Fined for holiday in school time

Alias_Omega

I would travel to my local sea-side arcade, and over the course of the day obtain £50 in 2p's & 5p's.

Then i would mix them up into a bag labelled as £50, and drop them off at the school for payment.

I would have to pleasure knowing that someone, somewhere was counting out all my cash...

maggied_2

Alias_Omega wrote: »

I would travel to my local sea-side arcade, and over the course of the day obtain £50 in 2p's & 5p's.

Then i would mix them up into a bag labelled as £50, and drop them off at the school for payment.

I would have to pleasure knowing that someone, somewhere was counting out all my cash...

Quite possibly one of the most asinine comments I've ever read on here.

adouglasmhor

Alias_Omega wrote: »

I would travel to my local sea-side arcade, and over the course of the day obtain £50 in 2p's & 5p's.

Then i would mix them up into a bag labelled as £50, and drop them off at the school for payment.

I would have to pleasure knowing that someone, somewhere was counting out all my cash...

And they could tell you to remove yourself and not accept it, there are legal maximum ammounts of coin they have to accept and your suggestion does not fit the bill.

£5 (Commerative Crown) - for any amount

£2 - for any amount

£1 - for any amount

50p - for any amount not exceeding £10

25p (Crown) - for any amount not exceeding £10

20p - for any amount not exceeding £10

10p - for any amount not exceeding £5

5p - for any amount not exceeding £5

2p - for any amount not exceeding 20p

1p - for any amount not exceeding 20p

Almo

Wow what a thread! And so much I want to say! First, to declare a vested interest: I am a teacher. I teach Adult Education, in a different country and actually my job isn't all that bad. I don't get more than the bog standard 4 weeks holiday that any worker gets (no term breaks for us - we teach the year round). I don't do any more (or less) work than my OH does in account management. I did when I first started, but then I got used to it.

I think the subject needs to be broken down. Does the OP have to pay the fine? Yes. The law is quite clear, and ignorance is not a defence in law. The absence was unauthorised and the law provides for penalty fines to be imposed. I don't see how there can be any argument - if you don't want to be fined, don't break the rules. You break the rules, you pay the fine.

That of course, doesn't deal with whether the policy is fair. I do think there needs to be some leniency, and a few days off over the course of a year isn't going to harm anyone. Three weeks in one go is a lot though. I understand the argument that holidays are cheaper during term time, but the education system can't force the tourism industry to ignore the rules of supply and demand. If holidays are so vital, can't you go locally during term breaks? I definitely think they can be educational, but I don't see why they have to be abroad to be educational. For the price of your out of season trip to Florida, you could probably have gone to the Lakes, or Cornwall, or Scotland, during a school holiday.

It's not as simple, from a teaching perspective, as declaring that you're not going to help the child catch up (or adult in my case). Quite often subsequent work assumes understanding of work done earlier in the term - if the student has missed it, they HAVE to be brought up to speed, or the class as a whole just gets further and further behind, and the individual student even more so.

Finally, yes students do play games in the last week of term. I don't teach primary school but I can clearly see the value in playing games (depending on what they are, of course) and making cards. DVDs are not something, on the whole, I'm fond of although they are useful for learning a foreign language. The whole situation is a bit chicken and egg. About half my class disappear before Christmas (the only time we close down for any length of time - 1 week). If I choose to continue with core work, I will have to repeat myself the first week back in January and that will be frustrating for the students who didn't swan off somewhere. If I don't repeat myself, half the class will be unable to participate in what we're doing. So, instead, I choose to do fun activites that still have some learning benefit, but are not 'core'. In my instance, that might be a fluency activity (could be reciting Christmas poems, singing Christmas songs - I teach language learners) or pronunciation (festive tongue twisters). Just because activities are fun, doesn't mean they are devoid of educational benefit.

I've gone on a bit, but in short I think a few days scattered over a year is fine; 3 weeks in 1 block is taking the mick.

Almo

kdmercury wrote: »

my first post about this subject so please be gentle :P.i have just put a holiday form in for my son who is 7 for 15 days in November for Florida as well but the school has only approved 10 days and not approved the other 5 days.My son is disabled with autismn,adhd,global development delay etc etc,he does attend mainstream school with a 20 hour statement.we only wanted 2 week holiday but needs the extra days(16 days in total away)because my sons medication would be affected due to jet lag etc which would cause alot of bad behaviour and he is very routine structure so this would take a while to get him settled,also my son do not like being around crowded places so going in school holiday time is not a option for us at all,the question i want to know is,could i get the other 5 days approved and if so who do i have to contact?also because of our situation my daughter is missing this time of as well at school,she is 10,any info would be great.

This is a genuine question, not a dig. Why do you need to take your son? It sounds like it will be massively disruptive for him. I don't mean you should leave him behind, I mean why can't the whole family do something that will allow for more of a continuation in routine? Surely even EuroDisney would be better?

Alias_Omega

maggied wrote: »

Quite possibly one of the most asinine comments I've ever read on here.

adouglasmhor wrote: »

And they could tell you to remove yourself and not accept it, there are legal maximum ammounts of coin they have to accept and your suggestion does not fit the bill.

£5 (Commerative Crown) - for any amount

£2 - for any amount

£1 - for any amount

50p - for any amount not exceeding £10

25p (Crown) - for any amount not exceeding £10

20p - for any amount not exceeding £10

10p - for any amount not exceeding £5

5p - for any amount not exceeding £5

2p - for any amount not exceeding 20p

1p - for any amount not exceeding 20p

& your taking me serious.?


I never have £50, Mrs Alias always ensures that she spends all cash before it arrives into the bank account.

clarabella23

I can't believe this thread is still running! I paid the £50 fine, simply because I can't handle the etra hassle at the minute that appealing would have brought, and it stopped the fine from increasing. I'll update at the end of the school year as to whether my DD reached her potential during year 1, or whether the teacher thought it had affected her!
Thanks for all the comments and thoughts, there's a lot of mixed replies here. I still believe I made a good choice to go, we enjoyed every minute and appreciated the time together, so it was well worth it in my opinion!