S6 - is there minimum hours in school? Help please

[abdnhiker]

My son’s timetable has no classes Tuesday mornings until after 1pm and Thursdays all day but school policy is the kids must be in for periods 1-4 every day. As his three Advanced Highers are almost all scheduled in periods 5-6 that means almost full days for him but what I’m worried about and he’s upset with is the 4.5 hours of sitting in a study area goofing off and being on social media. I have asked if he could go to the enrichment PE classes during that time that they run for S5s but apparently those are full and not for S6 kids.

He had a tough time last year with friend groups within the school and got depressed and very stressed with courses at one point and it was, as a parent, frankly terrifying. Someone he knew and was friendly with killed himself last August and my son made a comment that he understood why he would - we swung into ultra-hands on parenting and I think we’re okay now but I’m still nervous.

It’s not just the time wasted - I don’t want him sitting there two days a week for 4+ hours with some of these kids who have socially excluded him in the past. He has good friends through sport outside of school and that is helpful - but the school hasn’t ever gelled for him (maybe as a lockdown starter?).

Is there legislation to support the schools request or is this just something our head teacher has dreamed up! What’s the consequence if he doesn’t go in Tuesday and Thursday mornings with parent support?

thanks!

Our school allows S6 pupils to come in for classes & assembly only, so there can’t be any legislation.

Thank you - that’s so helpful to know!

My daughter started her S6 timetable this week. She needs to fill a certain number of periods, but no need to be in school for non- teaching time.

DD's school said they had to earn being allowed not to be in for morning registration. So to start with everyone had to be there but quite quickly that was allowed to change. I'd ask and explain.

Depends on school. Ds’s low performing school insisted they must be in for the full school day, no exceptions, probably worried they’d be wandering the streets instead.

AH year was a waste of time with teachers not showing up to any classes and the library being a rowdy social club. Straight A student throughout school and he barely passed his AH. Got straight As in his 2 crash highers where the classes were actually run.

Thankfully he had an unconditional offer for uni based on S5 results otherwise he wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Thanks everyone - it’s good to hear that I’m not completely losing my mind about this!

Unfortunately S6 don’t need covered by a teacher as they are older than 16. When schools are struggling for staff teachers are taken out of Advanced Higher and sent to junior classes where having a trained teacher is a legal requirement. I am not defending this at all but it might explain why the AH class didn’t always have a teacher. This is the shambolic situation Scottish education is currently in, and due to get worse as nearly every secondary subject is now missing its teacher training targets.

How would he feel about volunteering to help in some departments? English are usually looking for S6 to do paired reading with juniors; helping technicians to set up in tech/science/he; assisting with notice boards/photocopying/admin. I’ve had S6 pupils do all of these things to fill timetables and it has the added benefit that they have extra things to put on CVs or UCAS applications.

My DD had to have a full timetable in S6. I think ultimately the headteacher decides policy in each school. She did a mixture of academic subjects, peer education, work experience and an open uni course.

So, no - no legislation.

He’s willing to help with PE (and already runs a lunch time sports club) so that is one option for some of his time but the sheer amount of time without classes is not going to be filled with one or two volunteering slots. He has a tutor (as the maths teaching at our school is very poor, the teachers are nice but not great) so ideally this could happen during school hours when he’s not got classes as well.

Thanks - this is really helpful info.

AH is meant to have a significant element of self-study. Could he not spend his time doing that? If the study space is too noisy then that would be an argument for an appropriate study space or, if that could not be provided, being allowed home to study?

My son was barely in school for S6. (Anxiety) His pupil support teacher said they couldn't make him stay in school.

Thanks everyone - we’ve spoken to guidance and pointed out that the long stretches of time without classes in school were not in my son’s best interest and that the rule they had to be in school is not policy. They then went to the head teacher and we’ve all agreed he can spend one day at home but will spend some of the other morning he had free as a volunteer in a S1-3 PE class with a teacher he likes. I’m thrilled - it’s a good solution for him with both the time at home to study (the school is very short on space and there is not a good study area) and the volunteer side in the PE classroom.

That sounds like a good solution. Glad you were able to reach a good compromise.

I feel like it’s even better than compromise as guidance is actively looking to get him volunteer opportunities - the school no longer seems to organise putting the S6s into the S1-3 classes and just lets the kids who want to arrange it do so. My youngest would have likely “not got around to it” and spent the time either skipping school or mucking about in the halls and spending time on social media. I was really concerned about that 4.5 hours in school unsupervised block!

Your DS did the right thing seeking support from school. DS was at home a lot in S6 when there were no scheduled classes. It's good for them to self study at home. He preferred being at home instead of school anyway. Gets them used to college or uni life in the near future where they need to fill their time and use their initiative.

Bear in mind some S6 pupils are almost 18!

If they don’t have classes who is going to know if they don’t go in?

My eldest eased off a lot in s6 after 5 As in s5 and a bunch of unconditional offers and basically just went in when he felt like it 🤦🏼‍♀️ I would get some texts about it from school if he missed classes but there wasn’t really that much of a big deal made of it.

My youngest is just starting s6 and has a full timetable

And no, once they are over compulsory school age there’s no legislation as far as I know

When DS was in S6, he volunteered in a local charity shop one morning a week,then went to school for his first class after lunch.The school encouraged S6 pupils to do some sort of voluntary work and were happy with this arrrangement.DS was required to fill a minimum number of periods with academic subjects.