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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

My 16 year old refuses to go to school

28 replies

YoshiThor78910 · 22/03/2019 12:18

Before I send a message how to I send it?

OP posts:
Hamsternauts · 22/03/2019 12:23

Do you mean how do you inform the school? I'd tell the truth so they can support you/her

Arewehumanorbones · 22/03/2019 12:27

School refusing is a well known and fairly common thing. The school should have a policy for dealing with school refusal - ask for a meeting with the relevant pastoral person and ask to see their policy
The school should help you with this.

Dramatical · 22/03/2019 12:29

Well at 16 they can leave, if school is such a huge problem can you look into the alternatives?

prh47bridge · 22/03/2019 14:08

Well at 16 they can leave

No they can't. They remain of compulsory school age until the end of the school year.

Dramatical · 22/03/2019 20:14

Why can't they leave at 16?

TeenTimesTwo · 22/03/2019 21:25

Because otherwise pupils can drop out before they have done their GCSEs.
So just like there is a start school date (The Sept of the academic year you turn 5), there is a leave school date (The end of June of the academic year you turn 16).

Dramatical · 22/03/2019 21:28

Ok. That's not the case here. Supposing you all are in England? I didn't realise it was different. Ours can demit anytime after turning 16.

Oliversmumsarmy · 22/03/2019 21:29

*Well at 16 they can leave

No they can't. They remain of compulsory school age until the end of the school year*

Technically they can leave whenever.

Would HE work.

They have the books for GCSEs, are they booked for the exams?
Could they work from home?

Given there is only a few more weeks I am sure there is some sort of way round it

TapasForTwo · 22/03/2019 21:31

"Why can't they leave at 16?"

Because it is the law. Here

TapasForTwo · 22/03/2019 21:32

Where do you live Dramatical?

Dramatical · 22/03/2019 21:33

Ok so we have established the law is different here. Back to the point of the thread now perhaps?

Sorry for the detail OP, didn't realise things were different.

Starlight456 · 22/03/2019 21:34

Do you know why they are refusing?

Oliversmumsarmy · 22/03/2019 21:49

Tbh the 18 year old leaving age is a law without any teeth.

I have spoken to the Education department and as long as you know you can’t claim benefits then they aren’t really going to chase you.

DD left and set up a business.

There are a number of reasons why it isn’t a workable law.

Also as I have said HE is one way to go.

I don’t know exactly how much more of the term there is to go and how much into the summer term they are supposed to turn up.(Dd didn’t have to go in to school in the summer term of her GCSEs. The teachers were there if you wanted to go through anything but otherwise at the Easter break everyone left).

There is only a few weeks at most left.

Oliversmumsarmy · 22/03/2019 21:57

FWIW Ds hated school and school work.

He was always bottom of the class and found academics boring and hard work.
He managed to pass 1 GCSE in Maths

He took up a trade at college and from being bottom of the class with average marks of 10% on a good day.

Now at college he is averaging 97.5% in the exams and assessments and is top of his class with students who are more 18/19/20 years old.

Just because he hates school it isn’t the end of the world

prh47bridge · 23/03/2019 07:57

Technically they can leave whenever

Yes, provided they continue to receive a full time education. Enforcement is up to the LA. Inevitably some are better than others. Some will make sure the child is either going to college or being home educated and take action against the parents if they aren't, some won't bother.

Oliversmumsarmy · 23/03/2019 10:06

prh47bridge

As I have said it is a toothless law and I might be wrong but no one has been prosecuted for it yet.

On a side note of why it a stupid law.

Say your child hasn’t passed any GCSEs

Where would you go.

I know from experience that most schools to get onto there year 12 for A levels you will have had to pass something to be able to study for the A level in that subject.
There might be some where you can go to retake your GCSEs but they are few and far between.

In most colleges you need to have passed English and Maths as a bare minimum to do a chosen course.

We chose a particular college (the only one in a 10 mile radius of our home) that didn’t insist on English and Maths GCSEs to do a particular course because we knew Ds would struggle with GCSE English. (English and Maths are a separate lesson they provide each week for those that fail those subjects)

After registering and being accepted on the course we had to go down to the college with ds’s results of his GCSEs

Whilst only there for about 45 minutes the number of mums and dads coming in with their 16 year olds who had presumed that they were going to get the requisite GCSEs but finding out they had failed a certain subject or hadn’t enough GCSEs to get on a particular course with a different college made a huge queue.

