Private school refusing to authorise leave

[Springhare76]

DS2 is 15 and just started year 11 at a private school. He has just been offered an 8 week trial at a premier league football academy which would involve him missing 2 mornings of school a week. I have emailed the school for approval. Not heard back yet but I think they are going to decline it which means that he will miss out on a massive opportunity. He lives and breathes football so this is huge for him. What are my options if they do refuse leave?

Are you familiar with football? 🤔

Surely this needs more than an email asking for approval to miss school?

You actually need to have a proper discussion with the school about how your DC will catch up with the work that they miss, and whether the school is prepared to support them to do this. I don't know how your school timetables, but at DC's school this would be 8 lessons missed each week, and this is the term where they really push ahead with completing GCSE content.

The school are likely to be quite mindful of their GCSE headline statistics, and thinking that a child missing such a large chunk of work in a crucial term is going to impact them.

Odds of making it to a job in football for those talented enough to be selected for full time academies (let alone part time training opportunities) are tiny.

I would prioritise his GCSEs. If the school disapprove of his absences but accept it that’s one thing, but to move schools in GCSE year seems unwise.

Take on the school then op

But given they weren’t keen on him returning for year 11, brace yourself for him being withdrawn and then what will he do for the other 4 days of the week when all at school?

My daughter went to school with Ethan Nwaneri who joined Arsenal at 15. Nothing is impossible.

There are online schools/tutors

Kings Interhigh or similar online schools might be a better fit given he seems to barely attend school anyway?
But he would have to be self motivated

They won’t like him doing this in his gcse year. How are you going to make up for the missed lessons? Is he an academic high flyer who will be able to catch up independently? Are you willing to pay for tuition? You probably need to go in and discuss your plan for this.

He's 15 ,so the decision is his ..or it would be in our home .
So if the school refuses,I'd ask him what he wants to do and offer some suggestions, including changing school

You just take him out. You have parental responsibility. You get to decide what is best for him. The worst thing they can do is say he can't be at the school but I can't imagine, as a business, they'd be that daft!

I would be stunned if they didn’t authorise it. My experience is these sort of extra curricular activities bring glory on the school. An alumni at DD’s school turned pro and the school supported them on the journey to get there. Private schools understand the importance of these things.

@AxolotlEars The worst thing they can do is say he can't be at the school but I can't imagine, as a business, they'd be that daft!

Labour have just brought independent schools under the same no-leave-in-school-time protocol as state schools. So they are businesses when it comes to tax but schools when it comes to trying to make Labour's truancy figures look better 🤔

It's 8 weeks. 2 mornings a week. If he is that keen on the football, he will study outside those times to make up the gaps for a few weeks.
I would expect them to encourage this, as it reflects well on them if he is successful.

This is a massive opportunity and if football is his life, which it pretty much has to be for him to be at such a high standard, then not taking it will something he will likely look back on with regret his entire life. Wondering “what if?”. So I would be looking at how to get him on the trial whether it meant staying with the school or not.

However, if it needs school approval, it sounds like you don’t have the option to tell the school he will be going anyway and seeing what they do about it. I would start by seeing if there is anything you can do to convince them to say yes (e.g. tutoring at weekends or over the holidays if you don’t already). And if that doesn’t work then telling them you will withdraw him if they don’t approve it. But I assume you’re locked in fees wise for this term and next at this point? So even if you withdraw him from the school they’ll only be out one term of fees. It’s not a huge amount of leverage.

Assuming he agrees, I would probably look at taking him out and “home schooling” (find a 1:1 or online tutoring if you can afford it) so he can do the trial. He will need to agree to working his arse off to make up for the missed time and lack of structure, etc. though.

He can retake his GCSEs next year if necessary and do A levels a year late. Kids do that for all sorts of reasons. It may well throw off his academic opportunities. But there are far more routes back to that than there are to a professional footballing career.

So if it helps my son is at a cat 1 academy for football (premier league). There are strict rules between the FA and clubs on education so they won’t budge if you don’t have permission so just taking him out of school isn’t going to work.

Trials are different to being signed but the school still has to agree. For reference should your son be successful, he will be monitored closely in terms of grades and the school will be asked to provide progress every six weeks. If he falls behind they will put on remedial measures but it can affect his signing.

Trials are normally eight weeks. We were lucky as my son was signed after 3.5 weeks but that is really rare so it’s good to know what you are in for and what to tell the school.

The school can authorise absences for elite sport. My son plays international football and was given an authorised absence for ten days this year.

So my advise is as others have said is to get the school onside. You won’t get to attend trial without permission and should your son be successful, he may need to leave school early for mid week games to travel.

Sorry if this isn’t what you want to hear but I may be able to help a little more having been in your situation.

True but just to be clear the FA doesn’t allow that so that won’t work.

Absolutely true. Injuries are one thing but if a school says no thats another.

Unfortunately this doesn’t work. There are strict rules from the FA about education and academy level football (PL) so yeah you can take him out but the club will speak to the school (trialist contract) confirm that he isn’t allowed to be absent and that will be over.

Wrong. School is prioritised. More make it than you think - yeah it’s tough and hard hard work but I know a lot of academy kids who were successful and play first team football.

This needs a face to face meeting, not an email.

Two mornings a week is about 25% of teaching time assuming as in most schools that there is more teaching time in mornings than afternoons.

A private school does have more flexibility to accommodate this but it will need planning.

I would expect them to insist that he drops at least 2 gcse subjects in order to focus available school time on core subjects. They may ask you to pay extra for dedicated 1:1 tuition to help him with vital missed lessons.

My DS was doing his sport at a very high level, World & European. His school (private) couldn't have been more supportive. They often announced his recent achievements in assembly and were incredibly proud. He was often missing Thursday & Friday as we would travel overseas to events, never a question about his attendance. I don't think you should jump to any conclusions regarding their decision. Sorry haven't read the replies.

So if the foootbsll club has “already pushed the start date back twice”…. Surely you have asked the school previously OP?

There is a difference between not authorising and a flat out no. We take DD out for a week most years. The school have to officially mark it as unauthorised and send a snotty letter, but this is for the official records rather than anything else. Private schools have to report absences to the local authority but no further action is taken.

I imagine the school would want to know how you plan for your DS to make up the lessons missed in an important school year. Do you have a tutor lined up ready.

school has to come first imo.
the chance of a career in professional sport is tiny. and then what?

some private schools are ruthless and might ask him to leave the school. 8 weeks is too long. he will miss too much, including the social aspect of school.