AN Andover mother has attacked Harrow Way School for insisting that misbehaving pupils attend Saturday detentions.

The parent, who does not wish to be named, says the school's request that pupils serve their punishment on Saturdays cuts into valuable family time at the weekend.

"Weekends are very precious to my family.

"It is totally unreasonable of Harrow Way School to insist that children have to attend school on Saturday for detention," she said in a letter to the Andover Advertiser.

The mother of the 14-year-old Harrow Way pupil believes her son should be punished for bad behaviour during school hours.

"I do not like the idea of detentions after school at all and think it should be done at break time once the pupils have their lunch.

"Going to school on a Saturday almost infringes upon their human rights," she said.

Harrow Way's headteacher, Charlie Currie, says the school needs the support of as many parents as possible to make Saturday detentions work for students who have been playing truant or misbehaving in school.

"Without parental support we cannot do this.

"The children are here to learn and this is a way of getting them to put something back into the community," Mr Currie said.

Tasks Saturday detention pupils will be required to do will include painting parts of the school, litter picking and doing school work.

"I will be supervising the children and won't be asking other staff to do it. It's going to be an occasional thing and I think it sends out a strong message to the pupils," he added.

Hampshire County Council allows schools to set their own guidelines for Saturday detentions as long as 24 hours notice is given and a parent or guardian's permission is sought. Council education officer Melanie Saunders said: "It does say a lot about the rising dedication of staff that they are prepared to do this on a Saturday."