Right to attend prom based on attendance at after school GCSE revision sessions- to think this sucks?

[MonitorL1zard]

It’s amazing that the school provides after school GCSE revision classes but is it fair to attach the right to go to prom to attendance at these?

@Soontobe60 very true.

I don’t agree with it being used as a reward or a bargaining tool. It’s nice to have something like this for them to mark the end of an era. I would only exclude on the basis of a very serious misdemeanour.

It’s not fair on young carers i agree. Also those that struggle with learning and attention, I had to revise in my own way at my own pace, in peace and quiet, group revisions wouldn’t have done me any favours.

I’m glad I’ve posted this. I’m seeing much bigger problems than mine that are putting things into perspective.
I’m coming from the angle that some people are introverts who find school exhausting. After secondary school such people can choose their environment to a certain extent.
However, the other points people have raised here (young carers, poverty, lack of resources) will continue to have an impact.
Thank you for helping me to think this through.

this makes no sense to me as a teacher. A revision session with everybody attending it is.... just another lesson? Why are teachers being expected to teach another lesson in the week, and why are pupils being made to attend? It isn't possible to cover new parts of the curriculum in a "voluntary" after school session. So it is a lesson going over old content with the whole class, and people who didn't get it before, are not particularly likely to get it doing it again in the same way..

A revision session to me is a couple of students arranging a time, before school, after school, lunch time, to come to me bringing specific questions the need help with, preferable two or three to one, certainly no more than 6- when I can concentrate on individuals and their particular misconceptions or struggles, and do a short, intense 30-40 minutes with them.

I wouldnt take extra lesson with big groups, they can reread their notes together and help each other skim through general content - it that is how they want to do it- no benefit to anyone me being there too

I agree with both of these points.

I can see how anxiety provoking discussions about dresses, make-up and transport could be.

I was thinking it’s a get-together to mark the end of school that should be open to everyone. It’s not that simple is it!?

Thank you.

Well, what strikes me is that those students who are sufficiently engaged in their education that they will go to these classes and therefore qualify for the prom, are the students who are more likely to go on and have a successful life and probably have lots of memorable parties ahead of them.

However, the other students, for whom secondary education has not gone so well and who are therefore less motivated, may well have a future with less opportunity for fancy parties and big occasions. Hence I think it is a bit mean to exclude students who could fall in to this category

I agree.

I put that the OP as YABU for using the word prom.

Even if the school calls it a prom, in UK English, it is a ball.

That's ridiculous! Not everyone revises in the same way. It won't even be helpful for a good chunk of kids. And not all kids need to revise at all. What a stupid system.

Depending on where the school is located, its totally unfair.

If your dc stay for after school lessons, how will they get home? The only way in rural areas for many children to get home is on the school bus. Working parents can't necessarily pick up at, say, 4pm.

@Nimbostratus100 I'm also a teacher and disagree with your post. We run clinics, surgeries and exam focused revision sessions all through y11 . From half term these will also include large group ones where you focus on one aspect or look at a past question. It's not just repeating the scheme of work, it's using revision booklets, quizzes, model answers and mark schemes, totally different to teaching the content first time through.
Having said that , the issues raised on here about the practicalities of access / travel are very real.

When i was a teacher at a difficult comp and did revision lessons, the benefit was the smaller class of kids who genuinely wanted to be there without any disruption.

Seems unfair to me. My DS goes to his, because he knows he struggles to self motivate to revise and it's evidence he has been revising. This makes for a more harmonious household for us.
However, as PP have said, that are lots of reasons why some children can't make the sessions or would prefer to revise by themselves.
A reduced ticket price would be fairer, but as PO have suggested, the only exclusion criteria should be extreme bad behaviour.

Terrible idea. Penalises those who are young carers or who have transport issues (eg live in rural areas) or who have commitments outside school. My middle son did a lot of extra curricular activities (related to the field he is now studying in and where he hopes his whole career will be). The timing of those was not in his control.