FWIW the minimum number of GCSEs that Ds would have needed to get in another college for just the level 1 course was 4 including English and Maths.

Ds went into level 2 and is averaging a 97.5% with his test and assessment results do it can’t be that if you don’t pass the exams you won’t be able to cope with the work.

If this college wasn’t there (which it won’t be in a couple of years as it is being sold to developers) where are those that don’t pass the exams supposed to go if the law says they have to be in ft education. Apprenticeships also need you to have GCSEs before you can get on one.

That is why the law is stupid and unworkable

prh47bridge · 23/03/2019 10:37

As I have said it is a toothless law and I might be wrong but no one has been prosecuted for it yet

I am referring to the law on compulsory education. You are referring to what happens when a child is no longer of compulsory school age. That is not relevant to the OP's son. He remains of compulsory school age until the end of the current school year. The law on compulsory education very much has teeth and plenty of parents are prosecuted every year.

Oliversmumsarmy · 23/03/2019 10:55

Well ops son has only a few weeks left of being of compulsory school age.

TapasForTwo · 23/03/2019 13:38

I agree Oliversmumsarmy
Our local post 16 college is split into 6th form for A levels, and another college for vocational courses. The college's director says that for many students getting them to retake English and maths is a complete waste of time as it uses up resources and detracts them from learning the course that they are on.

prh47bridge · 23/03/2019 14:32

Well ops son has only a few weeks left of being of compulsory school age

He has 14 weeks before he reaches school leaving age. That is the OP's problem. And, as those 14 weeks include his GCSEs, they are a fairly important 14 weeks which could result in action being taken against the OP by the authorities if her son simply goes missing.

It is true that the legislation requiring participation in education or training to age 18 is currently toothless. But it is not relevant to the OP's situation.

Oliversmumsarmy · 24/03/2019 03:38

Not necessarily 14 weeks, like a lot of schools in our area in year 11 they break for study leave either at Easter or a couple of weeks into the summer term.

Don’t know any schools that don’t start the study leave later than Mid May.

By the end of June GCSEs are done so what lessons would you be doing in school after the exam has been?

TapasForTwo · 24/03/2019 07:21

A lot of schools have stopped study leave now Oliversmum. They have discovered that outcomes have improved massively since doing so. DD didn't get any study leave until the last week of her GCSEs. Their GCSE results jumped by several points when they started doing this.

prh47bridge · 24/03/2019 09:00

He ceases to be of compulsory school age on the last Friday in June assuming he is in England or Wales, so yes, 14 weeks. Up to that point the school is responsible for him and is expected to provide some form of education even if exams are over. Study leave after exams is not legal.

As TapasForTwo says, many schools have stopped study leave and have seen GCSE results improve massively. There is also a further incentive for schools in that study leave has to be recorded as authorised absence and therefore damages their attendance statistics.

It is very unusual for a school to start study leave at Easter or just a couple of weeks into the summer term. And, even where schools do still use study leave, they often have compulsory revision sessions that pupils must attend.

Oliversmumsarmy · 24/03/2019 11:33

Not every school has banned study leave so we don’t know exactly when the ops Ds is meant to go to.

Last year Ds finished his GCSEs on something like 10th June.

Even if he was meant to stay in school till 30th June the school didn’t have any lessons for him to go to. The “lessons” still ran if you wanted to go in and ask the teacher to run through a certain bit but going in after the first week or two in May was optional as GCSEs were starting.
Think ds’s first exam was around 22nd May.

I can’t remember but most people had finished definitely before 30th June.

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 24/03/2019 11:45

oliver you are derailing this thread and actually being willfully ignorant.

It doesnt matter qhen the exams or the school stop lessons, bridge is talkinf about THE LAW. The law states that any child ceases to be of compusary school age on the 30th june at the end the acdemic year they turn 16. THAT IS THE LAW. That is 14 weeks from now. Even early june is 12 weeks fron now 3 MONTHS 3 MONTHS. not a couple of weeks as you are making out.