Ghost lessons / State Sixth form

[Littleham]

My dd described her 'Ghost lessons' to me, as follows....

1. Teacher doesn't turn up but it is scheduled lesson

2. Only one French teacher in the sixth form requires kids to be there & sets work. None of the other teachers bother to turn up - she doesn't do French.

3. The sixth formers are not required to be there, there is no set work, they are not required to do anything, but it fulfils the education requirement for 10 hours a week for a subject. (So 9 hours of teaching, plus one ghost lesson). So she spends Monday at home working by herself in her bedroom.

Her Monday A2 day consists of one lesson, plus one ghost lesson (where she is free to go home).

Please could I ask - is this replicated around the country & how can she possibly compete for a university place on this basis?

If she went to these ghost lessons, she would sit in an empty room by herself. She has tried going and no one is there. I guess she may as well come home (she is very studious). The rest of the day is 'free', with no allocated room.

I do wonder how many of them are working though?

By the way, it only Monday and Wednesday where this happens - so three of the days are fine.

Owl When looking at that schedule though we did not get 9 hours of teaching per subject a week.

I seem to remember getting the whole afternoon off once a week + other single lessons. I did 3 A Levels, so definitely not 9 hours teaching time per subject.

Does she not have homework she could be doing during the 'ghost lesson'? Whether at home or in the school.

Yes - she did homework this week and completed it by about 11am!

She will just have to set her own work & do some wider reading / revision.

We were set plenty of work though, I remember writing essay after essay...

Capsium - it is 9 hours per fortnight. Confused everyone with my opening ramblings / mistakes.

Ah, that makes more sense!

My son sixth form they called study periods where meant to stay in school to do homework. They can go home only if on target for study periods. Think much better idea as his sisters went to college and went into to town ,had a lie in not a lot of work getting done. They need to be self reliant when go to uni. They meant to put in same amount self study as lesson hours to succeed at A level.

Study periods work well, when there are lessons as well. A bit much for a whole day though I think.

I like the sound of your son's sixth form.

DS1 has just started 6th form, and I think he has something similar. He has has five hours scheduled per subject per week, but one hour of each of those is self-study with set work. He also has 2 completely free periods, a private study period.

It was explained last term that they adopted this model to allow more choice and lower classes. From memory, I think there was a minimum requirement for 20 hours study per week per student to get the full Government funding, which is new this school year, and this was their way of providing that. Preparation for university working was mentioned as a positive of the system.

Early days for us to see how it is going, and I believe it is new for school, but the Sixth form gets fantastic results, in Oxbridge and Medicine, and I trust them to make it work.

We have an information evening this week, so may know more after that.

Also new for this year is compulsory all day and every day attendance, they are only allowed to leave school for lunch, which is a sixth form privillge.

DS2 has just started year 12. State sixth form college. Huge place with mixed intake. DS1 just finished there and did very well but how much was down to him self studying v teaching I'm not sure.

DS2 is doing 4 subjects to AS. He has 3 x 75 minute lessons in each subject. One 75 minute enrichment lesson and one 75 minute mentor session. He then has 5 "study periods" which he is expected to use to study. There are vast well equipped and staffed study area in the college. So far he has gone and used the study zone to keep up with homework. Having said that they are at liberty to leave the college during frees. He can't get home though as we live miles away and there is only a school bus once each way.
No "ghost" lessons.

The thing I disliked about the place when DS1 was there was that there is an army of student mentors, ie none teaching staff, but actual teachers are very stretched. So lots of support and guidance available but no qualified academic help for those who need it.

DD1 just gone into yr 13.

Last year 4 AS subjects at 9 hours a fortnight each = 36 hours. One afternon per week 'enrichment' took a further 4 hours, so 10 hours a fortnight free periods. Typicaly 4 one week, 6 the next. MFL also had an extra half period a week for spoken sessions, which reduced free periods. Had to stay on school premises during free periods (unless special permission to leave) most subject teachers have open door policy when not teaching. Allowed in common room or library, but any flagged up as under performing get put on the radar and supervised library study in some free periods made compulsory.

This year, down to 3 A2 subjects, also 9 hours a fortnight. No enrichment, so 23 free periods. Allowed to leave when no lessons left for the day, but need to be in for morning registration whether lessons or not.

So, from what I can see, the hours are similar at other schools (dd2 doing three A2 levels and an EPQ), but the set up is different.

At my dc's sixth form, they go home or into town (chip shop) during a free period or ghost lesson (even if they are under -performing....... actually, especially if they are under-performing!!!). No compulsory all day attendance.

There is only a small library, as it is old and has not been re-built (seats about 30 ....not enough to cope with the numbers.....no other rooms, although there may be an odd empty classroom). I think the staff might be slightly stymied by the fact that the sixth form is remote from the lower school. So if the teacher is timetabled to teach a lesson at lower school, then a subsequent lesson at sixth form, they have to cross the town.

I think someone asked about results for A Level. For my dd1's year, no one got into Oxford or Cambridge, a few got into Russell group type universities & the rest went somewhere else or into apprenticeships / jobs.

I think I had better get dd2 to draw up her own timetable for Mondays...... Can't think of another plan.

OP
has she only just started 6th form?
as in has the backlog of homework and readaround not started yet?

DDs lessons finish at 12.30 on a Thursday but that is not "free time" its study time.

It was made very clear to us on admission that there will be 5 hours of lessons per subject per week plus 5 hours of self guided study/ homework per subject per week

if you do not start letting them guide their own work at 16/17
then its gets left to University and they drop out with huge bills to pay
(You and Yours on Radio 4 today was full of callers who did not realise they had to manage their own time, not be spoon fed)

She has just started the A2 year, so no backlog of homework. Also she has usually done it at the weekend anyway. I expected study / free periods, but not for the whole of Monday....

Yep, I agree with you OP. My own DD would study too, but not at school, and so not getting into the habit of going to a teacher to clarify something she hasn't understood, or studying alongside other students in her study group, using the library frequently and getting used to being in school to study in her own time. That is all part of Uni preparation.

Is this a new thing the school is trying, and was there no indication of them doing this when your SD applied for a place in the sixth form? Can you ask them why they do this, as it doesn't seem to be in the students' best interests to lump all their study time into one day so they effectively only have a 4 (or 3?) day week.

*DD not SD

I am not sure, but I am now guessing that it is unfortunate timetabling. It has happened to people doing similar subjects.

A lot of sixth formers have part time jobs so a big chunk of a school day where they can crack on with work would be great.
There'll be plenty to do soon enough.

It does sound totally normal - other than the fact that they call them "ghost" lessons. I teach my 6th form class 9 hours per fortnight. They have plenty of work set but I leave it to them to organise when they do it. I was head of 6th form for a couple of years and it used to drive me mad that students claimed they had "no work" set. They always have work to do.

I don't think it should be totally normal to have only one lesson for the whole of Monday!

By the way, my dd2 is extremely studious and will always find work to do by herself, but it doesn't make it right & I know for a fact that some of the others are not working.

Dd3 has just started yr12 and has a similar Monday, it's because of a combination of timetabling and subjects chosen. She has already mapped a timetable for herself to do on a Monday. They are told they have to do 4 hours home study per subject per week so Monday is a perfect day for her to do two subjects. Maybe ask the school for guidance, although your dd has probably already been given pointers on how to use the free periods but may not have been expecting them in one chunk.

Thanks Kimaroo. Good advice - will do that. Last year was much better because the study periods & ghost lessons were more spaced out.