Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To insist dd go school everyday between now and GCSE exams since school has no official study leave period?

81 replies

Dreadmill · 09/03/2026 20:07

I expect that teachers will be focused on revision and exam practise etc. My thinking is that there's still much to be done and the exams are a way off

Dd is adamant a high percentage of her cohort are now "WFH" at least 1/2 days a week.

For context, she is very high achieving (predicted 8 grade 9s) has always had 100% attendance and punctuality.

She's convinced that we're being too strict by making her go. Any MNers with recent experience??

OP posts:
pimplebum · 09/03/2026 20:47

BlueMum16 · 09/03/2026 20:13

Attendance is still monitored.

At my DD school last summer they could not go prom if their attendance dropped.

DD left last summer. They were in until about 10th June or after the final 'core' exam, can't remember if it was science or English.

You could get fined and she could be barred from the prom or something

mummyof2boys30 · 09/03/2026 20:48

My sons school ends 24th April. Study leave/exams but not expected in after that apart from exam times

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 09/03/2026 20:48

DS did his GCSEs last summer. They were expected in school every day until May half term. Exams started 2 or 3 before half term, but the timetables carried on as usual. Obvs students with exams went to those. Lesson time was used for taught revision. Study leave started after half term, students only had to come in for exams. School put on a lot of before and after school interventions during this time, also during half term.

Tiswa · 09/03/2026 20:49

DD is year 12 and she had study leave and her school went the earliest of any schools

and she went on Tuesday 6th May

she is having you on.

FluffyDiplodocus · 09/03/2026 20:58

I’m still teaching content to even my top sets - strongly suspect she is trying her luck here!!

I can kind of understand parents allowing the odd day during exam season in May maybe when they’ve started exams, and there’s a day they don’t have an exam but with an important one the day following. Especially for the highly motivated kids who you know will work - there’s always a mysterious handful of ‘migraine’ etc on the register on those days I’ve noticed in top sets especially! But it’s WAY too early for study leave in any form. We keep ours until June half term at work.

Asuitablecat · 09/03/2026 21:03

The schools I've worked in haven't had study leave for nearly 20 years! Mainly because we couldn't trust the kids not to run rampage locally.

Currently, kids get to drift off when they've got a couple of exams left. But it's early March! Think I've been doing mocks at this time in the past.

MrsHamlet · 09/03/2026 21:09

It's March.

The vast majority of schools I know of don't have study leave at all, and those that do certainly don't start it in March.

ShowOfHands · 09/03/2026 21:18

I'm still teaching serious amounts of revision and intervention, as well as some new syllabus until Easter.

A very tiny number of students will be offered study leave in early May.

CrispySquid · 09/03/2026 21:19

Maybeitllneverhappen · 09/03/2026 20:25

I suspect she's talking rubbish. I would not have finished the syllabus for my subject by now and even subjects that have will be doing useful exam practice and revision. Most schools abandoned study leave years ago as research proved that for most children it didn't work and they were much more productive in school.

This. A lot of subjects will still be teaching the curriculum, especially high-volume subjects like science.

Very few schools do extended periods of study leave now. Maybe only two or three weeks maximum in June. All but the top 10% of students do very little productive work at home on study leave, especially now that smartphones, video games and screens are more prominent. The culture of parenting has changed as has the perceived responsibilities of children. Communities and police also reported an astonishingly high amount of anti-social behaviour in the local community when Y11s are on study leave. The most challenging and disruptive children in each school are the ones causing problems in the local area when study leave takes place. The police and citizens of our town want children in school as much as possible. Our school even polled parents about the amount of study leave time and the vast majority wanted them to be kept in school as much as possible as so little did any work at home and most parents had no power to keep them off screens.

It’s not the 90s anymore. The several months of study leave don’t exist anymore except maybe in a handful of elite, grammar or private schools. I feel sorry for the high-attaining conscientious students who WOULD actually work diligently at home and appreciate a bit of peace and space but this is a very small minority compared to the collective.

bridgetjonesmassivepants · 09/03/2026 21:22

Ha, ha, yeah that's funny. Schools are totally focused on Year 11 at this time of year. There is no way on earth that schools now trust kids with study leave.

1000StrawberryLollies · 09/03/2026 21:26

Kids taking study leave in March? She's having you on! Most schools either don't gjve study leave at all or only allow it after May half term. Stopping going to school from March is ridiculous and would be truancy!

