AIBU to think our 18 year olds should work instead of wasting away weekends?

For the children to earn some money perhaps?

It's reasonable for 18 year olds to work, it just seems to be unusual on Mumsnet.

The OP hasn't acknowledged any posts which ask her if she is also expected to work on her weekends. Why should her children then?

I know the criteria. It’s a very unusual school. Sounds great school but they are not going to be allowing lower ability kids to take the IB in 6th form

It's a local school in ingatestone. The local kids have higher priority

The admission criteria is
Looked-after children / EHCP pupils (legal priority)
Local children
Those living in the parishes of Ingatestone, Mountnessing, or Margaretting
Or children at certain feeder primary schools
Siblings already at the school
Other categories (staff children, international etc.)
Remaining places allocated if oversubscribed (sometimes by random allocation)

Have you actually worked out how much work that would be? They do 32.5 hours a week of school, then probably five hours of homework, so you're already on 37.5 hours, and then you want them to do another eight? Ten? That's a hell of a lot for what's supposed to be the carefree section of their lives.

That’s not a normal state school. It’s very unusual and has a specific history. It lists children with an international connection in its entry criteria which is highly unusual & it sets different grade requirements for different courses.

Well if you are that interested it's called Anglo - European school in ingatestone

I hope that, unlike my daughter, they weren’t a McLaren fan or it would have been a waste of a weekend!

Even regular state schools have varying 6th form entry requirements. At our local school you need 3 GCSE’s at Grade 6 & 5 at Grade 5, at the local college you need 5 GCSES AT grade 5, another 6th form nearby you need Grade 7 in the subjects you wish to study.

YABU. The IB is hard work. They can get a job in the summer holidays after exams finish - plenty of time for all that later. Let them enjoy their youth!

I don't know It's a regular state school. Not grammar l

I’m guessing that they had quite high entry requirements for that 6th form then. It’s a qualification that is very highly regarded, but will definitely not suit everyone.

Assuming they're still heavily dependent they are not exactly adults yet? What a weird post

Oh most of 6th formers did it in a local to me school. In fact I think it was one of the first UK schools to offer it

International Baccalaureate

It’s a highly academic A level equivalent qualification with arguably a much higher workload and a broader range of subjects have to be studied. Usually only attempted by the cleverest students & includes a 4,000 word research project or extended essay, community service & art/sporting activities.

They sound like good kids to me. They haven’t squandered their money from their grandparents and are out and about socialising, as they should at 18.
what’s an IB diploma?

Honestly this thread has really made me think about it for sure.
Im going to look into this.
Thank you.

there are ways to help if you are are in the financial position to do so. I gave an anonymous £500 donation towards a college bursary fund for those on low incomes at one place as I had seen for myself how these things affected some of ds's friends.

Tbh once my last dd is finished what feels like the longest degree in the world ( its not, im just doing college and school for years) id happily sponsor a kid if i thought i could get one out from under the stress of juggling a bar job hours and college.
The food banks in dds college get cleaned out. A lad in a room below her lived on cornflakes till she started giving him 'extra groceries' when i sent "too much" and some dinners i cooked cos she "wldtn be in to eat them all that week".
Its tough out there these days. Id help any of em tbh.

I think they probably really benefit from the downtime. Surely intense academic work 5 days a week and then a job on the other two is just a guaranteed road to burnout?

Yes, this too. It's one thing for a teen or young adult to work to gain life experience, confidence and money to fund socialising, travelling, a bit of retail therapy or whatever. Very different if they have to work because they're living in poverty.

My 21yo DS is currently working in a hospitality job to get some experience post uni (which I am beyond proud of him for getting and coping with, as he very much falls into the neurodiverse/socially awkward/'bottom of the pile' type of young person who would be blown out of the water by all the shiny happy socially confident ones!). We have very much encouraged him to work and we ask him for a small, proportionate contribution to the household because we think it is good for him to work and to make that little contribution, but as a family we don't 'need' him to work, financially. It's more about supporting him to gain experience in order to make the next step in his life.

But some of the friends he's made at this job have to try and get as many shifts as possible because they have to help their parents pay rent with what they earn, even if they're currently studying. Which is bound to have an impact on them.

As I said in my previous post, we don't live in a world of equal opportunity and the playing field is not level unfortunately.

I agree, one young person who was at college with ds had to work a lot and despite him being very talented at the subject he was studying got worse results than the others and also lost opportunities at college because of his availability out of hours. I am sure that having to work so much contributed to this.

It's extremely unfortunate that having to work during sixth form/FE can be a disadvantage, one that isn't necessarily compensated for by increased employability later. It's obvious why this is bad for social mobility, and as an FSM kid myself I wish it weren't so. But that doesn't make it any less true.

Or they were lucky enough to have parents who could afford the time and car to take them to work because the kids who live in my area (a deprived, rural area with dreadful public transport) can't even get to a job or they are lucky enough not to have caring responsibilities (my daughter didn't work because her dad had a medial condition that meant he can't drive and so she was far more useful in helping to care for a grandparent with dementia. I know another young person who has two very disabled siblings etc etc, the list goes on.

Not relevant. When I've been recruiting (as I did a lot of in the 90s and 00s, not so much these days), I was looking for the best fit for the jobs available, not thinking about being a social experiment. I was only vaguely interested if their CV showed work experience for a school leaver - it was literally only something I'd use to start a conversation, likewise, I'd just chat about their hobbies, sports or whatever they did in their spare time. It's just a conversation starter, get the person to open up and relax - I'd far rather hear about their interest in bird watching, or formula one, or football or country walks than whether they'd had a crappy shelf stacking job in Tesco! In reality, I didn't give a hoot what they did, I just wanted them relaxed and chatty. Completely different if I was recruiting for an "experienced" position where prior relevant experience was essential and I'd spent most of the interview talking about their previous jobs, rather than their hobbies etc as I needed to know how much of my job available they could do from day 1, how much training they'd need to do bits they had no experience with etc. Completely different.