Good afternoon one and all. So today I thought I'd tackle the current issue of holidays during school term. Having recently read the story of the poor poor family who got fined by their school for taking their kids out.... well, they were warned weren't they? They ignored the initial fine so it was increased and cost them £1000.
School rules are there for a reason. Schools need to teach children, and have a curriculum to follow and as we are all too aware targets to meet (not only Ofsted). Teachers have to plan their lessons around the curriculum and they fit a HELL of a lot of teaching into one school year.
I can only speak from Primary school experience at the moment, but I know that the learning curve, even at the age of 5/6 is massive. The teachers work bloomin' hard to make every lesson enjoyable and fun, as well as teaching these children. How disruptive would a class become if on one week, little Janey was away on holiday, she comes back with a nice tan and talks of trips to the beach and ice creams by the pool, and then little Bobby hops off for his two week break to the South of Spain. When Bobby gets back, Jimmy is off, and so on. But poor little Suzy can't go away, because her parents can't afford to take her away in either term time OR school holidays. She has to sit and listen to the other children bragging about their holidays but at least she knows in school holidays she can spend time in the parks and maybe even take a trip to the seaside in the UK, and will have something to talk to her friends about next term. So not only are the kids disrupted by missing school, but the teachers then have to help them to catch up to their peers, at the expense of their peers, and for the kids who can't afford to go away at ANY time, its a big kick in the teeth.
It is totally crap that holiday companies increase their prices during school holidays, but this is nothing new. its been going on forever.
Personally, I would love to take my kids away twice a year on holiday, but I can't afford to. So instead I save up for one big luxury week away in the summer holiday, and because of that, neither of my kids have an Ipad, or an Xbox or a horse, because I'd rather get them a nice cheaper birthday present, and put some money aside for the holiday.
Of course, there are occasions, when its acceptable to ask a head teacher to take your kids out of school. For example, a friend of mine recently had a family get together in Australia over Christmas. Taking young kids to Australia for under two weeks is going to knock them for 6 jet lag wise, and also, to go halfway round the world, you would want to make the most of it, and they were granted extra time off school. Another friend has requested to take her child out of school a day before they break up for the holidays, because the cost of her holiday was hundreds of pounds cheaper and one day was granted by the head teacher.
Be sensible, children have to be taught, teachers have to teach and exceptions can be made! But to the family who were fined £1000, maybe, if they'd saved that extra £1000 towards their holiday they could have gone outside of term time anyway!
Rant over.
So sorry for no cake today, but the good news is, i've recently bought a mini pie maker (Not quite sure why I need one, but it was half price and looked shiny, so hopefully my pie crusts will be a little more uniform now - same amazing ingredients though) and a hemisphere cake tin in preparation for Lucy's birthday, but I'm sure i'll have a few practice runs before then.
Keep warm, eat cake
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