Little white lies

[Val_2]

Honestly I am getting a serial liar now. My son often appears home long before the school day ends and when I ask why, its usually because the teacher hasn't turned up or there is a grêve unofficial by the students. As with all Lycées you get the obligatory letter a couple of days later stating the aforesaid absence and you have to reply with a motif. In my son's case it is always "malade" except where a grêve nationale is concerned or else if you mention the absence of the prof or such like, the pupil gets automatic detention and who is going to travel a 25mile round trip two or three hours after school finishes to collect them. Apparently "malade" is the accepted form of response in 99% of all cases of absence not sanctioned by the Lycée here.

[Tresco]

Val, I'm not quite following you.

Are you saying your son is 'wagging off'' or that the teachers are, or both?

[Tourangelle]

Surely if you fill in the little slip in his carnet, you avoid the

letter....and if the teacher is absent then surely there is no letter?

My husband once had a pupil come and show him the slip in the carnet

and it said Rolland Garros.  Pretty sure the pupil wasn't

playing[:P]

[Val_2]

No, its the teachers that just don't turn up for class and the class dosn't know until they are seated and waiting to begin, so the kids have nothing else to do but to amuse themselves for anything upto 2hours and to be honest, why wait  around for another hour or so at the end of the day when there is a bus leaving shortly for home.Unfortunately they are recorded at the beginning of every single class daily as to either being present or absent by a conseiller and this is why I get letters with odd hours of missed lessons on them. I also wanted to mention the fact that parents shouldn't put absence of the prof as the motif as they just don't accept this and malade seems the universal response.

[Miki]

Our Daughter has English, as last two hours on a Monday &

Friday (Bac + 2 year) and has been told that there is little use in her

being in class these days, so depending on her mood, sees whether she

stays on for the lesson. We had quite a few absences in her last report! All but

a couple for that reason, overall picture said she was doing OK but

must improve on  her absences !! Right hand and left hand come in

to mind !

As far as carnets go, we no longer have anything to report in them, as she now lives with her boyfriend but we get the reports.

Friends with a lad at collège have had two occasions to be angry with

the school over letters being sent home. Son was home early on

twooccasions and our friends questioned him about the reason as to why

and,

both times it was teacher not present. They had a letter the first time

to ask wehere he was, that got them angry and they asked their son as

to why he lied, he insisted that it was teacher not there that meant

he could go home. On ringing the school, son was found to be telling

the truth.

This happened again last week, son home early, told them the same

story, they get the letter and this time say he must be telling

stories. He insists they ring up his school, they admit that the letter

goes out to everyone in the class not there for the start of the non

lesson, even though the register showed the lad there in the lesson

predeeding. Rows at home for no reason and caused by the stupidity of

the school itself. Be easier if they simply printed little forms to say

that the teacher was not present and the pupil was allowed home

early........and with the number of greves and teacher absences, they

would need a good supply as well, too easy eh !

[Val_2]

Two weeks ago there was a national strike for Lycéens that was recognised. Part of my son's class decided they would have another one last week for some reason. Luckily my boy stayed at school because those who went off are now looking at a detention and letter to the parents.

[Tresco]

This is one of those bonkers things isn't it?

Apart from all the wasted time, and the potential of trouble caused at home, when your children leave school, are all these so called 'absences' and detentions that were dished out, recorded on whatever document they have as a final 'report'?

[Val_2]

No, you don't get a final report at Lycée as the final usually cumulates in the BAC,BEP or BTS etc which is a certificate issued by the education authority. What we do get is a list of all absences printed out and sent with the trimestriel contrôle results but that is usually consigned to the bin anyway - I don't worry about my two, they are intelligent enough to understand that no exam passes = very little chance of a decent job here so as long as they both work hard and continue to get marks thats fine. There are so many things that go on here that are just ludicrous to us non-french especially when its made as difficult as can be to understand in the first place simply because people "have to discuss" everything in detail.

[Tourangelle]

Errrm

I am afraid there is a final report.  But you don't get it. 

It is for the examining board.  After the final conseil de classe

of the year, before the bac, the teachers have to give an "avis"

favorable, très favorable and so on.  If a child is really boarder

line to get the bac, then the decision can be taken by the examining

board to give it to them, (the examining board is teachers that do not

know the pupil but have just marked the papers, they just have a number

and they don't know anything about the child) and basically this final

report is all they have to go on.

[Val_2]

Well in that case, we,the ordinary public don't actually know this exists then if it is only for the exam board. I wouldn't have thought absence is a thing they consider though unless it is excessive truancy or illness, just a few odd hours here and there are not really enough to upset the applecart. My son has a f riend from Senegal who has a muscle illness and is often off ill but the parents are not worried about it.

[Tourangelle]

Well a pupil who is absent too much will get expelled before. 

Absence is absolutely something they could take into account, a child

who has been ill, for example, but struggles on to do the exam (if you

are really, really ill there is always the September session) could get

an avis très favorable that might help if it is a boarderline

case.  And anybody with a disability that means they are slower

gets extra time.  I have never marked the bac, but my OH comes

back year

after year with stories of pupils who have been let in because they had

a good doissier,  and they were may be one or two points

under.  I am not sure if that is before or after the rattrapage,

though. 

[Mistral]

I'm a bit out of touch with what happens in lycée (although I would have thought that filling in the absence slip in the carnet would help the situation) but I am a bit surprised by Miki's friends' story. In all the collèges I have worked in, if a teacher is absent at the end of the day, then the kids can go home as long as they are registered as being "autorisé". The parents don't get a letter. If they are non-autorisé and they leave before the end of the day, that's another matter. It's up to the parents to decide when regime they are under. If this child was non-autorisé, I'm  a bit shocked the surveillants didn't pick it up before he left, there should be someone on the gate checking carnets.

As for what is an acceptable excuse. Legally, anything signed by parents has to be taken as absence justifié I have seen, "no hot water",  "looking after his little brother" and "had to go clothes shopping"

 

[Val_2]

Actually all this parents having to sign absence letters is crazy because my son is almost 19 and an adult in the eyes of the law with his own bank account and titre de séjour etc so he alone should be responsible - another french thing!!

[Mistral]

Yes, I'm a bit surprised at that. I would have thought that a legal majeur could sign his own carnet.(this isn't something you come up against often in collège) Have you checked the reglement interieur to see what it says?