Absence and plea for no homework after D of E weekend

[Macaronichee]

50% of class missing on the Monday after
Y11 students spent their weekend on a D of E trip. All staff email asking for light homework for Y11 this week because they have been on D of E. A bit pathetic and not exactly encouraging the strength of character envisaged in the D of E awards?

But realistic perhaps.

Have you done the D of E? I did several decades ago and it was knackering.

They will be knackered and this weekend was wet and wild up here.

It's not about being a machine! Why bother setting them up to be exhausted?
Bet you sat on your arse half the weekend and didn't trek for 10 miles carrying a massive bag and sleeping in the wind and rain?

It's fucking exhausting.

I did it. I was exhausted.
My kids did it. They were exhausted.

I'm a teacher. Why are they doing it in year 11? Year 10 is much better.

My DD spent three days on DoE, walking with a hugely heavy backpack and waking at 6.30 am, one night after being woken by a thunderstorm. She was destroyed when she came back on Sunday night. We felt she needed an extend sleep on Monday so she would be alert and in good shape for the rest of the week.

I prepared my lessons for Monday morning and drove my youngest daughter the 800 odd miles round trip to drop her off for her first term at Edinburgh university rather than ‘sitting on [my] arse all weekend’. I’m not looking for a medal and I didn’t walk to Scotland but I didn’t take the next day off. My three daughters all did D of E but it would never have occurred to me to give the following day off school because they were tired rather than ill.

Bully for you.
The D of E kids aren't you.

Homework is overrated.

Family life is negatively impacted by huge amounts of often pointless homework.

Im sure I’ve seen studies recommending scaling it down drastically or getting rid entirely.

I imagine if all you did was drive you were sitting on your arse 😁

I think it's shit that 50% of them weren't in. They could all have got through the day tired and worn out together. Was it authorised? The light homework for a couple of days I think is fair enough but after that what's the point it's not like you're making them do homework on the expedition.

My DD2 fainted on the way to school the day after her silver DoE expedition, so I would say YABU.

However this should have been identified as an issue much earlier so staff planning was not disrupted at such a late stage.

At my school where we do many outdoor pursuits trips the rule is you must be in school the next day.
The only exception is after climbing Kilimanjaro we give them a few days to recover.

I agree OP- DofE is challenging but it is about building resilience and discipline, heck certainly isn’t helped by missing a day of school (unless there has been serious injury suffered on the trip, which I doubt).

I’d have been tempted to dish out a few extra hours of homework for year 11 upon seeing that email…

Feels like the teachers involved in d of e probably know better than you what state the students will be in. My kids have done about 5 d of e expeditions between them over the years, real and practice at diff levels. One time one of them had the day off after. Rest of the time all completely fine. Depends on the child and if they hurt themselves or did it on top of mild illness etc, and how much sleep they had.

Yes it’s all about resilience but not all kids are the same and especially at bronze (which I presume this was) there are loads of kids doing it who many never have done any long walks carrying stuff like this before and frankly, no they aren’t very resilient. Hopefully they’re a bit more resilient after than before bronze, but they’re coming from different starting points.

Just try to be pragmatic and not too judgemental. Light homework all week seems a bit extreme but a bit of flexibility due to them doing something extra with school, that affects a lot of them and is predictable - that seems reasonable.

I kind of think it’s encouraging of their efforts to actually give a small amount of leeway. If this was bronze then some of them will be fine but some will come from families unused to this level of activity
if they feel pressured the first day back the risk is they may not progress on to Gold or Silver.
sometimes a compromise is best e.g. save homework but the option to submit after next weekend? Those genuinely exhausted can wait till the weekend if they wish to?

**same homework not save!

DS was back on the Monday, on time, with his homework done after his DoFE bronze expedition. He is able-bodied and quite strong.

But several of his group members (one with a physical disability and one with additional needs) needed the Monday off.

I don't think that's "a bit pathetic" at all. I think your post is mean-spirited and that "strength of character" isn't determined by sheer presenteeism.

This is superb. Proper mumsnet chicken resilience. The cut off is Kilimanjaro. None of your local peaks or average walks.

I'm suprised so many weren't in OP and I agree with you. Was it bronze? My DC were back in school the next day. Some kids had the day off but very few (the ones who don't really bother with school, mostly).

Also, not sure what a PP is wittering about homework not being productive. By Y11 they need decent amounts of homework. My DC go to a dodgy state school and had to do 3 Maths papers for homework this week, as well as 40 topic questions. This is what will get them decent grades. They are Y11 not Y1!

Sorry, but don’t you sit on your arse in a nice climate controlled comfy chair while driving? It’s not quite as active as hiking up mountains in the rain with a 15kg backpack and sleeping on the ground now is it?

I am with you OP, but if my boss asked me to work like a dog on a weekend (which he does hence my username 🙄), he would definitely give me time off following week or extra cash

so same principle I’m afraid 😑

The law of unintended Consequences applies here - if homework isn't completed because they're too tired, you'll get two things happening;

1. Lots of 'diarrhoea and vomiting'.
2. Consequences for not handing in homework - detention. This leads to

2a. Office staff (if you don't have automatic detentions or automatic notifications) having to add all of these kids to detention for multiple subjects and emailing multiple parents.
2b. Kids suddenly getting 10+ detentions put through for one week.
2bi. Kids complaining to teaching staff and office staff that it's not fair and they can't do that many detentions and they want the behaviour points removed. Office staff then having to go in and manually remove them when SLT say they have to. Kids then learning that if they kick up a fuss, points can be taken off again.
2c. Parents phoning up and yelling because their kid is now in detention for the next 2-3 weeks from going on DofE. Parents yelling that their child is not doing any detention because they were on DofE and they want the behaviour points taken off. Office staff then having to go in and manually remove them when SLT say they have to. Parents then learning that if they kick up a fuss, points can be taken off again.
2d. Parents whose kids do the detention phoning up and yelling that Kid X, Y and Z didn't do the detention and that's not fair and they want the points taken off/will refuse the next detention(s) on the basis they already did 1-however many already.
2e. The member of staff supervising the detentions being inundated with Year 11s who were on DofE.

There's also consequence 3 if it's not applied to the whole year group - parents phoning up pissed off that the DofE kids don't have to do the homework that the others did.

Both of my sons had the day off after the d of e they couldn’t think straight they were so tired from lack of sleep . They could have done the same walk again though no problem

😆 @Talipesmum

This is quite an irrational and disproportionate response. Are you ok op?! I'm a teacher and a few kids missing my lesson after d of e and not setting hw is never an issue.