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Children Blocked from Dance Exams?


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2 hours ago, Mnemo said:

There are plenty of affluent well educated "middle class" parents who choose to educate in the state sector, because they prefer to spend their money on other things - entirely their choice. By the same token, not all children who attend independent schools are from affluent homes. For every parent who rocks up at the school gates in a Maserati there are many more who have taken on additional financing, or who rely heavily on grandparents to meet fee costs. State schools, since they are funded by the government, are naturally answerable to the government. And if the policy is no absences in term time, that is how it is. Independent schools, far from being some kind of luxury holiday camp for the idle rich, are answerable to a far tougher audience - the parents who pay a lot of money for their children to go there. No one is going to shell out £15 - £20K per annum for their children to get rubbish grades at GCSE and A level. And as its much easier to change independent schools, parents will not hesitate to vote with their feet if they think the school is not up to scratch. In consequence independent school generally require far more of their pupils, with a longer school day, possible Saturday commitments and a lot of prep. They do not readily give time off in school hours, and they can ask you to leave if they are not happy with your conduct. 

Couldn't have said it better myself. 

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51 minutes ago, Picturesinthefirelight said:

Why should the exam boards change something they have been successfully doing for years?

 

Music exams in my area already run over the course of 2-3 full weeks Mon-Fri 9-6 & Saturday 9-2. Then the examiner moves to a different area. 

 

No dance examiner will work such limited unsociable hours. And neither teachers, pupils or examiners will be available during school holidays.  

 

 

 

 

Because times change and they need to change with them! Music exams do not take anywhere near as long as dance exams because candidates do not needs to get changed before and after. Dance examiners are very very used to working evenings and weekends because they are/were dance teachers & that is when most dance classes are taught!

 

 

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58 minutes ago, Picturesinthefirelight said:

Any parent not wishing to take their child out of school can choose for their child not to take an exam. 

No no no!!!!!! This is such a wrong, wrong attitude! Dance is (for the vast majority) an extracurricular, leisure activity which can and should take place during out-of-school leisure hours and never impinge on school in any way.

 

Every child should have an equal opportunity to take an exam, and should not be discriminated against just because they cannot/do not want to miss a day of school. Ever!

Edited by youngatheart
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Yes, but if the exams were in the evenings and weekends at the dance schools, scheduled dance classes would have to be cancelled. Teachers would loose business and the children not entered for exams would have to miss classes, not advisable for ballet students, and teachers wouldn’t be happy for them to be missing classes.

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Music & drama exams entailed taking my  children out of school for a whole morning or afternoon. Dance exams were an hour or two maximum. All three required you to be there half an hour before your exam time. It takes 10 mins at most. to pop a leotard on & put hair in a bun. About the same amount of time that it takes to warm your voice/instrument/fingers up. 

 

There is slso a huge huge difference between working evenings & weekends at your own local school than at the other end of the country. 

 

Do you have children youngatheart?

Edited by Picturesinthefirelight
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4 minutes ago, youngatheart said:

Dance examiners are very very used to working evenings and weekends because they are/were dance teachers & that is when most dance classes are taught!

Yes, and many examiners are busy teaching in the evenings and at the weekends, which is why they are only available during the day.

 

Football is also a leisure activity for the overwhelming majority, but If schools are happy to take kids out of class willy-nilly and send them off to a football tournament, then they are being hypocrites if they refuse to allow other children time off to take an exam in their chosen sporting activity. And dance IS a sporting activity according to the school PE syllabus.

 

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I will just throw this into the pot ..........

.... both DD and musically DD took their ABRSM music exams at their respective independent schools. The exam would spent a couple of days in school 9-4 doing exams. The students arrived 30 mins before hand to warm up etc, after their exam they woukd un wind and then head back to their lessons. These exams always happen during term time, not one parent or teacher stops the children attending their exams. At one point DDs school was also used for ballet exams, again no one complained. 

 

Taking dance/music/ LAMDA exams in the evenings is crazy, the children would be exhausted. 

 

I totally agree with Pictures, it takes the same length of time to get ready for a music exam as a ballet exam. 

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5 minutes ago, Pointetoes said:

 

Taking dance/music/ LAMDA exams in the evenings is crazy, the children would be exhausted. 

 

I was about to say much the same. If my son had to do his piano exams in the evening after a full day at school I may as well just give the entry fee to charity as the chances of him reaching his potential would be pretty much zero. And I doubt his school teachers would get much out of him as he would wind himself up into an increasing frenzy of anxiety as the day went on. DD is a more laid back personality so would probably  cope a bit better, but i still don't think she would show herself at her best. I doubt many students would really. 

