GCSE day off

[Mardymaryyou]

Ds is into last week of gcse. Thurs will be the day before a science exam on Fri. Last exam on Mon is also science. He has no exam Thurs but the school have kept them in throughout the exam period to "revise". However the revision is not structured it's just revise what subject you like. No he probably won't revise if at home and I'm at work, but I kind of feel like letting him stay home anyway. The school have given them no study leave and they've had to stay in school after every exam. I feel like this late, he isn't going to learn much more anyway and what will be will be. What's everyone else doing in this situation as I know it's not just our school who has adopted this view of study leave? On the other hand he finishes altogether Monday so maybe I just make him go Thurs. Apparently no one else is going in.

Didn't realize dance and drama were academic subjects

well the poster doesn’t assign any value to them whatever they are

which might explain fact dc have done squat all revision

Congratulations

Well it proves revision isn't the be all and end all

Chances of someone doing well having done “no revision” and “no homework”

close to zero. Possible? Sure! Remotely likely? No, not even close to

No. But it’s generally pretty important.

School work is for doing in school hours.

Mine has exams today (Monday), Wednesday and Friday this week. They officially finish Friday but they have 2 exams next Monday. They will be going on on the non exam days. They have done zero revision on weekends to decompress and I feel if they stay off Tuesday and Thursday they would be sleeping all day. One last push. Badly timed theatre trip Wednesday night so might be tired Thursday but at least no exam.

Cant believe how quick it’s gone.

WTF. We care about Drama and music. My DD is going to college to do musical theatre. They’ve worked hard on their Drama. Their school chose the BTech though so it finished a few weeks ago when coursework was all done - it was massively more academic than many expected.

I would double check as we had a stern letter home saying any unauthorised absence could mean not attending the prom. Also to stop saying students have medical appointments after the exams. Think it is taking too long for office to sign out over 100 kids who are not staying in for booster sessions etc.

I’ve not been impressed with the way school have handled study leave as the Y11 are all over the place and they aren’t allowed to use their laptops in the canteen where they get dumped after exams because the teacher can’t see what’s on their screens as they have some sentry in the classroom so the teacher can check they aren’t logged into Minecraft.

I think they need better cyber filters as kids can login to their home accounts on school laptops! But hey ho

I’m glad my kid is in as he will be raiding the cupboards next week for food. And it means they do see their friends. Mine also wouldn’t revise at home.

it’s not long to go and of course kids lie and say they won’t be there to look cool! He won’t be the only one in school.

DS can come and go as he pleases
School is running revision sessions and they can turn up or not, DS is going to some and then revising at home as well. A lot of his mates live far from school so they tend to stay there all day (or come here and raid the fridge as we live very close). I have encouraged DS to go there for lunch as I am paying for it but he prefers to come home.
He does have a strict agreed schedule stuck to the fridge though

My DS is revising much better at home now because that’s exactly how him and his friends are at school since half term. I think now they realise they are about to finish they are acting like school is just a social club. I’m at home working though so I’m able to check he is actually revising the whole time (if I was out of the home I’m not sure he’d be quite as structured with it!)

That’s so silly. The laptop thing.

Worrying about them playing Minecraft so they won’t let them use them to study.

Not like the school system has ever kept kids off games or rerouting the entire schools print jobs to the heads office 😅

If he already thinks he is going and has accepted that then you might as well just send him in!
If he was moaning about staying off, then whether I gave him the day off would depend on whether I felt he had worked hard in general, like if I felt he had studied enough for the exams he has coming. If he’s already done a lot of work then a day to relax might be no bad thing. But if he’s done the minimum or less, then he’s better off in school where he might be a bit more likely to at least get some cramming in!

They tried this nonsense of not letting them have study leave at my DD’s school (it’s an all girls comp if relevant).

They had to give up on it as all the parents were calling them in sick, or else just saying “no my child isn’t doing that, they’re revising at home in comfort”. School office got inundated so they stopped it.

I’m all for providing revision sessions for those who aren’t self motivated or haven’t got facilities to revise at home, but don’t make those who will work effectively at home compromise their studies. It’s an effort to pull up those who are borderline to get a 4 or 5 at the expense of those who could get their 8 up to a 9 if given peace and quiet to study at home. Because that’s how league tables work.

So I would totally let your son stay home.

At 16 surely they’re old enough to take responsibility for themselves and not be nannied.

Things have probably changed a bit since the days of O Levels!

Just want to add - I might not let him stay home if he needs to do more revision and you think he won’t do it at home!

Its very much horses for courses.

When my son (who has ADHD, which will almost certainly affect the way in which he studies best) does his, I don’t expect to take the same approach as I have done with my daughter, as they are different people.

so You never did set reading with your child during primary? Never did any of the number learning sheets they send them home with?

your teen has done absolutely nothing for exams outside of what he did in school? Your DC never did or do any homework, ever?

Physics paper 2 is apparently the hardest of all the science papers. I'd personally send him in.
Mine is going in everyday this week even though he's not got exams everyday purely to revise and have extra physics lessons

Well obviously to you drama and music are important to you if that's what your daughter wants to study at college.

Doesn’t look like anything is important to you when it comes to your child’s studies @VeterinaryCareAssistant

I used to read to my children at bedtime but not necessarily the books sent home from school.

They never had homework until secondary and at that age they can manage their own homework or manage their own detentions.

You can really see why so many kids are failing, or rather being failed by parents who aren’t interested. I feel so sorry for teachers. They’re fighting a losing battle to get kids engaged in learning when some parents have such a poor attitude to school.

My twins have had a few days off here and there between their GCSE exams (maybe two each). They are going in on Thursday to do some shirt signing. They are really good at getting on with their study though and knew which days they could miss to get on with independent study which they felt would benefit them. As much as I understand school wanting them in to do the extra studying in school, they were also really tired from the sheer amount of papers they have had to sit, and also had to continue going to lessons for subjects that they had already sat the exam for!

Hardly! My two have great attendance over all and are doing really well academically. They want them in these days to make the lazier ones revise. Mine are perfectly capable of getting on with it themselves (much more so that I was). I have great respect for teachers and schools, but also know when my children are knackered. That extra 30 mins lie in really benefitted them.