I can't believe...

[Kim]

i agree, its unfair when people get it if they dont do any work or skip lessons

i think you can apply for it this year even though you didnt get it last year, as youre told to notify them if theres a change in circumstance which means you dont qualify for ema anymore so im sure it would work the same the other way round. the best thing to do is ask at your school, theres no harm in trying, and im sure youll be able to apply for it

At my school, you had to go to all your lessons in the week, and if you missed any, you didn't get it. You couldn't go home in free lessons either, and had to be in the study room working. So if you are ill and have the day off, you won't get it, the same if you skip. It's the same in a lot of schools.

That is unfair, if you are ill, you can't attend lessons, surely you could get a note from your parents or the doctor to prove genuine illness to claim the money.

i agree, if you are genuinely ill its unfair, but how could that be proved? your parents could write a note for you if you wanted to skive off, and you have to pay for doctors notes so no ones likely to do that!

I think they did it because EMA is for you going to school. So if you don't, for whatever reason, then you don't get it. I didn't get it when i had trips either, cause i wasn't in lessons. And with the bonuses, you would only get them if you acheived or bettered your predicted grades in all your subjects.

My school might have just been strict, but it was a good motivator!

I thought it depended on whether your teachers thought you had worked hard enough for the bonus or not. Predicted grades is another silly system, mine changed so much during GCSE. I don't think it's fair to do it on those if that's what they do; I underachieved in 2 subjects at GCSE and they were the ones I did the most work for. I'm sure a lot of people have some modules worse than others, it doesn't necessarily mean that they haven't been putting enough work and effort in.