We still go with letters home and notices on the Squadron notice board with sign up sheets as the primary way of getting things out. We supplement this with a Facebook group that only our cadets have access to (not parents). As I see it our cadets are young adults and if they end up missing out on things because they aren’t communicating then they will learn.
When i first took over we had a leave request Facebook group, I binned it within 2 weeks as there was no personal responsibility to posting “I won’t be down tonight” so attendance was rubbish. Now that they have to either pre-book, email the Adj or phone up attendance is much higher as they have to justify absence.
Over the last few parade nights we have had no printer, we’ve had to print letters for end of this cadet year from work. We also put the letter up on facebook for parents who’s children have not been down due to school or family commitments etc. We keep parents and cadets facebook groups separate but they are both informed of the same things that are going on when we have activities or courses on the go. Social media outlets saves on paper so thats a tick in my cyber book
Our schools back in my day where not as strict as the schools of today, I had one of my kids crying she had been given homework from her first lesson of the day and by the time she got home it was lost, she was literally sobbing her heart out as she would have been given a detention the next day. I don’t like schools that threaten kids with detention, we aren’t able to do anything like that with cadets so why do schools get away with it? From the minute my kids get home from school to pretty much when they go to bed they are doing some sort of homework so I can understand why so many kids think they will give cadets a miss as I know I wouldn’t be able to juggle school and cadets.
Anyways back to the subject, we use social media as well as telling cadets in person the activities or courses that are coming up. We do often send letters home that need signing so all angles are covered. If a cadet misses out on something then it’s something they will learn from as we remind them every chance we can so they don’t miss out, but I do get children can burn themselves out with everything that goes on from school to a busy cadet schedule.
Unfortunately schools are preparing kids for what life is really like; manager walks in and asks for something and expects it by lunchtime regardless, which fits with schools still expecting homework done for multiple subjects on the same day. Also schools are doing anything and everything to appease the DfE, OSTED and others, which is done largely by exam results, which requires homework to ensure it all gets covered.
As for losing homework and getting a detention for losing it, our youngest daughter was a nightmare, but a call to the teacher normally put it right, although we did let her do detentions for other things.
Our kids were pretty much on homework from getting in, but my wife was really good at organising them, she knew more about what was due and when, than they did.
As for threatening kids with detention, it was the cane/rule/slipper as well as detentions in my day, so a threat of losing some free time is soft, I also think that knowing there are consequences in life for not doing things is good. One of our friends says her school and many others have lunchtime detentions, so the kids don’t get a break, which she said has more of an effect than after school.
