Would you take your children out of school for an equestrian event?

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stacey_lou

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I wonder how many people would or schools allow them to take their children out of school for a show, quallifer or training day?

Just for research purposes as I know some schools allow children days of for equestrian activities
 
As far as I remember my school didn't mind me having the odd day off to compete. I went to Cheshire County Show every year which was always mid week (unless it clashed with exams) and my school never said I couldn't go. They were quite supportive but I think they would have been a bit funny had it been a regular thing. Probably different if you are on the GB team or something. A couple of times I think I might have had a "dentist appointment" but my mum always made sure I caught up any work I missed.

My friends cousin is an actress but goes to a normal senior school. She is only allowed time out of school if her grades are good. She had to turn down a TV job recently because her grades had slipped and the school said she couldn't have time off her filming!
 
I have taken my two out for a half day to be guinea pig lead rein riders for the PTT exam. I asked the school first and they thought it would be a good use of the boys' time, both getting lessons and understanding that they were volunteering to help others take a professional exam.

They had to catch up on the work they missed though ;)

I wouldn't take them out for, say, a day's hunting, but I might if it was an important qualifier, they weren't missing anything vital, and I had the school's permission.
 
I think it depends on the age of the child and what they would miss. I don't think time out for training is acceptable, but most other events will have a broader educational value IMO.
 
yorksG said:
I think it depends on the age of the child and what they would miss. I don't think time out for training is acceptable, but most other events will have a broader educational value IMO.
Click to expand...

This.
Training will always need to be done,you fit it in around your commitments.
A big show is an education in itself,and often very worthwhile.
 
Each request was judged on individual merits, and how close to exams!
Very rarely just for a "jolly", but I do admit to three days a year for hunting, if none of the "sacred" meets fell within holidays. Opening meet, closing meet, and our meet.
I told school each time, before the event, and on one occasion was actually told, from HoY "Wish I could come, probably learn more out there, than in here!". :)
Also, the Headmaster was an A**e of the first degree, and I (very responsibly ;)) took great pleasure in watching him squirm!!!
 
Yes I allowed my daughter to miss a fair amount of school over the years. She was never disadvantaged and went on to get excellent exams and a law degree so I don't think she came to any harm. She would miss small blocks of 2 or 3 days to travel to shows and stay with the family who owned the ponies she showed in the horse box. She had a whale of a time and I believe it was very very good for her. There are many ways to learn and not just in school. The school were always supportive at junior level though much less so at senior level.
 
I have done but for training etc made sure it was on "games" afternoons - my daughter's not that good at any school games and they were quite happy for her to miss occasional sessions for training - after all it benefited the school riding team.

I've also taken her out of school when she had a block of "frees" in 6th form to go a try horses out.

Other occasions she has rarely been taken out of school if it involved missing academic lessons. If it's had to happen then it has been with the knowledge and agreement of the school She's the sort of girl who can be trusted to find out what she missed and catch the work up.
 
At 22 I dont have any children but if I did.. I would probably only let them take time off school if they were serious at competing doing affiliated events. After all there is plenty of school holidays to go to local shows.

When I was at school some pupils got time off for swimming events and other sports if they were very into it.
 
I rook time off for competing when i was a school, and used to take off the the most of the week for Royal Windsor, as i competed there. But i used to take alot of time out at school and hated it very much and was never going to do well as im dyslexic and didnt have the support kids now do!!
This year the school allowd my daughter (age 6) to come and watch me compete, and i expect next year she will to, and also shes competing there so shell have that day off too. I will let her tke time off for important shows whens shes older, although find alot of junior quailifiers tend to be worked round school time. I would not allow her to miss important exams when shes older.
 
My parents would have taken us out if it was a major show, but my school was stupid and ridiculously petty, so we would have had to lie to them and say we were ill :p
 
I was all planned for taking my 6 year old out for 3 days this year to compete at the jumping derby at hickstead.

The school was fine about it and said that it was as educational as a school trip.

As it happens we couldnt go in the end (lost the ride) so he went into school as normal
 
I have taken both of my daughters out of school to compete, although it helps that I work at their school so when I pop in to ask the head for time off he is ok with it and says to tell the office staff to put the absence down as an educational visit. My head believes that it is just as important for pupils to have this kind of experience as it is to be in lessons at school, BUT daughter no2 won't be competing at Royal Cornwall next year as it is slap bang in the middle of her GCSE's and there is no way she is going to miss those.
 
