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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think billboard adverts threatening parents about removing their children for a holiday in term time are a bit well, pathetic.

509 replies

BurningBuntingFlipFlop · 06/01/2011 01:17

Haven't the government got bigger concerns?

Sure a couple of weeks of a child experiencing a different culture once a year during term time isn't that bad?

My children aren't old enough but if they were i probably wouldn't pull them out in term time personally. But i'm shocked that this is apparently a major concern in the education sector right now? What about the parents who just don't give a shit if their kids ever go to school? Or the cuts that are happening?

I can't find a link, they're in Manchester anyway.

OP posts:
DorisKent · 06/01/2011 22:43

But if every school in an LEA had the same INSET days then the same level of training couldn't take place. Training very often comes from an external source. This person will visit each school in turn. These are really useful insights for teachers. If all schools had the same days, this couldn't happen.

lecce · 06/01/2011 22:43

INSET days are, you know, teacher training day. They are not there to make parent's lives more or less convenient. School is not child care.

MGMidget · 06/01/2011 22:44

Taxpayers pay for the schooling, so why should taxpayers' money be wasted because parents want to save some money by getting a cheap holiday during term time? Also, I think its not really fair on the children to pull them out of school unnecessarily in term time and disrespectful to the teachers.

BuzzLightBeer · 06/01/2011 22:53

no really they aren't, I'm not in the UK. {sorry, forgot you are were for a minute Blush)

Mine only go until 1.40pm and aren't back until next bloody monday. I WISH I was in the UK you lucky bastards!

monkeyjamtart · 06/01/2011 22:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

nappyaddict · 06/01/2011 22:55

Our school usually has 1 or 2 days on the end of the school holidays so they will break up on a Wed or go back on a Wed. Don't all schools do this? Never heard of the having them on random times during the term.

troisgarcons · 06/01/2011 22:57

There are 165 days in a year - of which 193 are school days.

Go figure when to book a holiday in the 172 remaining non-school days.

gordyslovesheep · 06/01/2011 22:59

Parents can actually also be tax payers shocker!

HalfCaff · 06/01/2011 23:00

I too have been frustrated about INSET days using up all my annual leave - totally understand they are necessary and need to be spread around. It would help if they were on different days of the week!
As for the general issue of holidays in term-time, I've done it but never for more than a few days - not gone the whole cheeky two weeks, but my parents did when we were kids (and my mum was a teacher, although obviously not working at that time!)and it doesn't seem to have done us any harm!
I agree with both HTs my dc have had that family time is valuable, and going away in the cheaper periods may be the only option, or the only way of broadening horizons a wee bit. The 'don't have kids then' argument is equally ludicrous to the'don't have holidays then' argument. If there are a few years between dc that pretty much rules out the prime of life for taking any active or adventure type hols. We have done a couple of trips on the edge of the school hols which we would never have been able to afford at peak times, e.g. skiing, Club Med. The independent schools have much longer hols and the parents tend to have more money, so it's not such an issue there.

Catnao · 06/01/2011 23:04

I am a teacher, and a mother. We have never had a holiday abroad. Ever. My son has a very well rounded education, thanks very much. There are lots of free things in the UK to look at. Thanks for thinking I am a bad mother for never taking my child abroad because I can't afford to.

DorisKent · 06/01/2011 23:15

Nobody said you were a bad mother for holidaying at home, Catnao. The debate is about the benefit of the experience weighed up against the missed week of school. Stop taking it so personally.

Buzz, sorry, I didn't know you weren't in the UK.

Leralc · 06/01/2011 23:15

I have recently gone back to work full-time, both kids are now at full time school...

my biggest issue at the moment is covering the 60+ days holiday a year that the kids have off school.... I would love to take them out of school for a nice cheap holiday, and my LEA allows up to 10 days (2 weeks a year) but I dont have the holidays!!

I need to be a teacher - 60 days off a year vs 21....hmmmm im going wrong somewhere!

HalfCaff · 06/01/2011 23:16

I don't think anyone was suggesting you are a bad mother and of course there is loads to do here. Also,at least you have the extra time at home with your dc in the school hols. Non-teachers have to beat themselves up about only having 4 or 5 weeks to spend with their dc, abroad or not! If you were determined to have a holiday abroad, you could make it a priority, but there is no need for it to be.

