..to think that the school is wrong about study leave?

[gov]

I have twins doing GCSEs starting on the 14th May. I fully expected them to go onto study leave next Friday, and only be required in school when they have exams (as was the case with their older brother) but it turns out that they are expected to be in school every day, and in lessons if they are not in exams right until half term starting Friday 25th. DS has 14 exams in these 2 weeks - and he needs peace & quiet between the exams to prep for the next ones (DD less exams, and probably better prepared). AIBU thinking that the school is wrong to not give them study leave? What are other schools doing? Two other local schools that I have heard of - one starts study leave today, one next Friday.

I'm thinking that our school is doing it to keep their attendance stats higher - and that it isn't in the kids best interest.

So glad study leave is no longer a thing. I was a naturally academic and studious teenager but i was also a master of procrastination. I remember getting bored and lying on my bed staring at the ceiling or listening to music a lot when doing GCSEs.

If i had had structured study sessions. I would have got all A* in my GCSEs.

Ds is only 7 but i cant imagine him being any good at studying at 15.

I do support the idea of study leave for A level students, with the option of being in school or college if they choose. If they can’t manage that, they will crash and burn at university, they might as well find out before taking on thousands of pounds of debt.

I am a solitary learner and do well learning things on my own- reading and reflecting on what I have learnt so there is no way I would have done well having to attend study leave with others. Equally, I didn't like a lot of the children I went to school with and couldn't wait to get away from them, get my head down and actually learn something! I work in schools now, not as a teacher but as someone that needs to understand quite complex regulations and I find it very, very hard to concentrate due to the general noise level and underlying tension between teenagers! I've never worked in schools before and it does make me think, 'how does anyone learn anything'. I get most of the proper work done away from the schools. It is completely unfair on those that learnt like me, or are being subtly bullied and intimidated, to have their GCSE results impacted by this approach. Equally, some good students hate school life, just endure it and can't wait to get out of there.

I did nothing when I was on study leave...if I’d been at school being supervised I would of done loads. Study leave only works for children who can be left to study at home so it makes sense schools are moving away from it now.

Our LA directed all schools to stop study leave years ago - the first year this was enforced a local school must have missed the information, sent their yr11s on their way only to have to try to get them back into school again

I didn't study on my study leave, I watched Jeremy Kyle and wasted hours on MSN messenger

My daughter has a very long commute, and is extremely self-motivated. Not having study leave will make her anxious and exhausted.

She has a complicated revision schedule which takes into account the timings of her different exams, which topics in a subject she is struggling with, which subjects are most important to her, how many practice exams she wants to do, etc. In school, each teacher is obviously going to be prioritising their own subject, and inevitably my daughter comes home feeling tired by the hard work she has been doing all day, which is often not the work which she wants to prioritise.

I understand that for most people school might be better than study leave, but that is not true for everyone. Anxious, conscientious kids can get overwhelmed by the pressure at school.

I am so glad my dc's school has decided to cancel study leave again this year just as they did last year. It was proved last year that students whose parents kept them off school had worse results than those who stayed on at school.

HerSymphonyAndSong, that's the point though, it 'did' work for her/him as we all have different learning styles- I used to work for Central government and we went on a full days training to establish how we learnt so that we could apply this to our working practices and be more efficient. My point is, learning in a classroom, revising with others and having a teacher instruct you, is a particularly learning style, needed by some but would be detrimental to others- hence enforcing this does not make it a level playing field!

we all have different learning styles
And learning styles is a zombie idea which has almost no evidence to support it.

Learning styles is how you had children who didn't like reading or writing (probably due to literacy issues) being told don't worry. You are a visual learner so draw me a picture that summarises the play whilst your peers write an essay. After all, expecting you to write is detrimental to your learning....

People have preferences. Someone may prefer to work in a group, but it's not detrimental to work alone. Someone might prefer to be at home and study, but not having study leave isn't detrimental.

In fact, quite a few students may prefer revising at home TV on, smartphone at hand. Those conditions are poor for revision.
misses point of thread. How are learning styles still being pedalled in education?

MaisyPops for my daughter, not having study leave is detrimental. I wrote about it above.

Goldenbear are we disagreeing? Though I have no idea re the theory of learning styles. But the fact that some may do better at home is why I mentioned that at H’s school parents can request that their child has study leave

Clarashu, my DD is the same, organised, working well. She’s better left to manage herself. My DS is also a good clever kid. He does procrastinate a bit, but he’s got so many exams in those first 10 days (14) that he literally needs every moment between them to concentrate in the next upcoming subjects, not what his teachers might choose for him. My kids have books spread all round the house. They can only revise with what they can physically carry, and wasting time organising this too seems pointless. Study leave would work for my kids, and I know that the school would know this, as they appreciated it for my older DS & authorised his study leave. I just wish they offered the parental discretion for the twins that they offered for DS1. They won’t though because I asked.

Unfortunately, schools have to consider what is best for the majority. And what works for those without the many privileges and advantages the children of mumsnetters have. Bummer, isn’t it?

We have no study leave. GCSEs start on Tuesday in Wales. It will mean some in for your lessons, some sitting exams and others who have blatantly told me they will be going home after exams!
So any meaningful revision will go out of the window!

So any meaningful revision will go out of the window!
Staff can plan accordingly.
E.g. for my classes I've got some tailored work on areas we need to make improvements to (focus on area with biggest last min impact), other lessons I plan 4 routes through the lessons and students can pick the area they need to work on most, other lessons the class can do independent study for my subject and I'll work with a group of 4-6 on a specific area.

There are ways to make it work. I tend to find explaining what we are doing gets buy in from students.

To add to maisypops teachers can make it really interactive and fun for the kids so they stay motivated too. It's not just a matter of reading over textbooks back to back. You can adapt common games to revise terminology etc.

My DS’s grammar allows study leave from the 14th for pupils who scored over a certain number of points in their mocks. It’s about 50/50 who have it. There are no lessons after May half term though.

The only thing stopping grammar school kids revising is motivation and self discipline. This does not apply to many others.

It's better be in school and to have teachers there to ensure that effective revision is being done and to answer any questions. It can also be good for monitoring mental health and stress (i.e. students not holed up alone in their bedrooms all day every day with their problems and worries). It's good to be in a routine and it means that after the day at school most if not all of that day's revision is done, leaving the evening for hobbies, socialising, relaxing, etc.

Pengggwn
Personally I would have a system where study leave is 'earned' by your work ethic during the year.

I could make a list of the parents that would complain that their little cherubs didn't meet the criteria for study leave, it would be just more shit to deal with.

For those saying staying in school won't help their children, just keep them off.

Yes, it really is that simple.

MaisyPops, as I said I am not a teacher and have nothing to do with education. I am in a profession that provides services for schools so the business management side of things, I therefore would not have a clue what schools are pedalling. As someone who hated school, I can't think of anything that would've been more detrimental to my grades or mental health than having to revise amongst children that made life pretty rubbish for me. Lots of children don't like school for similar reasons, are they seriously meant to just suck it up as they're considered privileged which incidentally is a load of stereotyping rubbish anyway as loads of children don't like school that are quiet and get on with it and are from a variety of backgrounds. Why should they have to be disrupted by the loud and obnoxious types?

MaisyPops, it absolutely would've been detrimental to my grades as I understand concepts and ideas by taking time to read about them on my own without distractions of the teacher and other pupils. The interactive things just confuse me and seem like a waste of time when I don't learn things in that way. If I have a method of learning that is 100% more effective in developing my understanding, then logically my grades will be better.

Study leave really helped me. I would have got significantly lower grades without it.