Head refuses to reward Year 11’s with a July Prom? Any ideas?

Every year 11 kid deserves a send off. If there's a cautious head, so why not an outdoor event? It would be better than nothing. And yes we all know teachers of year 11 and 13 have loads to do but some on here almost sound like they're blaming the kids for that. In every school there must be some staff who could take on some responsibility for organising something.

@FancySomeChips you organised residentials in a secondary school single handedly? No help from anyone?

You set up the parent pay, had NO queries, no late payments, no pupil premium kids to sort...just tweaked old RAs, organised all paper work, transport, staffing,... everyone did everything on time, you never had to answer any questions or concerns? You didn't have to organisee emergency contacts at school? Write/email parents about the trip and any updates or further details? No need to write an itinerary? Didn't have to s

Every SINGLE trip (and essentially a prom is a trip) generates work...lots of it. How can you say a Y12 prom generates no additional workload, when it clearly does. Even you say it does...who is booking the venue? Who is "just setting up PP"? Who is "just" tweaking the RAs?

FancySomeChips
Parentpay tickets purchased by a certain cut off date and then after that, no tickets available. It really isn’t complicated. I’ve coordinated many many residentials with no issue at all sorting the money in this way.

Possibly because it has been someone else dealing with the calls saying that its only X days after the cut off.

@FancySomeChips

Risk assessment from last year? There were no proms last year so we don’t have one and several children are now different anyway and bring new risks/needs.

Just pay on ParentPay - just our leavers hoodies alone caused us hours of work, queries from parents, last minute changes, I missed the deadline please help - prom would be way worse and always was!

No extra workload / teachers don’t attend - NOT TRUE!!! Teachers in our school always volunteer to chaperone as otherwise parents accuse us of abandoning the kids and any drunken incident is blamed on us. Organising wise, those teachers who volunteer get involved in all aspects including weeks worth of fielding questions from kids and parents, special requests etc.

Kids won’t get over it - yes they bloody well will! They are fantastically resilient kids when given the chance and many are much more sensible than the parents I talk to every day. We never had prom, just went out and had fun with friends. Many children in my school are so poor that prom is unthinkable to them because of the social embarrassment at not being able to afford it.

So the argument definitely stands and perhaps we could all argue that those schools doing proms are the ones who should take a look at their behaviour. Certainly the entitled parents demanding parties should.

Sounds sensible to me

Couldn't you get numbers of how many are interested through social media & then set up a WhatsApp group to do the organising & sell tickets?

My head made the sensible decision to not have a prom and this was communicated to staff and parents. It's really sad (I am the prom organiser and it's bloody hard work by the way).

The reasons were costs - lots of people would struggle to pay and if it was cancelled last minute would stand to lose a lot of money. The majority of parents agreed.
I must say though Fancy what a weird school your DC goes to / our staff love attending the prom and seeing the kids.
Hopefully next year I get to organise another - although this year would have been a nightmare as an English teacher with 2 year 11 classes to get through 'exams'

It's a secondary school. Parents don't get involved the way they do at primary school

Not hard to set up though? Set up group, call it Grange Hill Prom, then post links on all local facebook pages, maybe put a few posters up as school/in Tesco to spread the word.

Jesus there are some entitled twats on this thread.

My DD graduated (early) as a nurse in March last year, went straight onto Covid wards. After three years work - unpaid - and a lot of student debt to pay for the tuition. She never got a graduation ceremony. They still haven't had one, and I don't suppose they ever will.

I've also got a Y11 DC and they are not having a prom. They aren't demanding that teachers do something about it.

Fancy, go ahead and book it then if it's so easy.

You hav have no idea what secondary school is like right now.

Have you not got a parents page on Facebook for the school year group run by parents?

It's a secondary school. Parents don't get involved the way they do at primary school.

@Cocopogoat least yours have a choice to attend or not.

I’ve taught in both primary and secondary. I’m not naive to teacher workloads!

Parentpay tickets purchased by a certain cut off date and then after that, no tickets available. It really isn’t complicated. I’ve coordinated many many residentials with no issue at all sorting the money in this way.

I have spoken to the venue myself, no teachers are needed. At all. None.

Risk assessments from the venue are provided so will need mildly adapting. The school also have previous year’s risk assessments to tweak- same venue. Risk assessments do not take weeks of preparation!

The parents are prepared to do it all, I have already stated this. We were patiently waiting to hear back from the school, told not to get anything in motion, that the school had everything in hand and would be organising as per usual. And now we are told it isn’t happening.
Some of the kids have designed and made their dresses for their textiles coursework.
This is how sure they were on it going ahead.

As for “COVID soup” claims- ummmm pubs? Holidays? Train carriages? The same kids have been mixing all year anyway, what’s the difference.
Waiting and security staff COVID concerns- but if they aren’t working the prom they will be working in similar situations elsewhere? Why not our prom?
The argument has no standing.

