Help r.e letter to headmaster.

gregg1

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Given the fact that many people cannot afford to take their child in holiday times, and that a holiday is far more beneficial than being stuck in school - what is your point?

A good teacher will provide them with work to do on their holiday.



Extra costs? It would seem that the amount of money raised through fines would go straight into paying for the administration of the fines scheme. I can't imagine schools will actually see anything of the money.

A good teacher is too busy teaching kids who attend during term to have to prepare work for kids who are away on holiday instead of being in class!

As to your point about holidays being more beneficial than being in school - I would like to wish all those kids you refer to good luck for their GCSE in elementary sandcastle building!

simplethings

As mentioned before, a HT can authorise 10 days but is under no obligation to do so. It is also unacceptable to believe that if a teacher is good, they will set work. This takes a lot of time on top of the planning and prep work the teacher has alread done for his/her class of 30+ with 4-6 different levels in each lesson. A child WILL miss vital instruction that, unless a parent is also a teacher of that level, cannot usually be replicated by a parent. So, please don't expect work to be set. When I have done it in the past it either was not done or not done properly. Thus, the time and effort I put into preparing it was just lost time.

That being said, I understand that sometimes there is no other choice but to take a holiday during school time. I wish I could do it. However, I can't afford the school holidays and OH can't usually get time off during school holidays. Oh well.... thus is life.

peachyprice

gregg1 wrote: »

As to your point about holidays being more beneficial than being in school - I would like to wish all those kids you refer to good luck for their GCSE in elementary sandcastle building!

They'll be great candidates for the Travel & Leisure BTEC :rotfl::rotfl:

gabyjane

Freakyogre i know we have now discussed this but thankyou for your sensible posts shame others aren't like you! (biased i know!!)

dizziblonde i'm not sure anywhere i have stated that i am expecting the school to compensate for dd missing school work?..i simply said that we would out of goodwill ask for some work if required to take with us and if not then least we have asked.

Paddy2eyes not quite sure what that's got to do with anything..luckily i am self employed so can take whenever i wish off..my paid job i have quite happily sign my holiday forms without the 3rd degree and if i have no holiday left for whatever reason then hey it's my choice whether to still take time off or not.

Bonty44 thankyou..a nice post for once..i know loads of people do take their kids out, for some reason i seem to be one of these sensible parents who thinks through every option first though just to make sure everything is done right...not sure it does any good but hey! thanks.

barnaby-bear apologies if i somehow crossed wires with you. Your part though where you ask
'But why should they not also contribute towards the cost of the extra tuition to get the kids up to speed and the extra workload on the teacher.'
I am not quite sure what that has to do with anything..on one hand we have people saying that teachers do not put themselves out when children go away etc and you are saying we should pay for the children to be brought back up to speed on their work?? are you suggesting we should slip a few £ in the teachers pocket? if they do not have my dd there to teach and my dd does not do any of the work they have missed while she was away why is it hardship for her teacher?

poppyolivia i hope our head sees like yours does!! only about 3 days and i will know!

dizziblonde i never said anywhere that i expected dd's teacher to set her work while we were away did i? i said we would ask if she could take some as a gesture as good will..teachers are supposed to plan well ahead so they should have a rough idea of what she will be doing then..even if we do something related it all helps..if not we have tried and won't stress all holiday about it.

gregg1 lol dd has been away every year for 2 weeks since she has been a 1 year old..she is top in most things at school, she is not a genious but who is? i don't think her few days off school has ruined her chances of doing well and think your comment is rather daft tbh. How many kids attend school full time and don't do well? maybe the 'building sandcastles' helps who knows?!

simplethings again i don't expect work to be set but just said we would ask, as we have before. I too plan for my kids in my job and tbh i know i dont work on as bigger scale but could give the parents some work if required..not quite the same as i said as i dont have as many kids to care for and not the same ages but the possibilty is still there if need be..they have 7 months notice to look into it if they are that bothered.

This post has gone way off the track (as usual) and i am not suprised by some of the comments! We at the end of the day are sensible parents and want dd to experience the world while she is younger..seeing as she is not bottom of the class and we are not worried about her education we are taking her now while she has the opportunity. A lot of children in her class go away thinking about it and the favourite is a friend of hers usually goes for around a 6 week stretch..i always bring this up if there is a parent who is worrying about time off as this parent never gets authorisation before and doesn't care..her dd is not doing brilliantly so that's when id'e think twice.

gabyjane

peachyprice wrote: »

They'll be great candidates for the Travel & Leisure BTEC :rotfl::rotfl:

PMSL!!! exactl;y who says dd doesn't want to be a travel agent or similar? i'm doing her a favour imo!

dizziblonde

gabyjane wrote: »

dizziblonde i never said anywhere that i expected dd's teacher to set her work while we were away did i? i said we would ask if she could take some as a gesture as good will..teachers are supposed to plan well ahead so they should have a rough idea of what she will be doing then..even if we do something related it all helps..if not we have tried and won't stress all holiday about it.
.

As I explained - teachers actually aren't meant to plan too far ahead. All I'll generally know is that in week 5 of term I'm meant to be covering report writing and division or something, and it won't be till the end of week 4 (usually a weekend) that I sit down, look at how far we've got in the previous week's work, and work out exactly how I'll cover that day-by-day because it might be that stuff has had to be pushed forward and back because of school events, or it might be that the kids just didn't get it and I've got to go back over something.