The average dancing or musical child will probably do one two exams a year, usually needing at most, half a day off each. This is hardly comparable to taking a fortnight off in term time to go on holiday, and realistically hardly likely to majorly impact on their education. Quite correctly in my opinion its a non issue for most schools and should be for all schools.

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Children taking a dance exam will be absent from school for a couple of hours once a year. That hardly amounts to much - they will spend hours missing lessons on school sports day, and practising for school plays and concerts, and will miss several days going on school trips to France or wherever.

 

While I agree that attendance is important and that holidays during termtime are to be avoided, I also believe that schools should be producing rounded individuals. Schools should be encouraging their pupils and praising them for their extra-curricular achievements in dance, drama and music, not being obstructive and standing in their way.

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36 minutes ago, youngatheart said:

No no no!!!!!! This is such a wrong, wrong attitude! Dance is (for the vast majority) an extracurricular, leisure activity which can and should take place during out-of-school leisure hours and never impinge on school in any way.

 

Every child should have an equal opportunity to take an exam, and should not be discriminated against just because they cannot/do not want to miss a day of school. Ever!

 

If dance was ‘just a leisure activity’ I think most parents wouldn’t bother to spend their money on it. There are plenty of free or cheaper ways for children to spend their leisure time. As a ballet mum, I take great pride in being cash savvy (or should that be chavvy!) in order to pay for what I see as DD’s dance education.

 

Yes, dance is extra curricular, and most parents would recognise it as being part of a well rounded, enriched education. Education is more than just developing academic skills. 

 

Taking children out of school for dance exams is no big deal I don’t think. It’s just a small part of the juggling act that parents are faced with daily and that dance students learn to cope with earlier than most.

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I have never had a problem with either child being taken out of primary or secondary school for drama, music or dance exams/festivals.  I never ask, just say ds won’t be in school because..... and when child will return.  

 

Patents have a right to ‘educate’ their children in the way they see fit.  I would take huge exception to being told what I can and can’t do with my own child.  If attendance is good and child is working hard, a few hours in the year doing something individual is neither here nor there.  Kids are removed from lessons for all sorts of random things from the teaching staff, I never get asked if it’s ok for ds to miss maths because ds is needed for the swimming gala or there is a house captains meeting etc. Whole thing is ridiculous.  

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3 hours ago, youngatheart said:

No no no!!!!!! This is such a wrong, wrong attitude! Dance is (for the vast majority) an extracurricular, leisure activity which can and should take place during out-of-school leisure hours and never impinge on school in any way.

 

Dance is not extra curricular for my DD - it's her life! It's far more important to her mental health, confidence and her general well being than any of her academic subjects.  Thankfully her teachers recognise this and fully support her.

Edited by hoglett
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Firstly I would like to point out that the RAD have indeed moved with the times so that nowadays exams can take place at weekends and some intensive summer courses allow students to take exams afterwards, several of my vocational students have done this to avoid taking Ballet exams during GCSE or A level terms. But this does cost more money especially for those who have to travel far. The system is as flexible as is possible bearing in mind that  examiners have to be actively teaching to stay examining and as well as running their own schools are often examining overseas during UK holidays or teaching on summer courses. But the RAD don't "insist" their exams are in term time, teachers can also book "specials" which can avoid this. But specials are more expensive and as previous posters have pointed out they could clash with summer courses, never mind holidays which can't be taken during term time.

 

Requests for weekend exams ( which teachers can do these days) are always oversubscribed , but I personally would not be able to get my exam venue most weekends .  And for those pupils whom I know might have problems I put them down at the end of the day anyway so that they will do their exams outside school hours. But if exam hours then impinge on the normal after school classes its a logistical nightmare rescheduling said classes especially during short Spring terms. As for holidays, well most of my pupils are away then and that's when I spend hours on administration, two hours today alone registering candidates for next term! If all my candidates had to have exams out of school hours then an examiner would be having to come to the venue most of week and the same for other schools, the sessions would be never ending!

 

I find it very upsetting that anyone would class dance ( especially Ballet!), drama, music or high level sport as a mere "social" activity that shouldn't ever interfere with school hours. As the Arts and Sports are increasingly being sidelined in schools surely it's even more important in this day and age that pupils are allowed time out to take exams/competitions  that they have worked hard for? If this was prevented, school teachers would have even less awareness than they do now of the high level of work and commitment that our young dancers,artists,musicians and sportpersons  give to these extra curricular activities. 

