Missing sixth form for 2 days

[Urbangiraffe74]

Hi. Tricky topic. We pretty much never take our kids out of school, so they have always had very high attendance rates. However an opportunity came up that I found I couldn't say no to.

My 16 year old has loved a particular US pop star for several years. I tried to get him tickets for his last tour 2 years ago but missed out as they sold out so fast. This autumn he is touring again, playing the UK for just 4 dates. I managed to get 2 tickets for my son and I and gave them to him on his GCSE results day. He is so excited.

The concert is unfortunately mid week - there were no UK gig dates at the weekend. It's also several hours away from us as he's only playing 2 venues.

I thought that would mean one day out of school and that 6th form would be more relaxed on attendance, being more centred on self directed study.

In practice however, once I worked out the travel arrangements, I have realised it means 2 days out of 6th form.

He can of course study on the journey to and from London.

I'm wondering how to play it with the school. It's clearly leisure so won't fall within the 'exceptional circumstances' category. Do I fill in an application form anyway, knowing they will say no and disapprove and we, or he, may get in trouble? Or do we call him in sick those two days?

We have never done this before.

I took DD (Y10) out of school for two days to go to the Eras Tour (we got tickets in Paris). I told the school what we were doing because I didn't want to lie about it. It went down as unauthorised (fair enough!), but nobody minded. I've since got the impression from a friend who works in attendance that they'd have rather we'd just called in sick, but it meant DD didn't have to lie. She had excellent attendance generally. Sixth form I'd definitely just own it and tell them.

Shocked at all these people saying 'just call in sick' that's terrible! Lying and teaching her son to lie! Unbelievable. Speak to the school, explain the truth, 2 days in sixth form is not the end of the world, they might be a bit peeved, but like you say he can do some study on the journey..

Yes I think that is right. So incorrect about that in my PP.

Answer phone message in the morning: "good morning, Toby in form Y won't be in today or tomorrow as we have to take an overnight trip to London. Many thanks".

To be honest, loads of people do that with work, it's so hard to get time off and people have to seel their soles to a job. I'm not encouraging regular use of that as cover, but once in a blue moon doesn't hurt anyone, and annual leave etc is quite limited anyways.

In reality it doesn't make a difference to what OP does, whether she tells them or not. It shouldn't get a fine for days, just make sure he catches up on all the work done and plans ahead for when he'll do it all. If he tells them the truth then contact them ahead of time and ask. If he calls in sick, then do it during the day or a day or two after.

Dont ask first, if they say no it would be really difficult to go, take him and apologise after that the tickets became available and opportunity was too good to miss (not untrue ...)

If he says he’s ill and then someone saw him there, or there’s a pic of him, or someone by mistake finds out, it’ll be soooo much worse. So I wouldn’t put ill.

It won’t.

It happens all the time.

This.

Hope you have a great time!

It's less a question of getting absence authorised, it is more thst he will miss the input.

if schools weren't so controlling it wouldn't happen. OP should be allowed to take this decision for her kid if on balance she thinks it's right (life is important too) but with plenty of schools that just lands a lot of shit on your plate. That's what's unbelievable.

In both the 5th and 6th Forms I had two weeks out, approved by the school, to go on a Swiss Adventure and also an Irish Adventure. Both were marginally educational but definitely character forming. Had I asked for any time at all to go and see The Beatles, I would have been turned down flat.

It's crazy to me that English schools are like this and parents actually get fined. Instead of saying he's sick, could you frame it as 'mental health days', as presumably the break and seeing the band will do him good

The school will follow their process and it will likely be unauthorised, but no individual will really care. Don't lie, it will take the edge off his trip if he has to try and keep it secret.

Well, obviously, he doesn't go! Sixth Form is short enough as it is, and A levels are hugely important. And it won't be many years before he's in work, so he needs to understand that you can't just bunk off whenever you feel like it.

https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence It suggests here that you can't get fined after year 11. It implies that your son has to be enroled in full time education but that's it. Just be honest.

Go, but don't lie. It was all hushed up by the media of course😉 , but I understand two notable liars upstanding pillars of the US corporate community were recently caught on camera in the audience at a Coldplay concert, which may not have gone terribly well for them.

I'd just call in sick tbh.

In my experience they won't care. I've taken all 3 out of sixth form for different reasons.

I booked Hamilton far enough in advance that they hadn't released the half term dates yet. I guessed wrong. I told 6th Form and their response was "lucky things, have a great time!"

Same when it was Harry Styles and being invited to a recording session at Radio 4 (doing Media A-level)

I’m really anti taking kids out of school, but in these circumstances I would just call in sick. It won’t put him in an awkward position if he’s in sixth form. He’s not like a six year old who will get in a pickle with lying.

We did this earlier this year. In our case, the concert had originally been booked for a weekend date over a year earlier, but was then postponed to a Tuesday. Highly inconvenient but DD was not going to give up the tickets. We haven’t once taken any time off for holidays or time off during term, and her attendance is excellent. But I still phoned her in sick (it went against the grain but I viewed it very much as a one off, which she totally understood).

If she thinks it's right then she shouldn't lie. However she is still breaking the rules (although is she in sixth form?) so if the school gets cross they have a right to be cross. Education is exceptionally important, one of the most important things in life, and the amount of time people take off for silly things (I don't think OP's thing is silly) is astonishing, on top of the lying too!

There are girls and women literally dying to be educated in some countries, we should be falling over ourselves to get our kids to what is largely free and good education for all.

Visiting universities abroad?

Sixth form attendance isn’t reported to the DfE and there are no fines so it’s far more relaxed although they wont agree to it as authorised.

It won't be authorised but there are no fines in 6th form (and even lower down the school it's very unlikely that 2 days unauthorised absence would be subject to a fine unless it's a recurrent issue). What's the worse that will happen? The boy will have 4 sessions recorded as unauthorised absence. If he is a good student with an otherwise excellent attendance record a one off absence is hardly likely to attract major sanctions. There'll be a bit of catching up to do but presumably he can get notes off his classmates and complete any homework that's been set once he gets home.
If you are happy that this trip is in your son's best interests, just do it OP. But have the courage of your convictions and be up front about it.