daughters school is letting them out 1h early for next england game , right or wrong

debs2327

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

I don't understand why some people think that all the children should be herded into the hall to watch a football match, whether or not they're interested, but they shouldn't be able to leave an hour early to watch it with their families, or do something else fun? There's something really messed up about that.

Schools aren't prisons. Some perspective wouldn't go amiss.

sorry but it sounds like you are saying that the world cup is more important than a childs education in our schools of course they shouldnt be " able to leave 1 hour early to watch it with there families" , where would it stop ???? , the latest box office movie , a celeb visiting in town , the OLYMPICS ???!!!!
my other daughter competes in a lot of sport activitie ie :- gynmastics , cross country , girls football , all include in compertitions, trials lots of training matches , country races , all of which i make sure it is out of school times ,
school is a very important thing and is the education to make the child do something with there lives , if the teachers think like you we would have no structure in any school !!!!!!!

debs2327

just to add to in my town coventry the ricoh arena has won to host the olympic football no doubt it will be hosting other things too , i can see a lot of school time off for that too

DigitalJedi

To be honest I personally don't care if they give the kids an hour off for the world cup.

However, what I DO care about is the double standards. What do you think the school's reaction would be if myself as a parent had said "Erm, mind if I pick DS up an hour early so he can watch the footie?"

I somehow suspect I'd get "no. His education is important blah blah...."

It really irks me that schools get to decide stuff like this without consulting the poor parents who will now have to change plans but if the shoe was on the other foot then we have to practically beg.

Gingham_Ribbon

debs2327 wrote: »

sorry but it sounds like you are saying that the world cup is more important than a childs education in our schools of course they shouldnt be " able to leave 1 hour early to watch it with there families" , where would it stop ???? , the latest box office movie , a celeb visiting in town , the OLYMPICS ???!!!!...if the teachers think like you we would have no structure in any school !!!!!!!

I'd like to see a lot less 'structure' in schools and a lot more tailoring to suit the kids' needs.

As for 'where will it stop?' It's not judicial precedent. It's a one off. Don't the kids get to leave class to join in in sporting events, music events etc? Don't the kids get to have a day off if they're going to a wedding? Celebrating a religious festival?

Be a rounded person kids. Have some fun once in a while. What is wrong with that?

chickywiggle

i can understand if the school had said "we are allowing the children the option of finishing school at 2.20 so parents and children can have the opportunity to watch the match, if you do not want your child to finsih early they will have the option of staying until normal school ends, we shall be watching the match in the hall, however there will also be art activities and books for those who do not want to watch the match".

But to say "we will be closing" is rediculous. Yes I get the "only every 4 years" arguement but there will be parents (doctors, nurses etc) who cannot finish early - should they be forced into taking a holiday (or unpaid leave) day for the schools beneift???


OHHH i remember the school openign early for the match I must have been on teaching placement - that was such a good comunal experience - i have never seen the children so quiet.

conradmum

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

I'd like to see a lot less 'structure' in schools and a lot more tailoring to suit the kids' needs.

As for 'where will it stop?' It's not judicial precedent. It's a one off. Don't the kids get to leave class to join in in sporting events, music events etc? Don't the kids get to have a day off if they're going to a wedding? Celebrating a religious festival?

Be a rounded person kids. Have some fun once in a while. What is wrong with that?

No, GR, they don't. That's the problem and I think the reason why some posters on here see it as dishonest and hypocritical of schools to do this when it suits their own purposes (i.e. in this case a persuasive PE-oriented deputy head).

My son asked his head of year if he could leave an hour early to attend a Royal Society lecture in London and the answer was no. I had to invent a dentist's appointment. I'm basically an honest person but at the end of the day I believed as a parent I had the final say on what I felt was a greater educational opportunity on that occasion and so I lied. I think lots of other parents feel forced to do this or openly oppose the school's dictates in such circumstances, neither of which send a good message to their children. If my son's school were then to announce an hour off to watch a football match I'd be justifiably outraged, I think.

As I don't watch TV I'm not sure whether it's media hype or the economic crisis that's driving people to this excessive obsession over the World Cup. It didn't used to be like this so something has definitely changed. I can remember many national sporting triumphs but no time off school to watch them before. Maybe a day off for the Queen's Silver Jubilee but that's it I think.

Gingham_Ribbon

conradmum wrote: »

My son asked his head of year if he could leave an hour early to attend a Royal Society lecture in London and the answer was no. I had to invent a dentist's appointment. I'm basically an honest person but at the end of the day I believed as a parent I had the final say on what I felt was a greater educational opportunity on that occasion and so I lied. .

I would have taken him too, though I'd have told the head exactly what was happening and he could just deal with it. Some heads are unreasonable about this, I agree, and don't seem to understand what a rounded education is.

Also, the head is able to mark the child on the register as being 'educated off site' without an 'absent' mark appearing on their records and without their insurance being affected, so there is NO reason for him to prevent such things.

But not all schools operate these unreasonable policies and this sounds like one opportunity for a school to relax the rules a bit and they're being jumped on, so it's not hard to see why so many don't bother.

As for parents having to take time off work? I don't understand. This is a high school, not primary.

Mark_the_owl

pigpen wrote: »

Just a thought though.. is the Head male perchance? Or bowing to pressure from male staff.. ? .. not to stereotype but most people watching will be male.

*shakes head in disbelief*

conradmum

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

I would have taken him too, though I'd have told the head exactly what was happening and he could just deal with it. Some heads are unreasonable about this, I agree, and don't seem to understand what a rounded education is.

Also, the head is able to mark the child on the register as being 'educated off site' without an 'absent' mark appearing on their records and without their insurance being affected, so there is NO reason for him to prevent such things.

But not all schools operate these unreasonable policies and this sounds like one opportunity for a school to relax the rules a bit and they're being jumped on, so it's not hard to see why so many don't bother.

As for parents having to take time off work? I don't understand. This is a high school, not primary.

To clarify, the head of year had actually more of the 'my hands are tied' response to it, and suggested that a dentist's appointment would, ridiculously enough, be an acceptable reason to leave an hour early, so was in fact colluding with me to break the rules. But that's what happens when the rules become Draconian and irrational. (I could tell more stories about my other son's primary head, though. :cool:)

Some schools are getting very heavy-handed about not allowing any time off for holidays etc., penalising responsible parents for the faults of the f e c kless ones. Schools need to operate sensibly and reasonably if they want to reserve the right to close for frivolous reasons of their own.

daska

If watching the game is so important then why isn't the school inviting the kids to watch it at school, supervised?

I think this is more about what the teachers want than what is beneficial to the students.