Term time holidays

[Lancet Fluke]

Whilst I agree with most of your post i don't believe 90% is a regular attendance, in fact, statistics show that students with an attendance of less than 95% underachieve compared to similar students with a higher attendance. An attendance of 90% is a day off per fortnight and that is too high.
However what needs to be looked into is the pattern of attendance. a serious bout of illness is not in the same league as regular odd days off here there and everywhere. You can't help getting the measles or breaking your leg so leniency should prevail.

I have known kids who haven't darkened the school gates for whole years, never mind 50%!
Their parents are taken to court and a lenient magistrate will listen to the 'bullying' sob story and tell them to try to improve their attendance, so they go in for a few days and then are off full time again

Holidays though are a fixed penalty fine introduced by the Labour government as they fixated more and more on attendance figures, as it was an easy soundbite to say we've improved attendance, it was only later that it became an absolute stick to beat up schools with by both the LAs and OFSTED. Because it's a fixed penalty you have very little right of appeal and it's used like a tax by the LA. Unfortunately schools don't get the money.
Personally I believe families should be allowed time together, whether it's in the Louvre on on a beach in Benidorm, it's the middle class snobbery coming out when posters mention that. But I would draw a line if the student had an attendance less than 95%

I really like your sentence about family time. People forget that in all this. Life is about balance and whilst academic education is important, it is not the be all and end all IMO, it should be part of a broader sense of education and a broader sense of what is important for a child growing up. Times have changed from when I (we I assume?) was a kid, when generally one parent would work and you'd spend plenty of time with the other parent, usually the mother. It strikes me that recently governments have actively encouraged both parents to work full-time so you have kids who get dropped off at school at the crack of dawn, picked up late having spent time in pre school and after school clubs and then spend lots of their holidays in holiday clubs. This all seems to be viewed as being completely wonderful and fine, nobody seems to question whether this is something that should be dealt with by way of fines or bollockings, in fact the government are probably likely to provide you with vouchers for child care etc to help you do it. Someone wants to spend some quality time with their kids and they get fined. I know it isn't always as simple as that and that some families absolutely need to have both parents working just to make ends meet but I know plenty of people where both work, they are absolutely loaded, the kids get nothing like what I would see as a genuine family life but hey, they get bought lots of stuff. My specific circumstances are that I have one child who has a severe congenital heart condition. The outlook is fairly uncertain, he could die tomorrow, most likely he will live till his late teens, he could make it to his 30s if he is lucky. He has ups and downs in terms of his day to day health so he has periods where he is in for weeks and months without missing a day and some periods (particularly in winter) where he seems to be off very regularly. If I want to spend some quality time with him and it happens to be during term time, I will do and if some **** says they are going to fine me for that, they can stick it up their arse, I definitely would not pay it.

 

[mattcity5]

Spot on Lancet.

Me and my wife both work full-time, we have a 4 year old who has a rare condition that means we end up using lots of work holidays (and goodwill) to go to hospitals. We also have a 7 year old who is basically top of her class for everything and fairly bored in lessons because the current approach is to not give kids work from the next school year.

We won't be going abroad as we can't afford it. Certainly not in the school holidays, though we possibly could during term time. Would my 7 year old benefit more from seeing a different country and culture, or sitting in class doing work she can do with her eyes closed?

Anyway. This seems very appropriate...

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/...ll-never-catch-up-on-colouring-20160515108831

Six-year-old taken on term-time holiday will never catch up on colouring


A SIX-YEAR-OLD girl taken on holiday during the school term will be a week behind in colouring for the rest of her life, teachers have confirmed.


Eleanor Shaw, who was taken out of school for a week in Malta, has permanently fallen behind her classmates in colouring, hula-hooping and imagining what job a meerkat could have. Teacher Joanna Kramer said: “It’s tragic to see such a bright girl have her academic career ruined forever.

“Sadly this isn’t the first time. I’ve seen pupils struggle for years to recover from a two-week break in Florida, aged 18 still unable to keep their colouring within the lines while their classmates do so effortlessly.