 

Luckily the vast majority of the schools my students attend actively encourage  dance/ music exams. The younger students are often asked to bring in their certificates to show and tell. And the headmaster at one school I work with actually drove his pupils to the exam venue himself! I was also lucky years ago to have an understanding head teacher let me have time off to get to Ballet classes (and exams/ auditions) which resulted in my eventual acceptance into full time training. Thank goodness he thought outside the box! ( And I still passed A levels....)

 

As mentioned in posts above ,many students don't have to miss that much school. Last week my Grade 6 candidates were back in school by 11am having only missed registration and one lesson a full two years after doing their previous exam so it can hardly have impacted on their academic education! But they now will have an equivalent of an A level, some UCAS points and its something that can be put on D of E forms. Now none of these are going to be professional dancers but that doesn't mean that it's any the less meaningful for them. And I am very proud of the fact that recently 4 of my students all got into Oxbridge having also achieved highly in Ballet and Music exams "despite" said exams sometimes being in school hours!

 

Gosh, if all such Ballet , music and other such exams were only ever allowed to be scheduled for holidays when on earth would young students rest?  ( never mind us teachers..)

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7 hours ago, hfbrew said:

Firstly I would like to point out that the RAD have indeed moved with the times so that nowadays exams can take place at weekends and some intensive summer courses allow students to take exams afterwards, several of my vocational students have done this to avoid taking Ballet exams during GCSE or A level terms. But this does cost more money especially for those who have to travel far. The system is as flexible as is possible bearing in mind that  examiners have to be actively teaching to stay examining and as well as running their own schools are often examining overseas during UK holidays or teaching on summer courses. But the RAD don't "insist" their exams are in term time, teachers can also book "specials" which can avoid this. But specials are more expensive and as previous posters have pointed out they could clash with summer courses, never mind holidays which can't be taken during term time.

 

Requests for weekend exams ( which teachers can do these days) are always oversubscribed , but I personally would not be able to get my exam venue most weekends .  And for those pupils whom I know might have problems I put them down at the end of the day anyway so that they will do their exams outside school hours. But if exam hours then impinge on the normal after school classes its a logistical nightmare rescheduling said classes especially during short Spring terms. As for holidays, well most of my pupils are away then and that's when I spend hours on administration, two hours today alone registering candidates for next term! If all my candidates had to have exams out of school hours then an examiner would be having to come to the venue most of week and the same for other schools, the sessions would be never ending!

 

I find it very upsetting that anyone would class dance ( especially Ballet!), drama, music or high level sport as a mere "social" activity that shouldn't ever interfere with school hours. As the Arts and Sports are increasingly being sidelined in schools surely it's even more important in this day and age that pupils are allowed time out to take exams/competitions  that they have worked hard for? If this was prevented, school teachers would have even less awareness than they do now of the high level of work and commitment that our young dancers,artists,musicians and sportpersons  give to these extra curricular activities. 

 

Luckily the vast majority of the schools my students attend actively encourage  dance/ music exams. The younger students are often asked to bring in their certificates to show and tell. And the headmaster at one school I work with actually drove his pupils to the exam venue himself! I was also lucky years ago to have an understanding head teacher let me have time off to get to Ballet classes (and exams/ auditions) which resulted in my eventual acceptance into full time training. Thank goodness he thought outside the box! ( And I still passed A levels....)

 

As mentioned in posts above ,many students don't have to miss that much school. Last week my Grade 6 candidates were back in school by 11am having only missed registration and one lesson a full two years after doing their previous exam so it can hardly have impacted on their academic education! But they now will have an equivalent of an A level, some UCAS points and its something that can be put on D of E forms. Now none of these are going to be professional dancers but that doesn't mean that it's any the less meaningful for them. And I am very proud of the fact that recently 4 of my students all got into Oxbridge having also achieved highly in Ballet and Music exams "despite" said exams sometimes being in school hours!

 

Gosh, if all such Ballet , music and other such exams were only ever allowed to be scheduled for holidays when on earth would young students rest?  ( never mind us teachers..)

 

Fantastic post!  Thank you for your very well reasoned reply from the teacher’s perspective. 

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Great post @hfbrew!

 

The more I read depressing news about cuts to Arts funding and this more recent article about schools refusing to authorise leave for exams, the luckier I feel that my dds attend (different) secondary schools where creative arts are thriving and achievements outside of school are celebrated and welcomed. 