As for a show of goodwill - give me a break. You're choosing to take her out of school, and going in telling the teacher "you're supposed to plan well ahead what will she be missing" and expecting work... no chance. The work will be set, available in school Monday to Friday - you're making the choice to deny your child that work, don't expect teachers to work around you choosing to remove your child from education for those weeks.

peachyprice

gabyjane wrote: »

This post has gone way off the track (as usual) and i am not suprised by some of the comments! We at the end of the day are sensible parents and want dd to experience the world while she is younger..seeing as she is not bottom of the class and we are not worried about her education we are taking her now while she has the opportunity. A lot of children in her class go away thinking about it and the favourite is a friend of hers usually goes for around a 6 week stretch..i always bring this up if there is a parent who is worrying about time off as this parent never gets authorisation before and doesn't care..her dd is not doing brilliantly so that's when id'e think twice.

Sorry gaby, but if you're so confident that you are doing the right thing, why start the thread in the first place if there never was any dilema

poppyolivia

gabyjane wrote: »

A lot of children in her class go away thinking about it and the favourite is a friend of hers usually goes for around a 6 week stretch..i always bring this up if there is a parent who is worrying about time off as this parent never gets authorisation before and doesn't care..her dd is not doing brilliantly so that's when id'e think twice.

thats exactly it..6 wks is kinda taking the mickey but my daughter in this whole year has had the 5 school days off for the holiday and 2 days last wk because she took her first asthma attack and although she wanted to go back the teachers and the doctor would not allow it. Theres never any catch up work (she's 8) I've asked if we could read more of her reading book (which wouldn't be any bother to the teacher as they always had it) and the head said 'no need to bother with that, it would spoil her holiday'.....reading some of the comments on here maybe we are lucky. She wasn't behind in any of her work the last time I asked and I was told she was really polite (that last bit chuffed me up no end lol)

So alls good here!!!

good luck with your holiday and have a brill time!! Your kids will remember it for a long time to come! xxxx

mumps

I took my two out of school for four years. They caught up in a matter of weeks. I don't think two weeks is going to ruin their future. Hope you have a great holiday.

gregg1

gabyjane wrote: »

Freakyogre i know we have now discussed this but thankyou for your sensible posts shame others aren't like you! (biased i know!!)

dizziblonde i'm not sure anywhere i have stated that i am expecting the school to compensate for dd missing school work?..i simply said that we would out of goodwill ask for some work if required to take with us and if not then least we have asked.

Paddy2eyes not quite sure what that's got to do with anything..luckily i am self employed so can take whenever i wish off..my paid job i have quite happily sign my holiday forms without the 3rd degree and if i have no holiday left for whatever reason then hey it's my choice whether to still take time off or not.

Bonty44 thankyou..a nice post for once..i know loads of people do take their kids out, for some reason i seem to be one of these sensible parents who thinks through every option first though just to make sure everything is done right...not sure it does any good but hey! thanks.

barnaby-bear apologies if i somehow crossed wires with you. Your part though where you ask
'But why should they not also contribute towards the cost of the extra tuition to get the kids up to speed and the extra workload on the teacher.'
I am not quite sure what that has to do with anything..on one hand we have people saying that teachers do not put themselves out when children go away etc and you are saying we should pay for the children to be brought back up to speed on their work?? are you suggesting we should slip a few £ in the teachers pocket? if they do not have my dd there to teach and my dd does not do any of the work they have missed while she was away why is it hardship for her teacher?

poppyolivia i hope our head sees like yours does!! only about 3 days and i will know!

dizziblonde i never said anywhere that i expected dd's teacher to set her work while we were away did i? i said we would ask if she could take some as a gesture as good will..teachers are supposed to plan well ahead so they should have a rough idea of what she will be doing then..even if we do something related it all helps..if not we have tried and won't stress all holiday about it.

gregg1 lol dd has been away every year for 2 weeks since she has been a 1 year old..she is top in most things at school, she is not a genious but who is? i don't think her few days off school has ruined her chances of doing well and think your comment is rather daft tbh. How many kids attend school full time and don't do well? maybe the 'building sandcastles' helps who knows?!

simplethings again i don't expect work to be set but just said we would ask, as we have before. I too plan for my kids in my job and tbh i know i dont work on as bigger scale but could give the parents some work if required..not quite the same as i said as i dont have as many kids to care for and not the same ages but the possibilty is still there if need be..they have 7 months notice to look into it if they are that bothered.

This post has gone way off the track (as usual) and i am not suprised by some of the comments! We at the end of the day are sensible parents and want dd to experience the world while she is younger..seeing as she is not bottom of the class and we are not worried about her education we are taking her now while she has the opportunity. A lot of children in her class go away thinking about it and the favourite is a friend of hers usually goes for around a 6 week stretch..i always bring this up if there is a parent who is worrying about time off as this parent never gets authorisation before and doesn't care..her dd is not doing brilliantly so that's when id'e think twice.

It never ceases to amaze me how people who reularly take their kids out of school always claim it does'nt matter because their kids are "top of the class"! You say you regularly take her out of school for 2 weeks every year. Have you ever considered the impact this has on the other kids in the class and the teacher who has to help one child catch up? I suspect not. A few days on the odd occasion is fine. two week every year is not.

You say you will ask for work to take with you and if you don't get it, well at least you will have asked. Is that really where you think your responsibility ends?

Your comment about the way in which teachers are supposed to work just confirms that you have no idea at all how teachers work!

You are obviously irritated by some of the negative comments you have received but you have to accept that many people do not share the view that it is OK to take kids out of school for 2 weeks every year. Some of the comments you do not like are from people who actually experience the disruption it can cause at first hand. Maybe that is why they have such strong views on the subject.

BTW - my remark about sandcastles. I was being ironic!