School Discipline - Detention

Detention is one of the most common punishments in schools in the United States, Britain, Ireland, Singapore, Canada, Australia and some other countries. It requires the pupil to go to a certain area of the school during a specified time on a school day (either break or after school), but also may require a pupil to attend school at a certain time on a non-school day, e.g. "Saturday detention" at some US, UK and Irish schools. Students can do work, stand against the wall or just sit at the desk in a convenient and quiet manner. In the UK, the Education Act 1997 obliges a (state) school to give parents or guardians at least 24 hours' notice of a detention outside school hours so arrangements for transport and/or childcare can be made. This should say why it was given and, more importantly, how long it will last (Detentions usually last from as short as 10 minutes or less to as long as 5 hours or more). Typically, in schools in the UK and Singapore, if one misses a detention, then another four are added or the student gets a more serious punishment. In UK schools, for offences too serious for a normal detention but not serious enough for a detention requiring the pupil to return to school at a certain time on a non-school day, a detention can require a pupil to return to school 1-2 hours after school ends on a school day, e.g. "Friday Night Detention".