talented athlete no support from school

[pc2239]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if we have any rights in relation to my son.He is the current under 12 WAKO kickboxing champion and the under 16 world silver medalist.(won Sony pictures search for the UK karate kid) He trains 5 days a week totaling 15 hrs yet his school will not give him any support.Even at this young age his ambition is to run a martial arts academy or get into films.The school will not allow him to drop some subjects in order that he can do his homework and further his training in school time.Any advice would be appreciated.I want my son to have a balanced education however he has shown immense ability and potential and deserves his schools support.We applied for a sports academy but was refused as we do not live in the correct catchment area

I suspect they think that qualifications are important.

If he wants to run his own martial arts academy then he will need business skills. If he gets seriously injured, god forbid(like some footballers do) then he might want to have enough skill. Or maybe he will get to 18 and change his mind and wish that he had got the qualifications and go to university.

I can't imagine you have any rights with the school. If you think it is important then you can move, home educate etc..

thanks for the reply but he would still have his core skills,ie English,maths ,science ,He does not need music,art and food tech to achieve his goals or even go to university if he so chooses.

The school will be keen to educate him in accordance with the national curriculum. If you want to deviate from this then I would contact either his sport's governing body or Sport England for advice.

Your son's extra curricular activities are nothing to do with the school. It's the school's job to educate him, not to cherry pick the basics of his education on the basis that he has an outside interest in which he has achieved a great deal of success.

And yes he doesn need a rounded education because a) what if he sustains an injury that ends his career and b) to broaden his mind.

Can he get any extra help at school through the G&T programme?

I can see why they are reluctant to allow him to drop stuff. Plenty of secondary school pupils do more than 15 hours a week of extra curicular stuff and he is unlikely to be the only one spending that sort of time on a sport.

Two of my DD went to private school on sports scholarships (both competing internationally) and the school was always very supportive and were happy for example for them to train in their sport instead of doing school PE/sports, giving them time off to attend training camps and competitions etc. They coped okay with their schoolwork (both got into first choice Unis with good A level grades) but I know other children had a reduced subject load (ie 5 GCSE's and 2 A levels). Quite a few are now professional rugby players at top academies/clubs.

It is possible to get full scholarships - one of my friend's sons has just been headhunted by a top public school and offered a full boarding scholarship because both of his elder brothers play professional sport. Might be worth making enquiries at schools who offer sports scholarships (sometimes you can also get a means tested bursary to top up the scholarship if its not 100%).

I know several talented swimmers who get reduced timetable (don't do drama, art or PE in school) so they can do their other subjects homework in the free lessons and do extra training before and after school. I don't really see why this should be any different, but if it's down to school discretion then maybe your only option is to change school?

We have a junior world champion in or school. He is in year 10 and doesn't have a reduced timetable.

I think some people are missing the point I am aware of other competitors at other schools who are allowed 2 afternoon off a week to train and catch up with homework,My son trains 15 hrs plus 5 hrs travelling time and this does not include competitions,A balanced education is important however as this sport is hopefully going to be recognised as a future Olympic sport.I am aware other countries have full funding and support.I spend £15000 a year for my son to compete at this level and represent his country,I thought the minimum I could expect is his school to support and help him.Yes he could get injured but he could also get run over by a bus.Life is a gamble and you have to play to your advantages.I was just trying to find out if i had any rights of appeal or would I just have to move house in order to get the support my son deserves.

Not sure why you think we are missing the point! All national/international level athletes train long hours - swimmers and divers that I know usually train before and after school every day.

In Britain, funding varies between sports. Some sports fund their athletes very well but it is generally dependent on how many medals they won in the last Olympics - for example, fencing gets (or at least used to) nothing, fencers I know had to pay to go to international competitions to represent their country. Whereas Modern Pentathlon (where we have won a medal in every Olympics) is very well funded and the international athletes even at junior level get funding for training, kit, travel, chaperones and competitions. Its up to the governing body how they use their funding.

I understand your frustration but sadly it is the same for most parents of our future national squad athletes - if you want them to get the opportunities to get to the top you have to put in the money and the time until they get there.

I am just glad my two are now at University and 2 minutes walk from the pool/track etc and we dont have to trail around the country all the the time!

On another thought - could you ask the national coach/governing body to write to the head asking for helping on your behalf?

I went to school (25-30 years ago) with someone who is an Olympic Gold Medallist and still a world record holder. He had a completely normal curriculum but was just away competing a fair bit. I think, when he was away, his parents taught him so he didn't miss out.

When he was in school I don't recall him ever doing anything any differently and being such a focussed youngster he was very well organised getting work in compared with the rest of us. He did very well in his exams znd has done very well in his career as well.

