Kiddo wants a job.....

Poppy9

Dunroamin wrote: »

I agree it's manageable, particularly if you're used to it. However, I think that starting during revision time smacks of treating this period as extra holidays and sends out the wrong message.

I don't know if it's the same in England but in Wales from last year the WG instructed schools not to give them revision time off before GCSEs as in previous years ( I know DD school complied with this but not sure if all schools did). DD year was the last year to finish school in May and then only return July after exams have ended. Last year the GCSE pupils had revision lessons in school.

Personally I think that revision has to be balanced with life. We actively encouraged DD to go out/socialise etc. when she was revising for her GCSE as she needed a break, you can't study efficiently every waking hour and I don't think chillaxing (as she calls it) in front of the TV is healthy! If she could have found a job she could have managed working 4 hours a week the problem was she didn't have the time to apply for jobs, as that takes the greatest effort and time.

claire16c

Poppy9 wrote: »

A few hours work while studying is quite manageable. DD had AS modules in January so she refused more than 12 hours a week over Xmas to ensure she had time to study.

They waste more time "planning" their revision, checking the fridge, more planning of revision, then checking their mobile/FB/Twitter etc!

I agree I used to faff about for hours and this was before Facebook etc! I used to chat on the phone to my friends instead!


I forgot about baby sitting I used to do that for neighbours when I was 14, and then started doing it for my dad's work friends etc when I was around 16ish. I still do it now!

Mojisola

Poppy9 wrote: »

no but if it's family or close friends then you can't charge, well I couldn't. I used to babysit for my brother's baby or my friend's sister's baby and we never charged. It's just not the right thing to do IMO for family and friends.

If I was going to pay for a baby-sitter, I'd rather give some money to a young relative or a friend's teenager than someone I didn't know so well.

Spendless

I've always had teens as babysitters. We've had our niece, godsons, and friends neighbours children and paid each and every one of them. I wouldn't not pay my niece because she's closely related, she's still doing a job and us a favour. That's different to when her mum babysits who is in f-time work and doesn't 'need' the dosh, I'm more likely to pay for her to have a take-away in return.

That said, though I have a Sept birthday and it's a long time since I was 16, I found that the summer time was the best for finding weekend vacancies as the older teens were leaving in order to go to Uni or work and sometimes leaving a few weeks in advance of this in order to have a holiday first.

shop-to-drop

I don't think it actually matters which month they are sixteen. I know Tesco will only employ them once they have finished their GCSE's whether they are sixteen or still fifteen.

Dunroamin

jimmy2times wrote: »

I worked in a petrol station, stacking shelves at 15.
Maybe something like dog walking would be quite good?

Impossible to get insurance at 15 I'd think.

Dunroamin

Poppy9 wrote: »

I don't know if it's the same in England but in Wales from last year the WG instructed schools not to give them revision time off before GCSEs as in previous years ( I know DD school complied with this but not sure if all schools did). DD year was the last year to finish school in May and then only return July after exams have ended. Last year the GCSE pupils had revision lessons in school.

Personally I think that revision has to be balanced with life. We actively encouraged DD to go out/socialise etc. when she was revising for her GCSE as she needed a break, you can't study efficiently every waking hour and I don't think chillaxing (as she calls it) in front of the TV is healthy! If she could have found a job she could have managed working 4 hours a week the problem was she didn't have the time to apply for jobs, as that takes the greatest effort and time.

I agree that it's ridiculous to give exam leave for weeks before the exams; it never used to happen and is often wasted. However, I still think that starting a job at this time doesn't seem right.

Babysitting would be ideal as there's time to study or relax, as well as a change of environment.

begley

Thanks to all for your replies.

I agree with those that say revision is important, and we've made it very clear that IF she manages to find a job then her revision time must be kept up. There's no way we'd let her mess up her GCSEs for the sake of a few extra quid. We usually write a kind of revision 'timetable' together, and she's been good at sticking to it previously. And they can't revise all day, every day! Also, we're proud that she wants to do something as opposed to 'mooching' between revision sessions so are happy to support this.

We've suggested the charity shop idea, and she's going to look into that so that she can say she's had some sort of experience if she does applications. She's a keen football player, so we've agreed that she can do a refereeing course - she'll be able to ref for younger kids, and that usually pays at £20 - £25 a game - so she's got a couple of options. I think she's still going to ask around, but don't hold out much hope of anyone taking her on, still, it's good that she's got the motivation. Will keep you all posted!

Person_one

Just a slight word of warning...

When I started my first part time job at 16, I was really really tired for the first few weeks, as I was working varying shifts, on my feet for 8 or more hours a day and lugging heavy stuff around a lot, all of which are common in student type jobs. This does make revising harder!

Also, a lot of teenagers get really caught up in the social side of their first job, or do what I did and find a boyfriend there which is completely distracting! A lot also get carried away with the ability to earn cold hard cash and start doing all the hours under the sun.

I'm not trying to put you off completely, but I do think it might be better to put off all those potential pitfalls until the nice long post-GCSE summer when it won't matter so much! The novelty wears off after a bit.

Good luck to her when she does start looking/finds something though, I think the referring course is a great idea!

nikki2804

When I was 15 I struggled to get work. I eventually started working in a Mathesons cafe (£2.93 an hour and I thought I was loaded, was 10 years ago tho)

My school mates all seemed to work in the local Tesco/Asda.