I can't believe...

[Chris_2k11]

I think Ema is nothing, £30 a week doesnt exactly go far

[Abi]

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.

[Perdita]

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.

[di marco]

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.

loads of schools though dont do registers for each lesson so as long as you turn up to registration youre ok. also i knew someone in my performing arts lesson who was never there but she was really pally with the teacher so he just marked her in so she could get her ema

[di marco]

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!

[Perdita]

Do you have to pay for sick notes from a doctor now?

[Abbie]

Do you have to pay for sick notes from a doctor now?

What!!!!

[Kim]

One thing that could be a downer on school leaving age being raised to 18 is that some families find it financially difficult, they might need another wage packet to pay their bills and can't afford another year or two paying for uniforms and school books etc.

but im guessing students would still be given ema for the last 2yrs of school? or would that be scrapped if schooling was compulsory?

It would probably be scrapped i would imagine...but even then not everyone is entitled to it

Yeah you only get it when you're in education of your own choice. The whole point of it being brought in was that it would help those from less well off backgrounds to stay in education. If the leaving age was 18 then there would only be 1 year that you could get it; they do give it to 19 year olds if they are on an appropriate course.

[Abi]

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!

[Kim]

I think EMA is good, my friend said the other day if it wasnt for her EMA she wouldnt have went to her Dance lessosns.
But still she finds eventhough she gets the max she doesnt think sometmes its enough

i think ema is a good idea but some people abuse the fact they get it i think. i mean i know most people use it to help their parents out or to buy their school clothes/books etc but i know a lot of people who got the full amount and then just spent it down the pub, which in my view if thats all theyre going to do with it then they shouldnt be allowed to get it

Completely agree with you. That's why I think they should give EMA to everyone with the consistent attendance and not so much is doing well... but I think the effort shoudl be looked at then I think peolpe deserve EMA. It really annoyed me last year when em adn all my firends were turning up to our elssons and trying our best but couldn't get EMA, yet there were "the bums" in school who would ask the etacher to mark them in and would do nothing all lesson or jsut leave the classroom. I think the basis on whcih they give out EMA is wrong really

EDIT: Btw, I couldn't get EMA last year but I qualify for ti this year... btu I'm not sure if I can apply for ti this year if I didn't get it last year?? Could anyone enlighten me on that?? Thanks

When I applied for this year it said you could apply if you were born between September 1 1989 and August 31 1992, so you'll be fine. Obviously they know that changes can happen from year to year otherwise surely they'd give the one amount weekly for the duration of the course rather than having people reapply after each year. There's a section on the form about previous EMA payments and if you had them you had to some number to do with your previous application or something, so you just leave that block blank.

Expect it to be slow though Kirsty. I applied a while back now and I haven't heard anything. I'm having to pay for a bus pass and my English teacher wants money for some of the set texts next week. My mum's unemployed and my dad won't pay for it. Good job I have disability living allowance or I wouldn't have the money. It shouldn't be spent school stuff but if they'd hurry up then it wouldn't be.

I think the whole system is silly too. It's not our fault how much our parents earn. Even if they do have a load of money then there's no saying they have to hand it over in order to help with their child's education. My friends won't get any EMA; I think a set amount per week should just be given to all students who stay on; no student's effort to carry on learning after 16 is less valid than that of another.