Holidays with kids in school time, have you done it?

gregg1

bestpud wrote: »

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

Using all the tools available to ensure the greatest academic success. You personally may not be bothered about exam' results, but lots of people are.

Yep, that'll be teaching to the test then.

Oh exam results are important but, for me, it's about them having an education above and beyond the exam syllabus.

You've just summed up all that is wrong with education today! They can leave school with an arm full of GCSEs but it says absolutely nothing about their ability as they've been coached through them by teachers who think it is a skill to second guess the exam board and 'teach' them what they need to pass.

Doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid. My child will take GCSEs but will know it was her knowledge that got her through and not her teachers ability to manipulate the system.

Surely one of the main objectives is to teach them what they need to know to pass exams being that exams are the tool by which they will be measured on when chosing universities and careers!!!!!

gregg1

kelloggs36 wrote: »

Clearly you are not a teacher otherwise you would not have written such drivel.

Could not have put it better myself.

bestpud

gregg1 wrote: »

bestpud wrote: »

Surely one of the main objectives is to teach them what they need to know to pass exams being that exams are the tool by which they will be measured on when chosing universities and careers!!!!!

That isn't learning as far as I am concerned and I guess that's why employers and university lecturers often say school leavers are clueless despite their academic 'success'.

It's sad that the overriding objective is to collect exam certificates.

bestpud

gregg1 wrote: »

Funny how everyone justifies taking their kids on holiday during term time by claiming they are "top of the class"!

Everyone?? Didn't know I'd said that...

maman

zoeleigh wrote: »

kelloggs36 wrote: »

Lots of people DON'T have annual holidays - I didn't have one for nigh on 15 years - I had to go without because I had a child and I couldn't afford it. QUOTE]

You are coming across as very bitter rather than being constructive, I am just wondering if this may be why?

I just hit on this thread and looked in to see if it was the same as ever and it is.:rotfl: Every now and again a parent will post about taking chldren on holiday in school time and a teacher(s) will bite. The parent(s) don't like to hear what they know to be the truth from the teacher. They dress up the holiday as educational and then descend into teacher bashing. As an adult, how would your employer respond if you took off on holiday when you were supposed to be working? The principle is the same and that's one of the many things schools are trying to teach children. The children themselves generally understand and would prefer to go on holiday at the 'proper' time. What a shame that their own parents don't set them a better example.

bestpud

maman wrote: »

zoeleigh wrote: »

I just hit on this thread and looked in to see if it was the same as ever and it is.:rotfl: Every now and again a parent will post about taking chldren on holiday in school time and a teacher(s) will bite. The parent(s) don't like to hear what they know to be the truth from the teacher. They dress up the holiday as educational and then descend into teacher bashing. As an adult, how would your employer respond if you took off on holiday when you were supposed to be working? The principle is the same and that's one of the many things schools are trying to teach children. The children themselves generally understand and would prefer to go on holiday at the 'proper' time. What a shame that their own parents don't set them a better example.

Haha are you for real?? :rotfl:

I've never met a child yet who would rather their parents didn't take
them on holiday!! Maybe if they were in the middle of GCSE work or something but I wouldn't advocate taking them then anyway!

And I'd turn your argument on it's head and say teachers don't like what they know to be true and so turn it into a parent bashing thread and instantly begin calling any parent who dares speak up 'selfish' or otherwise a bad parent.

Works two ways as I said ages ago. Each case is different.

As for the industry argument - each industry sets it's own rules and each family works within a number of limitations. Since when did education overrule everything a family does?

Yes it's a high priority but sometimes it can take a back seat and it is too simplistic to say that is always a bad thing.

shellsuit

maman wrote: »

I just hit on this thread and looked in to see if it was the same as ever and it is.:rotfl: Every now and again a parent will post about taking chldren on holiday in school time and a teacher(s) will bite. The parent(s) don't like to hear what they know to be the truth from the teacher. They dress up the holiday as educational and then descend into teacher bashing. As an adult, how would your employer respond if you took off on holiday when you were supposed to be working? The principle is the same and that's one of the many things schools are trying to teach children. The children themselves generally understand and would prefer to go on holiday at the 'proper' time. What a shame that their own parents don't set them a better example.

You book leave at work.

Parents book leave/get permission at school for their child.

It's the same thing.

Neither just wake up one morning and decide to swan off on holiday for a fortnight.

If headteacher and employer don't have a problem with allowing X time off in X month, then why are you making it a problem?

And children would prefer to go on holiday when it's school holidays would they? :cool::rotfl:

How many kids do you know who have told you that?

Mrs_Arcanum

So the regular Chicken Pox season doesn't disrupt classes? I remember on year at primary school one particular class was decimated by this for over a month. These things happen and teachers cope.

However until school runs all year or holiday companies stop having peak seasons, parents will continue to take their children out of schools for holidays.

My children have not sacrificed any part of their education as a result and have had their lives enriched instead. They dont have Play Stations or the latest gadgets & games. They do have lasting memories. Remember those of us who are not teachers have to consider childcare through the holidays (nearest relatives are 80 miles away and not somewhere lovely either).

kelloggs36 wrote:

And when you have the money then that isn't a problem - but you didn't. You chose to withdraw your children from an education to go on holiday - I'm sure all had a great time, but you could always do it in the school holidays.

NO we would NEVER have been able to afford it. Our savings, our money, our dreams, our choice.

Even education authorities have admitted the Autumn and Summer terms are often too long. Resulting in exhausted children who are no longer able to concentrate (but there you go). TBH I would rather see the school year more evenly spread, but that might require teachers to start work before the end of August. :eek:

blue_monkey_2

I've never been refused a holiday at work - neither has my husband. He is not told he can only go on at work at set times of the year - when it is more expensive for him to do so.

Our holiday is not educational, it's family time and a break from us. I have a child with a disability so we need to go when it is quiet and term times are not quiet. We deliberately choose times when we know the 'native' kids are in school and when it is not mid-summer. However, I am still going to take a holiday, I don;t care if anyone likes it or not. The worst they can do is have the truancy board out.

My daughter spent 12 weeks making herself sick in morning registration before the school finally relented and thought she may be doing it to get off school. They would stand in front of her saying 'she has to have 48 hours off now'. It was Monday, she was 'allowed' back on Thursday. They eventually agreed she could go in if she was sick and then she was never sick after that. Funny that.

No teacher has yet answered me though.

Why is it acceptable for you to send a child home that tells you they have been sick, without you having actually seen that sick?

Why do you send them home for 'looking' ill? Because usually it's because they are too hot or have been running around on a full stomach.

When a child has been sick because they have, for example, been sick the once because they have eaten something they do not like or have eaten too much, and so have to be off school for 48 hours? Why not leave it for the parents to decide whether they child is well enough to come to school the next day?

As it goes, if my child is sick at home I still send them in. I know whether they are ill enough or not, if they are fine, they go to school. If they have bugs I keep them at home.

blue_monkey_2

There is a group of us mums, some are teachers and some have quite high jobs in managements, I run my own business and kind of drifted for many years.

My kids watched TV and had a leapster while the other mums never let their kids watch TV and played educational games. My daughter walkted, talked, counted, read and wrote before all of these other children. She is now a good 2 years above them in her academic ability. Children are, what they are, if my child was struggling then no, I probably would not take them. However, they aren't so I will.