GCSE Year 11 and Family Wedding Abroad — Would You Go?

[Frazzledmum239]

My daughter is starting Year 11 this September and will be sitting her GCSE mocks in the third week of November.

We have a close family wedding in India from 1st–4th November, which would mean she would miss around four days of school. We would be flying out on Friday 23rd October, so she would also be away during the week before the wedding, although some of that time falls around the school half-term.

She has struggled with anxiety, which is another factor I'm considering. She had originally decided that she didn't want to go because she was worried about missing school during such an important GCSE year. However, she has now changed her mind and really wants to attend the wedding.

I'm torn. On one hand, I don't want her to miss valuable Year 11 teaching or put additional pressure on herself before her mocks. On the other, this is an important family occasion, and I don't want her to look back and regret missing it, particularly as she now genuinely wants to go.

For parents/teachers who have been in a similar situation, what would you do? Is missing four days of school at this stage likely to have a significant impact on GCSE preparation, or would you see this as something that can be managed with some planning and catching up?

I'd particularly appreciate experiences from anyone whose child has had anxiety during GCSE year and has had to balance school with an important family event abroad.

It's hard to say. Mine has just finished year 11 and wouldn't have wanted to go away at Christmas, her mocks were in January. I don't think it matters in terms of school missed as presumably they can catch up, but she would have found it very stressful in terms of missing revision time.

Will she be able to revise while you're away? Has she got a plan for catching up on the work missed? It could be quite hectic.

These mocks will form a large part of their predicted grades for 6th form so that also has an effect depending on what she wants to do next and where she wants to apply.

No we would not be attending in those circumstances. Ds had mocks in November of year 11 and missing that number of days would have impacted. He did miss a couple of days through illness and even that had an effect.

Thanks for the advice, it confirms what I was already thinking. There will not be much opportunity to revise and I believe this will stress her out.

Mine missed lots of school for other reasons. She is awaiting results but hopefully will be fine. It’s a very long slog Y11 so a short break may be fine

We had three rounds of mocks. Summer yr 10, yr 11 october, yr 11 February. How did the summer go? Ours wasn’t positioned as one and done. But a cumlative process testing the knowledge as you aquire it and learning more about the testing techniques. School won’t be keen and your daughter may experience negative feedback about it from staff. I guess you know based on her anxiety how she will deal with that. I dont think it will have a major impact but perhaps a minor one. Is she a borderline student where that minor impact may have a great bearing? Or high performing where that might mean an 8 instead of a 9?

The results of her Y11 mocks will be what she uses to apply for whatever she wants to do next year. If she wants to do A levels, schools & colleges would want to see at least a 5 for mocks.

On that basis, if what she wants to do after Y11 depends on mock grades at application stage , I wouldn’t go away right before mocks. My dc are entering Y10 and Y13, I know all about the clashes of prioritising fun over academics.

Tricky one, we had a 2 week half term last October and went away for the 1st week but DTs did take and do some revision on that holiday and locked in the second week before mocks in mid November. They started revising from mid September. I doubt your DC is going to be able to revise whilst away at the family event but they could start revision early to counterbalance not being able to revise whilst on holiday.
then you will need to catch up the lessons they’ve missed as there is no lessons that are not beneficial in year 11.
re the anxiety, all my 2 heard from starting year 11 was how important it was, how they needed to get heads down, revise etc. their very average not that academic comp ramped it up. If your child’s school also do similar it’s very common in year 11, your daughter’s anxiety may increase.
on the balance of all of that I’d not go to the wedding.

Is it an option for her and one parent to fly into India for a shorter time? Or one parent arrives later with her and the other leaves earlier, with her? Flight time could be revision time.

I know weddings are different and timing is out of your control but for the whole of year 10 and 11 we strategically planned all holidays to avoid revision time for mocks and exams. Eg her mocks were November and March so we went abroad in December. Dd is getting results Thursday. We plan on planning holidays in the same way for the next two years for the alevel course too.

Go to the wedding. As a teacher and a parent of a Year 11, yes, school is important, but so is family. Your child could easily catch a bug and miss 4 days, and they would be able to catch up. It's not a holiday, it's a really important part of life!