Interesting for any parents out there

[rtbiscuit]

As a teacher it does mean i am the only person occupational who cannot choose when i take my holiday, i am legally bound to only holiday in non term time. (the most expensive time) if i want time off outside that it is nigh on impossible.

 

Lots of occupations dont get to choose , the military for example

 

FWIW 90% attendance is 19 days absent from school in one year ! , my son had 2 days off this year , one for sick and one for a funeral

 

the military can apply for leave same as most other professions, their leave can be denied and at times they gain down time if they like it or not. there are times when on tour/serving on a ship, where leave isn't possible. I struggle to think of another profession who are tied to non term time only holidays. the time which is most expensive.

 

I get penalised for being a teacher as I will always have to travel at peak cost times. I don't get to book my holidays to allow me to take advantage of the cheaper flights

[rtbiscuit]

EWO are notified at below 95% at 90% contact is made with home, when it starts to push 85% parents risk fines, beyond that the EWO can become a permanent fixture in dealings with home and if improvements are made it can lead to court cases and jail time.

 

With reference to taking the time off and who's decision it is; as a teacher I have no issue if you want to take your kids out; your kids, your choice. good kids will always catch up and put the extra effort in if its needed to fill in the gaps. weaker students will always suffer.

 

if kids are in yr 7 or 8 its unlikely to have a massive impact, if its around an exam time its a bad parental choice and that can start yr 9 up, primary i'm less sure of its not my area.

 

my honest advice, if you can leave them in school during term time they get the maximum benefit from the education.

 

its the same principle with good and bad schools a good kid will always do well regardless of if they are in a good or a bad school, where good schools come into there own is when the child is either weak or has issues. in an good school they usually get dragged along in the positive performance in a bad school they can often gravitate to trouble or being lazy. good schools tend to also offer more opportunities.

 

when it comes to my own children I won't be taking them out of school during term time, not because I agree, but because I can't

[coldel]

So when a teachers strike is on all parents can fine a school for a lost day then as it is seriously harming my child's education. Or when my child has to go into school for half a day for 5 1/2 weeks when in reception I can fine them for 2 3/4s weeks of lost schooling time?

 

I totally appreciate teachers as previously mentioned, but I do not appreciate the lack of understanding of parents and how little sometimes they are listened to. In Europe and across the world most kids do not start school until 6 years old, do our kids excel vs the rest of the world for an extra 2 years in school?

 

Of course being in school makes more sense, missing a week in a year, if someone can point me at conclusive evidence that says kids that miss a week a year get worse jobs and get worse results then happy to take that on board, I doubt that evidence exists though.

Edited May 13, 2016 by coldel

[Husky]

Interesting one really. As a kid my parents only ever took holidays during school holidays. I think as a kid id be too worried about what school work ive missed out on over that week or 2 weeks off and all that extra home work afterwards to catch up.

 

Still, thinking about it, kids have a week off sick, go back and manage to catch up okay.

 

You say that, but it wasn't until late in high school that I realised the whole "a" and "an" thing, "a pizza", "an anchovy". I mean I used a and an correctly, but had never been taught it. I assume it was while I was sick and missed the lesson, or I'm a retard... The point I'm making here is there's not enough time to catch up what you miss, it's a good thing most of it is complete bullshit you don't actually need, and anything valuable you can pick up along the way. If only they taught you how to balance your accounts, order pizza, write a CV or pay your pimp on time; real world lessons that will actually be valuable

[rtbiscuit]

the advantage of a set rule is that it keeps things simple, think of it like the 70mph speed limit. the majority of people stick within the rules, every so often some of us step out side these, but we tend not to be stupid about it. but those that are idiots get caught and prosecuted. and to be fair the police tend to police it loosly so if your doing 76 they'll leave you alone.

 

no different to the school holiday rule, most stick within, some play close to the boundaries and some take the pee.

 

now remove the limits completely, people will do 100+ everywhere all of the time

 

you may not like the framework but it gives the schools structure to work round.

 

most sensible schools are fairly practical working round it. but like the police you do get the odd power nut who enforces the rules like it was the 10 commandments hand to them direct from god.

 

with regards to striking teachers I personal don't agree with striking, but when this kind of action is taken and it is rare its usally to protect or defend the quality of education your child is getting. you may not like it, but if you saw the changes happening in education at the moment you'd be worried. sadly its only set to get worse

[JetSet]

As a teacher it does mean i am the only person occupational who cannot choose when i take my holiday, i am legally bound to only holiday in non term time. (the most expensive time) if i want time off outside that it is nigh on impossible.

 

Lots of occupations dont get to choose , the military for example

 

My holidays were fixed, that meant that on shift system I worked once in every 5 years my holidays were outside the Summer school holidays. With my ex wife being a teacher it meant that we couldn't take any sort of holiday. Not only that, but sometimes your 18 day break only partially overlapped the school holidays.

 

Pete

[PPod]

What's the rules for scottish schools ? Must be different as each summer for 5 years i took 2/3 weeks of for swimming comps and nothing was ever said haha also my last year at school my attendance was 52% for that year and that was due to my grandad taking me out for last minute holidays. Mum and dad did have to go to a board meeting thing and the letter said you could be fined but nothing came of it.

Edited May 14, 2016 by PPod

[rtbiscuit]

the difficulty for schools is theyh are under heavy scrutiny, if results dip or are below expected they have to explain why, one of the other thing schools are judged on is attendance. if attendance is low and so are results there tends to be a coralation. because of this some schools are very fearful of letting absences happen so take a zero tolerance stance on it.