Our kids refused time off school during term time - please advice

ViolaLass

Soleil_lune wrote: »

Right up to about 7 or 8 years ago, kids were allowed 10 days off in school time and now they are not. And yet ironically, grades in many schools are worse.

In which schools are grades worse?

Are those schools where attendance has changed?

Are there any other factors that might have affected the grades?

Are you saying that more time off school would help grades?

Soleil_lune

ViolaLass wrote: »

1. In which schools are grades worse?

2. Are those schools where attendance has changed?

3. Are there any other factors that might have affected the grades?

4. Are you saying that more time off school would help grades?

1. The overall percentage of passes in exams throughout the UK is worse than say 7-10 years ago.

2. Not necessarily.

3. Not sure

4. No, more time off wouldn't HELP, but I am saying that when kids were allowed 10 school days off, school grades were better. (Which suggests that stopping time off in school time has not made grades better! So why do it?!

Nessun_Dorma

Soleil_lune wrote: »

I agree. :T



Great. So only rich/well off people get to go on holiday then? Nice.

Right up to about 7 or 8 years ago, kids were allowed 10 days off in school time and now they are not. And yet ironically, grades in many schools are worse.

Go figure!

Well, not to put too fine point on it, yes. I know it stinks and is probably grossly unfair, but as we hear, so many times on these boards and elsewhere, apparently, "life is unfair." Like most things in life, if you can't afford it, you don't do it. If people stopped giving holiday companies their money, the holiday companies will have to do something about it.

I don't think the decline in standards in schools has much to do with the changes in holiday arrangements. I don't suppose you could explain how not being allowed to going holiday during term time could possibly cause the declining of standards in our schools.

missbiggles1

Soleil_lune wrote: »

1. The overall percentage of passes in exams throughout the UK is worse than say 7-10 years ago.

2. Not necessarily.

3. Not sure

4. No, more time off wouldn't HELP, but I am saying that when kids were allowed 10 school days off, school grades were better. (Which suggests that stopping time off in school time has not made grades better! So why do it?!

Or -

1. Might mean we've actually started to raise standards rather than grades.;)

ViolaLass

Soleil_lune wrote: »

1. The overall percentage of passes in exams throughout the UK is worse than say 7-10 years ago.

2. Not necessarily.

3. Not sure

4. No, more time off wouldn't HELP, but I am saying that when kids were allowed 10 school days off, school grades were better. (Which suggests that stopping time off in school time has not made grades better! So why do it?!

1. You don't say which exams you're referring to but this link has graphs for GCSEs

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/sep/17/gcse-exams-replaced-ebacc-history-pass-rates

and doesn't agree with you.

4. Correlation (if you had been correct) is not causation. Grades have improved. Maybe stopping time off school has helped, maybe it hasn't (research needed). I suspect the policy hasn't been around long enough for us to be sure yet.

Nessun_Dorma

pinkshoes wrote: »

As a secondary school teacher, i completely DISAGREE with this.

We are talking about 13 year olds with excellent attendance and grades, and parents that are clearly going to make sure the child knows what work they will be missing BEFORE they even go.

This is an amazing and educational holiday to go on, and no doubt they will learn more during a week in India than they would in a classroom.

Some kids take a week off sick without bothering to catch up.

Then you get chav parents who take their kids on chav holidays despite their poor attendance and grades at school, then take no interest in their child's education at all.

I know which child I would rather have in my class...

Flippin' 'eck!!!!!!! :eek: I am so glad you don't teach my children, if that is the importance you attach to their attendance.

I wonder if you would talk to a parent the same you write on here. When was the last time you called parent "a chav," to their faces?

ViolaLass

I'm wondering what a 'chav holiday' is. Is it location? Or what you do?

Nessun_Dorma

Soleil_lune wrote: »

1. The overall percentage of passes in exams throughout the UK is worse than say 7-10 years ago.

2. Not necessarily.

3. Not sure

4. No, more time off wouldn't HELP, but I am saying that when kids were allowed 10 school days off, school grades were better. (Which suggests that stopping time off in school time has not made grades better! So why do it?!

Complete and utter nonsense. There is no provable link that stopping parents taking their children out of school during term time has had a negative affect on exam grades.

What was the average A* - C pass in 2008 and what was it in each year after that?

Nessun_Dorma

ViolaLass wrote: »

1. You don't say which exams you're referring to but this link has graphs for GCSEs

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/sep/17/gcse-exams-replaced-ebacc-history-pass-rates

and doesn't agree with you.

4. Correlation (if you had been correct) is not causation. Grades have improved. Maybe stopping time off school has helped, maybe it hasn't (research needed). I suspect the policy hasn't been around long enough for us to be sure yet.

Oh dear!

Soleil_lune

ViolaLass wrote: »

1. You don't say which exams you're referring to but this link has graphs for GCSEs

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/sep/17/gcse-exams-replaced-ebacc-history-pass-rates

and doesn't agree with you.

4. Correlation (if you had been correct) is not causation. Grades have improved. Maybe stopping time off school has helped, maybe it hasn't (research needed). I suspect the policy hasn't been around long enough for us to be sure yet.

That is wrong/out of date.

Very good GCSE grades (like A*) have most definitely slipped this past few years!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11814085/GCSE-Results-Day-2015-live.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/gcse-results-day-2015-live-c-grades-rise-as-a-marks-fall-for-the-4th-year-in-a-row-10463189.html

And on here it highlights how top grades are down.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33990713

There are plenty more.

It was on every news item for a few days earlier this year; grades are down for sure.

Just google A level grades down; there are a shedload of news items on that too.

To say keeping kids off for 5 to 10 days in school time will affect their grades is utter nonsense.

I know many kids who went away for a week or two in school time who did well at school and did well in exams, and kids who were never taken out for holidays, who did terrible at exams and poor in school. So why anyone thinks keeping them off for a few school days a year will make them fail just baffles me. It won't.