Yesterday a friend of Minor's came for the day. He attends the same High School as the THW and where Minor would have gone had we not decided to home educate.
The lad was telling me that last term, as he was leaving a classroom to go to his next lesson, the teacher called him back and praised him for a piece of work he had handed in. "The best piece of work you have done" she said. This delay meant that he was a couple of minutes catching up with his classmates and he was therefore the last to enter the next class where upon the Teacher promptly awarded him a lunchtime detention for being late in class. He explained where he had been and was given another detention to be served the following day for answering back. The detention issuing tyrant also told him he should have asked the previous teacher who had caused the delay for an "Excuse Note".
This lad, a most likeable and very polite, quiet boy, is now so disillusioned with the whole place he says he is just not going to try any more. In his words "There is no pleasing them so I'll just serve out my time until I can leave".
What an indictment of that school.
When SWWLTBO took him home last night she discussed this and home education with the lad's mother (who, like SWWLTBO, is a college lecturer) and discovered that the mother has had several blazing rows with the school over various matters and they all turn out to be over the same issues and the same members of staff that we have been fighting the school about for 6 years. They (the two wimmin) are thinking about joining forces to home educate all children belonging to both families. I am charged with looking into the legal aspects of this plan.
