6th form - mandatory attendance vs driving lessons

Spendless

What's the consequence for absences?

The legislation given for term time hols is irrelevant as your DD is at  sixth form (ie you can not be sent a FPN 'fine' due to her age)  
What does she intend doing next? If it's go to Uni but live at home, then she does have time to wait and could take lessons around a Uni timetable, depending on what she's studying as some are very full hours. If she intends moving away then I'd say better to learn now, it puts the having  a license in place now which would be helpful when she graduates and starts job hunting.

If it's look for f-time work after sixth form then depending on what type of work might be better to look now if she's going to be in a Mon-Fri 9-5ish job which would further restrict availability for lessons.

Also who at the school has said No?. Sometimes you are better off doing things more formally and in writing. 


 

Poquito

There’s definitely some interesting comments in this section…finding another 6th form being one of the wildest imo. OP you and DD were aware of the need to register every day when applying for the 6th form, which is an extension of school and is well known to be more “handholding” than say college. If she had attended a college she would be accountable for her attendance.

I think you will be doing your DD a disservice if you seek to complain to the school or seek loopholes or disregard the rules that apply to all who attend! all for the sake of driving lessons! What are you teaching your DD about responsibility and accountability and entitlement? We cannot just do what we please in school, the wider society or the workplace. 

Teach your DD about deferred gratification, making good decisions and let her find a solution to this that doesn’t interfere with school. 

If she’s an A grade student, you should be helping to keep it that way, not setting her up for conflict and consequences with teachers over registration!

intense course over the holidays, weekend, drive her to the next town to take lessons… but the extra curricular needs to be just that!

My DD wanted lessons at 17, she attended college and went out specifically and got a Saturday job to pay for them. Her min wage did not cover the cost and I agreed to go halves with her as she was helping herself (life lesson) she didn’t have money for takeaways or new trainers etc but was dedicated to paying for these lessons, it’s important to learn to sacrifice for what you want. She has been in employment every day since and last week bought her property in London by herself… by learning the value of things, deferred gratification, sacrifice and making good decisions.

these may be old school principles but they serve many people well.

silvercar

No school is going to exclude a high performing sixth former because they missed registration to attend driving lessons! No school is going to write negative remarks on uni application forms because of it. They have their own reputation to think about. 

squirrelchops2

I agree with your daughter wanting to learn to drive now and I would have lessons in my free periods picking me up and dropping off at school but I could do 1 hour as school was in same place as where tests were taken.
I think it is worth her doing this now as I know friends children who were encouraged to study over anything else and now they are 31 and 29 and still can't drive as their money got swallowed up in other priorities as parents are likely to help when you are 17 but not at 26 for example.  I actually worked part time whilst studying to pay for my lessons.

thegreenone

silvercar said:

No school is going to exclude a high performing sixth former because they missed registration to attend driving lessons! No school is going to write negative remarks on uni application forms because of it. They have their own reputation to think about. 

No, a school wouldn't exclude a high performing sixth former but they would be called in for a meeting about absences.  Any Head of Sixth Form who is asked for punctuality and attendance for uni/job has to give the stats printed from the SIMS (School Information Management System) and they are not generally negotiable.

WhiskersTheWonderCat

You're not going to be able to change the school's stance just for your daughter. I'm sure that attendance is a requirement for student safety if there were an incident on site. Much more important than driving lessons. 

There's always weekends, half-terms, and of course summer will be here before we know it. I know it's not the same as having a proper instructor, but you can always take her out yourself in the evenings. 

Drawingaline

It's stuff like this which makes me glad my kids attended a sixth form college and not one attached to a school. My son has a whole day off midweek and tends to have his driving lessons then. 

And learning to drive now is non negotiable for my kids. My husband didn't learn at 17 and never got around to prioritising it, got made redundant at 40 and it really hindered his ability to get another job. Ended up with one that took an hour and a half to get to on two trains. Since covid he has managed to stay working from home, but I want my kids to learn as soon as possible, even if they choose to never drive again. 

And registration is ridiculous if she can then immediately leave the site and drive off. Its not like its for fire safety then is it? Surely the point of a registration would be to ensure you know who is there in case of an emergency? I think your daughter will need to do the ridiculous, pointless, going in and then leaving again. 

pinkshoes

Could she not just do one of those intensive 5 day courses in the summer holiday where you do theory and driving solidly over 5 days? Lots offer free re-sits of the practical test too if you fail it!

Wonka_2

pinkshoes said:

Could she not just do one of those intensive 5 day courses in the summer holiday where you do theory and driving solidly over 5 days? Lots offer free re-sits of the practical test too if you fail it!

We're getting to that stage - albeit at Easter - just evaluating a couple of different options

sew_what

Bear in mind that missing morning registration will give her an absence mark for the session, which is what most of the reports on SIMS go by. Missing that 15 minutes would make her attendance for the week 90% if she went to every other taught lesson.  Whilst attendance isn't usually mentioned in UCAS references, if she needs school for a job reference then it may well be asked.  I once had a student apply for an apprenticeship and I had to put their attendance down as 54% as they never made it to registration!!!