 

To date I have never had an absence request for a dance or music exam refused. For ballet, over the years we have probably had an equal amount of exams across school days and weekends as we are fortunate enough to have access to facilities large enough to allow for the latter. Our dance school Head also tries very hard to be accommodating when arranging the schedule, especially where she knows some schools are less supportive.

 

A number of years ago, when DD1 was starting on the competitive gymnastics path (before focusing on dance) the Head Coach addressed parents' concerns about the impact on academics of training so many hours. He explained that in his experience, in many cases, the focus and drive it took to become a top sportsperson often went hand in hand with the achievement of excellent academic qualifications. He noted that many of his gymnasts were highly organised and used training downtime, e.g. when away for competitions, to study.

 

On the other hand, for those children who find school tough and haven't yet found their niche within the curriculum, I would have thought that the opportunity to demonstrate achievements in other areas such as dance, sport, music, including through the taking and passing of exams, would be highly beneficial to them. 

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7 hours ago, hfbrew said:

Firstly I would like to point out that the RAD have indeed moved with the times so that nowadays exams can take place at weekends and some intensive summer courses allow students to take exams afterwards, several of my vocational students have done this to avoid taking Ballet exams during GCSE or A level terms. But this does cost more money especially for those who have to travel far. The system is as flexible as is possible bearing in mind that  examiners have to be actively teaching to stay examining and as well as running their own schools are often examining overseas during UK holidays or teaching on summer courses. But the RAD don't "insist" their exams are in term time, teachers can also book "specials" which can avoid this. But specials are more expensive and as previous posters have pointed out they could clash with summer courses, never mind holidays which can't be taken during term time.

 

Requests for weekend exams ( which teachers can do these days) are always oversubscribed , but I personally would not be able to get my exam venue most weekends .  And for those pupils whom I know might have problems I put them down at the end of the day anyway so that they will do their exams outside school hours. But if exam hours then impinge on the normal after school classes its a logistical nightmare rescheduling said classes especially during short Spring terms. As for holidays, well most of my pupils are away then and that's when I spend hours on administration, two hours today alone registering candidates for next term! If all my candidates had to have exams out of school hours then an examiner would be having to come to the venue most of week and the same for other schools, the sessions would be never ending!

 

I find it very upsetting that anyone would class dance ( especially Ballet!), drama, music or high level sport as a mere "social" activity that shouldn't ever interfere with school hours. As the Arts and Sports are increasingly being sidelined in schools surely it's even more important in this day and age that pupils are allowed time out to take exams/competitions  that they have worked hard for? If this was prevented, school teachers would have even less awareness than they do now of the high level of work and commitment that our young dancers,artists,musicians and sportpersons  give to these extra curricular activities. 

 

Luckily the vast majority of the schools my students attend actively encourage  dance/ music exams. The younger students are often asked to bring in their certificates to show and tell. And the headmaster at one school I work with actually drove his pupils to the exam venue himself! I was also lucky years ago to have an understanding head teacher let me have time off to get to Ballet classes (and exams/ auditions) which resulted in my eventual acceptance into full time training. Thank goodness he thought outside the box! ( And I still passed A levels....)

 

As mentioned in posts above ,many students don't have to miss that much school. Last week my Grade 6 candidates were back in school by 11am having only missed registration and one lesson a full two years after doing their previous exam so it can hardly have impacted on their academic education! But they now will have an equivalent of an A level, some UCAS points and its something that can be put on D of E forms. Now none of these are going to be professional dancers but that doesn't mean that it's any the less meaningful for them. And I am very proud of the fact that recently 4 of my students all got into Oxbridge having also achieved highly in Ballet and Music exams "despite" said exams sometimes being in school hours!

 

Gosh, if all such Ballet , music and other such exams were only ever allowed to be scheduled for holidays when on earth would young students rest?  ( never mind us teachers..)

Well written Hfbrew, 

In relation to subjects taught at GCSE level, I would be interested to know the % of pupils that actually use some of their subjects in their career choice compared to those that train in Ballet and other Genres. It is about time the Education Dept recognise this fact. Which is all rather odd as the Government are the ones offering the DaDa and possibly other funding as well as creating the CDET and sending their inspectors out as part of OFSTED. Why would they then 'block' children from particpating in these actvities? 

 

On a another point, I'm curious to knwo but appreciate some may not wish to respond, how much parents are paying for the examinations. Especially the RAD 6, 7 & 8 and Vocational Grades (Level 3/equiv A levels). Are extra coaching classes incl or at an additional cost? All examinations at the local studios are taken during the day and only if demand is needed do they run over to 6pm. As mentioned the teachers still have all their other pupils to consider and a business to run as not all pupils take their exams all at the same time. 

