Do your school have the children missing a whole day of lessons to work reception?

Yes my son is in year 8 and did it just before half term. I wasn't that keen on his missing a day of lessons but actually he learnt a lot and found a new respect for how hard the office staff work. It was a very good experience for him.

Yes, ours designates year 8 as "service" year and they do various jobs like office, library, taking tours on open evenings and open mornings etc.

I'm not entirely happy about the missed lessons either but I can see the value in doing it.

Mine did it year 8 and they were supposed to collect work from each lesson, they really enjoyed it.

DD did reception duty in year *. I wasn't happy that she missed out on a day's lessons because she hadn't been very well that term and had missed a lot of school already.

We did it at our school 25 years ago. One day out of a whole school life. I got to carry a Madagascan cockroach to the biology lab. We all looked forward to it.

*not !

Also, the students know in advance which day they are doing. And if they don't want to or their parents object then that is cool. If they want to do a particular lesson for a test or because it's a favourite then they can go and do it and we manage with one for that period.

It's or mandatory.

I'm a secondary school welfare/receptionist, and we call them runners. It's one day in year 8, one day out of 7 school years. I think Y8 are chosen as in the great scheme of things it's the least important year in terms of being new or getting ready for GCSE etc.

Year head vetoes any naughty kids, and it's seen as a big responsibility and an important job, which it's is.

The kids love it, they get to go on breaks a few minutes early, they can eat and drink at the desk they sit at, they get to go into parts of the school that would usually be out of bounds to them, and they usually get a hot chocolate and a biscuit at some point in the day from us.

They are expected to do h/w or read when not busy. We would not expect them do anything yucky.

We could not manage without them tbh. We are school of 1200 with 150 staff. We get dozens of visitors everyday who have to be "delivered". Parents regularly decide in the middle of the day that their kids need to leave for GP appts etc without telling the child in the morning so we have to send a runner to collect them when the parent arrives wanting their kid NOW. Kids forget kits/homework/lunch/violin and facebookwe have to deliver those - literally 30 to 40 times a day.

If I was running around delivering things for disorganised kids/parents, then I wouldn't have time to take care of the constant stream of kids with period pains, headaches, cut knees etc etc.

It's looked at a learning experience and a privilege for the students and they really enjoy it (apart from the odd lazy/grumpy one!).

Dd did this and she and I were both pissed off. She missed half a day of lessons and was expected to catch up on her own time. It's not work experience - it's cheap labour.

I notice that it is the posts from the 2 teachers pointing out that this means pupils miss out on work. It always surprises me how parents seem to think it is ok for their kids to miss lessons for all sorts of things (extra holidays in term time, music lessons, colds, tummy aches, etc) and then wonder why they under perform in tests. I can tell you that pupils almost never properly catch up missed work. So my advice would be to ensure your DCs do not miss lessons if you want them to do well.

Yes it's a good lead into work experience too and will help pupils appreciate the formal organisational side of school

Yes, it's called duty pupilling and year 9 do it in pairs. Students get a taste of work experience and complete school work during quiet moments.

Yes, my dd has done it once in secondary school. She is now in Y10.

My school (with an excellent ofsted) do this. The school itself has amazing pastoral care and they are big on pupils being part of a community/team and supporting each other. I like the system.

DD did it in about Y8. So many kids at the school she only ever did it once in her whole time there. I think it is a good idea - it gives them the experience of being really helpful and useful for the day, in a 'work' environment. All part of their education really.

The last school I taught in did this. Every day 2 kids from year 8 were picked to run errands, deliver messages etc. After a bad Ofsted that was all stopped. I think it was really good for some of the kids to have some responsibility for a day, but ultimately it is a pain for the teachers to have to catch those 2 kids back up and yes, actually, they do lose out from missing lessons.

Our DDS school does it, they take it in turns to do half a day in yr 8, I'm not entirely sure why, but DD1 kind of enjoyed it. They do a lot of sorting and returning lost property.

A school I taught at did it with the Y8s. We had to supply work for them to do while they sat in reception, but it was never done properly. I could never understand what the point was as they missed a whole day of proper lessons. Completely pointless.

My dd did this in year 8 and loved it

I did this in my final year back in 1991. I loved it! Having a sense of responsibility and being spoken to and treated like an adult did loads for my confidence.

They do it in year 7. Really good for them, they have a bit of set work to do if they have time, but they are used to take and deliver messages mostly, which is a skill in itself.
They enjoyed doing it.

Not got Dc but when i was in Secondary School we did this, year 8 I think it was.
In the grand scheme of things it's one day, everyone looked forward to it. And if you were behind on work or had been in trouble you weren't allowed to do it.