Congratulations on his achievements, by the way.

If you thought the sports academy would be more suitable, would it be worth appealing for a place? You must surely have a good argument for him being in a school with a sports specialism.

Just a thought, I've no useful experience.

If he's the under 12 champion then he's what, in Y7? I can see why the school won't let him drop subjects

ds1's school is packed with national and international level athletes and the majority don't have any lighter academic load than the non-athletes.

It's great that your ds is doing so well now but he's only very young still and may well change his mind about what he wants to do in the future

ds1 started secondary with someone whose ambition was to be an Olympic swimmer (and who seemed to be well on the way to achieving that ambition) - he's now given up swimming as he got fed up with the training, felt he'd done too much too young and wanted to do other things. Another boy who was at a Premiership academy has now turned his back on football and is really into music instead. Personally I think the most important thing at your son's age is to keep as many doors open as possible. You may well find that as he goes further up the school he may be able to drop an option, or do homework in non core subjects but that usually doesn't happen until GCSE or beyond.

My Son is the current under 12 World Champion and I see other competitors in the sport who are well supported by their school.One individual has been given a mentor,a laptop and has at least 2 afternoons a week free to train and complete homework.Being a top athlete requires a lot of hard work and dedication from both the competitor and his parents.It would be nice if the school would just burden a bit of the responsibility and support.Yes they think its fantastic to publish his achievements in local newspapers etc.But when it comes down to it they are not offering any support financially or otherwise.Is it a wonder our country is in such a mess,We will spend billions on foreign aid,foreign conflicts yet we will not support our own.Martial arts is a sport which promotes discipline,respect and fairplay which are all attributes we all want to encourage in our children.It is just a huge pity that our government does not see it that way.Football has millions invested and all we see is overpaid loutish behaviour.my rant over with and thanks for those Individuals who gave positive comments.

One of the commonwealth gymnastic medalists when to school near me, and from what i can gather the school were very supportive and gave him time off each week to train.

yes bruffin but they're older ... an 11 year old, however talented, should really be keeping their options open

at ds1's school some of the older kids do Btecs rather than A-levels, or drop one of their GCSE options, but in his year, y9, they are expected to work out a way to manage both training and schoolwork

it's fantastic that your son is doing so well, OP, but he is still only very young

in ds1's sport, there are very few kids who are successful at junior level who're still even in the sport at senior level - all sorts of different reasons, including injury, burn-out, finding girls/boys , no longer having the height/weight advantage of going through an early growth spurt etc etc - if the kids who eventually drop out had been allowed to do less school work than their peers they would then be at a serious disadvantage

and saying that's not being negative, it's being realistic - and also helping them develop fabulous time management skills :)

if you think that Tom Daley's senior world champion/commonwealth champion, trains 4-5 hours a day and still managed to get a string of As and A*s at GCSE you can see that it's possible, although difficult, to combine school and training/competing

but bruffin, a school can be accommodating without unduly reducing a child's options. The easiest example of this is PE - when a child is doing that much sport outside school, they don't really need to do any more inside. That alone frees up an afternoon or so. Beyond that even an 11 year old can probably drop Art or Drama or Music with no real loss to them - most children (except the really arty ones), even at that age have a fair inkling that one or other of those subjects isn't really for them and so can free up a few more lessons with no real loss. They might also be allowed to be excused assembly a few times a week and I'm sure there's probably a few other fairly mindless things that go on in school (form time/activities afternoons etc?) that could be dropped without any impact at all on a child's academic opportunities.

that last post was meant for basildonb, not bruffin sorry.

He wasn't that much older at the time, I heard about him when he was 13, although he did leave school after his gcses

DD,s friend at school was allowed a day off a week to perform in Oliver in year 7. Idon,t really see how that is much different.

DS has an international diver in his class and he gets loads of time off school,but he does seem to be able to keep up with his school work.

IME the majority of students who have time off school to pursue sports have personal tutors to keep up their education and do the same amount of work/courses just at home/on the road rather than in school, thus keeping their options open.

You could ask the school about flexi-schooling, or you could simply ask if he could miss his PE lessons, to catch up on homework (as he is obviously getting enough exercise). I thought about asking this for my DD at one point, but the school pointed out the team building skills which are also learned in PE and we decided to carry on working around the school day. Your DS may have a heavier sporting schedule than my DD though.

Also ... to add. She was on the school's list of talented pupils and was allowed authorised leave for any competitions, exams, etc.

I know someone who is an elite gymnast, her school does a special timetable for her so she can finish school at 1:30 every day to train.