I genuinely could not organise a Year 11 and 13 prom (and would have to be both, to be fair, obviously) in the next few days. I am sorry if that has ruined an experience for year 11 and 13 but I am trying my absolute best to make sure I have done what they need for their actual qualifications going forward. I would hope that they at least understood that.

The sensible ones will understand. Thank you for all that you're doing, it must be a nightmare this year.

I wish DC school wasn’t having a prom. I could do without the expense and hassle

I’m a teacher myself, no teacher workload will be impacted.

I recognise you from some other threads and aren’t you a primary teacher? I’m so sorry if you are not. It’s just that in my experience of actually organising Year 11 proms in the past, teacher workload is definitely impacted.

It’s never just as easy as ‘pay on parent pay’ as there is always chasing, queries, mistakes etc. Risk assessments have to be produced, even though it’s at a different venue.
Constant communication with the venue who always want numbers up front early and have lots of paperwork to complete with numbers that large.

Yes, teachers do turn up to the proms. I have never had a venue that allowed a prom to go ahead without teachers (including Year 13 proms) for that many students.

There are always a few students who take it too far that evening and therefore, need to be dealt with/supported by staff.

There are always late parents upon collection time and it’s teachers who have to wait around with those students, gone 11pm.

I don’t think even I fully appreciated just how much extra work putting the evidence together for these TAGs was going to heap on secondary teachers, as so much paperwork has to be collected for every child as we have to be prepared for being the subject called to provide it all within 48 hours.
I’ve only just closed my laptop lid tonight.

I genuinely could not organise a Year 11 and 13 prom (and would have to be both, to be fair, obviously) in the next few days. I am sorry if that has ruined an experience for year 11 and 13 but I am trying my absolute best to make sure I have done what they need for their actual qualifications going forward. I would hope that they at least understood that.

Besides, if it was all that easy, parents would already be organising their own provide one, really.

Payment is by parentpay and the venue organise everything from security to decorations to waiters to the DJ. Teachers do not needed to attend, they never do.

I’m a teacher myself, no teacher workload will be impacted.

And to those saying the kids will get over it- why should they have to? They are the most impacted year group, they have put up with so much shit from this government, and they just want to be normal 15 and 16 year olds.

It’s a couple of hours to formally send them off, the last time they see their friends altogether as a year group. Not just a bunch of them self organising a hang out- if you can’t see the difference then just bog off.
And it’s hassle free for the school!!!
Parents all willing to organise but school is vetoing.
Yet all other local schools are falling over themselves to put on a shindig.

I don't think anyone is refusing to organise a prom because they want to be a party pooper.

It's simply unreasonable this year to expect the Head to endorse it. & I imagine she knows full well the teaching staff don't have the gas left in the tank to chaperone, & aren't up for that level of personal risk this year.

Proms only go ahead because enough staff volunteer - as in give up an evening with no obligation to do so - to chaperone them.

They're generally quite fun but stressful for teachers, but this year: no thanks. Covid soup.

If parents/students think it's a good idea to organise large scale gatherings, it'll have to be done away from the aegis of the school. 🤷🏻‍♀️

They're teaching online still as well as in person trying desperately to get kids up to speed from their "lost learning" whilst providing evidence and setting multiple tests for multiple years groups, so they can justify the grades they have to magically come up with for the same kids who haven't been in the classroom. (One teacher is having to base the grade of an A-Level student who has produced exactly 2 pieces of work all year!) - as well as having to take part in additional meetings, writing additional risk assessments, interventions, increased contact with worried parents etc etc.

They're all dreading results day when the parents will inevitably query every single grade given...

She won’t give us access to the year group contact details and they leave this Friday ☹️

The children are equally upset at not having a final day together.

So why can't the kids compile a list of details themselves? They're not toddlers...

Oh for goodness sake. There are university students who have not even had a graduation ceremony. A prom is just a party - if it is so essential then parents could organise it.

Schools have enough on their plates right now without organising a social event. It is a bonus that they do - it goes way beyond what they have to do - but this year has been difficult for everyone, including school staff. They are exhausted.

Because they don't want to nor are they required to. End of story.

Same is happening at my DCs school- kids are devastated.
They feel completely undervalued and ignored.

All other local schools are having a prom, just not ours.

This year group has been so let down. It’s horrendous.

Lots of schools are indeed planning proms this year, but that isn't the point. The point is that it is the headteacher's decision, and she will no doubt make that decision on the basis of the evidence that is available to her, the school's own risk assessment etc. Ultimately, she is responsible for the school's health and safety measures, and she has to do what she thinks is right...regardless of whether irritated parents or randoms on the internet disagree.

There is no statutory duty on schools to organise a prom. It's the headteacher's decision, and the OP will just have to accept it.