6th form - mandatory attendance vs driving lessons

goater78

I have friends who are driving instructors and they all work after 4pm. I find it hard to believe that all self employed driving instructors in the OP’s local area can’t be bothered working after 4pm. Just working an extra two hours is around £60 so seems unlikely not a single driving instructor wants to earn more money. 

trix-a-belle

You say you've spoken to the school, have you/her spoken to her form tutor directly (assuming it will be a consistent teacher doing registration)? They may be more understanding & willing to turn a blind eye a little more, your daughter could even say she will pop her head in to her tutors room as soon as she arrives on days she has a driving lesson so the tutor knows she is on site.

I understand your difficulties, around me driving instructors are booked up 3/4-6 months in advance yet still local fb pages are plagued with 'does anyone know of a driving instructor with availability for little Timmy to start lessons next week' requests. My niece has just turned 17 & I daren't ask if shes got any lessons slated in yet.
My birthday is just before Oct half term so I did an intensive over half term week & then 2 x 2 hour top ups with the 2nd including my test which was a cancellation slot to get it all done and dusted, & didn't give me a chance to forget things in between. I had my test in a different test area as at the time there were roadworks near my closest test centre which reduced capacity by 50% & a friend went even further afield.

sheramber

There is no requirement to have lessons as soon  as you become 17.

Waiting a few months until summer holidays will not be the end of the world.

In fact it may be possible to book them now so no need to scrabble about nearer the time.
 

Wonka_2

sheramber said:

There is no requirement to have lessons as soon  as you become 17.

Waiting a few months until summer holidays will not be the end of the world.

In fact it may be possible to book them now so no need to scrabble about nearer the time.
 

Thanks - but this isn't 'scrabbling about nearer the time' this is from starting the search a year ago for a Sept '22 birthday and only now are spaces coming available. Agreed she can wait - but the situation's not improving so trying to take the opportunities there are

Poquito

We understand you are trying to take the opportunity now, but you have a clear obstacle, registration. I agree with Sheramber in that if you schedule lessons for the summer holidays, it doesn’t interfere with the school requirements and she has something to look forward to. 

I understand you think the school are being inflexible and unfair (to your DD) but bending the rules for non-essential reasons for one student surely means making this option available for all in her year and the year above, would you not agree? 

Surely you’re not suggesting they make concessions for your 17 year old only? 

You can’t always expect obstacles to be moved for you by complaining about something you both already knew was a requirement… you navigate around it! 

baser999

Why bother with her education at all - let her take time off in the mornings for her driving lessons (rather than wait just a couple of months for the summer holidays ) then perhaps go shopping for the remainder of the day 😏

Spendless

sheramber said:

There is no requirement to have lessons as soon  as you become 17.

Waiting a few months until summer holidays will not be the end of the world.

In fact it may be possible to book them now so no need to scrabble about nearer the time.
 

That would work for an intensive course (expensive pay out all at once) and if child passes, but otherwise you're looking at a 6 week summer hol to take lessons in  since 17yo is at a school and not a FE/sixth form college that tend to have longer breaks. Even if she started them in summer, no guarantee that in September her yr13 timetable isn't going to be just as full  with no capacity for lessons - plus A levels exams will be closer, so needs to study more.  

It took my son 10 months to pass first time with 2 hour weekly lessons and that's with him passing his theory first time. He had to come back from his Uni 100 miles away once a week for 2 months to keep lessons up. Loads better to have it in place though before they move away or start f-time work.  

Poquito

As you knew he was going to Uni, was there no option to continue lessons in the area where his uni was. It seems strange to travel that distance weekly for driving lessons.

An intensive course is not ‘expensive’ if you plan and set aside the money from now. 

No guarantees when anyone will pass their test, and yes no guarantees around timetable either in yr13 which is why they should ideally work around it.

Stateofart

Intensive course in the summer holidays.  Done.  End of thread.

goater78

Best time to go an intensive course is between a levels and uni as you get about three months. Exams finish by June and uni won’t start until end of September.