Is a 16 year old allowed to miss school for induction days for a part-time job?

Shelldean

when one of my Twins was looking to leave 6 th form during yr 12 we spoke with head of sixth form and explained he wasn't happy and wanted to leave. Therefore he had been applying for apprenticeships, and he had been offered one. But the new employer wanted him to 'try' the job for a week both so they could see how he fitted in and how he liked the work.
Head of sixth form agreed and it was marked as work experience instead of absence.
He enjoyed it and never went back!!!

Southend1

lika_86 wrote: »

Don't ask the school, just have him phone in ill, it really won't put his studies back if he misses three days, he could have flu longer.

Yeah because that would be setting a great example for your son.

Just tell the truth. The boy's old enough to decide for himself whether taking the time out to do the training will be a problem.

duchy

He's not of compulsory school age so not much the school can do about it but I am appalled at Marks and Spencer's attitude. Most weekend workers work weekends because they have other obligations in the week be it education, child care or another job and a three day weekday induction is unreasonable.

globetraveller

I am shocked with the attitude of M&S.
I think it's worth highlighting to head office. Your son has a terrific attendance record. Ask for an appointment to speak with his year head. I bet it will just go down as Family or Unauthorised. A part time job is a great thing to have and can benefit the child beyond the money.

deva

Many years ago I was in a similar position and this was with M&S. My training wasn't an issue but they then changed my hours which involved two afternoons- fine I thought as it was my non contact time.

Fast forward a few weeks and I got summoned by deputy head as although sixth form isn't compulsory, working during usual school hours impacts on full time student status and meant my parents should not claim child benefit.

Just something to bear in mind.

Soleil_lune

deva wrote: »

Many years ago I was in a similar position and this was with M&S. My training wasn't an issue but they then changed my hours which involved two afternoons- fine I thought as it was my non contact time.

Fast forward a few weeks and I got summoned by deputy head as although sixth form isn't compulsory, working during usual school hours impacts on full time student status and meant my parents should not claim child benefit.

Just something to bear in mind.

Very good point. I know someone who ended up having their child benefit stopped and subsequently ended up owing multiple hundreds (close to £1000,) in overpaid tax credits, as their child had been working in the week and bunking off college for about 4 or 5 months.

The consequences of this were that the student had been booted off the A level courses, but the family never informed tax credits and child benefit. It somehow got back to the DWP, and they had their child benefit stopped and child tax credits stopped too.

Not long after that, their child stopped getting the 25-30 hours a week they had been doing, and they were up the creek without a canoe! Still, they must've been raking it in for those 4 or 5 months they were getting child benefit, child tax credits AND the wages from the 25-30 hours a week the child was doing at work!

So hopefully, they saved a bit for when they (quite rightly) had to pay back what they owed...

If the OP's lad is only doing a few hours at the weekend, then that's fine, but as the above poster says: be careful!

jellyhead

deva wrote: »

Many years ago I was in a similar position and this was with M&S. My training wasn't an issue but they then changed my hours which involved two afternoons- fine I thought as it was my non contact time.

Fast forward a few weeks and I got summoned by deputy head as although sixth form isn't compulsory, working during usual school hours impacts on full time student status and meant my parents should not claim child benefit.

Just something to bear in mind.

My son's school has a rule about non-contact time ... they expect you to be in school for at least 4 and a half days regardless of whether you have lessons or not, and they will not allow you to work on the other half day, you are supposed to be studying at home if you're not in school.

My son and his friends got a roasting for spending every Friday volunteering at a charity, and had to give it up.

Op's child will only be working weekends though. Hmmm, I'd say don't lie about illness because he's probably already told friends about the job offer.

I once negotiated an afternoon off lessons for my son so he could do something that was important to him. If you speak to school first and they know you're taking an interest in his studies and he'll catch up they might agree to it.

Soleil_lune

jellyhead wrote: »

My son's school has a rule about non-contact time ... they expect you to be in school for at least 4 and a half days regardless of whether you have lessons or not, and they will not allow you to work on the other half day, you are supposed to be studying at home if you're not in school.

My son and his friends got a roasting for spending every Friday volunteering at a charity, and had to give it up.

