School absence rules are super powering the spread of flu

[Pavementworrier]

And people will die unnecessarily as a result and it's really annoying

Why the hell can't there be a rule that kids with flu or suspected flu (at least during peak flu season) don't have absences counted??

It depends, a small child isn't going to do well being educated at night when they are tired and ready for bed and two hours solid education a day in the morning isn't going to get them through the curriculum. Older kids need a life with other kids after school so they'll get restless having to sit and be taught in the evenings, they won't necessarily want to be dragged shopping with mum either so what are you actually achieving? Them sitting around waiting for you to educate them?

You set your kids up to struggle because when they go to college, university and the workplace they will not cope! They don't know what a full day routine is! It'll seem like a 30 hour day to them because mummy only ever made them sit and learn for two hours at a time! You cannot avoid routine in life! You might have the good fortune to not need to work and have most of the day having fun but that's not their future and the working day has got longer! Don't set them up for major mental health issues! Make them sit and focus for longer periods before too much damage is done! Where would most of us be now if our parents pulled us out of school and gave us only a small amount of education everyday and let us mess around for the rest of the day!

Of course they do! They aren't getting educated going shopping with mummy everyday or playing outside. Kids won't sit and learn unless you make them. Expecting them to sit and learn from 3pm to 7pm when they are knackered from being over stimulated all day and might want to go out and play with other kids after their school day is insane to me. Home education is a bit lost on me because it's seemingly not regulated to ensure the full curriculum is being taught and what qualifies a mother to suddenly be able to teach all of the subjects.

For me kids need to learn routine because mummy won't be able to take them out of sixth form, college, uni, workplaces to go shopping and have fun for several hours a day! They've got to learn that they will at some point have to sit and focus for many hours a day. Most working days are usually 8 til 5 nowadays, that's 8 hours of sitting and working! Not good of you've only been taught to sit and focus for two hours in a morning. It'll take a toll on them mentally.

There are so many wrong assumptions in this post 🤣

If you don't think you're capable of home educating a child, that's fine. You don't have to 🙂

FWIW I removed my daughter from school because no local schools allow pupils to be accelerated and insist on mixed ability classes, which - from my own teaching experience - has a negative impact on higher ability pupils. As a result of one-to-one learning at home, she's worked through most of the KS3 Maths syllabus in what would be the first term of Year 7, and sits her first GCSE in May. Children learn far faster through one-on-one teaching and don't always need to be sat still and quietly for hours for it (although DD is getting lots of practice for that at the moment during mock exams and practice questions); that's why people pay so much for private tutoring.

Also not sure why you assume she's "messing around" for the rest of the day - she spends her spare time reading, coding, rock climbing and going to various extra curricular activities. You've got a strange idea of what constitutes messing around. I also said "often", not "always" - some days look like I described above; some days she will work solidly from 7am until 7pm. That flexibility will be better preparation for the real world than 9am - 3pm five days a week in a room with children with whom she has nothing in common but a birth year.

Anyway, you've derailed the thread enough, if you'd like to rant about home ed there's plenty of wind about for you to piss into.

100% agree! But the new headteacher is like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and ONLY cares about attendance

well it depends on the ages. shopping for food could be turned into a maths lesson, part of home economics, it could incorporate geography around air miles etc.

kids play outside during the day as part of school! PE, science, all sorts of lessons can be incorporated into playing outdoors.

trips out to the museum, art gallery, science parks etc.

and I don't think pp said she only teaches from 3-7, just that is isn't compulsory to do it from 9-3. and kids in school absolutely don't sit at a desk for 8 hours solid.

9 am assembly, 10.30 playtime, 12.30 lunch time, possibly an afternoon break. then the last part of the day is costs and carpet time / singing etc in primary schools. so in 6.5 hours only 5 of that is actual class time. 1 teacher to 30, imagine how much more you could do if you only had 1 kid...

You personally derailed this! I was talking about how there's a lot of kids in the shopping centres instead of at school right now and you stole the thread to make a stupid claim that lots of kids are home educated and go to shopping centres and cafes during the day which is false! You made it into a brag about you! Not that many families can afford for mum to live off Dad's money and certainly not take kids shopping and to sporting activities everyday! You derailed this thread to brag!

You did that childish thing where you told me nothing except that you only educate your kid between 7am and 9am, that was all you admitted to! You never mentioned any other education or activities! You certainly never said anything about teaching between 3pm & 7pm, it was me that gave it as an example and suddenly you've used it as a defence. Do you always make you kid work tired and force the family to not sit down to a meal til near 8pm at night! It just doesn't ring true! But don't do the thing of being secretive and then reeling off things in defence that you claim we should magically have known! That's a concerning level of immaturity for a so-called educator!

Let's look at how much worse you made yourself look with your "because you're not capable of home teaching" comment! I don't have kids but if I wanted to home teach, guess what?? I hold the National Level 3 Award in Education and Teaching and I'm an experienced Health and Safety Trainer! What was your experience and qualifications when you pulled your kid out of school?

Your reason for pulling her out of school sound creepy as fuck, you felt she was too special for the school and they weren't accelerating her - what training and qualifications have you got to accelerate her! And your absolutely jealousy of her being around kids her own age! That's a horrible attitude that kids her own age aren't good enough and clingy mummy needs to be her only friend! She needs to socialise with other kids rather than being suffocated by you 12 hours a day. Also I don't get the panic to make her exams younger than normal! Are colleges and universities going to take a 12 year old as I that's how old I was in year 7 as I recall. At least you'll see sooner rather than later if you've done more harm than good.

You should never have derailed this thread when you knew damn well it had nothing to do with home educated kids.

Genuinely, are you ok? Your reply seems a little unhinged. It might be time to take a step back if you're getting so wound up. I'm not bragging; you're making a huge assumption about our family set up and it's an inaccurate one.

I suggested one possible reason why children are out of school on a school day (because we often are out and about on "school days", because school days don't exist when you home ed), you turned it into a massive thing about your ill-informed opinions on home ed. I have no need to brag, but it's important to correct incorrect assumptions - if you're interpreting this as bragging, all I can say is thank you, I'm proud of what she's achieving ☺️

You're getting angry at me for being "secretive" - with respect, I don't owe you or anyone else a detailed rundown of when her education takes place or what it involves (except our EHE officer at the local authority, who is supporting us with the early GCSEs and very pleased with DD's progress). She isn't going to uni at 12 you daftie, she's spreading out her GCSEs. Did you miss where I talked about extracurricular activities? I must be hallucinating her lovely friends at Guides and drama and sports clubs, and her old school friends that she's stayed in touch with, and her new home ed friends.

Experience and qualifications - First class degree, Distinction at PGCE, experienced classroom teacher, award winning vocational trainer and training developer. Qualifications aren't mandatory to home educate, but classroom experience directly contributed to our decision.

As has been pointed out on here repeatedly, flu is a virus. And like all viruses it can hit people differently. Remember those with Covid who were bed bound? And those that barely noticed? Some had zero symptoms and would never even have known unless they tested etc. Flu is the same. You can absolutely be up and walking about with flu. You can also be totally asymptomatic. You can be totally bed bound for days or weeks. And it can kill.

No, you're wrong

Flu, like any virus can result in someone being bedriddeen or just a bit sniffly or in fact asymptomatic.