Sibling graduation is an exceptional curcumstance

The only way I can see it being a family event is if no one has graduated before. Otherwise it's old hat. My parents had done theirs, but went to mine for me and because it was more trad than theirs, but while I got to escape to the drinks party quickly, they were stuck in senate house until the end. My sisters would have been as bored as anything. Most of it was in Latin, my bag, not theirs.

Also, the graduating child deserves 100% of their parents' attention, before they bin them off and go off with their friends.

Sounds lovely. For mine, my parents brought a picnic to have on the college lawn, as did all the others, then I had to walk in procession with my cohort, saw them briefly afterwards for fizz and a chat and some pics, then they left me some cash,departed, and I went out with my mates. Perfect.

I have no idea how my siblings' went. I imagine it suited them.

My son was declined authorisation for his granddad's funeral. It was at the other end of the country so we needed 2 days. He was in y1 or y2. I shrugged and took him out of school anyway, it made not one bit of difference.

You don’t ask the school you tell them DD will be absent.

You don’t ask the school you tell them DD will be absent.

This is correct.

Oh a funeral of a grandparent is totally different, I'd do what you did.

I think most appreciate education and would value a university degree. They just don’t think the ceremony is of any particular value. Some people chose to receive their degrees in absentia. We attended both our children’s degree ceremonies and barely saw them walk across the stage. I am surprised you got more than 2 tickets.

This will depend on the school, as a teacher I wasn’t even given time off to attend my own graduation for the masters degree my school had funded!

Yes, i totally missed the masters bit for mine, which they give you if you're still alive and not in jail 10 terms after graduation. I phoned Delia in the office, said I'd found the letter under a cushion, and she laughed, and sent me out the certificate for free as she said she thought I would forget. My ex H had to pay for his as he'd never built up that sort of relationship with the office at his college...

Now that is shoddy behaviour.

That’s really sad.

I felt so proud seeing my brother graduate when I was 15.

And I definitely couldn't have gone to school then celebrated with family afterwards - it was a 4 hour journey each way.

It's a ridiculous policy (whoever's fault it is) and OP is definitely not being unreasonable!

Genuinely what do you want from this thread when you already have a fixed position

I've been to one graduation that wasn't mine and it was boring. But I was proud to be invited. My best friend who met at work failed one module at 48, pass mark 50 and as i worked in HE, I pointed out that she was close, and they gave her that mark, not a total fail, because she could do better. We sat under a tree in the square near work and talked it out. She resubmitted, passed with merit , and insisted I went.

Boring as fuck. But I love her, so I went.

I'm going to disagree and I don't think its normal to see much younger siblings at Graduation ceremonies and have you even checked you can get tickets, most graduation ceremonies I have attended (including my own) only allowed 2 tickets and I don't recall seeing school age kids there normally, maybe at the celebrations afterwards but not at the actual ceremony.

You may not like the response but ultimately, the school can't stop you taking her out for the day,

Why’s it sad?

Does 1 day unauthorised mattter? Just all go and have a nice day

Rules have changed over the years, with exceptional circumstances getting more restricted all the time

Not really. Lots of people saying they value it. The overriding view is that the government defines what counts as “exceptional”. And therefore even if an individual school declines your request for authorised absence, this does not mean they don’t value the experience for your child. Nor does it mean they will stop you taking your child out of school. It simply been they do not have the authority to mark it as “exceptional” and therefore formally authorised.

DS’s graduation was limited to 2 tickets and then there were a few surplus tickets offered after everyone who wanted their 2 ticket allocation had applied. But you could only get 1 extra ticket which meant we and his GF could attend. Some graduates had other relatives waiting outside after the ceremony (most ceremonies are also streamed)

I am genuinely surprised so many people don’t value university graduation in the same way my family does

You can value a university graduation without valuing the ceremony. You make it sound like having a degree is exceptional while to most people from academic families it's standard. Most celebrate it separate from the ceremony which is awfully tedious.

What’s sad about it?

University graduations are bloody boring as hell.

Schools absolutely can authorise graduations, funerals and so on. They are just being peevish.

Have you taken on board that this not the school’s fault? That they are very limited in what they can authorise?