How would you feel about this new Y11 prom rule?

[DavesNotHere]

I did post this in chat but got no response so trying here instead. Just wondering how common it is for schools to do this - DCs secondary school is requiring Y11 students to attend a minimum of three exam booster sessions a week from now until the GCSEs begin in order to be eligible to go to the prom. Each session is either 1 hour after school or for the whole lunch break (which would mean eating lunch while in the booster session). It's caused a lot of dismay - most parents seem to feel that kids have been through enough over the last 3 years and the prom (if they want to go) should be a chance to celebrate 5 years of high school, completing their GCSEs, and also the last chance to all be together before they move on - a rite of passage. I would be really interested to hear people's thoughts on this!

Thanks for the replies, quite a mixed response! I can see both sides, although I disagree with this method of coercion. My DS does go to 2 booster sessions a week already, as well as another session with his mentor as he has ADHD. He says the boosters are not great and he doesn't feel they are of much value. I can imagine they might get worse with the addition of another load of students who are compelled to be there. School are responsible for putting on the prom but parents have to pay. I personally dislike the whole concept of the prom and wouldn't mind at all if DS chose not to go. It's just such a 'one size fits all' approach, like so many other things at this school. It really won't be beneficial for everyone. I really hope they rethink it but they probably won't.

@redskydelight ·

Ah, so yours were in school full time and expected to do additional sessions? I see.

Ours were on study leave from the Easter holiday. Basically, that was the end of school and they had no organised lessons, in school or online, until exams. I assumed it was the same at all schools.

We would have very much welcomed organised revision sessions.

3 hours a week isn't much to be fair. I'd support the school in this, the exams aren't far away, it'll all soon be over and then they have an amazing long holiday ahead of them.

Highly discriminatory. Autistic ds needed his decompression time after school and more importantly he had musical/performing activities most days which helped him to both get through the week and have ultimately led to his degree choice/career.

Dd too is a dancer and needed to train after school.

DD's school offered a reduction on the price of the prom tickets based on revision session attendance, which might be better for not excluding people.

I think a minimum number might be reasonable if not set too high, so that pupils have some choice in where they focus their efforts. I also think some discreet exceptions would be appropriate - for kids with medical needs, after-school commitments, or where it's known that revising on their own would likely be more efficient (since the revision sessions are likely to target the middle).
(DD and her friend turned up for one revision session in a subject where it was completely unnecessary, since their usual after-school activity had been cancelled - they got strange looks from the staff - and another signature on their attendance card.)

At my DC’s school they carry on attending school as usual and revising on site. No ‘study leave’ as I remember it when you were working at home.

Your child is so very lucky to be offered these grade booster sessions. Teachers will be offering these in their own time. A prom as celebration is excellent idea. Most schools won't show this level of support for pupils. Your child should be so grateful.

Nothing wrong with that

I too think it's a great idea. Well done to the teachers giving up their time.

It's good that they're flexible too. If unable to do after school, having it at lunch instead.

If the Prom is to celebrate achievement they may as well do all they can to achieve.

3 hours of school directed revision? Doesn’t sound too horrible!

They must be concerned about a large proportion to make it mandatory across the cohort. It's only for a couple of months, though, and maybe they'll cut some homework.

OP is not talking about revision sessions during study leave though - she mentions an hour after school or during the lunch break, starting from now.

And I doubt (m)any schools are on study leave as early as February.

My DD didn't start study leave until the week after the first week of exams. It really varies a lot between schools.

There are quite a few children at DDs primary school collected by siblings from the neighbouring secondary school, which finishes earlier (and starts earlier)

This is obviously not an ideal situation... but its a realistic one. There will be many Yr11s caring for younger siblings after school while their parents are at work.

A whole lunchtime session doesn't sound that good either for productive working.

As for Prom... with all the other stuff they didn't get a chance to do, enabling everyone who wants to to be able attend sounds better.

seems ridiculous to me. I achieved well in school and university, but I've always very much been one to study alone and in my own time. I personally never found group study sessions etc. particularly useful - they ate into the time where I could be studying by myself and I'm sure others would feel the same

once a week would be more reasonable to me, I could see that having some value

Would people in favour of this still be in favour if it was mandatory and nothing to do with the prom? I wouldn't. It sounds like the prom is just an excuse to make unreasonable demands of the students by making it look like a "choice" - when a lot of them won't see it like that.

Not convinced by the "work ethic" arguments either. Kids that age don't need more practice at working in a classroom environment, something they've been doing for over a decade. They do need help in the transition to working independently, and extra hours at school will be actively unhelpful to that for many.

By the time I was 16 I found classroom education both unproductive and exhausting. It was too difficult to work with everyone else around and I would get home from school and just sleep till teatime. I did almost all of my best work at home. How would an extra hour of school have helped me in the slightest?

My eldest would hate it, as would I have. We both have ASD and dislike our routines being interupted.

As for work ethic, my eldest created her own time table so she could continue to study (and maintain her routine) over the Christmas break. She isn't even in GCSE years yet. Neither she or I try to weasel out of anything. But everyone has different learning styles. Highly populated booster sessions would have, at best, been a waste of time for us both.

Ours had to attend all revision sessions unless very good reason. Ours had to go Saturdays, after school, school holidays and in between exams.

Wrong incentive. My DS couldn't be less interested in prom. Also, if it was after school, he'd have no transport home- despite me paying £900 pa for the school bus.

Strange attitude the parents have!

It's beneficial for the kids to study a bit and do well at school isn't it?

It’s 3 hours of commitment from the teachers to try and improve your kids grade. I’m not sure what you’re complaining about. You should be thanking them.

Interesting to read this straight after another post from a teacher about the rise of bad behaviour in schools. There conclusion on that post was that parents are snow flakes.

They used to do this at a school I worked at. They had to attend a certain number of revision booster classes, no late homeworks outstanding and all coursework done to get a ticket for prom. I thought it was an excellent idea

The problem is revision sessions work for some and not others.

Regular breaks are important, both to help with learning and generally to support overall mental health. At lunchtime I would prefer my child is taking time to eat lunch and ideally then spend some time outside rather that cramming in a revision session.

When my DD's were doing GCSE's they would come home from school and either relax for a couple of hours or exercise (dance class or swimming), then have dinner and then do some studying later in the evening. When they are at college / uni they will need to learn to manage their own time, so that is something I encouraged them to do for their GCSE's. Forced booster classes just doesn't seem like the right approach for a lot of children.

Our school is doing this and it makes me so angry! If you have appointments etc it's not a problem to miss the sessions, it really irritates me that prom attendance is dependant on a child attending extra sessions, we've been told they are mandatory. I'm irritated and my dd is happy to attend them so for us it won't be a problem. I'm all for encouraging them in the strongest possible terms and I am so grateful to school for putting them on, dd would attend mandatory or not but once the school day is done you surely can't be mandated to stay!

If your child has some additional need that makes this difficult for them you can raise it with the school and I’m sure allowances would be made.

Look if your kid turns up looking good on prom night they will get in. No one wants a fight on the big night. Half the staff won't even know who is on the banned list. DS wasn't allowed to his prom, but someone got him a ticket and nothing was said when he went in. Especially if the child is not going back to school ever, what is there to lose? He was banned for the same reason. And also got the best results in the school.