Mind you neither of my younger kids were remotely interested in attending prom. The youngest could have done with some organised revision & would have been able to attend these sessions - he would have used this as a reason not to go (so then everyone iwould get off his back about prom)

Yes. Over priced dresses. Limos. What happened to the school disco?

So.....

Students education has suffered due to covid, schools get criticised for not doing enough to help them catch up.

School arrange catch up and incentivise it, but that's wrong too....

The issue with reducing the ticket price instead is that most schools don't have enough money available to subsidize prom this year, or to run another trip as an incentive.

Prom isn't actually a right, it's a lot of effort for the school and teachers to organise and can be really difficult. In previous years I've known schools have real problems with eg underage drinking and smoking at proms and it's increasingly hard to find a nice venue to host at because a lot of them have had bad experiences with either our school or another local school.

If it were me, I'd be thankful to the teachers who put on the revision sessions and to the school for running prom at all.

I'm sure if there are genuine issues eg young carers etc, exceptions will be made.

But it's really sad to hear parents say they wouldn't support after school revision because it's a mild inconvenience for them. What if your child wanted to attend?

Are revision sessions not tailored to the students who need the intervention?

At DDs school, you are invited to these sessions (and attendance is expected) if school thinks the child needs intervention. If school are happy the child is on target, then they're not invited to the sessions.

At DDs school, invitation to prom is solely based on behaviour.

What do they do for people with no interest in the prom? I hated school and wanted nothing to do with the prom. It meant bugger all to me, as I had broadly given up on school. I was exactly the person to target though - academically able, but with knowledge gaps.

Won't this just incentivise those who'd do it anyway?

I’m really assuming the school has thought of this. There are many many schools with no rural students. I know getting home would not be a problem for any child at any of the schools my children might go to, and being able to get home at various times in the afternoon /evening is just assumed and also it will happen every single week for different reasons Ie finishing at different times. I assume the school has also considered this in making their plan. If the op wanted to come back and clarify there are a number of disadvantaged students or it’s rural/students live rurally/access is poor then these are real issues. But they may just not be. Or the school would happily support the one or two there are.

Well I disagree that it disadvantages young carers. Being a young carer disadvantages young carers and providing the opportunity and space and support to revise at school rather than have to try and fit it in around their caring duties at home seems like a good thing to me. My young carer friend used to have to sit in the car in the dark to revise or do homework so no one would call her to cook/clean/empty the commode.

This wouldn't have worked at my school as it was a small town with most kids coming in from surrounding villages. If you missed the school bus, you needed a parent to be able to get you. So children without a parent available for that wouldn't be able to attend. But I'm assuming this isn't an issue for your school OP.

But aside from that, I would have hated this. I got straight A*s in my GCSEs and revised best in my own way, my own system etc, rather than something organised by the school.

@Soontobe60

Both of mine went in a second hand dress from charity shop (same one they are 2 years apart) and I did their hair, they did own make up and certainly no fake nails, fancy hair dos or tan, they were only 16! Of course I dropped them in my car. 95% of kids came in parents cars, didn't see any spray tan etc either. Most schools do not have girls spending so much

This was a school with a mixed catchment, we lived in the affluent area and certainly could afford more but my kids don't value such frivolous things, still don't and they can afford it (adults).

There are far too many valid reasons not to attend to make this fair. I really don't think it would be a small number affected. Commitments to after school clubs or jobs, young carers, transport difficulties. What about those who are already on track to get top grades and simply don't need the sessions? Some might benefit more from de-stressing or getting some exercise after a long school day. One size most definitely does not fit all. Schools really should know this!

When are the sessions? After school or weekends? By year 11 I was working 2 evenings a week washing up at a restaurant, Saturday mornings as a Saturday girl in a hairdressers, and Sundays in a cafe. Sounds a lot but they were fairly short shifts, but I couldn't have attended many mandatory revision sessions.