Extra curricular lessons during school day

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mm23292
Posts: 446
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:57 am

Extra curricular lessons during school day

Post by mm23292 »

For the past few years DD1 has been taking LAMDA exams, for which she has extra curricular lessons, and until last term, these were taken at the end of the school day each week. However, following a change of teacher, the session patterns were changed, and I was quite annoyed when I discovered that she was being pulled out lessons. Although the comeback was that they were the non-academic 'less important' lessons, I then discovered, that this was mostly ICT, for which she has always excelled and won prizes for, so that annoyed me too! I feel that when we pay our fees, we are paying for the 'full' curriculum, and having to substitute some of those lessons, with extra curricular lessons that we also have to pay for, seems a little wrong!
So now, it has been suggested that she should do lunchtimes, and DD1 is threatening to give the whole thing up. She has tried lunchtime slots before, but resents having to race to the canteen, bolt half her lunch (or on occasion, none at all!) and be in the class in time for the lesson. She is saying she just won't do it, she wants her lunch break, and to be fair, she does have quite a long day as it is, so I do somewhat see her point! This is such a shame, it's been hard enough keeping her motivated to keep it up, without this problem of squeezing it into the school day, but then at the same time, I know there are probably many extra-curricular activities that take place during the school day, so wonder if I am the one being unreasonable? Should I just tell DD1 to get on with it? Or is it generally the norm to expect kids to forfeit their lunch breaks in this way, or take them out of 'non-academic' lessons?
copella
Posts: 1200
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 3:51 pm

Re: Extra curricular lessons during school day

Post by copella »

My DS has extra curricular music lessons in school and is pulled out of different lessons each week for a 30 min lesson. The timetable is pinned up a week in advance so that he can notify the class teacher. This way the impact is lessened as the times shift ie sometimes he misses maths, english, ICT, science, break times or some lunch, etc. You could ask if they can do this instead so she doesn't consistently miss certain lessons especially ones she excells in.
Kingfisher
Posts: 416
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:08 pm

Re: Extra curricular lessons during school day

Post by Kingfisher »

Mm32392, I don't know what you are saying. You object to your DD missing lessons, which is fair enough but then you are not happy with the lunchtime arrangement either. There are good reasons why your school might have had to stop lessons after school - many of the independents have a range of school coaches which need to operate at specific times. Or maybe it did not suit the other parents. Or the new teacher was not available then, perhaps because s/he had other arrangements which might have included childcare.

I am sure that if your child had to miss Maths or Science on a regular basis you would be even more displeased.

I think the school has been reasonable. If you are unhappy about the two options that have been offered then maybe you should ask your DD to stop the class or find an alternative at weekends so that she can enjoy her lunch without rushing.

The indies do offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities - my DD is at one of them and she does so much. And they are all at lunchtime. She won't stay after school because of having to travel home on her own.
mm23292
Posts: 446
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:57 am

Re: Extra curricular lessons during school day

Post by mm23292 »

So it seems it is pretty much the norm. After school suited us better, and all through primary, that was always the case, but I understand there can be many factors that might affect that being an option. I know the school are not being unreasonable at all, and my dialogue has strictly been between the tutor and myself, so I haven't exactly 'complained', just asked, if it is was possible to revert to the old option, which seems unlikely. I guess part of the problem is keeping dd motivated, she seems to be going through the phase of not wanting to do what her friends are not doing, so this lunchtime gripe is just another argumentative string to her bow!
Anyway, that's another matter in itself, so thank you for your replies :)
doodles
Posts: 8300
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:19 pm

Re: Extra curricular lessons during school day

Post by doodles »

Ds's music lessons were also on a rolling timetable so they missed a different lesson each week. I think this is very common practice.

Maybe the change of teacher has unsettled your DD or maybe she just doesn't want to do it anymore/would like a break.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Extra curricular lessons during school day

Post by Daogroupie »

This is a personal choice. My dd's do before school, during school, during break, during lunch break and after school, they also have Saturday morning sport and often have all day Sunday rehearsals for plays and concerts. They take food to eat because they don't have time to go to the canteen, though some clubs offer early lunch passes. They are very lucky to be at a school that offers them so many opportunities, lots of their old primary friends do not have access to these things. That is part of the reason they wanted to go there, to be able to do these things. There are lot of students who hang around at lunchtime and do nothing and others who are busy. Perhaps your dd's peer group consists of the former so she wants to be with them. DG
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