Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To complain to 6th form about a timetable change?

105 replies

AGurneyAunt · 15/03/2021 19:21

DS is in Yr13 at the "local" 6th form to do A levels (it's part of the closest secondary school to us but is still 7 miles away). He gets the school bus there and back every day because I work and also have a younger child with disabilities who isn't in school.

He went back today for the first time since before Christmas (Wales). At the start of this term, one of his subject teachers was replaced great timing so today was the first time he met the new teacher. Said teacher has told the class that he is moving their Wednesday morning lesson to 7th period for the rest of their time at the school. This means it will finish at 4, which is 40 minutes after the school bus leaves.

There used to be late buses for those doing extra curricular activities/clubs, which students who had 7th period lessons (usually only those doing 4 A levels or extra classes, or of course detention 🙄) could also use. But they don't run any more, because all clubs are off due to covid.

There also used to be a public bus that served our village and passed the school at 4.15. But the service has been temporarily suspended, because covid.

So. DS now can't get home after the lesson. I can't pick him up because Wednesday is one of the two days a week I pay for childcare for my younger disabled child so I can work. This is non negotiable. DS is pissed off because he feels he needs to attend all the lessons, due to having missed so much and having very poor online lesson provision for the last year (it has been shocking but that's another thread altogether!).

AIBU to complain?

(And yes, I will probably end up paying for a bloody taxi, but that's a pita and cost that I don't need. This is Buttfuck Nowheresville, taxis are £££, there isn't even a proper taxi firm here and it's not as easy as just calling a cab when you need one).

OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · 16/03/2021 15:39

Ffs even if you'd noticed the timetable change you still couldn't magic up a bus 🚌 Hmm

ClaudiaWankleman · 16/03/2021 16:04

It's ridiculous for a teacher to change a class time to be effectively out of school hours. YANBU OP. The school's response is completely inadequate.

randomlyLostInWales · 16/03/2021 16:21

I think I'd be looking at the complaint procedure and following it after that reponse.

I grew up rural and have family currently living there who have been massively inconvenienced with reduced covid timetables it's a real pain.

It might be worth contact local taxifirms/drivers see if for a regular set few months of pick up they can offer some kind of deal fare wise - but I can still see that being very expensive option.

peak2021 · 16/03/2021 16:58

@FluffyHippo who is less likely to have 'mummy taxi' or 'daddy taxi' in a rural area? Or be on a low income? Lone parent families.

WoolieLiberal · 16/03/2021 17:36

Can he ride a bike? 7 miles is nothing if you’re on a bike.

RosemarysCat · 16/03/2021 17:48

7 miles is only about 30 minutes, are the roads that bad? I wouldn't see that as too far at all, especially for a teenage boy.

I did it for 6 years in my last office job, I wore waterproofs in bad weather. I wasn't that sweaty, it's not like it's 25 miles. In hot weather I just cycled in shorts and a vest and got changed in a toilet cubicle and put deodorant on.

PhillipPhillop · 16/03/2021 17:48

Could he go back home with a friend and you or his dad pick him up after work?

NoSquirrels · 16/03/2021 18:35

@Lexilooo

Have driving lessons started again yet? You could book him a driving lesson for the end of the lesson to drop him home after. Loads of us did that when I was at a rural ish 6th form.
Great idea. Also common round these parts - sometimes at 4pm you can’t move for parked up driving instructors near the sixth form college!
Original poster
AGurneyAunt · 16/03/2021 18:37

His dad is in Portugal being a covid denier spiritual Hmm

Cycling is absolutely not an option, for the reasons I've explained above. I'm not sure why people are so determined to tell me he can cycle. I assure you, if it was a safe option, I would be expecting him to do so. He's not the sort of teenager who is used to the "mummy taxi" as another poster put it, and I'm not the sort of parent who is precious about their poppet having to make any effort. But for multiple very valid reasons, cycling is not an option in this instance.

Currently waiting to hear back from his driving instructor to see if lessons can be scheduled for the days in question (he paid upfront for a course of lessons pre lockdown so he is tied to this instructor for the time being). Fingers crossed!!

OP posts:
MullinerSpec · 16/03/2021 18:38

He's old enough to sort it out himself, ie whether that's getting alternative transport etc.

Snooptheboot · 16/03/2021 18:47

@MullinerSpec

He's old enough to sort it out himself, ie whether that's getting alternative transport etc.
Apart from the fact he has additional needs which make this more difficult for him, and want the point of the op in any case 🙄
Snooptheboot · 16/03/2021 18:47

Wasn’t *

Original poster
AGurneyAunt · 16/03/2021 18:54

I'm perfectly aware of how old he is, thank you Smile

My AIBU wasn't about whether or not I should be assisting him with something he finds difficult. It was about whether, in principle, I had a point in finding this timetable change unreasonable and wanting to make my views known to the school.

