Yes.
Failing to serve a penalty you have already imposed is itself conduct that can attract a penalty — the statute says so expressly. This is worth knowing, because staff often treat a no-show as a dead end and quietly drop it, which teaches the pupil that the sanction was optional. The definition of misconduct is also wider than rule-breaking: it covers falling below the standard reasonably expected, “for any other reason”.
updated 1 Jan 2006last checked 22 Aug 2026
What the source actually says
What a disciplinary penalty is, and how broadly the trigger is drawn:
“In this Chapter, “ disciplinary penalty ” means a penalty imposed on a pupil, by any school at which education is provided for him, where his conduct falls below the standard which could reasonably be expected of him (whether because he fails to follow a rule in force at any such school or an instruction given to him by a member of its staff or for any other reason).”
— Education and Inspections Act 2006, s.90(1), current text as revised legislation.gov.uk
And the provision that answers the question directly — note limb (b):
“In subsection (1), the reference to conduct, in relation to a pupil, includes— (a) conduct which occurs at a time when the pupil is not on the premises of a school and is not under the lawful control or charge of a member of the staff of a school, but only to the extent that it is reasonable for the school imposing the penalty to regulate the pupil’s conduct at such a time, and (b) conduct which consists of a failure by the pupil to comply with a penalty previously imposed on him.”
— Education and Inspections Act 2006, s.90(2), current text as revised legislation.gov.uk
Penalties are not an optional extra in the behaviour policy either — the statute requires the head teacher’s measures to provide for them:
“The measures which the head teacher determines under subsection (1) must include the making of rules and provision for disciplinary penalties (as defined by section 90).”
— Education and Inspections Act 2006, s.89(4), current text as revised legislation.gov.uk
The limit is the ordinary one: the further penalty still has to be reasonable and proportionate, and escalating indefinitely because a pupil keeps missing a detention is not what the section contemplates.
Your school may still require it
Your school can lawfully decide that escalation runs through a head of year, that missed detentions convert to a fixed alternative, or that a no-show is followed up in some other way entirely — and can require you to follow that route rather than setting a second sanction yourself. That is a school choice about process; the power to treat the no-show as misconduct is in the statute either way.
See also Do I need parents' permission to keep a pupil after school?, Do I need sign-off before I can sanction a pupil? and Can I sanction a pupil for something that happened outside school or online?.