6th form - mandatory attendance vs driving lessons

Spendless

sew_what said:

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!!!

This used to drive me nuts. If I made a dental appt for 8am and it  took an hour, DD would miss morning registration but not any or much of the next class, but result in an absence like you say. However take her out straight after registration, allow her to miss all or most of her next lesson and the absence was ok. Which affected her learning more? (and no there wasn't any late afternoon/early evening  , weekend appts and couldn't  always wait till the next school hol). I'm reminded of what DH is fond of saying 'once you start measuring something, the measurement becomes the most important thing'

tooldle

I vaguely recall a 'late book' on reception from my days at sixth form college. Who takes registration? At my college we had small tutor groups in which registration happened, normally just a case of stick your head round the door and say hello to the tutor, unless there was information he specifically needed to share with us. If a student knew in advance they would be late or need to leave early, we could notify our tutor who would log the expected lateness. Somehow this would be matched to the late book so as long as a student signed in they wouldn't be marked as absent.

Shelldean

My son's sixth form attendance rules are one of the reasons he dropped out it.
He had a day with no lessons at all. Yet was supposed to come in for both registrations. Both morning and afternoon! 
They totally refused to see any problem with their request, and so due to other issues to, he decided enough was enough and left.

KxMx

I'm glad personally that I went to College and not Sixth Form. To me the latter was more school which is the last thing that I wanted. 
I was there aged 16-19 and still had to get my Mum to sign an absence form though when I was off sick, which annoyed me no end! 

pickledonionspaceraider

Wonka_2 said:

annabanana82 said:

Does she have a free period towards the end of any days? Our local 6th Form students often get picked up early afternoon for driving lessons.

I know some educational establishments threaten to exclude pupils for poor attendance so I wouldn't be risking that. 

Unfortunately not - her earliest finish is 2.30 and many instructors are finishing at 4

Would this not be the best option?  2.30pm
Either way, if she is trusted to drive on roads, I am sure she can work this out

Wonka_2

pickledonionspaceraider said:

Wonka_2 said:

annabanana82 said:

Does she have a free period towards the end of any days? Our local 6th Form students often get picked up early afternoon for driving lessons.

I know some educational establishments threaten to exclude pupils for poor attendance so I wouldn't be risking that. 

Unfortunately not - her earliest finish is 2.30 and many instructors are finishing at 4

Would this not be the best option?  2.30pm
Either way, if she is trusted to drive on roads, I am sure she can work this out

Yes - but lessons are 2hrs so 30mins (minimum) wasted/paid for

Not sure the relevance of your 2nd comment 

Spendless

I'd go for a multi pronged approach and then hopefully one will pay off.

Approach the school again, but in writing, put the issue to them and query if her driving to registration during the test and then going out again would be an issue - someone has raised the possibility that they may need her on premises after this in case of a fire, but ask see what they say - if they can come up with a compromise somewhere. This leads me to my next bit, reading thru I see she's one of the eldest of her year so currently yr12. You *could* wait until she's in yr13 and see if that changes her timetable for better availability, however I do understand then that's her taking lessons whilst exams are closer by. This is something you could mention in your letter/email to school, that the preference would be for her to take it this academic year so she can spend yr13 concentrating on her A levels.

If all else fails try the intense course. 

pickledonionspaceraider

Wonka_2 said:

pickledonionspaceraider said:

Wonka_2 said:

annabanana82 said:

Does she have a free period towards the end of any days? Our local 6th Form students often get picked up early afternoon for driving lessons.

I know some educational establishments threaten to exclude pupils for poor attendance so I wouldn't be risking that. 

Unfortunately not - her earliest finish is 2.30 and many instructors are finishing at 4

Would this not be the best option?  2.30pm
Either way, if she is trusted to drive on roads, I am sure she can work this out

Yes - but lessons are 2hrs so 30mins (minimum) wasted/paid for

Not sure the relevance of your 2nd comment 

Literally no instructors in your area will work until 430pm, ever?  I find that astounding as a self employed person. 

Second comment means - have faith that this will work out.  Maybe your daughter has ideas of how this may work out and has talked to her friends about how they are handling it

Spendless

pickledonionspaceraider said:

Wonka_2 said:

pickledonionspaceraider said:

Wonka_2 said:

annabanana82 said:

Does she have a free period towards the end of any days? Our local 6th Form students often get picked up early afternoon for driving lessons.

I know some educational establishments threaten to exclude pupils for poor attendance so I wouldn't be risking that. 

Unfortunately not - her earliest finish is 2.30 and many instructors are finishing at 4

Would this not be the best option?  2.30pm
Either way, if she is trusted to drive on roads, I am sure she can work this out

Yes - but lessons are 2hrs so 30mins (minimum) wasted/paid for

Not sure the relevance of your 2nd comment 

Literally no instructors in your area will work until 430pm, ever?  I find that astounding as a self employed person. 

Second comment means - have faith that this will work out.  Maybe your daughter has ideas of how this may work out and has talked to her friends about how they are handling it

I don't. I suspect pre March 2020, driving instructors would have thought the dream would be to work 8 - 4 Monday - Friday. Now the OP lives in an area where demand is greater than the supply, so they can pick and choose their hours, they've got a large pool of learners waiting. I've said before the pandemic brought about changes that companies longed to implement but didn't because they wouldn't have been popular with their customer base. This site with popular closed boards being no exception to that. 

Wonka_2

Spendless said:

pickledonionspaceraider said:

Wonka_2 said:

pickledonionspaceraider said:

Wonka_2 said:

annabanana82 said:

Does she have a free period towards the end of any days? Our local 6th Form students often get picked up early afternoon for driving lessons.

I know some educational establishments threaten to exclude pupils for poor attendance so I wouldn't be risking that. 

Unfortunately not - her earliest finish is 2.30 and many instructors are finishing at 4

Would this not be the best option?  2.30pm
Either way, if she is trusted to drive on roads, I am sure she can work this out

Yes - but lessons are 2hrs so 30mins (minimum) wasted/paid for

Not sure the relevance of your 2nd comment 

Literally no instructors in your area will work until 430pm, ever?  I find that astounding as a self employed person. 

Second comment means - have faith that this will work out.  Maybe your daughter has ideas of how this may work out and has talked to her friends about how they are handling it

I don't. I suspect pre March 2020, driving instructors would have thought the dream would be to work 8 - 4 Monday - Friday. Now the OP lives in an area where demand is greater than the supply, so they can pick and choose their hours, they've got a large pool of learners waiting. I've said before the pandemic brought about changes that companies longed to implement but didn't because they wouldn't have been popular with their customer base. This site with popular closed boards being no exception to that. 

Exactly this - there's obvious demand but with the limited number of tests available and general dissatisfaction within the instructor community it's become a fairly 'closed shop'. I actually live on one of the test routes and can count on one hand the number of times a week I see an instructors car after 4pm/on a weekend vs being able to walk onto the street in 'working hours' when there'll generally be at least one instructors car visible practicing manoeuvres/parking