Girl to sue over detention

Detention is a common punishment in schools

A 15-year-old girl says she is going to sue her education authority over detentions which she claims breached her civil rights.

Freya McDonald says she was given 11 detentions in nine months by teachers at Speyside High School in Morayshire.

She claims the detentions disrupted her education and affected her health.

Freya's family say the detentions were given for trivial things such as sipping fizzy drinks in class and coming into school through a fire door.

They have enlisted the help of solicitor Cameron Fyfe.

He has written to Moray Council to say the family are to sue under the European Convention of Human Rights.

Confidence

The family, who want compensation, will argue that the detentions were unlawful because they took place in Freya's free time.

Mother Annie McDonald told the Daily Express the detentions had had a bad effect on her daughter's well-being, her confidence and her health.

"She started off as a conscientious student who wanted to do well in school.

"But time after time she was called out of class for detentions and for ones she had not done because I had written and objected to her doing them."

Freya's mother kept her daughter off school for a time in protest but she is now back in class.

Moray Council says it does not comment on individual cases. A spokesman said any letters received would be referred to their legal staff.