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1 hour ago, balletbean said:

 

On a another point, I'm curious to knwo but appreciate some may not wish to respond, how much parents are paying for the examinations. Especially the RAD 6, 7 & 8 and Vocational Grades (Level 3/equiv A levels). Are extra coaching classes incl or at an additional cost? All examinations at the local studios are taken during the day and only if demand is needed do they run over to 6pm. As mentioned the teachers still have all their other pupils to consider and a business to run as not all pupils take their exams all at the same time. 

DD took a Vocational exam at RAD headquarters last week. We were lucky because both her classes were very small she didn’t need any extra coaching unlike her previous vocational exam but I had to pay for both of us to get to headquarters, lunch etc. Her exam was 1.5 hrs long and she was taken up to the warm up room 30mins before hand, so that left me with 2 hours to drink coffee and get her food/ hot chocolate for after her exam because I knew she would be starving.   As yet I haven’t been billed for the exam but it’s about £130, slightly more than Grade 8 music exams, which musical DD put on her UCAS ( she is off to study music) 

Its an expensive business and she missed a full day of college. The exam period was for 3 weeks, we were able to put down days we were unable to attend. Headquarters are good in that they look at where you are coming from when deciding your exam time. DD take all her non vocational grades at her dance school, which because of classes all day on a Saturday request examiners during the week. 

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If you join the RAD as a member, you can get discounted rates for the higher-level exams.

 

There is also the issue of the availability of pianists who are used to playing for dancers and who know the exam music and tempo well. As anyone who has tried to book one will know, they are pretty hard to come by, and for the higher exams they are a requirement. 

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I would have considered it rude not have asked permission for my child to be missing from school for any period of time - however short.  And formally to the head, not a note in the planner.  Most schools have a form for these occasions.

 

Our chaotic dance school, back in the day, managed to schedule their exams in the middle of GCSEs, and was incensed when students wouldn't attend on the same day as a school exam, so I think courtesy and sense have to work both ways.

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40 minutes ago, mimi'smom said:

Apologies if this has already been posted, but the RAD are seeking clarification and have received this response (which while supportive, doesn't really clarify the issue!) 

20180118DamianHindsSchoolAbsenseresponse

another  link that doesn't parse

 

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21 minutes ago, John Mallinson said:

 

Don't know what you mean. In Safari I click on it and it enlarges, click again and the pdf downloads.

 

does not  parse in  chrome  Version 65.0.3325.181 (Official Build) (64-bit)  running on  win 10  pro  ver 1709 build 16299.309  nor in  firefox 37.0.2 on the same   win 10 machine 

Safari  being an Apple product means that compliance with accepted standards  is entirely optional 

Edited by Nicola H
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Agree that Safari seems to have its own set of standards. On my Mac I too find that FF and Chrome can't handle it. I'll see what the powers that be have to say about this.

 

Incidentally the page displays fine on an iPad using Chrome (and Safari).

Edited by John Mallinson
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Sorry not to respond earlier, I have only just returned. No, I don't have children, but when I was at Secondary school I had a perfect attendance record for several consecutive years of which I was incredibly proud, and without a shadow of a doubt I would have had a screaming tantrum if anyone had dared to suggest I should ruin it by skipping school in order to take an exam. Maybe this is what is still colouring my views now TBH - but to me it just seems such a total no-brainer that these exams should not be held in school hours that I can't for the life of me imagine why the practice was ever allowed in the first place. (Similarly for football tournaments BTW). Yes the exams SHOULD ideally take place during the normal dance lesson times (those not taking them would simply pay for one fewer lesson). Also many children will do 3 or 4 exams a year, maybe more (grades/vocationals/medals, ballet/tap/modern/greek/music etc) so it's not just "a few hours once a year").

 

Anyway there is obviously no way any of you are going to see it from my point of view - you clearly do not have a problem with giving your children the message that "some things DO justify skipping school" , so this will be my final post on this thread.

 

Sorry to have fallen out over it as I am generally the "voice of reason" on here, but as you can see it is a subject I feel very very strongly about - you are just lucky I am not the Secretary of State, because you can imagine how I would have responded to the RAD - (i.e. I would have told them they should not be scheduling exams during school days in the first place, so they should not be at all surprised if the schools are unhappy!)

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The attitude to school attendance in the U.K. looks utterly demented from outside. 

 

As to a perfect attendance record being a matter of pride … that’s just encouraging kids to come to school sick, spreading illness and doing them no good at all.