As a teacher I'd say that if they're bright and motivated then they should be able to catch up on any work they've missed pretty easily up to the end of Year 9. Once they get into Year 10 things get different, especially as there are so many different arrangements for coursework, controlled assessments and modules these days. If your children are in years 10 or 11 please be very sure that none of their teachers planned to do a vital piece of work that day. I've had children taken out of my lessons for some really ridiculous reasons and if they miss too much they really don't catch up as well as you would hope.
 
Yes, have done and will do so. Mini TX is doing a sports BTech, and her school is now a Sports Academy. She does BE and some of them she wants to do are on week days. We always get permission from the school and they are always very positive and we make sure she catches up. They are always very supportive of her results and her sports tutor will also ask how she got on. It does help that she goes to the same school as last years silver medalist on the Junior eventing team at the Euros last year (who has now left), but not forgotten. Dont think I would take her out of school for hunting etc as knowing our luck we would bump into someone from school though.
 
Would be a bit hypocritical if I didn't - I used to regularly miss Fridays and occasionally Thursdays for shows especially when jumping winter qualifiers. The deal with the school was that grades were to be maintained - I had to get work from teachers beforehand and keep up with homework etc - all of which would be done on the journey to the show sat at the table in the living :cool: If my grades had slipped the school would have put a stop to it -a friend of mine was a figure skater and ended up changing schools to one where they were more inclined to make allowances for sporting activities because she couldn't keep up.
Still got a few comments of "when present" on reports though...
 
Yes, I've been taken out for riding on lots o occassions :)

I was an elite athlite at school - meaning I could go home and ride my horse during the games slot! Was excellent :D

so home every wednesday at 12pm, and took days off to do different things with horses -but I was at a grammar school full of people from the country so it was ok as long as you caught up :)

I've had quite a few dentists appt that happened to coicide with hunts :o

did me no harm - got AAB at a level in chemistry, biology and history ;)
 
Yes, if it was a competition that was only on at a particular time - qualifiers etc, provided that grades were acceptable. I had various days off during A-Levels for Junior World Cup fencing events (and 1 senior in New York). I took homework/revision with me and the season generally avoids most exams although I did end up doing a Maths mock more or less straight out of the car from France - got delayed as one of the team was being slow providing a sample following a good result, had a really slow, rough crossing and got home at about 6am! A Level Stats mock 9.15 that morning, solid A, although I was convinced I the room was moving as I'd gone from rough ferry to sleeping in the car to school!

More difficult was the jetlag cure of landing at Gatwick at 6.30 from the US, train home, change into school uniform, rehearsals for school concert, concert, bed at 11pm. Didn't even get much sleep on flight due to brats in front of me!

The school was supportive, probably because of the level of competition - I was the only serious fencer, so they quite liked it!
 
Personally - yes I would take my child out of school for something important to her. This though would be recorded as unauthorised absence in the school attendence file. This is because schools have to meet government guidlines for attendence and as such I would accept the statement in order to achieve a recreational learning experience for my child.
 
I'm a clearly a real meany. I most certainly would not. I see school as a commitment. No way would I take any step that gives my children the message they can get out of something they should be doing in preference for something which is by and large a pleasure activity.
 
I have an arrangement with the school that i can take my daughter out for training or an event as long as she keeps up with her work, although prior to this she had several 'dental appointments'. The school are quick enough to take her out of lessons for team matches and tournaments, and she's in every team going so it would be a bit rich of them to not support her in her riding.
 
My family are unhorsey so I was never ever allowed out of school to do anything horsey. In fact, the rule for me was, if I was well enough to look after the horses, I was well enough to go to school!

However I had (in year 13/upper 6th) nearly 3 weeks off to visit universities and attend interviews. They even paid for me to go to my Oxford interview! I could probably have gotten away a couple of times with going on an "open day" if I had wanted to.
 
Would do for the odd competition. Whilst in primary school Monkeybum always had a dose of "Badmintonitis" every May!!! However when she went to secondary school they conveniently had an inservice every year for the Friday dressage - methinks a like minded headmistress:D
 
I'm with Anguscat, I wouldn't. But then my daughter isn't at that sort of level to be wanting to compete at big shows, so I don't think it's relevant for us, I might view it differently if she was really cabable and in a team. Also she has a 100% attendance record since she started when she was 4, never had a day off sick or holiday, and having gone through infants, juniors and just started secondary she's keen to maintain it.

Sadly, even though every newsletter home at juniors always mentioned that taking time out for events and holidays (which every child seemed to do) wasn't approved, she wasn't given any certificate, merit or even a mention of the fact in the leavers assembly despite my reminding the school she had a unique 100% attendance. As she doesn't shine at anything other than running fast she was a bit miffed as just about everyone else got a mention for something!
 
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