CrispySquid · 09/03/2026 21:28

Besides, most kids do so little work in class anyway as they are constantly longing for their phone/screens/social media like zombie junkies to get their continuous dopamine hits that they would be even worse unsupervised and left to their own devices (literally) at home on study leave. Most would do absolutely fuck all and probably even regress.

Asuitablecat · 09/03/2026 21:31

To be fair study leave in the 90s wasn't exactly used for studying. Hanging round in parks, doing extra shifts in work and waiting for Saturday night to try and look 18 took up quite a lot of time.

I'm just imagining my reaction now, if ds decided to get pissed or fall in love at a nightclub on the Saturdays of his gcses exams!

Franpie · 09/03/2026 22:38

independent or state?

my DD’s independent school has study leave from Easter.

But if your school doesn’t have study leave then I guess it doesn’t matter, she’s supposed to be there and so if she was my DD, she would be there.

Octavia64 · 09/03/2026 22:42

I have never heard of a school doing study leave before Easter.

these days fewer and fewer schools do it at all and the ones that do have it later and later.

BendingSpoons · 10/03/2026 06:49

It's way to early to be on study leave, as I'd expect many lessons to still have content and others to be doing focused revision/exam practise. However I do feel for motivated, hard-working students later on. When I did GCSEs, we went on study leave from early May. I was able to study in peace at home and did hours each day. I know there are challenges for many students (not working enough, ineffective in their revision methods, no-one to ask questions, feeling anxious and alone, living in homes without space/quiet to work) but there is no way I could have done as much revision in school, meaning having to do more in the evening. I particularly appreciated the quiet at home in the mornings before an afternoon exam.

So in summary, I wouldn't be letting her 'wfh' now, but I would be sympathetic closer to exams, if she is struggling to work at school.

Nosejobnelly · 10/03/2026 06:58

When DCs did GCSEs they stopped school at May half term. It was def expected to go to school up until then. I know some schools don’t have any study leave though, which I find odd.

Sartre · 10/03/2026 07:02

My DS has to go every day as usual and stays after school for extra revision too… He’s also set to get 8s and 9s across the board. Unless you’ve had info directly from the school to say they don’t have to be in every day, your DD is likely having you on.

Iris2020 · 10/03/2026 07:16

OP, I always did really well in exams but there comes a time when you have to dump the school's silly rules.to get the desired result. 3 weeks before A levels I just stopped attending and locked myself up revising.

It's probably too early for her to start missing school but give her a couple of weeks when the time comes.

RampantIvy · 10/03/2026 07:17

Dd is adamant a high percentage of her cohort are now "WFH" at least 1/2 days a week.

This is completely made up nonsense. I would be very surprised if all the content has even been covered by now.

As other posters have pointed out, low attendance might affect whether she can go to the prom.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 10/03/2026 07:20

MorsethePity · 09/03/2026 20:21

My DS did his GCSEs last year. He had to go into school every day including every Saturday in year 11, in 2-3 days during half terms and early starts leading up to exams. No such thing as study leave in his school. Told us no holidays until summertime. One of the top boys comps in London.

Wow, this sounds like it would burn a lot of children out!

I wouldn’t have accepted that for my dd last year.

Not the Saturdays and days in the hols or early starts. It would have exhausted her, and she wouldn’t have got the 10 x 9s she ended up with.

frozendaisy · 10/03/2026 07:21

The school will contact you regarding exam leave dates. Until then you send in as usual.

isthesolution · 10/03/2026 07:22

I’ve told my d d she can choose after Easter. She’s predicted v high grades and works v hard. Sometimes she knows her time is better spent revising independently particularly when the sessions are covering the foundation part of the content.

Shed not ask to be out of school now as they still have part of the gcse content to cover but if she did ask I’d decline. Not long til Easter now.

PrincessOfPreschool · 10/03/2026 07:27

My DC (twins) did GCSEs last year and their school was like this. It was actually very helpful to go in. Both got very high grades. I think they could have managed at home, although it's harder not to get into going to bed late/ getting up late etc.

It really depends if your DD is actually struggling. My niece struggled with being in school and my sister arranged with school for her to revise at home - but it wasn't just breaking the school's policy because she wanted to. If your DD wants to do it just because friends are then that's probably not the best reason!

RampantIvy · 10/03/2026 07:27

I’ve told my dd she can choose after Easter. whether whether she can go

How sure are you that the whole syllabus for every subject will have been covered? Will non attendance affect whether she can go to prom?

Don't you think that teaching her that the rules don't apply to her is the wrong attitude?

For the record, DD revised better at home, but her school didn't offer study leave until mid June when most of the exams had been done.

Swipe left for the next trending thread