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Secondary education

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Original poster

Compulsory after school classes

60 replies

labrat1984 · 03/11/2025 08:44

It's an odd one here

My daughter has been told she has to attend extra classes after school as her "design technology" work is at risk

If she does not attend the classes she will not be allowed to attend prom

This if I'm honest has me REALLY annoyed, we are a house hold with two disabled daughters and we have explained in the past to this school that we are unable to do after school events due to the care needs and travel time (school is about 20-30 mins drive)

The part that has me really annoyed is that earlier this year they took one DT class off her as they wanted her to do more maths and "this won't affect her DT work as she is doing so well"

What rights does she have here?

OP posts:
Original poster
labrat1984 · 03/11/2025 08:46

Sorry that should be one DT a week they took off her

OP posts:
SweepLovesSoo · 03/11/2025 09:00

Has she spoken to the DT teacher about how she can get back on track?

Clearly the school were trying to ‘save’ her from failing maths now they would like her to pass D&T. I suppose it’s up to you or her what the priority is.

Both of mine had compulsory ‘periods six’ in year eleven for whatever subjects teachers wanted to target. One of my dc only had period six for French but the other one had one every day. It definitely helped her grades and to be honest I was pleased the school were providing the extra support.

Your dd doesn’t have to be provided a prop by the school so I imagine they can stop her from going. I wouldn’t bandy around that she can’t do things after school unless prom is during the day.

Celestialmoods · 03/11/2025 09:01

She has the right not to go, but if she wants to get a good enough pass in her exams, she should take the school’s advice.

RampantIvy · 03/11/2025 09:07

It has nothing to do with her "rights" and everything to do with whether she wants to get a good grade. DT is very coursework heavy. DD took art at GCSE and stayed after school one day a week to keep on top of her work.one

Is there no public transport between school and your home?

Wolfiefan · 03/11/2025 09:10

She is clearly struggling in more than one subject. Either you work with the school to support her or she fails to reach her potential.

DontGoToThatPlace · 03/11/2025 09:45

This is why the school my children attended extended the school day to provide a compulsory period 6 so all students could be in school for that last period for revision in year 11, plus they did extra stuff for year 7s to get them into a good place homework wise.

She needs to speak to her DT teacher to find out what she needs to do to get it back on track. They are trying to help her.

The issue you are going to have is year 11 have a lot of after school revision sessions so maybe thinking long term is there another parent who can help you out?

OnlyMabelInTheBuilding · 03/11/2025 09:48

Is the child in question disabled, or is it her siblings?

As PP has said, it’s not really about rights, it’s about her, the school and you all trying to help her get the best grade possible.

Octavia64 · 03/11/2025 09:50

DT is one of those subjects that expects a lot of work to be done outside class - similar to art.

it sounds like she is at significant risk of failing multiple subjects. In my school we pull kids out of PE for extra maths and English as it’s not a gcse but I can see why they might have to pull out of other lessons.

DT is a coursework heavy subject and presumably the DT teacher has highlighted that the coursework isn’t done at all/done to a reasonable standard.

realistically these interventions are only done for kids who will otherwise fail so it depends whether you want her to pass this gcse or not.

clary · 03/11/2025 10:21

Yes I agree with others – the school is trying to help her pass or get a better grade in her DT GCSE. I presume this is something you and she would like? It might be temporary while she completes the practical work. IME yy DT takes up a lot of time; tech was compulsory at one time in one school I taught in and students would often be spending time on their project after school or in lunch hours.

It's not about her rights really – school is not obliged to provide a prom at all so she has no “right” to that as such. How does she get to school currently? If you pick her up and cannot do it later, is there another parent could help (and maybe you do the morning run?).

DS1’s food teacher supported him with his GCSE as he was in danger of not passing – she helped him after school with the work (I think as a 1-1) – I was delighted she put in the effort (and really delighted when he got a C).

Tammygirl12 · 03/11/2025 10:22

Why wouldn’t you want to do all you can to get her to succeed in all her subjects

TheFallenMadonna · 03/11/2025 10:28

Is the transport thats the issue? Could you speak to the HoY (or equivalent) to see if there could he some support?

My DC's school provided a "late bus" - a minibus driven by a member of staff - for pupils doing any after school activity. We are rural-ish though, and over half of the pupils came on school transport.

Original poster
labrat1984 · 03/11/2025 10:49

Tammygirl12 · 03/11/2025 10:22

Why wouldn’t you want to do all you can to get her to succeed in all her subjects

Edited

She is however, she has good expectations from all her meetings

Personally I think it's down to a lesson time planning issue

This is the first year the school has run interventions as they call it, it's also the year they once again reduced the school hours to finishing at 2 on Thurs and 1 on Fridays

I just feel this is their way of offsetting mistakes on cancelling 3 lessons a week

OP posts:
SheilaFentiman · 03/11/2025 11:22

Well, maybe they did make a mistake (although, honestly, if she is now at a better standard in maths, that's far more key for almost all future plans than DT).

But if she is now behind in coursework, then this needs to be rectified - if not by this, what is your counter suggestion?

MarchingFrogs · 03/11/2025 11:36

labrat1984 · 03/11/2025 10:49

She is however, she has good expectations from all her meetings

Personally I think it's down to a lesson time planning issue

This is the first year the school has run interventions as they call it, it's also the year they once again reduced the school hours to finishing at 2 on Thurs and 1 on Fridays

I just feel this is their way of offsetting mistakes on cancelling 3 lessons a week

Show quote history

So are the extra DT sessions on a Thursday or Friday, or after school on one of the full length days? If the former, how was your DD getting home at the end of the day when there weren't two shorter days?

