Taking children out of school.

Yes, another year older. Thank you

The trouble is with the policy of no children being taken out of school for holidays is of course the expense. It is so much cheaper in term time, and many parents have decided that it is far cheaper to risk the fine (£60 I think) and go term time and still save money.

Hi Suzied

My mother in law retired early in 1973 but she did know several headmasters / headmistresses and several people said she was a brilliant headmistress but she did say a few years later she would not like to be a headmistress at that point.
She said the first time she really felt old was when she met one of her ex pupils and he told her he was a senior citizen.
She passed away in 2007 and I was amazed over 60 of her ex pupils came to the funeral as she had been retired for 34 years and I have excluded sons and daughters and sons in law and daughters in law of the teaching staff from the numbers who were pupils at the school.
She was invited back to the school for christmas plays etc for about 15 years after she retired and she met up with several ex pupils who were then parents.
Sadly the new head then left and several of the teachers left over time and she hardly knew anybody at the school.
Her funeral collection went to Cancer Research UK and I think the charity did well considering she outlived most of her friends.
They even got more money from ex pupils who could not attend the funeral.
Oddly she passed away with heart failure and she did not have cancer but she had been involved with that charity for years.

Frank

Is it your birthday Kali?

Cards? Is it your birthday, Kali? Happy Birthday if it is!

PS that's awful about the postman on Exmoor

I think our postman here, in this urban town are the exception to the rule Absent hence my gripe. None been seen since last Thursday. I've just been to the local depot to collect otherwise I'd have had no cards today.

I live in a holiday resort on the south coast. My children went to our local primary school here from 1984 - and of course onto secondary school. A lot of the parents of the children who attended this school owned hotels and guest houses. Their busy times of course was from Easter until the end of September. Much to our headmaster's dismay was the fact that the parents would take their children out of school for a 2 week holiday, as that was the only time they could. Some parents tried to include one week during the half term week but most didn't. It was amazing how many children were missing in October or March.
I think now parents have to ask permission, but they didn't then. I think parents should adhere to the school term, but I could understand these parents needed a break. For hospital/dental/GP appointmens parents don't have a choice, they have to go surely?

Most postmen, especially those in urban areas, seem to have been working throughout the recent spell of bad weather. It's a bit harder in rural areas so some of those may be getting fewer deliveries. One postman has died because of the snow.

That's presumably the same elf that stops fully grown postmen (and women) getting the post out in our town then. This OAP can walk into town to the shops and walk the dogs. My grandchildren can walk to nursery, but these precious post people (how's that for alliteration?) cannot put foot to pavement in case of injury.

Another reason many schools close is because of the elf n safety issue. If a little darling slips over in the playground or gets a snowball down their neck on school premises some litigious parents will sue the school for negligence. If the little darlings have the day off and get hurt in the park that's down to the parents , though same parents will of course blame the school for not opening. Schools can't win. No wonder my OH is taking early retirements even though he is a brilliant head.

suzied I think the rules have changed about absence on snow days! If the school is open but children cannot get there there is a code to use that will not negatively affect the school's attendance figures.

HunterF the phone response does sound too OTT and that the person's views about private health may have bubbled through what should have been a professional response!

Hi annodomini

At least it was free. There were a few more ex pupils who got married but I have lost touch with most of them.
The teachers did not encourage it but they were not problem pupils all university sort of standard so the teachers could not really reject their ex pupils.

Frank

Frank, that wasn't a school; it was a dating agency!

Hi suzied

I have looked at a school website for a school by me and it said on Friday the school was closing for health and safety reasons.
I then walked to my local shops and there must have been around 100 children throwing snow balls at each other some half way up steps.
Surely they would have been safer in school.
When I was at school I can only remember missing 1 complete day.
I do remember the caretaker, teachers, headmistress ( my future late mother in law ) and some of the pupils out clearing the paths with spades many bought from nearby homes.
We had a great laugh and I think it encouraged great comadery between pupils and even pupils and the staff.
I don't know if it was good or bad for the teachers as 9 pupils from my year later became sons or daughters in law of various teachers at the school.
I am not sure if pupils going to the teachers homes would be regarded as correct today. What I can say is they are all still with their first wives with the exception of me and that was due to my wife passing away with cancer.

Frank

Trouble is schools are under pressure from Ofsted re attendance. My husband is a head teacher and his school opened this week when many surrounding schools were closed due to snow. However, attendance was poor. This will count against his school in attendance statistics, whilst those schools that closed wont have those days counted.

Hi vampirequeen

My late mother in law was the headmistress of the school I went to.
She did not like children taken out of school for holidays and she did like hospital appointments arranged to minimise time off school.
She did however realise that you could not look at appointments in isolation and she did realise that sometimes it was better to take a little more time off at one point to save a lot of time at another.
I can remember a boy who was in my class and he had to take 3 months off school for a back problem and I think he was in the Stoke Mandaville hospital about 70 miles away.
Probably things have improved and if the same condition arose these days he would have not been away so long.
I do not know what attitude the person would have had if this sort of absence was required.
I do remember him saying that they did have a hospital teacher but he also said some of the other children sometimes fell to sleep because of their treatment.
He admitted this happened to him twice but he said that was good compared with some of the children.

Frank

I believe that travel is a great educational opportunity unfortunately education is such a pressure cooker environment now that even a few days can affect a child's progress. In the past this small amount of loss wouldn't have been a problem but now the schools are so tied to targets that those few days could be the difference between being seen as a good school and a failing school.

We need to change the system and relax the pressure. There is more to education than ticking curriculum level boxes.

My DS and partner are taking my two youngest GSs to Florida in February, adding a few days to half term. The head teacher made no difficulty about this at all, saying that he saw it as an educational opportunity for them, and, knowing my DS, he will certainly 'make it so'.

They are totally out of order and I would certainly inform the Head Teacher of what was said,some of these people at the end of a phone are too full of their own importance.

I had to do an emergency babysit this week and at the airport and in my hotel there was a surprising no. Of children( school age) and some toddlers and babies off to the ski slopes or torremolinas or Barcelona . I was always under the impression that children who had missed a weeks schooling felt they had missed much more.

Just ignore them - they are totally strung up on league tables and absences are a black mark for them - but not for sickness/heath reasons.

So glad you GD is geting the right treatment speedily - that's all that matters

Totally out of order.

Agree - overstepped is right. Absence control in school is often delegated to fairly junior admin staff these days.
Time off for hospital appointment should be an "authorised absence" and is a perfectly valid reason to be off.
Out of line. If you feel strongly about it I would give the head a ring, so that he/she can have a word with the member of staff involved.

I think that person over-stepped the mark, perhaps they were having a bad day? I would just ignore it bt if you feel strongly have a word with the head teacher.