to be furious that my daughter's school thinks educating her includes...

[northernlurker]

Taking YRs 7-11 off timetable for a day next month.....

sending them on a 10 mile walk..................

for which they will need to be sponsored by us..........

TO PAY FOR A NEW SCHOOL BUILDING!

So my two daughters lose a day's school which my Yr 11 daughter, already stressed to the max by all her A* targets (thanks school), can ill afford and I'm supposed to pay actual cash for this?

Is it me or is this absolutely unreasonable?

YABU.

They have to fund raise for these things.

Stop being so precious.

YAB a bit U. It's one day. Hell, she might even enjoy it.

It's one day.

My old school did a sponsored 10 mile walk every September.

Keep her off. What a crock of shit.

She doesn't have to do it.

Sounds like great exercise and probably good for her stress levels..

It's only 1 day and I think it teaches a life lesson.

In work I get taking off my job for training days.

I would ask if school uniform can be relaxed that day though

It will probably be on the PSHE day when they would be off timetable anyway. They are asking for sponsorship so just give them a fiver each. If you are not happy with target grades then speak to the teachers

Why kick up such a fuss?

YANBU. Raising money is all well and good but surely there's ways they could do it without wasting lesson time and making them walk so far (10 miles knackered me when I was 15 and I was in good shape).

I think yabu. You don't HAVE to sponsor her and it will probably do her good to have a day out in the open.

YABU. It's one day and its for a good cause.

It's one day. And the collective responsiblity is great social education. They are all raising funds for something they all will ultimately benefit from.

YABU.
My ds's school does a walk every year. Raises a heck of a lot of dosh (think about it, if everyone only brought £1, that's £1000 easily in most schools). Good for them to see that money has to be 'earned' and there isn't an infinite supply. One day of fresh air and exercise isn't going to make a jot of difference to your dd's exams.

We had to pay £5 per brick to get new sch building 30 yrs ago. Well not we, the parents, I mean.

Plus ca change, or summat. Sigh.

Wouldn't bother me at all.

Exercise will do them good generally. 10 miles isn't that far for a walk - different if they are expected to run it or have a tight deadline to complete it in. But for a fairly relaxed speed walk, with a break in between maybe, then I see no issue.

Sponsorship - assume that is voluntary. So if you don't want to sponsor them then don't. Or just give them a fixed amount and don't bother asking half the family and friends - we rarely, ever, do the latter.

Targets - see school if you feel these are too challenging and stressful for her.

If she's stressed to the max in September, a strenuous walk in the countryside with no guilt attached sounds like an ideal way to spend the day.

But I do agree that in an ideal world, new school buildings would not be paid for by extracting every last penny of sponsorship from parents. Not an ideal world, sadly.

I can have two paid days off work to do charitable or community projects or raise funds.

welcome to the realworld

and surely they havent set her unattainable 'targets' they will be estimated results from prior performance?

She walks three miles a day anyway. Given that she is taking her English and Maths GCSE in November and then mocks after that I think actual school is more important to her than a 'life experience' at this point.

I absolutely object to the idea that we should be paying towards this building. She goes to a state school. Education is free at the point of delivery and a sponsored anything is basically a levy on parents.

I cannot take my children out of school now except for 'exceptional' purposes. Why is it ok for school to decline to educate them in favour of a fundraising walk?

There is more to education than sitting in lessons.

Taking part in such an event is educational.

they may have already educated her though and it would be revision at that point?

do you put a lot of pressure on your dd? does she know how annoyed you are? a smile and encouragement and expression of faith in her to cope with 1 days walk might do wonders

Yes it will educate them as to how much dog poo there is along the river path they're walking along. It's not even an interesting river, basically it's a ditch at the point they stroll along. I imagine they'll also get an insight in to how many of their little pals try to sneak off. She's already been educated in exactly how crap I think this is.

Do you think like this for sport days or end of year trip like theme parks.

She knows I know she can walk 10 miles. That's not the issue and no, we put no pressure on her. Quite the opposite. She puts a lot of pressure on herself.

If she can't miss one day you've got much bigger problems.

Calm self.