school cancelling lessons to watch England World Cup

[Balcanoona]

Is this right? It’s the match on Monday cancelling lessons from 1pm so the students can watch the Iran vs England game

I could understand the final. Anything else, no, not ok!

How ridiculous!

Don't worry. It will only be 3 matches.

They've missed enough school with the whole covid stuff

I’m sure you could insist on lessons being provided for children who don’t like football or whose parents would rather they were taught.

We have had a notification today to say they miss a lesson on Monday if they want but work will be supplied if pupils/parents prefer. Also says they will cover some of the issues relating to Qatar in PSE (I think) classes and that they understand there will be strong views

Isn't that a good thing? This type of thing helps break up the boring lessons for some, and adds to what school memories are made of!

Our school did this for one of the world cups or Euros and it was brilliant. 20/25 odd years later and it's one of my favourite memories of school. Hundreds of us in the sports hall all together watching, coming together and cheering on our national team. It's was great.
Not all learning needs to include a textbook.

Exactly this! X

Our primary are giving the option, which DS will take.

DD is annoyed that her school haven’t said anything about it yet, she would definitely like the opportunity to watch. It falls partially in their lunch break so I suspect they’ll be able to watch the first half at least.

It’s only one game in school time and I’m sure work will be provided to those who aren’t interested. You’re talking about 90 minutes.

I think given the controversy about Qatar hosting in the first place they ought to boycott the whole thing and spend some time educating children on the appalling human rights record of Qatar, the number of immigrants killed building the stadia, the abuse of LGBTQ people in and visiting the country and the hypocrisy of people like Beckham, Neville etc etc who happily tout their inclusive liberal beliefs at home, but then take millions from the Qataris to present for them. Shameful.

Schools have learned from previous tournaments that if they don't do this kind of thing, their attendance figures on match days will be awful. It's the system they're trying to work with.

I really hope DD gets the sane opportunity.

I think it's great, it's only one game.

Sick of hearing "they missed enough with covid", move on!

It's a national game, once every four years. Enjoy and embrace it.

I would hope the whole Qatar issues will be covered though.

Ridiculous. Not everyone is interested.

I can't believe they're spending the afternoon watching some blokes kick a football around.

Unbelievable.

@Conkersareback it may be "only" once every 4 years, but there seems to be some sport's world cup/European cup etc every month at the moment.

Doesn't this happen every time? I'm in my 30's and definitely remember being allowed to watch England play in various tournaments during school time - both at primary and secondary.

God, I hope so. My teenage DS will be absolutely gutted if he misses an England match.

A football match is 90 minutes, with 15 half time, it's not a whole afternoon.

It's trained professionals, not some blokes from the Sunday league.

Yep, there is always lots of sorts being shown, great to see this being extended and we have our wonderful Lionesses and The Red Roses.

What other sports do they give the children time off for?

Optional at ours, partly to ensure attendance stays high but also as its the only match taking place in school time so won't need to be repeated

I think this particularly for A level and GCSE students is not appropriate - will be it be for every game England plays. It sends out a very poor message

They play one game during school hours, I don't think this means they'll fail their exams!

I remember doing this in English in secondary - must have been Euro 96 I think. It was great and we would have been Y8 at the time.

A football match is 90 minutes, with 15 half time, it's not a whole afternoon.

It was a "whole afternoon" at DD's secondary school. They had four periods of one hour before lunch and one after lunch. So it would have meant a whole afternoon off.

So what . The kids will enjoy it