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Original poster

Audition - time off school to lie or not to lie?

20 replies

sievehead · 24/02/2008 20:28

Help, this is all new to me. 8 year old DD has an audition in London tomorrow at 3pm which means me having to take her out of school for the afternoon. Do you think I should tell the truth, is it allowed to take kids out for things like this? Or should I lie and say she has a medical appointment? What do you think....help.....

OP posts:

ingles2 · 24/02/2008 20:29

Lie!

Saturn74 · 24/02/2008 20:29

Would tell the truth.

quint · 24/02/2008 20:30

Is DD likely to say where's she's been the following day - if so then tell the truth cos you can;t ask her to lie and it isn;t a good example for you to tell a lie - but thats just me! Hope it goes well

ingles2 · 24/02/2008 20:31

look at me advocating lying....
Seriously our school won't let dc have time off for anything!

ScienceTeacher · 24/02/2008 20:32

Why would you be tempted to lie?

unknownrebelbang · 24/02/2008 20:34

A girl at our school had several auditions in the autumn term, her parents told the truth. (she was successful for one of them - prestigious dance school thing).

Original poster

sievehead · 24/02/2008 20:34

I have asked her to keep it quiet, because we don't really want to make a big thing out of it anyway, don't want her to get too nervous etc etc , but I agree its unfair to ask her to lie but then what if the school say actually no she can't have the time off?

OP posts:

Twiglett · 24/02/2008 20:36

yeah teach an 8 year old to lie .. that's good advice

of course you should tell the truth .. why are you asking?

Original poster

sievehead · 24/02/2008 20:36

Scienceteacher i would be tempted to lie because I'm not sure if kids are allowed out of school for such things! Just not sure how these things work.

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unknownrebelbang · 24/02/2008 20:38

The school can refuse to authorise the absence, they can't refuse you taking your child out of school.

What if she is successful for whatever it is? How will she explain that in school?

Original poster

sievehead · 24/02/2008 20:41

unknownrebelbang well if successful you have to get a permit from the local authority for the child to do the assignment if it involves taking time out of school - which involves getting permission from the school, so thats not the problem its just the couple of hours tomorrow I wasn't sure about but i think I will tell them the truth wouldn't want to get told off by anyone here for setting a bad example!!!!

OP posts:

evenhope · 24/02/2008 20:45

My DS had quite a few auditions during school time in Primary. We told them the truth.

mysonsmummy · 24/02/2008 21:12

if she gets the part the school will have to sign the license letting her have the time off, if they say no then she cant do it anyway - making the audition a waste of time. so you may as well see what their policy is first.

they cannot say she cant go to audition just that it will be shown as unauthorised absense.

my little boy does modelling and so i know how difficult it is but i would never dream of ever telling him to lie. imo it would be setting him up to think its ok to. iyswim

posieflump · 24/02/2008 21:13

my mum told me to say I was at the dentist when I was in the first year of secondary school so that I can go and sit an exam for enty into private school!

liahgen · 24/02/2008 21:18

My kids all do modelling and acting and when we joined school, I made point of talking to the head about what may or may not happen, re castings, jobs, etc. Fortunately this school is supportive but the one before that was not and I admit I did lie sometimes.
Had to stop when teacher actually started asking him, Did you have a job yesterday Henry.

Kids are allowed by law to have 20 days, which are supposed to be licensed by local authority, (obviously castings don't need license)but it is up to the head.

If you ask now, though and they say no, will you not take her? Maybe dental appt this time, then arrange appt to speak to head if it's likely to happen agin.

Original poster

sievehead · 24/02/2008 21:37

Thanks to all of you Alot of mixed messages though!!!! I think the headteacher would be encouraging towards this as i think she is quite into her "am dram" , the audition is for a film so its very unlikely (as its her first ever) this will go any further anyway. I really hope (and expect) the school to be supportive of this, so fingers crossed....

OP posts:

islandofsodor · 24/02/2008 22:05

Definately tell the truth. All the children I have known to go for auditions have had no trouble getting time off, unless it is SATS/GCSE time in which case LA's often won't grant a licence unless they will be tutored for the duration of a show.

Most schools want the kudos of one of their children being in something.

quint · 26/02/2008 19:13

So how did the audition go?

annemarie29 · 27/02/2008 13:26

my son does acting auditions (and even gets the parts sometimes!) and i've always been honest when he's needed to have afternoon off for auditions. luckily there are quite a few kids like him at his school so the teachers are fab about it. not sure what will happen when he starts secondary next year tho. he's got an audition tomorrow but won't need to leave early thankfully lol!

Original poster

sievehead · 27/02/2008 14:26

Quint, it was fine I think! I was realy nervous but she was absolutely fine she really enjoyed it i think it was a sort of screen test thing, she had to act out a scene in front of a camera she wasn't fazed at all by it. i must admit i would not be keen on doing that very often though i don't think my nerves could take it. We haven't had any feedback yet tho , but thanks fpardoe986or asking.

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