HalfCaff · 06/01/2011 23:18

I am very lucky to have a reasonably priced and very good playscheme near me which covers a lot of the school hols. I have a lot more trouble with INSET days as there is no alternative to taking the time off. 6 days out of my annual 27 (just gone up from 25 after 5 years service in the NHS) is a big chunk.

Xenia · 06/01/2011 23:20

...and I've just booked ours just now (and I do appreciate I'm very lucky to be able to afford it and it's after school finishes this summer).

So how high will these fines me?

triplets · 06/01/2011 23:47

Its the greedy holday companies who are to blame, we are being penalised because we have children! As someone said Center Parcs is a prime example. We took our 12yr old triplets out for a midweek break in early Oct, the price was £319, two weeks later in the half-term it was a staggering £1,699!I really would rather not go in term time, but we honestly could not afford a holiday in peak seasons. Our school are being understanding atm as my husband has been fighting advanced cancer for 3 yrs, so we have only snatched 3/4 nights breaks in between chemo/surgery etc. I hate asking. It is about time the government did something about the greedy companies.

goodasgold · 07/01/2011 00:01

I just hate being told what to do by the government.

As if the primary influence on a childs outcome is not their parents.

nappyaddict · 07/01/2011 00:04

Those that can't afford school holiday prices what do you think would be a reasonable percentage increase (ie not double or quadruple)

Pixel · 07/01/2011 00:21

If the INSET days are part of the school holidays and not 'extra' days off, I don't understand why they are even mentioned. They are usually tagged on the beginning or end of a holiday (always different days for dd and ds grr!) so why not just say that the term finishes/starts on such and such a date and have done with it?

vintageteacups · 07/01/2011 00:22

lecce what I meant to say was I think they should increase the quality of the curriculum; so much is brushed over and if the children don't understand it during the two days/3 days/week it's taught, then they won't come across it until the following year etc.

Lots of time is wasted (IMO and that of a few others above)having a dossy end of term week - we used to have an xmas party on the last day of term and that was it. DD came home half way through the week, listing the things they had done (not much of it related to a lot in particular) and they can't even tell her when she spells a word incorrectly.

Obviously all schools are different.

vintageteacups · 07/01/2011 00:25

So what DOES happen on inset days?
Exact example needed please Smile

madwomanintheattic · 07/01/2011 02:13

at our last one in the uk the staff went on one of those Edward De Bono '6 Thinking Hats' training days. you know the ones - different colour hat for different emphasis.

apparently they have been quite useful, particularly for circle time, and work quite well for children with additional needs, from behavioural to asd etc, as well as nt kids. so now they get used a lot for all aspects of the curriculum.

madwomanintheattic · 07/01/2011 02:16

vintage - i've taken to checking dd2's marking, now. i'm in an utter quandary. loads of it is marked incorrectly, i'm losing a bit of faith tbh. i'm used to words on spelling lists being wrong, and general teacher's mistakes, but i am worried that they are correcting correct work, and marking incorrect work as correct... i haven't decided what i'm going to do about it - but it definitely affected my decision to take them out of school for a few days extra holiday time.

madwomanintheattic · 07/01/2011 02:17

i can't wait to discuss the fact there are billboards about attendance in the uk now though... i had no idea. Shock

1Catherine1 · 07/01/2011 02:19

It varies Vintage. Some days we sit and get lectured at on new government guidelines, changes to the curriculum, behaviour management, OFSTED, new technology and general professional development. Other days are department days where maybe you spend the day moderating, standard setting and making sure we are ticking all the right boxes as far as assessment, monitoring and giving feedback goes. Usually a bit of collaborative working too where teachers are able to get together and discuss and alter anything in the scheme of work that isn't working or add something that worked well. It is like all training days, sometimes you find them worthwhile, sometimes it feels like a waste of time. They are however essential since education is forever changing.

Some areas do have random INSET days mid-term, in Hampshire where I work we have a November INSET day where the school closes on the last Friday of the month. In actual fact our school closes this day and we all have a day off and we make up the INSET time over the year as after school sessions. We don't pick this day though, the LEA does. I did think that it must be awfully inconvenient for the parents but as others have said - as harsh as it sounds - school is not childcare.

Yes Pixel you have a point with maybe they shouldn't be mentioned to parents at all. In some cases though pupils may still be required to come into school on INSET days since the school isn't actually closed. This is more common for GCSE pupils where they may need to catch up on coursework. They do not eat into the allocated teaching days though so really they aren't that relevant to this thread IMO.