That parents who take their kids to festivals....

[englishteacher78]

In term time, would soon complain if their child's teacher took 5+ days out of school to go and listen to music?

If it could be in the West Country I think I would be totally sold on the idea

Have a google of the Benjamin school (Benjamin foundation ) it might be the kind of thing you're thinking of

when i was at school we had school trips to the Christan festival green something or other I always thought it was glasto not they i when or bunk off for the radio one road show.

maybw surgest school trip to local one?

benjamins school

doobie- browse through the website "diggers and dreamers" (google cos i'm not sure of the exact URL). there are families who are living exactly as you describe.

Back in the 1970's I'd have had more sympathy with the pro-festival in term time argument. There were fewer events around then to attend at any time. However nowadays there is literally a festival EVERY week from May-October somewhere in the British Isles. Festivals have become BIG corporate business, especially since the growth of digital media over the last decade has meant many artists now rely on ticket income from performances, rather than recording sales.

I'm very pro-arts and "live" activities for children, and agree re the limitations of the NC, especially as I personally have a child who has great difficulty accessing the NC in it's standard format due to disabilities.

However sadly when you sign up for state school you also sign up to send em every day, unless a genuine family emergency or illness prevent you from doing so. No one has to use the state system, home education and private schooling are both perfectly viable options.

Take your kids to a festival - let them get muddy, learn weaving and circus skills, have a great time. Just do it in the state school holidays.

It is possible to have a delightful summer with the kids at a variety of festivals and achieve 100% school attendance. Try a festival other than Glastonbury - you'll be impressed at the sheer range of choice out there now. You may even meet me and bocjunior at a couple

www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk/

found that link for those researching alternative lifestyles.

Breaking the rules is an important life lesson though. You can be in the system and disagree with it.

True about disagreeing with the system but not sure why that means breaking rules. Could be my natural cowardly instincts.

Interesting thread. I am biased though, as Festivals are the highlight of our year

I am taking my DC out of school 2 days before the end of term to go to Glastonbury and also to Lattitude. I have asked for and been given permission by the head. We get a lot out of festivals. They are both into music and DS2 is a drama scholar. As such he is expected to experience a wide range of performing arts outside of school.

FWIW Its not all bands, drugs and booze. Last year they all got up early on a Sunday to listen to Brian Cox and John Butterworth discussing the discovery of the Higgs Bosan particle and the work of CERN. In addition to watching music, they also sneaked down the front in literary tents, talked to scrobius pip, got picked on by the comedians and chatted to greenpeace and other environmental groups. All in all its a lot more educational than you might think. They all love camping, they pitch their own tents and usually there are a whole group of us of all ages.

If you don't break the rules, nothing changes. I would have failed as a mother if my teenagers weren't capable of breaking arbitrary rules.

I thought you were going to say it was unreasonable for this reason

If you disagree with the system you either break the rules or sit back and do nothing (if, like most people, you don't have the power to change the rules)

I disagree with the idea that parents don't have to use the state system. Home ed or private schools are not a realistic option for the majority.

karma, absolutely, it's disingenuous to just throw out the home ed suggestion for most people, and how many people could afford private.
Nevertheless, home ed is an option for some, I wish it was better understood.

AudrinaAdare - ha ha ha that's brilliant.

I know LOTS of people who want a ticket for that event!

Well if they go to Glastonbury, they can always come and join in with the school bus, lots of home schooled children on site, who's parents work setting up festivals.

sweettooth99

Why does the education system have to be so bloody fascist?

Are you Rik from the Young Ones?

Let the bloody teachers have holiday when whey want.

Who covers for them when they're not there?

Let the kids go to music festivals.

How do they catch up with their lessons?

Why does everyone seem to think this oppressive controlling system is a good idea for anyone?

Because we're grown up.

What I find annoying is that it's perfectly fine for the school to have activities week for the last week of term and take the kids to all sorts of places - theme parks, indoor skiing etc. but if I want to take my kids out of school that same week to do the same sort of things as a family it's frowned upon because I'm taking them out of school!

This is such a ridiculous argument Englishteacher
1)The teacher is paid to be there in term time
2) The teacher is there to provide a service to the pupils.The puipls are not there to provide a service to the school.
3) You can catch up on education any time til you die, you can never recapture childhood and time spent together as a family.Once it's gone it's gone.