Ok it's just a moan, but really... school holidays

caris

Hi

We used to be in the postition of my hubbys holidays were outside of the schools, so we filled in the holiday request form and was granted the time off, we have also used this for my daughter to take our grandson on holiday with her during school time and it was granted. Now my hubby works in a company that has the same school holidays as those in the county where he works, the school at the time had the same holidaysas that county, now last year the school changed the school holidays to be in line with another county school, not even the county we live in, to fit in with holidays because most parents had children at this other school, we did not think that this was very fair, we are in a non-win situation, so if we cannot get a holiday tosuit us either in time or for cost we just let him have the time off school. Saying that the school governors let one of the teachers have an extended 3 month leave from the school togo back backing with her husband, so really if they wanted to argue the case I don't think it would go down very well, you cant have one rule for children and another for teachers, not only that why cant they take the teacher training days during school holidays instead of the children having another day off.

caris

onlyroz

caris wrote: »

not only that why cant they take the teacher training days during school holidays instead of the children having another day off.

Um they do - if the child is not at school then are they not on holiday? . Teachers have 6 (I think) unpaid training days a year, usually on the last day of a school holiday.

Lunar_Eclipse

gregg1 wrote: »

There is aways someone who rolls out that old chestnut - and it never fails to make me laugh!

Why does it make you laugh?

Or is it just that you think it's 'wrong'?

Many people these days have done some amount of travelling and anyone who has experienced other cultures knows that it is/can be true, so I'm not going to assume you don't believe it.

poet123

The thing is that because the inset or training days do not affect the kids parents are not notified,and so seem to think the only ones that occur are the ones in "term time"(in reality these are not term time either but days either side of a holiday which has been factored into the term dates). At the primary my son attnds the teachers gave up 4 days of their Easter break to run booster classes for SAT pupils.

arthur_dent_2

I take my children out of school for a week and this yeay we went to france, while we were there they learnt about France and french culture, they spoke another langusge, with my help. They learnt about bees and beekeeping, we visited a castle and they learnt about its destruction and rebuild during various wars. They also went to a theme park and went swimming etc as anyone does, but I stand by my comments a child will learn more in a week away than they ever would in the same week at school. I could never in a million years have afforded to go on the same holiday in the school holidays and for the record they didn't set foot in any kids clubs.

As I pointed out my mother was a teacher and she agrees that they learn more on holiday, she also agrees that if my brother and I were still small she would not take us on holiday in the holidays.

td

I think most heads would be sympathetic to your case and give you permission to take your kids out I would be honest and state your case as it's a pretty good one. There are good and bad times of the year to take kids out though - I agree with Mrs P - beginning of the school year is generally not a good time, last week of term tends not to be as important imho except for prize giving etc as mentioned. It really really annoys me when people take their kids out during exam time.

Teacher bashing again eh? And they wonder why respect for teachers has reduced in schools when parents at home are constantly telling their kids how lazy teachers are and that they don't deserve holidays and have they got a day off "again". Or that they don't work hard enough etc etc and how come my kids can't be controlled at school when they behave perfectly well at home on their playstation all day etc etc. Yes I am a teacher - I choose to work only 2 days a week so that my childcare costs aren't astronomical and so I can be on my daughter's school's PTFA and governing body (just like all the other parents -NOT - there are 4 parents on our PTFA out of the whole school taking an interest in raising money for their children)

I totally agree - education is not childcare for working parents it's a way of educating children.

I do think there's a case for reducing the 6 week holiday time but it is not based on childcare for parents it is based on factual evidence that children slip behind in that 6 weeks and it takes longer to get that back.

I personally think a really good way of combatting the price hike in travel costs per school would be for a school, or a cluster of local schools to decide on a week in the year during term time when it is acceptable to take kids out for a cheaper holiday and make this an unusual activity week for the kids remaining- we ran an arts week where children had chances to do unusual arty things which would have been perfect. Then I'm sure some parents would moan about their kids missing out on a special week but you can't have your cake and eat it I'm afraid. It would mean that teachers weren't having to catch different children up at different times.

Firefighters? - I have a friend who is a firefighter and he has a lot more time off than teachers believe me! I don't begrudge him that at all - he has a risky job with people's live in his hands and works shifts - but he certainly doesn't do his training in his holidays!

You know the government started the teacher bashing when unemployment was high and they needed to spread the blame - and now don't we get blamed for everything - high pregnancy rates, crime rates, high asbo rates etc etc. Where do parents fit into how their children turn out.

td

td

Sorry that seems tobe have been posted twice - deleted it

Ploddy

I had a very similar argument with my children's previous school. In my job it is not possible to go during school holidays usually because this is a busy period at work.

However I did point out to the school that so far during the school year they had taken one of my children to 3 farms, 1 local museum (which they visit with me about once every 3 months), and to the theatre for a play which none of the class understood and was clearly above their age group.

My arguement was that they didn't learn ANYTHING on these 5 days so as far as I was concerned if they can miss 5 days from school for nothing, they can miss 5 days from school to spend with their parents one of whom works shifts and only sees them very infrequently.

When I had finished my rant at the school they erm... "came round to my way of thinking" if you know what I mean. :whistle: :dance:

andyrules

gregg1 wrote: »

pity the hours aren't as fixed as the salary.

I used to work part time, and I could guarantee that every single INSET day fell on the day I didn't work. Still had to attend the training, no extra pay, no lieu days, it's part of the contract. Probably not many realise that.;)

andyrules

Ploddy wrote: »

I had a very similar argument with my children's previous school. In my job it is not possible to go during school holidays usually because this is a busy period at work.

However I did point out to the school that so far during the school year they had taken one of my children to 3 farms, 1 local museum (which they visit with me about once every 3 months), and to the theatre for a play which none of the class understood and was clearly above their age group.

My arguement was that they didn't learn ANYTHING on these 5 days so as far as I was concerned if they can miss 5 days from school for nothing, they can miss 5 days from school to spend with their parents one of whom works shifts and only sees them very infrequently.

When I had finished my rant at the school they erm... "came round to my way of thinking" if you know what I mean. :whistle: :dance:

I doubt those trips amounted to 'nothing' for every child.;)

The difference between missing school for a holiday and a school trip is that in the former case the child is missing the work their class are doing and in the latter case they are 'missing' a day, depending on your perspective on school trips.