstone don’t be surprised if that’s what you get back.

I give up ... Still not the point .. yes, the teacher maybe should not have been, as described, 'over-zealous' as such ... but the fact that it has gone to the paper and she has made the comments she did just smacks of nastiness and self-glorificaton to me.

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by Neil

What makes you so sure that it is not that teachers job to act on truant kids?

And yes it is the schools responsibility what the kids buy when they are in school time.

Did you know that the school can issue a fine to the parents of the truant children?

I do hope that the Head Teacher at Rhyddings comes down hard on these children and makes an example of them.

I don’t recall saying that. Ah! But I forgot. Put words into someone’s mouth to make a point.

Really! Since when? Unless the school has a “Tuck Shop”.

I didn’t know that. If that is the case then it is giving the school an authority that it shouldn’t have.

I agree with your last sentence though.

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Many schools will send parents a text message if their child has not shown up for registration.

Always assuming that A) the parent has a mobile phone and B) has it switched on whilst at work.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by jambutty

I didn’t know that. If that is the case then it is giving the school an authority that it shouldn’t have.

There you go, have a read of this ( or is it that? I was not good at English )

Penalty notices

From 27 February 2004, local authority officers, typically Education Welfare Officers, head teachers (and deputy head teachers and assistant head teachers authorised by them) and the police have the power to issue penalty notices for truancy.
What is a penalty notice?

• Parents of a registered pupil whose child fails to attend school regularly are committing an offence.
• Penalty notices provide an alternative to prosecution for the offence in the form of a fine. There are two levels of penalty notice - £50 (if paid within 28 days) and £100 (if paid later than 28 days but within 42 days).
• Parents who pay the penalty notice within the time limits cannot later be prosecuted for the offence to which the penalty notice relates.

What if I dont pay?

• If a parent does not pay a properly issued notice within 42 days, the LA will prosecute for the offence of irregular attendance under s444 Education Act 1996.

Can I appeal against a penalty notice?

• There is no right of appeal against the penalty notice, but if you believe it to have been wrongly issued to you, you should contact the local authority (LA) immediately as they may withdraw the penalty notice if it is not issued in accordance with their local code or has been issued to the wrong person.
• If the penalty notice is not withdrawn and you do not pay, you will be prosecuted under s444 Education Act 1996 and a court will consider the evidence and decide whether the offence has been committed and, if so, the appropriate penalty.

[Margaret Pilkington]

We only have the proprietors word for what went on in regard to the teachers attitude...so I think it is hard to judge whether or not she was spitting fire and brimstone.
After all the story would not have been anywhere near as sensational(if you can call it that, but obviously, by Observer terms it was)if the report had stated that the teacher walked in and calmly frog-marched the offending pupils back to school.......the proprietors report is subjective......and worded to give best publicity. Stunt seems to have had the desired effect.

And Jambutty, it seems that most parents these days do have mobile phones, though we cannot say all......a text message is sent and logged......and if there is no response then a call is made to a landline number...if one is available.

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

You've lost me on that one.

I remember way back at the dawn of time when I was a pupil at the Accrington High School For Girls, Mabel B. Horne made it very clear that when we were wearing the school uniform we were representing the school. That included on the way to and on the way home from that school. At such times if we were seen by a teacher not to be wearing a tie, or beret (later corduroy cap) or to be behaving in what was deemed to be an unseemly manner said teacher would give us a very sharp piece of her mind.

If we had dared to respond in anything other than a co-operative manner we would have been queuing up outside the head's office next morning trembling in our regulation neatly laced up black school shoes.

Yes indeed your uniform was representing the school, as was mine, and misbehaviour would reflect badly on the school but no teacher had the authority to make a pupil put his hat or tie on whilst on the way home. But we didn’t know that they were just assuming an authority, so we obeyed. To put it bluntly we were lied to.

School have never had any authority over the pupils outside of the school except as I have already explained.

Many of my teachers went to and from school on the same bus that the pupils did and thus the pupils behaved themselves. But the teacher had no authority to supervise the pupils. But then we didn’t know that, and we did have respect for the teacher’s authority. It was the conductor and ultimately the driver who ensured good behaviour on the bus.

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

She wasn't spitting fire and brimstone at the shop owner though was she? She was instructing the pupils, pupils who are her responsibility, where they ought to be. We only have the shop owner's version that she was screaming like a banshee. I would like to hear the teacher's version of events.

It was reported that the teacher angrily barged into the shop and demanded that the pupils get to school immediately.

That’s about as close to spitting fire and brimstone as you can get without actually doing so.

But you are nit picking as usual and trying to defend a teacher who overstepped the mark.

[garinda]

Perhaps the publicity seeking shop owner can employ all the pupils who frequent her shop, after they've left the school.

After all she won't mind a jot if they are late for work every morning, and are sat eating a sausage roll somewhere.

I again applaud the actions of this teacher. The sooner people realise life has to be played by certain rules, the better.

Rhyddings shouldn't be targeted as a bad school. Things can, and do improve, and also the reverse. Twenty years ago Moorhead was seen academically as the best of the local schools, and Holy Family was struggling, and now it's all changed round.

Things can improve in any school, with the right teachers, of which this woman is one.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

She wasn't spitting fire and brimstone at the shop owner though was she? She was instructing the pupils, pupils who are her responsibility, where they ought to be. We only have the shop owner's version that she was screaming like a banshee. I would like to hear the teacher's version of events.

Exactly.

Only the shop keeper's version of events.

Perhaps she's just miffed because she didn't get the children's money in her till.

[katex]

Originally Posted by jambutty

Yes indeed your uniform was representing the school, as was mine, and misbehaviour would reflect badly on the school but no teacher had the authority to make a pupil put his hat or tie on whilst on the way home.

Actually, Willow, if you remember, they delegated this job, in the main, to the prefects, which were also well respected ... LOL.