This is pretty much what I was trying to convey, that when you are doing A levels; particularly the second year, they must take precedence over everything else, including a job. You have plenty of years to work, and a minimal amount of chances to do full-time education. However, when I said this, that it's best to limit the amount of hours; it just received disdain, and comments like 'I/my son/my daughter worked over 25 hours a week, weekdays, weekends, bank holiday mondays, midnight to dawn and STILL managed to secure 57 A* grades (exaggerating slightly here, but you catch my drift )

As far as I am concerned, work many hours whilst doing A levels at your peril. Yes, it's good to have employment, as it will serve you well when you're looking for work/a career afterwards, but no need to work more than 4 or 5 hours a week. During A levels, as I said; especially the second year, there is a LOT of study and hard work involved.

What's more, many many people get child benefit and child tax credits whilst their young are in full-time education, often equating to 2 or 3 hundred pounds a month extra income, so I don't see the need for the person doing the A levels to work anyway. If the young person DOES feel the need to work, why do they need to work more than 4 or 5 hours a week? The family has already received financial support for them. As I said, whilst I don't think it's a bad idea to work, the hours really should be at a minimum, or the A level study WILL be affected: as will peoples tax credits and child benefit if they're not careful...

duchy

Are the rules still the same for schools now ? As colleges don't force their A level students to be present outside of contact time in the same manner it may make college rather than sixth form a more appealing option for a lot of the 16-18 age group .......or even for some in low income families where having a part time job is essential limit the choice of options at A level or force them into NVQ rather than A levels.

It is all well to make comments like "You have plenty of years to work" but some students don't have parents who can afford it....or the student may need to work to save for university. Plenty of AAA and AAB students have had part-time jobs and often are savvy enough to secure one with companies who will offer transfers to their ultimate university town location.



As for a sixth form stopping student volunteering for charity work outside of contact time-words fail me. I've recently returned to university as a mature student and one of the (many) noticeable changes for me is how the university encourage volunteering in a massive way and treat contributing to society as an asset and reward it with university recognized awards. If you go to Oxbridge they may demand you don't work as well but most universities view some experience of work as an asset to employability ...as should colleges and sixth forms because employers definitely do.

daisiegg

Soleil_lune wrote: »

This is pretty much what I was trying to convey, that when you are doing A levels; particularly the second year, they must take precedence over everything else, including a job. You have plenty of years to work, and a minimal amount of chances to do full-time education. However, when I said this, that it's best to limit the amount of hours; it just received disdain, and comments like 'I/my son/my daughter worked over 25 hours a week, weekdays, weekends, bank holiday mondays, midnight to dawn and STILL managed to secure 57 A* grades (exaggerating slightly here, but you catch my drift )

As far as I am concerned, work many hours whilst doing A levels at your peril. Yes, it's good to have employment, as it will serve you well when you're looking for work/a career afterwards, but no need to work more than 4 or 5 hours a week. During A levels, as I said; especially the second year, there is a LOT of study and hard work involved.

What's more, many many people get child benefit and child tax credits whilst their young are in full-time education, often equating to 2 or 3 hundred pounds a month extra income, so I don't see the need for the person doing the A levels to work anyway. If the young person DOES feel the need to work, why do they need to work more than 4 or 5 hours a week? The family has already received financial support for them. As I said, whilst I don't think it's a bad idea to work, the hours really should be at a minimum, or the A level study WILL be affected: as will peoples tax credits and child benefit if they're not careful...

Most employers will have a minimum contract that is more than 4 or 5 hours a week.

I know you were referring to me with the '57 A*s' comment, but the fact remains, my experiences and those of my friends, my family and my students, are not made up. It is not fact that working 10 or 12 hours a week will negatively impact your studies. I am a teacher at a school with a big sixth form, where our students do extremely well. The vast, vast majority of our sixth form students have jobs and work those sorts of hours. If they are hard workers and sensible they do well, and if they are lazy and immature they don't do so well regardless of whether they have a job or not. In fact, sometimes the ones who do the worst do not work outside of school at all...probably because they are too lazy to do that in the same way they are too lazy to do schoolwork!

Of course, it would not be a good idea to work all the hours under the sun, but one weekend day and an evening or two a week should be absolutely fine, and this is what most students do. Have you had a bad experience or something to make you so adamant about this?