It’s a different situation – one in which a student is complaining they are being punished in a way they disagree with, but are not disputing the fact that they deserve to be punished or claiming there is a reason for leniency. By my reading, it’s also a situation where the student is trying to argue with me, not appeal, but argue. I don’t argue with pupils. I am happy to discuss a situation, but only after they’ve accepted that while I will listen to what they have to say, I’m still the one who is making the decision.
Now, as I’ve said, we don’t have the same rights of appeal for non corporal punishments as we do for corporal punishment, and I agree, that’s somewhat problematic. Ideally, I would like the same rights of appeal to apply in all cases of formal punishment – it would be neater.