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?

It was rather arse kissy of me, I admit, but the true geekery was just so appealing!

YABU about the walk and the day off.
YAN, necessarily, BU about the sponsor money. We have very few relatives and my DDad pathologically disapproves of sponsored things, so it's me paying every sodding time.

I confess I quite often 'loose' sponsor forms.

The dds don't mind doing the walk. It's me that's outraged and this thread has helped me pin down why - it is the hypocrisy and the income generating combined. I can't withdraw them from lessons to make money for me, nevermind do something fun and educational. How is it ok for the school to do so?

Worse things happen at sea though

So, does that mean that the school isn't allowed to do anything fun with the kids? Just work?

Well ideally I'd like them to be fed gruel...........

They do fun stuff - not that much comes to mind except for the end of term production but I'm sure it's there.

Just to out myself though - if you know York you'll know that a ten mile trek by the Foss in October to Strensall and back isn't exactly fun city......

Northern

You sound like your knickers are untwisted again now
I see where you are coming from now.
I must admit to not missing the hypocrisy of schools/system, amongst other things. School run springs to mind.
Your dds stress worries me a bit because they have only just gone back. Past experience with ds's though, I can remember them being the same at start of y11. They soon calmed down and into the flow of stuff.

Trying to run around a 500m track 5 minutes after everyone else is done and passing out at the finish line, is something I wouldnt wish on anyone.

Trying to do some sums on this and I am a bit sceptical. 500m is just over 1/4 mile isn't it? Surely even at a normal walking pace you could cover this distance in about 5 minutes. (I say this as a not especially fit 50 something but I am pretty sure I could walk that distance in 5 minutes) So if you were still going 5 minutes after everyone else had finished then either they ran at the speed of light or you set off about 2 minutes after everyone else

Morethan - it worries me too. She has been a bit better this week i think, giving credit to your theory.

It is a stressful time for them, you help all you can and hope its enough.
I don't envy you, both mine weren't particularly conscientious, one being really laid back, so I resigned to not pushing, they did ok Have it all to go through with dd yet, dunno how that will be

Actually OP, I completely agree with you.

YANBU.

So. Are people saying that because the rules are getting stricter about taking term time holidays, schools should never do any non academic activities with the children? No trips, no plays, no visitors? No matches in school time? All day every day head down at lessons?

No. People are say that children are in school to be educated and it is considered to be very important that they are not taken out of school for a day by the parents except for something exceptional.

Therefore the school should not feel free to remove all the children from lessons for the sole purpose of raising money for a building project unless they can show that there are learning targets and how they are to be met.

If they want the children to raise money in school time they should make it part of their educational activities. This is possible through getting them to plan and organise their own fundraising activities, making and selling products perhaps. This is far preferable to asking them to go begging from family and friends for money to go for a walk.

Trips, plays, visitors have educational value for the children. Why shouldn't fundraising?

Thank you Goldmandra - nicely expressed.

Morethan - one of my friends has a very laid back child. She said to me 'oh you've got nothing to worry about' I just laughed - if only!

Well, judging by the people on here who say that it's too far for the poor little petals, I think a 10 mile walk would be more educational than a lot of other things hey do!

I do agree about fundraising for school buildings, though. Dd's is always for the school's chosen charity of the year. This year, it's a local one that supports homeless young people. I think pushing yourself physically while raising money to help children in the same town as you who aren't blessed with your many advantages seems an excellent learning experience, don't you?

charge the school £40 a session or whatever the fines are in your local area for taking them out of school on a non essential non exceptional absence. if as a parent you asked to take them out to do a sponsored walk for a charity one Thursday they would fine you. its just a tad hypocritical really isn't it. I get really fed up of enforced fund raising. charity days, non uniform days, sell numbers for the numbers club, raffle tickets etc with the expectation that all kids will achieve a certain target of X number of tickets sold or Y pounds raised. lots of kids cant do this and just makes them feel inadequate. personally I would find a 10 mile shuffle torture. this could have educational value but it wont. its all about the money.

Stop moaning! YABU

I think pushing yourself physically while raising money to help children in the same town as you who aren't blessed with your many advantages seems an excellent learning experience, don't you?

It depends how much the pupils learn about what they are doing and why.

Learning that walking ten miles when you're ill equipped and unfit is exhausting, painful and unpleasant isn't particularly useful.

Slightly off topic but to deal with exam stress - get your daughter to print of the syllabus for each exam with each exam board. It is basically a tick list of what they need to know. Then she can methodically tick off each thing she learns/revises. It may also be worth getting her to decide on a reasonable achievement target NOT Based on time (ie not "I will do 2/3/4 hours per night") but target driven (ie I will learn respiration this week and be able to answer an exam style question at the end). This way, revision hours don't drag on but instead in weeks when she finds stuff easy she can finish quickly.

I have tutored for 7 years and I get stressed girls coming to me all the time. They usually need to feel in control and this is one way of marshalling all they need to know.

mummymeister is a genius. Send the school a bill for an unauthorised day of missed lessons. Offer to donate a portion to the school buildings fund.

Think a ten mile walk is more beneficial than doing GCSE maths in November! Teach in a sixth form & we see the disadvantages of doing maths early- students getting a grade lower than they're capable of etc

1. Who set the targets and what are the consequences if the targets are not met?

1. A day off school should clear, rather than cloud, the head. I suspect the reason why the day off school is bad is related to the pressure, not the day off school itself.

1. Why do long-distance walks always come with obligatory charidee attachments? 'Nathan and Tabitha walk backwards up the Himalayas wearing gas masks! There will be a special talent show concert at the summit where we will burst a penguin stuffed full of charidee cash! Please give generously! Hopefully we will raise mucho spondulicko! YAY! AMAZEBALLS!'. Always accompanied by the same gloss of quirky-fake-cheer. Yes, yes, OK, it's laudable, but it's also... I dunno why it's so annoying, but it is. Stash away a small sum and give that to charity fairly regularly and less of the bloody jazz hands razzmatazz.

I wonder if DD1's exam stress is rubbing off on you a bit, love? You must feel a bit helpless...

She will be fine, of course. Actually, ethics aside, there's something to be said for taking a day out of the study schedule for a very long (if rather grim) walk. It will de stress her a bit and allow some of the stuff she's been cramming to percolate through...

Completely agree with you OP, it's utter bullshit. YANBU. Inwardly laughing cackling madly at the refusal to acknowledge some proper meaty issues here, replaced with "well she shouldn't be so stressed about her GCSEs, my kids aren't stressed about their GCSEs"

And yes! Do what mummymeister said! I think suggesting a 10% donation of the bill would be fair. Please, please write that email

I would have thought that a 10 mile walk was very good for relieving stress.

I used to have to do a sponsored walk every fucking year.

Me too. Same 15km route every time. Learnt bugger all of course, save that you usually get wet in the autumn. My brother always sponsored me 1/15th of a penny per km (and I returned the favour). YOu had to have at least one sponsor you see.

The only benefit your DD might get is that it is good to get out in the open air for a day. However, given these 'sponsored walks' do not involve anything educations (such as using a compass), I'd be questioning the school as to what the learning outcomes are supposed to be.