and what if those couple of hours doesn’t happen?

dunno, what happens if kids are ill for a week or absent for other reasons ? Do schools offer some sort of catchup for that ?

It also appears you’re sending your kids to school for about 20 hours a week more than they need

Depends what you think school is for, formal learning or general development. If the latter counts for some of it (I’d argue “a lot” for infant & even junior schools), then a broadly similar (or challengingly different) social environment might work just as well

quick email outline of the week’s work shouldn’t take much of the teacher’s time.

Aye why dont they just have one ready every week for those who go on holiday they have tons of free time do primary school teachers

a few hours at home concentrated study without classroom distractions will be more than enough!

on wonders why we bother with som nay hours of schooling with highly trained professionals then

Point being, it’s not black and white, good vs bad.

Thanks god you are not doing that eh 😯

You are correct its not black and white but it is clearly, generally, disruptive and unhelpful

on wonders why we bother with som nay hours of schooling with highly trained professionals then

ah, that’ll probably be those pesky “classroom distractions” that your parent at home won’t have to deal with

Kids on a school organised holiday will have learning included, following curriculum in a stealthy (or not so) way.

Do you set homework for your kids when they are sitting by the pool?

But this summer we had to juggle childcare around work between us, only had one week as an actual family together.

. Personally, I think this is more important in terms of the child than school. I understand this isn’t the situation in the OP and thankfully not our situation either.

Interesting though because our school is very hot on not authorising absence this year. However last year they closed the school for elections and didn’t use that day for teacher training so that was an additional lost day, there were two school outings with tenuous connections to education – one was a theme park and another to see a film – Frozen IIRC.

One thing that could be considered is grouping teacher training days together. This could give an option for family time – including a holiday if wished and not increasing disruption to education.

Do you set homework for your kids when they are sitting by the pool?

We didn’t have a term time holiday – our children still did one hour of reading, spelling, tables, maths and other study every single day. Three weeks of that this summer was part of the holiday club they go to, remaining three weeks was my wife and I.

Just go on holiday to places you can afford to go during the school holidays. Simples.

It’s fine if it’s nice, middle class people, like us, obvs.

We took Lettuce and Grizedale to Jamaica in term time last year.
They learned so much – Letty’s blunts are the talk of the common room.

I don’t think she’s have gained essential life skills like that in the Cotswolds, would she?

As for teachers, who the HELL do they think they are?

Lazy bastards have all those holidays to help kids fortunate enough to have parents like us.

Lettuce and Grizedale

😆

Davidtaylforth – we’ll have none of that sort of nonsense on this forum. Two weeks by the pool in Spain is every British child’s birthright!

I’m just about to ask to take my daughter out of school on Friday (1 day early)

Apparently she will be missing a Spanish exam, ironically we are off to Spain so I’m curious t see the response.

I’m armed with the 4 days at the last term (Summer hols)when all they did was watch DVD’s and this Thursday they are away on an activity day.

Which is OK except it’s at the Trafford centre shopping !!!

If they refuse then I will be up for a fight.

and BTW, my daughters attendance is 100% so far this year (not this term, this year.

and I agree with the fine if it went on ‘after school teaching’ to make up the time away from school, but as far as I know it doesn’t !!

Davidtaylforth – we’ll have none of that sort of nonsense on this forum. Two weeks by the pool in Spain is every British child’s birthright!

😀

When I were a lad, it was a four days on a campsite in Muncaster; or a week at the Sea Houses in Northumberland. Never did me any harm.

A few weeks in the T5 doing vineyards, towed on a bike trailer or skiing is educational and the head teacher (even if it’s not the HT anymore) should realise that. 2 weeks in an all inclusive in Benidorm, Tenerife or Disneyland just isn’t doing them any good and reinforcing that slacking is ok.

PMSL

and I agree with the fine if it went on ‘after school teaching’ to make up the time away from school, but as far as I know it doesn’t !!

How would you propose to staff this? The money certainly doesn’t go to the school.

You’ve probably picked up I’m a teacher 😉

I see it from both sides tbh, but schools are just enforcing Govt policy. However being out of school can impact on progress – it depends on the student, parents and what they are missing.

I’m armed with the 4 days at the last term (Summer hols)when all they did was watch DVD’s

I’ve not seen that in schools for over 10 years – you need to ask the school some serious questions – I presume you raised it at the time?

I’ve not seen that in schools for over 10 years – you need to ask the school some serious questions – I presume you raised it at the time?

Not intended to be teacher bashing, but pretty common – maybe not 4 days – at our kids primary school. I

four days on a campsite in Muncaster; or a week at the Sea Houses in Northumberland

Luxury!

I’ve not seen that in schools for over 10 years – you need to ask the school some serious questions – I presume you raised it at the time?

no, but I will be depending upon the response to my request.

When the student comes back, who will have to help them catch-up = the teacher.

When the student falls behind, who will be blamed = the teacher.

Who has accountability = the teacher.

More than the practicalities and specific impact of lost time is the message that the Dad is sending the kid:

1.”Education is somewhat important, but less important than our holiday.”
2.”Getting what you want now is the important thing.”
3.”Dad and the school are at odds, if I get in to trouble, I can rely on Dad to take my side.”

I remember my parents making me quit my Saturday job before my A levels. It meant I didn’t have much spending money – we weren’t rich – for 4 months. Got 3 A grades and into a top university. I hated it at the time.

Now I am a teacher I routinely have kids who work 3 days a week. These are middle class, Surrey kids, whose parents drive Mercs and Beemers. But they want the cash to live an 20 something lifestyle when they are teenagers. I can tell you the names of scores of students who do not reach their potential because of it.

I have no sympathy for the Dad who was taken to court, he should be ashamed of himself and start acting like a responsible adult. They should have fined him the cost of the holiday.

