Sport outside of school. . . .code P and days off

[getitright222]

my child is in year 5, and has begun a competitive sport outside of school. he is not in private education and i am not sure yet how interested our head teacher will be if we continue to pursue the opportunities ahead. we have had no missed school time.

so far when we have won trophies and reached milestones my child has told the class and he has been called up in morning assembly little round of aplause i guess and up to a point my child enjoyed that.
this year i am reluctant for him to share his achievements at school because i believe he is facing animosity from other children. he boys in his class do not necessary understand what he has put in to achieve his goals and some what ridicule his interest in one sport ( its not football ! )

i am up to the point where shortly i may consider home school to see through our family commitment to his sport.

however . . . there is code P an attendance code that states time off for sport during term time for days "fully supervised that include instruction and or training"
is anyone using this clause with support from the head or is it just there for school sports and teachers to take children to county sports or inter school activities ?

My dd did a paralympic sports interest day and had a day off for it (year 4). The code she got was authorised absence.

I would speak to the school and ask them directly with specific reference to your son's sport and situation. Some sports (especially swimming and gymnastics) where elite competition is early if that makes sense rather than say athletics where the elite sport average age is older (not sure if I am making sense there but hopefully you know what I mean) quite commonly cause children to miss time for training camps, competition etc. I am not sure what the official side of things is having only seen it from the sport side not the parenting side.

you might find this interesting - ivebeenbullied.ca/blog/Olympic+Gold+

Kyle was Olympic Floor Champion in 2004 and he has spoken out about bullying having suffered himself as a child partly because of choosing gymnastics as his sport.

Dn represents his country in his sport and others at his school play county and national level. His school (state) is very supportive at the amount of time he has to take out to enable him to do his sport and train (weekdays). Of course the school also make a big thing on their website at the level of sport that is played at the school.

As for having bullying issues at school, dn has not had this at all and is very popular partly because of the sort of child he is (everyone likes him) and because of the sport he plays (not football).

DS1 has competed at national level in his sport (non football) and been given a special authorised absence code (something along line of 'representing the school in exceptional circumstances')

thank you all so much for your comments , it is all amazing stuff, i like the comment about age related development,i am aware there is provision for athletics and i am hoping to find more info from our sport about when time out of school is deemed worth while. i have seen the government statement needs head to agree the "authorised" accompanying adult. i am also thinking that only some parents may be that person.

ps . . .i am not the trainer or instructor and i think the law may protect children from obsessive competitive parents which i hope i never will be. education is important too and we will continue to spend our weekend time well as our sport offers competition during weekends. many thanks all any further examples will help me assess the opportunity to train more and take up opportunities when they come our way x x

I'm waiting to see how it pans out for DS - now in year 3. He has so far only had one days absence per year for his sport (also not football) with the schools blessing. but now the rules have changed we shall have to wait and see. There is provision for authorised absence for external examinations... I may try that approach for the next time a coaching event is so far from home we need to leave at lunchtime.

He is a bit loud about his sport at school, but hasn't won much this year to "show off" , and a couple of others in the class have tried the same sport ( we took them with us to entry level events) He doesn't seem to get teased for pretending to be his hero racing around the playground and over imaginary finish lines.

A few primary children from our tennis club take one afternoon per week to attend an LTA training session. As I understand it the DC are classed sd talented and it is viewed as fulfilling their need for extension activities.

I am curious now which sports all your children do, no football!

The sport issue in regards to term time absence came up at the start of term meeting at our school.
The reply from school was that there was a special code for absence related to competing and special training opera unities that occurred in school hours and the rule change would have no effect on this.
We are a very small (state) school but have a lot of children who compete in a wide variety of sports at a high level. These children have no bother with school when it comes to sport related time off. The sporting achievements are celebrated in the school what ever the sport, we have children who represent clubs, county and country in sports ranging from swimming to horse riding with lots in between. Our school recognises the importance of sport and I would hope most schools do, best to have a meeting with the head to discuss what opera unities may come to your child and how that fits into school life and his general education and take it from there. If there is the rumble of potential bullying I would bring that up with his teacher ASAP and get it nipped in the bud quickly.

Spell check gone a bit odd there, opportunities naturally not opera unities!!

i like " fulfilling the need as extension activities "

i will fess up that our sport is Karting ! unfortunately the MSA (the motor sport association) that run the competitions have a statement that says you may be disqualified ! (it is frowned upon) if you miss any school time for it, however the competition for school age children runs at a high level and the heats are all over the country requiring long distance travel. They seem to want to avoid being regarded as a problem but this also highlights the disregard for its status as trad sports like swimming tennis and rugby etc seem to be recognised.

The sport also requires children to make descent progress from 10- 14 years of age as it very little use turning up at 16 or 17. many children are off every week to compete at a high level and get into the lifestyle of the sport as a career rather than a hobby.

I do know children that do there best to do as much as they can and then take up the best opportunities later at the late teen age. I will continue with state school and look to our head for some days where it is appropriate. as i have said an all round education is key.

As for other children not understanding it is hard for them to believe my 9 year old drives a race car at the weekend. . .and wins! They visit the house to see his Kart and get annoyed when you have to say . . .er No ! you cant have a go. . .we have to drive two hours and spend all weekend trying to get a go ourselves!

Not exactly a sport but DS1 is part of a solar car team, and is given time off by the school when it is being driven around the world, or for publicity in newspapers etc.

here he is on newsround recently.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8117066.stm Here he is several years ago on the BBC news

try again

Thank you for sharing your science project. It is very cool that you have been on a TV show with the solar car.

I have asked the school to join the Go Goblin GreenPower project where a solar box car is made by a school team and they meet to compete. This way we could build a car and ecryone could have a go and learn something. i felt this covered the area of building relationships along side some fabulous low tech science project run like an after school club. . . great fun.

DH is the local greenpower rep :)