TEACHERS! Do you set work for kids going on holidays in term time?

[WikiFreak]

i bloody wont

[clam]

NO!!!
You take a term-time holiday, accept that your child will miss stuff. Your choice.

[DustDustDust]

I remember when I was in Year 3 and we went to Ireland for a week to visit my granny who was a bit unwell. The teacher was 'kind' enough to provide me with a huge stack of worksheets and questions to complete before I returned.

[coastgirl]

Nope. They never do it anyway. And I don't set the kind of work that students can do on their own and still do well/hit the assessment objectives - what's the point in teaching if that's the case?

[bigchris]

What's the point of a holiday if they're doing homework

[chibi]

pfft

stuff that

extra work for me to chase up and mark when the child returns from their fabulous vacation

i think NOT

you skips my lessons and you takes your consequences

[FreudianFoxSquishedByAPouffe]

I can see why you wouldn't want to set it. I don't plan on ever taking kids away during school time but if I did and the teacher set work, I'd definitely make them do it. But then we tend to do projecty things on holiday anyway

[coastgirl]

And DON'T say "I wasn't heeeeeeere when we did that" in a petulant tone as if we should all have sat perfectly still and stared at the wall while you were feeding dolphins at SeaWorld or wherever.

[onceamai]

There are twelve weeks to go on holiday when children arent' at school!! Why should the school bend over backwards when the parents don't send the children when they are supposed to?

Now - when dd spent two months in a wheelchair the school were bloody amazing!

[mitochondria]

Yes, I do, particularly if they are in exam classes.

[RoadArt]

Homework we have received in the past is about writing a diary of the holiday, events, descriptions, what we saw, did, incorporate geography, history, science, whatever, and learn as much as possible about the environment they visited, and present it to the class.

Similar to the bear goes on holiday scenario that was used in younger years.

never got worksheets, or feedback about what will be missed, but were expected to still read and we did verbal maths.

[delphinedownunder]

No. I used to and it was rarely even attempted. Parents just like the idea of taking work but following it up is a different matter. If a child wants to keep a diary or make a scrapbook, then that is to be encouraged and they share it with the class when they return. And I dislike immensely the whole 'but I don't know what to do, I wasn't here' thing. The whole class is not going back over old ground because one child has been at the Gold Coast theme parks for a week. Just open your eyes and ears and you'll soon catch up. So there!

[KangarooCaught]

No, as I don't want to mark it. Plus it's their holiday.

But with major pieces of work/big project or coursework I ask them to submit it before going away (which actually is preferable to having to do it on holiday anyway I would have thought)

If they miss controlled conditions they have to catch up before/after school or lunchtime.

[KangarooCaught]

Only once have I had from a parent, "Isn't that your job?" when I refused to give her son 1-2-1 after he'd had a fortnight on holiday.

[RoadArt]

On a more serious note, what would be useful, if we do ask (which these days I dont) but to be advised of key stuff they will cover, particular maths and literacy, so if the parent is inclined, its up to them to encourage the child to learn it or catch up.

What can be frustrating is, to ask the question and be told it doesnt matter, because obviously it does.

[NinkyNonker]

I will tell pupils what we will be doing and suggest some work that could be useful. But I won't mark it or do catch up sessions.

[noblegiraffe]

No. It's my school's policy not to.

[RoadArt]

will tell pupils what we will be doing and suggest some work that could be useful. But I won't mark it or do catch up sessions.

Our teacher wont! But I dont hassle any more. I used to, but at the end of the day, holidays are also educational and social,

[NinkyNonker]

I don't have to by any means, and if a parent hassled me to I'd feel like digging my heels in to be honest. A 5 minute concersation won't kill me, but the expectation that I should be doing it would hack me off.

[RoadArt]

Sorry, hassle is too strong a word. I did use to ask because I was worried about DC missing stuff, but Ive chilled out now and realise they do catch up anyway and that holidays are also beneficial.

the reality was when a particular teacher did give DC work to do on holiday, there wasnt enough time to do it anyway. That was enough for me to realise never to ask again.

[noblegiraffe]

"I was worried about DC missing stuff"

But not enough to not go on holiday in term time....

[RoadArt]

sometimes circumstances are you have to be in term time.

[MrsDaffodill]

We are taking our children out for extra time this January. First time in four years and for extenuating family circumstances.

The teachers have given us some broad brush stroke ideas e.g. "we'll be doing myths and legends in class, so please read some while you are away".

I assumed it was courteous to ask so that they didn't have our children being behind in class afterwards. I did drop it in a note ahead of scheduled consultations so they didn't have to give us any extra time to talk about it.

Would teachers rather not be asked then?

[onceamai]

This seems quite simple to me. If parents chose to take their holiday during term time they have made a conscious decision not to engage with statutory education during the period they are away and the consequence of that is that their children may fall behind. In those circumstances I do not understand why arrangements should be made by teachers to provide work in advance to allow their children to keep up or indeed why any such parent would expect them to do so.

There is a quite separate argument relating to how educationally useful it is for a child to attend school during July when there appears to be very little learning going on in most schools anyway.

[BigTillyMincepie]

I would be very happy to do what Mrs Daffodill suggests, but would not p/c loads of worksheets!