I assure you DS is very much encouraged to be independent and to problem solve for himself. Quite possibly more so than most 17 yr olds, seeing as he is a young carer and therefore probably takes on more responsibility overall than any of the teenagers of those posters who seem to be so keen to make out that I'm babying or disempowering him.

OP posts:
Original poster
AGurneyAunt · 16/03/2021 18:55

But I'll tell him to wave his magic wand and see if the Transport Fairy appears Hmm

OP posts:
Ilovemaisie · 16/03/2021 19:18

"old enough to sort alternative transport out"
Really? How? What difference does it make if you are 17, 57 or 77. If a bus does not exist it does not exist.
I am annoyed by some of the responses on here and I'm not even this lads mum Grin

Oblomov21 · 16/03/2021 19:34

I agree. Some of the responses are well goady! Angry

MadeForThis · 16/03/2021 19:42

The driving lessons are a great idea. Hope it works out.

Lettuceforlunch · 16/03/2021 19:43

The school really are taking the piss. That’s issue number one.

How many weeks are left in school if he’s year 13? Surely there can only be 8 weeks or so and there’s Easter inbetween?

nitsandwormsdodger · 16/03/2021 19:46

Before you complain gently ask if the missing teacher is ok? They have left abruptly which suggests they have bigger problems

twoshedsjackson · 16/03/2021 20:20

I know it's not your problem, but I agree with nitsandwormsdodger that this unsatisfactory arrangement is hinting at other problems the school is trying to deal with behind the scenes. Teachers do sometimes leave during the school year, but just exiting without explanation? Is staffing churn an issues?
The highly inconvenient lesson time may reflect a timetabler desperately filling a gap, twisting the arm of another member of staff who already has enough to do, or bringing in a short contract stand-in who can only offer that time because they have other commitments, perhaps even at another school.
If you are having difficulties with this, and you say it's a fairly standard A-level, it might be worth getting in touch with parents of some of his classmates.

Lotsachocolateplease · 16/03/2021 20:44

It’s a PITA however it’s not for much longer, and only one day a week for 3-4 months, plus they’ll be Easter and may half term in between. If the driving lessons don’t work out then you will have to arrange to collect him after work, with your other child in tow, (not easy as you’ve explained) but maybe that evening you could have an easy tea, pizza, takeaway, soup, leftovers warmed up.

Original poster
AGurneyAunt · 16/03/2021 22:15

@nitsandwormsdodger the previous teacher is fine. She told the class she was leaving before Christmas, she was relocating to be nearer to family according to DS. She brought cake to the last lesson they had with her before schools closed Grin

OP posts:
Wellpark · 16/03/2021 22:27

It's outrageous and you ought to complain in the strongest terms! I speak as a former assistant head and teachers cannot just decide to reschedule the timing of lessons. Sixth form or not! Perhaps suggest that school should pick up the cost of a taxi home for your son!

Blueeyedgirl21 · 16/03/2021 22:37

I work with kids who live very rurally and am often amazed at the amount of them who rely on very rubbish school transport and public buses which are even more dire. I might sound really judgmental but the amount of them who can’t come in for this or that or have to be picked up at this time because it’s the only time mums free or whatever is astounding sometimes. Surely living in the absolute middle of nowhere is a choice and one you have to live with, living with it means making sure you can get places. That said, if there’s a school bus and the teacher is planning lessons around it leaving, if it was where I work I’d be saying something and the lesson would be moved no questions asked.

NoSquirrels · 16/03/2021 23:27

I might sound really judgmental but the amount of them who can’t come in for this or that or have to be picked up at this time because it’s the only time mums free or whatever is astounding sometimes. Surely living in the absolute middle of nowhere is a choice and one you have to live with, living with it means making sure you can get places.

But... it’s not the (non-driving) teens decision to live in the ‘absolute middle of nowhere’, is it? And if both parents have to work (because rural places aren’t exactly overrun with options for employment) then yes, they can only rely on very rubbish school buses or dire public transport or when a parent (often Mum) is free. What else?

It’s easy to judge but most people can’t predict 100% what their lives will look like 15 years from now. So getting pregnant to having a teenager at college isn’t the time span where you can point at ‘poor choices in parenting and planning’.

I grew up rurally as a teen. It took me more than an hour on a public bus to get to sixth form, and it left a 15 minute drive away from where we lived. Once a week on a Weds it took me all the way home, and it left at 3pm - later than that and you’re back to the bus that stopped in a place 10 miles out down winding country roads unsuitable for bike or walking. My parents or long-suffering grandparents ferried me to and fro the bus, sorted extra curricular drama rehearsals or whatever, around their own commitments.

So now I chose a house in a place with good transport options for teens so I could future-proof. I (selfishly) don’t want to be a taxi and I don’t want to deny my DC opportunities either. But I don’t think considering years in advance is necessarily normal and a lot of shit can happen in 10+ years to change even the best laid plans.

A bus timetable can really fuck up a lot when you’re a teen (or a parent of one) and I think everyone working with them, particularly in a rural area, should be understanding. The school in OP’s case have been properly shit.