Inset Days vs School Holidays

Spendless

Mine attend/ed separate Infant and Junior schools and though they both stand on the same school grounds, they are separate schools, with different head teachers, uniform etc. Sometimes their insets haven't matched up. Now with the eldest at Secondary and younger in yr 6, even though they are both at catchment area schools in villages next to each other, out of 5 inset days for thsi academic year, only 2 have matched up. I'm happy to leave eldest who is 14 all day whilst I work, but some people don't like leaving the younger ones, who are still 11 or 12. The wrap around care on youngest's school site is likely to open for an inset if it is tagged onto a school holiday week, they don't always open if it is a 'random' day mid-term being used as inset.

gregg1

daisiegg wrote: »

That is unfortunate. Our terms and conditions etc have also all remained exactly the same. Nothing has changed, not even the name. The head made it very clear the only reason for converting was to access the small amount of extra funding available. But then, we are an outstanding school usually in the top ten state schools nationally for results (sometimes top five) so I suppose if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

My OH's school went down the academy route for mainly the same reason, the extra funding. However they have just taken a massive hit in a reduction in their budget. Coincidentally, also outstanding school in top ten nationally.

gregg1

duchy wrote: »

I have worked in the field......I don't think sleeping with someone who is a teacher gives you quite the same perspective which is apparently where you are claiming your "experience" comes from !!

It's a bit like saying if you flatshare with a teacher you have more insight and understanding than someone who works alongside them (not that I think anyone on a forum has any more or less say- it's a forum you'll get many perspectives)
Not that your sniping is adding any value to the discussion. You'd get more credit saying "I don't teach but from my perspective which is a farmer (or whatever) married to a teacher I see X & Y" rather than dancing around what you do or don't say. Sulking or sniping because someone doesn't agree with you isn't helpful or persuasive.

Oh dear. You do have a habit of leaping to conclusions.

I based my observations both on my OH's experience but mainly from my own experience of working in education. I did mention that but you have chosen to ignore it.

Anyway, my initial post was in response to you blaming teachers for the scheduling of Inset days which I still think is incorrect. I fear you are attaching a tad too much importance to yourself re your comment that I am "sulking" merely because you do not agree with my opinion.

On that note, and because I fear this is getting us nowhere, I think we should just agree to disagree rather than continuing to argue the point any further.

duchy

Where on earth do you get the idea that TEACHERS schedule inset days from ? There was discussion from another poster about how she (as a teacher) has observed teachers influencing parents evening scheduling but nowhere has anyone said that training days are scheduled by teachers ....and rightly so it's a management function.

I'm sorry but I find it very hard to believe you have ever worked in education.

Carmina-Piranha_2

I forgot that not everywhere has a system of just two schools. Perhaps where schools are feeders or in a pyramid they could talk to each other re INSETs.

GobbledyGook

duchy wrote: »

Where on earth do you get the idea that TEACHERS schedule inset days from ? There was discussion from another poster about how she (as a teacher) has observed teachers influencing parents evening scheduling but nowhere has anyone said that training days are scheduled by teachers ....and rightly so it's a management function.

I'm sorry but I find it very hard to believe you have ever worked in education.

To be fair to the other poster it was you who suggested that closure days and twilight sessions were linked to 'appease' teachers. Which would be teachers having a hand in scheduling days....


And just for clarity because I have no wish to get caught up in the tit-for-tat thing that seems to be going on here. I am not a teacher. I worked in learning support so worked in schools with specific children, but not as a class teacher.

GobbledyGook

Carmina-Piranha wrote: »

I forgot that not everywhere has a system of just two schools. Perhaps where schools are feeders or in a pyramid they could talk to each other re INSETs.

It should be LEA related imo. In Scotland the council sets the in-service day dates. It means all the children in different areas can be off different days, but unless there is something major going on all the children in the same area are off on the same day.

Janepig

GobbledyGook wrote: »

It should be LEA related imo. In Scotland the council sets the in-service day dates. It means all the children in different areas can be off different days, but unless there is something major going on all the children in the same area are off on the same day.

Our LEA (in Wales) set 2 Inset days (usually the first school day in September and the first school day in January). The schools are left to decide on the other three. The last inset day my two had was on the Monday after the Easter holidays, but I would say about half the local schools were in, and all the comprehensive schools were in. I know quite afew schools had the inset day on the last Friday before the Easter holidays.

Jx

duchy

GobbledyGook wrote: »

It should be LEA related imo. In Scotland the council sets the in-service day dates. It means all the children in different areas can be off different days, but unless there is something major going on all the children in the same area are off on the same day.

I suppose the problem is that if external trainers are needed to deliver certain trainings the days have to be different as they can only deliver one training at a time (unless the training is done in one central large facility rather than in individual schools I guess)

GobbledyGook

duchy wrote: »

I suppose the problem is that if external trainers are needed to deliver certain trainings the days have to be different as they can only deliver one training at a time (unless the training is done in one central large facility rather than in individual schools I guess)

I get the feeling, again, that that happens less in England than in Scotland. My cousin certainly seems to spend more of her time on in-service days in the high school as her primary school and several others are attending a larger scale training event than I hear of schools here doing.

Schools here tend to be a bit more individual with things. Even down to daft things like there doesn't seem to be any equipment sharing when two schools local to each other could share things like a parachute or roller boards etc.

I suppose that's the compromise when the schools themselves have a little bit more autonomy. The other, small, upside to the different days is that children didn't miss many sessions with learning support. if their school was closed on 'their' day I'd switch days with another school.