SriouslyWhutNow · 03/11/2025 11:45

The teacher isn’t staying late for shits and giggles. They are staying unpaid eating into their planning and marking time, or family time, to help your child reach her potential. If she wasn’t staying for dt and had the extra lesson during the school day she would clearly be staying for maths instead. Up to you if you want her to get good grades and have a good future or want her to fail and then you can make excuse after excuse for why she’s long term unemployed in her twenties. It seems you’re prioritising your other kids and I wonder how much you do that with other stuff and whether this is how she fell behind. “What rights does she have?” Ffs she has the right to an education, stop interfering with that.

labrat1984 · 03/11/2025 13:26

This reply has been deleted

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verycloakanddaggers · 03/11/2025 13:36

There are three separate questions here:

  1. Given your family's situation, is the prom threat appropriate?
  2. is period 6 appropriate given the school has removed three lessons from timetable?
  3. would you want your DD to get the extra teacher time she needs?

I'd suggest you do the following:

  1. question the prom threat if there are good reasons why it is difficult for your family
  2. question the pd6 need given it results from a timetable cut
  3. try to get your DD there, unless she and school feel she needs to prioritise other subjects.
showyourquality · 03/11/2025 13:46

If your dc needs additional support at school and the school have offered this it seems important to try and make this happen. Can she get a taxi back from school once a week if there is no public transport?

I think it is a real positive that additional support is offered now in a way it wasn’t in the past.

Original poster
labrat1984 · 03/11/2025 13:54

verycloakanddaggers · 03/11/2025 13:36

There are three separate questions here:

  1. Given your family's situation, is the prom threat appropriate?
  2. is period 6 appropriate given the school has removed three lessons from timetable?
  3. would you want your DD to get the extra teacher time she needs?

I'd suggest you do the following:

  1. question the prom threat if there are good reasons why it is difficult for your family
  2. question the pd6 need given it results from a timetable cut
  3. try to get your DD there, unless she and school feel she needs to prioritise other subjects.

And the then a helpful one

Thanks for the suggestion

  1. Given the schools history I suspect they would be unsympathetic (for example insisting that a family member having emergency surgery was not a good enough reason for me needing to collect children early and not being able to be there on time) but it's measured approach and I will try
  1. That's my entire issue with it, my daughter has other reasons but those are hers
  1. Not really possible, I work approx 40 miles away, my wife (teacher) has to collect the other two from their SEN school, that school already made several adjustments so it doesn't interfere with her school work and I don't want to put on them more.

Grandparents isn't a possibility due to health issues on one side and rarely being off holiday on the other, the only friend that's not in work at the times needed has her own kids to collect from another school about 10 miles away and can't drive

OP posts:
Original poster
labrat1984 · 03/11/2025 13:55

I have no idea why it's posted all points as 1, it was honestly numbered before

OP posts:
Celestialmoods · 03/11/2025 14:05

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

That post was fine, and helpful to your daughter because it prioritises her education.

Do you think the teachers that are trying to help her get the best possible grades are the same people in the management team that had the power to decide that school would be finishing early? They are not.

It sounds like your dd hasn’t kept up with all the work and revision she needs to do to achieve her best in these subjects, and that is why they are threatening her with prom. They are trying to encourage and incentivise her to work hard, they are not being difficult just for fun. These teachers will have moved on to caring about other students’ exams in a few months, whereas your daughters grades will be hers forever. You and she have to put some effort on for her to achieve her potential too, it is not all up to the school. They can provide the opportunity, but they can’t do the work for your daughter, no matter what your transport arrangements are or who is having surgery. The exam board doesn’t care about those things.

LIZS · 03/11/2025 14:10

Is there a reason your dd cannot make her own way home(not clear if she also has send) or to a library if she needs to wait to be collected? How far is school from home? It sounds as if school are trying to optimise her potential grades. Is there specific software or resources she can access at school rather than at home?

mamagogo1 · 03/11/2025 14:20

Does this dd have send too? If not is public transport available one day a week? It’s hard enough being a sibling to youngsters with send, being offered extra help at school is something they think she needs. I understand that you are probably struggling with logistics but her needs are central to this (if you think she can’t improve grades no matter how much extra time that’s different but they want her to succeed) I do sympathise but it’s worth trying to work out if it’s possible

clary · 03/11/2025 14:25

Actually @labrat1984 I think there are some very helpful suggestions made here.

The staff that offer the extra sessions will indeed not be those who decided on the shorter days at the end of the week. There may be many reasons for that having happened – for example school noticed attendance was poor on Fridays or engagement of those there on Fri pm was low. Did it add in extra hours on other days (shorter lunch for example)? Even if not, I think you need to park that as it is not related to the current question.

The staff offering the sessions will be giving their time for free.

Your situation sounds logistically challenging – but how does your DD get home currently? By bus? Is there a later bus she can catch? Does she not have a friend taking the same course who lives in their direction and whose parent could offer a lift? If not, then maybe a taxi is the answer? Might be worth it for the increased grade?

Filofaxforlife · 03/11/2025 14:28

Wolfiefan · 03/11/2025 09:10

She is clearly struggling in more than one subject. Either you work with the school to support her or she fails to reach her potential.

This. I’d also be over the moon that teachers are giving their own time to help your DC who can’t manage her workload during the usual timetable. You’ll need to come up with another way for your DC to get home the days she stays late. I would also find this helpful to show your DC that hard work and perseverance can make a difference - great life lesson to learn now.