Holiday in school time - what to tell school

jem16

Dead_Eye_Jones wrote: »

edit: lol at the above poster. "marking time" rofl. You dont know many teachers do you? Marking time = school holidays. Its amazing to think some people actually belive teachers get weeks and weeks off over holidays. This summer, my teacher misses got a whole 2 week to herself. Whats that 10 days? Easter is the worst with course work, Christmas aint great either. She's lucky to even get the 20 days the rest of us have, add in the 100hrs a week she works. And you wonder why the government have trouble staffing?! You have to be a nutter to be a teacher. Just like my misses !

"marking time" - welcome to the real world!

The people who criticise teachers' holidays usually don't know any teachers!

andyrules

hobo28 wrote: »

Personally I've never seen the logic in the argument that parents cannot take their children on a holiday during term time.

The argument trotted out all the time is that ever day missed is detrimental to the child's education. Well if that holds true, and they were truly SO concerned, why do they have inset days during term times? Surely the logical time to have them is when the kids are on holidays!?!?! Also, what about all the swapping that seems to go on nowadays in schools?? The 2 schools my kids go to here seem to forever be swapping teachers/teaching assistants and supply teachers around. There's always a reason why teacher A is off or unavailable to teach. Again, more training, time off, marking time etc. etc.

The previous school my kids went to, the headmaster was much more enlightened. His attitude was that as long as your overall attendance was good then he had no problems. He only bothered about those families who had poor attendance records.

I think at the end of the day thats what its all about. There are many families out there who simply don't care about their child's education and unfortunately the govt are all too politically correct and/or cowardly to deal with them individually so tar all parents with the same brush. Typical of this government. Target the law abiding citizen's cos its easier than the one's who don't give a toss.

Wow hadnt realised but what a rant!

- Most schools I know tack the inset days onto the hols at either end which causes least disruption. The biggest difference between inset and term time hols is that during inset ALL the kids are off, hence your child does not miss a topic, part of or more.

Have to agree a little on the disruption caused by a teacher being off on training days etc. Some schools go over the top on this, would point out it's generally not the teacher's choice!

jem16

andyrules wrote: »

- Most schools I know tack the inset days onto the hols at either end which causes least disruption. The biggest difference between inset and term time hols is that during inset ALL the kids are off, hence your child does not miss a topic, part of or more.

Inset days are part of the children's holidays and are always tacked onto a holiday week or weekend.

Have to agree a little on the disruption caused by a teacher being off on training days etc. Some schools go over the top on this, would point out it's generally not the teacher's choice!

Most training now is done as twilight, i.e. 4:15pm to 6:15pm. It is sometimes necessary for training to be done during the school day and as you say we have no choice about it. When I have to go on a training day, I prepare the day's work and this is followed by the supply/cover teacher so there is no disruption to the child's education - it would be the same work I would be doing if I was there.

In fact the only disruption is to me as I have to prepare for my class and the training!

hobo28

jem16 wrote: »

Inset days are part of the children's holidays and are always tacked onto a holiday week or weekend.

Not always. Our school had one today. Its not like they've been back for long either.

shockingmoment

jem16 wrote: »

Sorry it does make a difference. If every parent thought the same as you, we'd end up with 30 weeks where the teacher is trying to catch up on work missed.



I have to pay inflated prices to take my holidays during term time. I take it you won't mind if I just tell a little white lie and take a fortnight off in the middle of term?



Why is it any more difficult? Perhaps because you now have your eyes on the child getting good exam results?



No they are from responsible parents and concerned teachers.

It's part of life - you can't always get what you want. I'd love to take a holiday during term time when it's much cheaper and quieter. However I chose to teach and this is one of the drawbacks.

Get a grip!

Both my kids passed their school selective entrance exams. Eldest has just got fabulous GCSE results - way above national average. And yes - we keep them in school at important times - this year no go - we went instead during August after GCSEs. In two years - GCSEs and A levels.

This Feb - we will go skiing after the 1/2 term and save around £1200.

As you say - you chose to be a teacher.

I would rather travel agents / airlines charged a more even price for holidays all year round. Until then, we will continue to remove them from school, from time to time, with the Heads' consent, and enjoy our cheaper holidays.

As I said - It makes no difference at all.

So sure - take a week off if you want. Your choice. Don't come back with a tan though!

shockingmoment

full-time-mum wrote: »

I'm afraid you kid yourself.

What rubbish!

full-time-mum wrote: »

My DD has just finished reception where they were learning 2 or 3 letters/sounds each week. 2 weeks out means missing six of the foundations of reading and writing and thats without considering the numeracy, social skills etc that they will have missed.

So this is something you couldn't / don't do yourself with your child anyway even on holiday? Education is about constant learning - not just school and term time. We always read and play numeracy games with our children. So much depends on the parents away from the school environment.

Our children always take work with them (set by the teacher(s)) for serious study after the days events. They both excell at school and have not suffered in the slightest.

jem16

hobo28 wrote: »

Not always. Our school had one today. Its not like they've been back for long either.

As I said, tacked onto a holiday week or weekend. Friday is just before a weekend.

jem16

shockingmoment wrote: »

Get a grip!

Both my kids passed their school selective entrance exams. Eldest has just got fabulous GCSE results - way above national average. And yes - we keep them in school at important times - this year no go - we went instead during August after GCSEs. In two years - GCSEs and A levels.

Exactly you are picking and choosing what is important to you.

I would rather travel agents / airlines charged a more even price for holidays all year round.

So would I. However they know how to make the money and will never do it.

As I said - It makes no difference at all.

Perhaps not to you but there are others to consider too.

Our children always take work with them (set by the teacher(s) for serious study after the days events. They both excell at school and have not suffered in the slightest.

So you are quite happy for the teacher to organsie holiday work for your children. This will either involve extra teaching before or after the holiday that would not be necessary if your children were at school.

I am glad that your children both excel at school and have not suffered in the slightest. However this does not make it right to take children on term time holidays just to save money.

andyrules

jem16 wrote: »

Inset days are part of the children's holidays and are always tacked onto a holiday week or weekend.

isn't that what I said?

Most training now is done as twilight, i.e. 4:15pm to 6:15pm. It is sometimes necessary for training to be done during the school day and as you say we have no choice about it. When I have to go on a training day, I prepare the day's work and this is followed by the supply/cover teacher so there is no disruption to the child's education - it would be the same work I would be doing if I was there.

In fact the only disruption is to me as I have to prepare for my class and the training!

Last year we had plenty of twilight training, but in addition days/time out training/visiting other schools/observing other classes/discussing action plans/planning feedback.... In the end, we felt that it did have an impact.

I think it's fair to say that people have different experiences at different schools.

hobo28

Please don't make this into a bash the teachers thread. I think teachers do their best under very difficult circumstances. The problem is the goverment and the system which they must operate within.

I actually do know some teachers so I do understand that during the holidays they are not just sat on their backsides.

My point is that as a nation we seem unable to influence/manage those people who simply don't give a toss. The whole debacle over school holidays is simply cos instead of targetting the persistent offenders, its easier to clamp down on the decent parents.

If we use common sense, we must all know that a week or two used sensibly makes no difference.