Keeping child off school because it's their birthday!

Torry_Quine

ska_lover wrote: »

No one on this thread ever taken an unauthorised absence from work - pulled a sickie?

According to reports last year, something like 131 million work days were lost in the UK with a large proportion of them being for minor 'illness' like hangover, or people just fancying a day off

Clearly millions of adults don't think pulling a unauthorised absence from their own responsibilities is a big deal - with clearly a lot more riding on it such as mortgage payments etc, rather than a missed sports day or something

When I was working I never took a day off unless it was a genuine illness and that's not me boasting just being factual. I think it is very irresponsible for instance to drink alcohol to excess if working the next day, surely that's not such a strange concept.

double_mummy

i dont mind working my birthday but i always book the kids off 1st jane my boss thinks im mad but the hooliday requests go in for november and september

my kids go to school (or nursery until septemeber YAY) if a school day and then we will do something special after school - it is my job as a parent to go to work and earn and look after them and it is their job as a child to go to school and try as hard as they can

supersaver2

peachyprice wrote: »

Nope, it's a fantastic school, consistently in the top 5 in our LEA, they just use time efficiently the rest of the year. All of my children have done brilliantly there.

Perhaps your school should plan better if they're still trying to cram in curriculum right up to the bitter end?

I don't get the lazy bit? Please explain.

Is this is secondary or primary school you are talking about?

I'm a secondary teacher and we are still on timetable, we don't break up for another 2 weeks. Our Year 11's have left and we are starting intensive intervention and mentoring with our current Year 10's to get them ready for their GCSE'S, this in my opinion is good planning, spending a day watching staff playing doesn't sound like a great use of time to me.

Robisere

It's my gorgeous, intelligent, lively 8 year old DGD,s birthday soon, next week in fact. But she stands no chance of a day off at home: mum works at the school next to hers and she takes her in every morning.

However, she does not mind a bit. All the class are her friends and all will sing her a Happy Birthday song, cards etc. This will be all over in 10 minutes, then back to schoolwork, which she loves. At the weekend DGD gets a family & friends party.

I would not criticise this family for keeping DD from school, but it is not something I would condone either.

peachyprice

supersaver2 wrote: »

Is this is secondary or primary school you are talking about?

I'm a secondary teacher and we are still on timetable, we don't break up for another 2 weeks. Our Year 11's have left and we are starting intensive intervention and mentoring with our current Year 10's to get them ready for their GCSE'S, this in my opinion is good planning, spending a day watching staff playing doesn't sound like a great use of time to me.

Secondary.

Perhaps they are doing intervention and mentoring of the yr10's, I wouldn't know as my daughter is in yr8.

They have just, in the last 3 weeks, split the school into houses, the idea behind the tug-of-war was to team build with the teachers and cross-year pupils in the new houses. Presumably this day had been planned in advance and worked into the timetable?

Anyway, enough of the 'your school must be crap because it does things differently to ours', that's not what this thread is about. Perhaps just accept that there is more than one way to run a school efficiently.

Bonniepurple

peachyprice wrote: »

Secondary.

Perhaps they are doing intervention and mentoring of the yr10's, I wouldn't know as my daughter is in yr8.

They have just, in the last 3 weeks, split the school into houses, the idea behind the tug-of-war was to team build with the teachers and cross-year pupils in the new houses. Presumably this day had been planned in advance and worked into the timetable?

Anyway, enough of the 'your school must be crap because it does things differently to ours', that's not what this thread is about. Perhaps just accept that there is more than one way to run a school efficiently.

Please, please can someone tell a current Cabinet Officer this???

supersaver2

peachyprice wrote: »

Secondary.

Perhaps they are doing intervention and mentoring of the yr10's, I wouldn't know as my daughter is in yr8.

They have just, in the last 3 weeks, split the school into houses, the idea behind the tug-of-war was to team build with the teachers and cross-year pupils in the new houses. Presumably this day had been planned in advance and worked into the timetable?

Anyway, enough of the 'your school must be crap because it does things differently to ours', that's not what this thread is about. Perhaps just accept that there is more than one way to run a school efficiently.

You seem very touchy, I certainly do accept that schools can run differently and very efficiently. i just don't accept your previous comment that at this time of year they are doing nothing in schools, we are still working across all 6 year groups and there won't be any downtime until a 2 weeks today which is our last school day.

daisiegg

If the child is missing one day a year for a birthday and it is the only day they have off in the whole year, then maybe it's not such a big deal. But in my experience the type of parents who would keep a child off school for a birthday are also quick to keep them off for other reasons, and it's when the overall attendance drops that it becomes problematic.

Also disagree about there being nothing going on in schools at the moment. Our school 'activity' week is done earlier in the term and at the moment it is very much business as usual - apart from one morning which is sports' day. My classes are all working towards and completing end of term assessments in these last two weeks! Y9 are working on their first GCSE text and Y10 are doing a controlled assessment (worth 15% of their grade). The senior leadership team do what they call 'DVD walks' where they come round and pop into lessons to make sure everything is productive. Until the very last day, when there are assemblies and things, it is just like any other time of year.

moomoomama27

peachyprice wrote: »

Nope, it's a fantastic school, consistently in the top 5 in our LEA, they just use time efficiently the rest of the year. All of my children have done brilliantly there.

Perhaps your school should plan better if they're still trying to cram in curriculum right up to the bitter end?

I don't get the lazy bit? Please explain.

Who said we were cramming anything in!?

I find closing for Tour de France very strange! Making children spend all day spectating teachers larks!

Never taught in a school that comes off timetable before the end of term, except for sports day and leavers assembly which takes up an afternoon! Thankfully the schools in the area I am in put a good emphasis on educating children at school, we have consistent good results too!

moomoomama27

supersaver2 wrote: »

You seem very touchy, I certainly do accept that schools can run differently and very efficiently. i just don't accept your previous comment that at this time of year they are doing nothing in schools, we are still working across all 6 year groups and there won't be any downtime until a 2 weeks today which is our last school day.

I agree totally! There's is no need to deviate from timetable just because the end of the school year is near. We do a lot of transitioning over the last 4-6 weeks, which really prepares them for the next year. I am really against lazy teaching days just because it's summer, Easter or Christmas!