Is EMA Fair???

looby75

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Oh yes he attends the best state sixth form in the country and didn't attend a feeder - serious competition to get in, but unfortunatley the bus company isn't the best in the country! Meanwhile a young man who is conscientious and will certainly not be a drain on society is playing piggy in the middle.

I do feel for your son, my daughter had to use the service bus for the first couple of weeks of term until she was allocated a place on the school bus (still has to buy a weekly bus ticket though) and she was having to leave the house at 7am to get to school for 8.25am, mainly because the bus service round her is terrible too (Arriva).

She could have taken the easy option and gone to the local college or sixth form college which are nearer and easier to get to, but decided to stay on at her school sixth form which is also one of the best (every year a lot of pupils from the local private schools move to the schools sixth form as their results are so good). As I say we are lucky she has been given a place on the direct school bus now, but we didn't know that was possible when she decided to stop on and saw it as a sacrifice she would have to make in order to get the best education she could. As wrong as it is I have a feeling your son is going to have to accept that too

Complain to the bus company and the council, if you make a nuisance of yourself enough, along with all the other parents of the kids who are using the rubbish bus service eventually someone will listen.

patchwork_cat

He has accepted it, grudgingly, when we talked about it , his reference and standing are important. I am going to be the proverbial thorn in the bus co.'s side! My DH has said that he will take my DD a bit earlier (in the opposite direction!) so he can be back in our area where he works in time that if 2 buses don't turn up as is the case with his lates, then he can get him to college just about on time.

My DS has said others turn up much later and because they aren't on EmA nothing happens, GRRR. However he would care as he needs a good reference and AAB/ABB at A2! to study Pharmacy

rev_henry

patchwork_cat wrote: »

He has accepted it, grudgingly, when we talked about it , his reference and standing are important. I am going to be the proverbial thorn in the bus co.'s side! My DH has said that he will take my DD a bit earlier (in the opposite direction!) so he can be back in our area where he works in time that if 2 buses don't turn up as is the case with his lates, then he can get him to college just about on time.

My DS has said others turn up much later and because they aren't on EmA nothing happens, GRRR. However he would care as he needs a good reference and AAB/ABB at A2! to study Pharmacy

That just takes the p!ss. Maybe if you write a letter to the school explaining about the bus, or get a letter from the bus co about it, which you could show them, they might be willing to repay that week (they can backdate payments on the system). Stagecoach perchance? Doesn't surprise me.

I'm applying to study Pharmacy as well! Its pretty unlikely he'll get an AAB offer btw, almost all are ABB or less.

Oldernotwiser

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Assumptions that I have never been a teacher in this position oldernotwiser! I actually did do teacher training, but primary! Being a parent however I am quite aware of the myriad of excuses teenagers use (parents are not naive and frequently know their children much better than any of their teachers), however this isn't one and when a whole hoard of them turn up late and they all get the same bus it shouldn't take a genius to deduce that it was the bus!

Why should I be pleased that my DS is losing money that he uses for transport because said transport is late. Oh yes he attends the best state sixth form in the country and didn't attend a feeder - serious competition to get in, but unfortunatley the bus company isn't the best in the country! Meanwhile a young man who is conscientious and will certainly not be a drain on society is playing piggy in the middle.

I think that you may have misunderstood my post - it was intended to be supportive!

I think you should take up this question with the bus company, or get the school to do so on behalf of its students.

melancholly

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Very cross with ema, My DS gets £10 a week as I have said £30per month of which he uses to buy a bus pass . The bus co have reduced the service on a busy route and in the last month his bus has been missed three times and gone right past once! In fact yesterday when it went past my DH left work to take him to college as he had a test. He arrives 20 minutes before lessons, but it looks as if he is going to have to get an earlier bus. He has had his EMA suspended for a whole week because he was 1/4 hr late for a lesson because the bus never turned up and he waited for the next one.

He doesn't miss the bus, it just doesn't turn up. How is that fair? I have complained to the bus co. 3 times! I am thinking that he should send them a bill for £10 because that is what he has lost.

i can see why the college would struggle to discriminate between genuine reasons and poor excuses for lateness... although that doesn't help you or your son!

i find buses in the rush hour and school run are often full and go straight past the stop near me (invariably when it's raining and i've forgetten my umbrella!). as the weather gets worse, it may just be easier/safer to get the earlier the bus.... especially if this is a recurring problem.

patchwork_cat

rev_henry wrote: »

That just takes the p!ss. Maybe if you write a letter to the school explaining about the bus, or get a letter from the bus co about it, which you could show them, they might be willing to repay that week (they can backdate payments on the system). Stagecoach perchance? Doesn't surprise me.

I'm applying to study Pharmacy as well! Its pretty unlikely he'll get an AAB offer btw, almost all are ABB or less.

Nottingham are AAB - the place to study Pharmacy what with Jesse Boot and all! Incidentally though my son is doing all 3 sciences and Maths and is timetabled the same as all other subjects, he is expected to do 4 hours private study per subject/per week.That is 34 hours a week plus D of E, Liverpool project, volunteering and medical ethics!

The thing is there was at least one other person in the same class on the same bus who was also late! The old adage better late than dead on time doesn't seem to have entered their heads.

rev_henry

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Nottingham are AAB - the place to study Pharmacy what with Jessie Boot and all
Incidentally though my son is doing all 3 sciences and Maths and is timetabled the same as all other subjects, he is expected to do 4 hours private study per subject/per week.That is 34 hours a week plus D of E, Liverpool project, volunteering and medical ethics!

The thing is there was at least one other person in the same class on the same bus who was also late! The old adage better late than dead on time doesn't seem to have entered their heads.

Ah I wouldn't know about Nottingham as I don't want to go there. Erm, who?
EDIT: Aaah Boots the Chemists, I see.
Pfft I don't do half that, and I do very little of the extra things you mention. Why doesn't he just stop doing some of them? Seems a bit much to me but I guess some people like to be kept busy.
I hate that attitude; my school has always been understanding whenever my train is late, I don't see what the problem is. It can't be a student's responsibility to ensure a train/bus company is competent to do its job right every day.

patchwork_cat

rev_henry wrote: »

Ah I wouldn't know about Nottingham as I don't want to go there. Erm, who?
EDIT: Aaah Boots the Chemists, I see.
Pfft I don't do half that, and I do very little of the extra things you mention. Why doesn't he just stop doing some of them? Seems a bit much to me but I guess some people like to be kept busy.
I hate that attitude; my school has always been understanding whenever my train is late, I don't see what the problem is. It can't be a student's responsibility to ensure a train/bus company is competent to do its job right every day.

If you want to get into a good uni then you need a good CV. I f my great grandfather who was a Pharmacist around that time had done what Boot did I wouldn't be on here now!!

looby75

rev_henry wrote: »

Pfft I don't do half that, and I do very little of the extra things you mention. Why doesn't he just stop doing some of them? Seems a bit much to me but I guess some people like to be kept busy.

My daughter has a very similar workload, she hasn't got the option to drop any of it....if she does the school drops her lol

They are on probation until the first exams in November and can be kicked out at any time until then if they aren't working hard enough. They can be put back on probation at any point after that again if the teachers don't think they are working hard enough. And they DO kick people out, someone has already been told to leave as her attendance wasn't good enough, she's missed 8 days in 5 weeks :eek:

Oldernotwiser

looby75 wrote: »

And they DO kick people out, someone has already been told to leave as her attendance wasn't good enough, she's missed 8 days in 5 weeks :eek:

It sounds like an excellent school.

By the way, I'm surprised by your :eek: - 8 days off in 5 weeks is an enormous amount of time to have missed, over 30%!