They should have fined him the cost of the holiday

Certainly the current level of fines are no deterrent. Until the fines make the term time holiday uneconomic, it’s a wasted piece of legislation.

I routinely have kids who work 3 days a week.

So you are conflating chronic truancy with a single “managed” absence? Why?

ajt123 – well done on your A-level results and ‘top’ University attendance – we clearly need more teachers like yourself.

However as I understand it this particular case was ‘won’ on the basis that his child had excellent attendance… So presumably the parents of the kids you teach who only attend/work 3 days a week would still be fined.

I’m also not sure the Dad should be ashamed of himself either. Where has the Dad suggested that the teacher should get the blame for anything?

where have they said the dad would be the one doing the blaming?

As for teachers, who the HELL do they think they are?
Lazy bastards have all those holidays to help kids fortunate enough to have parents like us.

Has anyone said that…?

I’m armed with the 4 days at the last term (Summer hols)when all they did was watch DVD’s

They did spend at least two days doing similar at our school at the end of term – which we were not expecting. We would have challenged the school at the time but dealing with the constant passive-aggressive approach whenever you raise a concern with the head means we didn’t. Things seem better at the ‘outstanding’ school since she was suspended…

Has anyone said that…?

He’s got kids called Lettuce and Grizedale…..

You are right ….we clearly cannot trust his views

The whole school calendar and system is out of date.

Kids don’t need 6 weeks to help with the summer harvest these days, do they!

Also, the 9-3:30pm just doesn’t exactly fit with most peoples work days.

Make it 9-5pm with 5-6 weeks annual leave to be taken whenever you want.

Never going to happen – can you imagine the noises the unions would make. Ha!

Pay teachers more, increase the work capacity of the UK working population, reduce childcare costs, increase the amount of education a child receives – whether that’s maths, sports, or whatever.

Just a small change…

Kids on a school organised holiday will have learning included, following curriculum in a stealthy (or not so) way.

I ran that one by my sister at Sunday dinner. After she stopped laughing she said that isn’t how it works at her school. The kids on the ski week are handed notes after they get back and need to catch up (or not) themselves. She doesn’t think it’s a good idea for kids to miss a whole week whether it’s parents or the school arranging it. Though she teaches secondary 3rd -6th year. It may be less on an issue for primary schools.

Do you set homework for your kids when they are sitting by the pool?

I never took my kids out of school during term time.

She doesn’t think it’s a good idea for kids to miss a whole week whether it’s parents or the school arranging it. Though she teaches secondary 3rd -6th year. It may be less on an issue for primary schools.

It is more work for the Teachers, so hard to get them on board. It happens all the time in the ME. You just have to make sure it’s taken into account when it comes to assessing their performance. Some kids take off the entire period of ramadan which is hard to police. Parents have to accept that it’s their choice, and the effect it has on their kids is their responsibility.

Attendance otherwise needs to be acceptable I feel.

Unless the child is thick it’s a breeze to come back after missing a week, GCSEs were a doddle and it was no different in workload to every time my tonsils flared up at secondary school and I had a week off…glandular fever had me out of school for two weeks and and nearly in hospital, I dont remember that being a challenge to catch up either.

I stand by earlier comments, if the overall attendance is good then a week with the family is more important than just another week in school…obviously important weeks that include exams are different.

In priority order it goes like this:

Family
School/Work
Everything else

People would do well to remember that.

I don’t think that the decision to take a child out of school for a week should be taken lightly, but it should be able to be taken. If the curriculum is so fast moving and intense that a week out could cause a real problem for a child, then we as a society are expecting too much of our children, our teachers and our schools.

For reference, this is why we’re taking her out a week early:

That’s a bargain, and you’d be crazy not to take advantage of it. In fact, everyone should be free to book at those prices, shouldn’t they?

Now, if everyone took their kids out of school a week earlier, do you think that price would stay the same…?

Speaking as a parent who hasn’t had a cheap holiday in the 8 years since eldest started school. And won’t get one for another 9 years till the youngest finishes. No one is entitled to a cheap holiday.

No one is entitled to a holiday, cheap or expensive.

Not everyone will be taking their kids out then kcr. It didn’t happen before these silly rules came in so it won’t happen if they changed.

That’s a bargain, and you’d be crazy not to take advantage of it.

It’s not a bargain – it’s the exact opposite of a bargain. It is an illustration of how much they hike the price at half term.

We’ve stayed there twice before. It’s nice, but it’s nowhere even close to £1859 per person nice.

Now, if everyone took their kids out of school a week earlier, do you think that price would stay the same…?

Course not. But if everyone took their kids out then the spread in demand would lower the ridiculous premium on the half term week.

Ultimately I’m not making any grand moral statement here. I’m just saying, this is why we’ll most likely be taking our daughter out a week early.

Of course, the important thing is to make sure we have nice holidays, not that our children are educated[/sarcytwat]. Gotta take the comments about “our child has 90%+ attendance” at face value, but do you think the rule is in place for kids who generally work hard and attend well?

No, why would we think that?

it’s wrong to take a week or more off school for a holiday, couple of days before or after a holiday is ok if the child has over 95% attendance.

This could be solved by changing the holiday patterns have a month in the summer and make half terms two weeks. Stagger each area so south east has july, south west august, midlands september etc stagger the halfterms accordingly problem solved

attendance has a massive impact on achievement, above 95% 60% chance of good gcses, below that drops to 30%

it’s wrong to take a week or more off school for a holiday

That’s good to know, thanks.

But for the sake of saving four and half grand I can live with being “wrong”. 😀

attendance has a massive impact on achievement, above 95% 60% chance of good gcses, below that drops to 30%

Especially in the classes that teach correlation versus causation. 😉