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Sorry I know I said it would be my final post, but I can't let that go unanswered. Why is it demented to only allow absence for genuinely unavoidable reasons (such as illness, bereavement, bad weather making it physically impossible etc) and forbid it for "choice" reasons such as holidays and extracurricular activities?

 

And your last sentence is downright insulting! Why should I not have been proud of the fact that I was so rarely ill? (Not counting trivial illnesses such as colds etc - my parents would have only allowed me to stay at home if I was actually vomiting or had a high temperature). I was gutted when a stomach bug did finally force me to miss a day! And then the snow prevented me from getting to school one day and I was absolutely devastated that it got recorded as absence, and so so furious with the school for not closing (now that would never happen nowadays would it?)

 

I realise that I am speaking to totally the wrong audience here so this WILL be it from me (please could no-one else start insulting me and make me carry this on, because I really don't want to - I have said my piece, it has fallen on deaf ears, you are obviously as passionate about your point of view as I am about mine, so please can we just agree to disagree and move on?

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Havent read all posts but as a school govenor and parent of Dd who regularly has auditions/exams/ etc during normal school hours first thing you need to ensure is that dc are on the gifted and talented register for the school. They are required by Lea and ofsted to document and evidence how they support dc who are gifted and talented. Anything under this remit will be authorised educated off siten 

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I think the ISTD exams are actually more numerous than RAD so it isn’t just a problem of the RAD. 

 

When you take into account ISTD provide grade and vocational modern, tap and ballet exams plus Cecchetti on top then it would be impossible to fit all those exams into after school or holidays. It just can’t be done. I myself do not see a problem with a child missing school for a short while or even a day, if need be, to take an exam. It is something that they are dedicated to by working many hours towards it and seeing it through to take the actual exam. Most children would be able to catch up on the few hours missed without any problem. Dancing children are wonderful are organising their time and are often high achievers in all aspects of life. 

 

My DS attended finals at 3 schools this year .  I took in the proof of his invite to finals at WL, Elmhurst and Tring. References were needed from the head yet I was asked to fill in an absence request. There was no way on this planet that I was going to ask my DS’s school, for permission to be away on those days. I am his parent and the auditions were necessary to try and find the best secondary school for him. I wouldn’t need permission on the days they went up to the senior school for a tour so I don’t see the difference for vocational school. The sad thing is not once has anybody asked me how he got on. Thankfully he has a place at vocational school and we are all overjoyed. The local senior school that his brothers are at is just not the right school for him and I am thrilled that he will be with other likeminded boys. 

 

Time off off from school is not something that most parents’ are happy about but there definitely has to be a balance. 

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3 minutes ago, dancertaxi said:

Havent read all posts but as a school govenor and parent of Dd who regularly has auditions/exams/ etc during normal school hours first thing you need to ensure is that dc are on the gifted and talented register for the school. They are required by Lea and ofsted to document and evidence how they support dc who are gifted and talented. Anything under this remit will be authorised educated off siten 

 

My DC have never been on the gifted and talented register for their dancing. I really should have picked up on that. One school was always very good. Nothing was a problem and it was always classified as educated off site. I have no idea what the present School enter for my DS. I can say they get on my nerves though!! I would imagine it isn’t entered as educated off site. 

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2 minutes ago, Busymum said:

 

My DC have never been on the gifted and talented register for their dancing. I really should have picked up on that. One school was always very good. Nothing was a problem and it was always classified as educated off site. I have no idea what the present School enter for my DS. I can say they get on my nerves though!! I would imagine it isn’t entered as educated off site. 

Get Dc on g&t register asap - just send in an email stating why dc should be and what you envisage will be required from the school to support this ie time authorised for exams/auditions/opportunities etc

 ! I provide school with updates via email for Dd file -exam certificates/audition updates etc. We often find we have different school holidays to most places so if Dd didn't get time off she would have missed alot of opportunities.  

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Just now, dancertaxi said:

Get Dc on g&t register asap - just send in an email stating why dc should be and what you envisage will be required from the school to support this ie time authorised for exams/auditions/opportunities etc

 ! I provide school with updates via email for Dd file -exam certificates/audition updates etc. We often find we have different school holidays to most places so if Dd didn't get time off she would have missed alot of opportunities.  

Yes I will. Thankfully we only have a term left now. 

My DS has had such trouble with the boys in his class that his teacher last year suggested home schooling him. Totally different topic to what we are discussing of course but I am so thankful Primary school is almost finished for him. 

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