“Their shame, and the bullying they receive, means they inevitably give up on education and take low-waged jobs in the chicken debeaking industry or turn to petty crime.

“It breaks my heart. And we were going to watch Minions this afternoon while I tidied up the craft corner.

“If only these parents would recognise how vital school is.”

Shaw said: “I came back, and found I’d missed smelly Rowan falling over in the playground while everyone called him a poo-bum.

“My life is basically over.”

 

[denislawsbackheel]

For me this is the issue. The whole thing about fines was presumably brought in as an attempt to deal with kids that are never in, trying to force people who aren't remotely arsed about their kid's education to at least make some effort to get them into school. But like lots of things that end up being judged in OFSTED reports, it ends up being a quantitative box ticking exercise rather than anything truly qualitative. So yes, it's probably much easier for a school to deal with several parents whose kids have 95% attendance and take their kids away for a week than it is to deal with one grim **** who doesn't give a shit about their kid's education and whose kid is only in 50% of the time. So that's what happens and genuine attendance problems are probably still not dealt with any better than they ever were. Plus the idea that a court can rule that 90% attendance isn't "regular attendance" is fucking laughable, I think the whole thing has been a stitch up tbh.

90% attendance is so poor a school would fail an OFSTED inspection with such poor attendance across the board.

 

[urban genie]

90% attendance is so poor a school would fail an OFSTED inspection with such poor attendance across the board.

Thats the thing, the big mantra is attendance counts, and if you end up with a downgrade from OFSTED, this in turn leads to a school/college getting funding cuts, inability to get improvement loans, government grats etc.

It's a viscous circle let ome children holidays outside normal term time attendance drops and schools suffer, yet parents suffer the inflated costs of travel and board because of the holiday weeks prices

 

[Lancet Fluke]

90% attendance is so poor a school would fail an OFSTED inspection with such poor attendance across the board.

Define the word regular. I am sure they would fail an OFSTED inspection but there is so much wrong with OFSTED inspections in the first place. Like lots of things, brought in with one intention but ends up being a box ticking exercise where it's more about schools masking issues or meeting quantitative requirements than actually providing the best possible education for the pupils. I really wish the person who had taken this on at the High Court had been someone who had had 100% attendance apart from taking a week holiday, I wonder whether it would have made a difference.

 

[peoffrey]

OFSTED inspectors are often former teachers themselves. They know what they're looking for and judge a school's competencies very well.

Nobody else alarmed that Blues think a woman's place is in the home? Numerous male friends have wives who are doing better than they are. More flexible working approaches can see one parent start work early whilst a second finishes late. Children shouldn't render a female to baking and hoovering all day.

 

[117 M34]

OFSTED inspectors are often former teachers themselves. They know what they're looking for and judge a school's competencies very well.

Nobody else alarmed that Blues think a woman's place is in the home? Numerous male friends have wives who are doing better than they are. More flexible working approaches can see one parent start work early whilst a second finishes late. Children shouldn't render a female to baking and hoovering all day.

You can't be an Ofsted inspector unless you have been a head or deputy head.

 

[peoffrey]

You can't be an Ofsted inspector unless you have been a head or deputy head.

That's not entirely true.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Shouldn't be fined until child is in y1.
School isn't statutory until then.

Is that a fact or an opinion? If fact, will contact the school

 

[Lancet Fluke]

OFSTED inspectors are often former teachers themselves. They know what they're looking for and judge a school's competencies very well.

Nobody else alarmed that Blues think a woman's place is in the home? Numerous male friends have wives who are doing better than they are. More flexible working approaches can see one parent start work early whilst a second finishes late. Children shouldn't render a female to baking and hoovering all day.

Doesn't have to be the female at all. I have several children and have had periods where I have put my career on hold to be the main carer and my wife has had periods where she has done it. I believe it is better for kids to be looked after by a parent rather than by after school and holiday clubs. You find that alarming, fair enough we are both entitled to our opinions. I find it alarming that most schools these days run pre and post school clubs that are full of kids. I'd have been pretty pissed off if I had been dropped off at school at 8am and picked up at 5.30pm every day rather than been able to actually go home when school finished, I know that much. Still that's progress for you.