To get so angry about the no compromise attitude of my kids headmistress

[twinsplus1sfb]

Arghhhhh - need to vent.
Situation - I have 3 kids (2 in Yr2, 1 in yr 4). They have never been abroad experienced an aeroplane different culture etc etc.
Their grandad has booked an expensive family holiday abroad, unfortunately he got mixed up with the dates and booked it for the week before half term.
I put a holiday form in and got a phone call from the school - apparently that is SATs week for my twins.
We have looked into changing the dates - no can do.
So - and here's where I get angry - I went to the head and told her the situation and asked her if there was any way we could work together around this, could the kids stay late after school one day or come in at the weekend before the SATS or come in in the half term after SATS.
I just got a flat NO to every option I suggested - she said it would affect their grades, and their whole school career. I asked if there was anything I could do - and she said "Cancel the holiday, oh and there will be a fine"
I understand that taking them out is not acceptable - but come on school - can we not compromise??? Help a little??? I dont even mind paying the fine, I'm just so upset that she cant even work with me on them taking their SATS on a different day or different time - is it really that strict? Would all of the headmistresses out there say that?
My kids have 100% attendance, they have never missed any school for holiday reasons ever before - its so peed off - and its going to ruin my holiday. Any advice? Any body had nice experiences with their heads? Is there anything I can do so that my kids can take their SATS?

The children are in Year 2?

And there are some tests that if they miss them will destroy their entire school career?

Feck. Glad I left the UK when I did.

My head authorised a weeks holiday at term time for my 3 DC because they had full attendance, signed the form and said hope they have a lovely time.

There is no way she would allow them to have SATs week off and i wouldn't expect her to either or for her to arrange help and a resit

Just realised it's YR2 not Yr6 sats, still don't think she would authorise them and i wouldn't ask her to, looks like its up to you OP, holiday and a definate fine or Sats but if you take them you can't expect the head and teachers to be happy about it or to put in extra hours to accomadate your holiday or to moan about the fine

It's still cheaper to pay the fine than go on holiday during term time. Have a lovely time. Your year 2 kids are not doing GCSE.

My DS doesn't go to state school, there are no SATS. Missing them will NOT affect their entire school career!!! They are only in yr2.
Enjoy the holiday!

Do you think teachers haven't heard it all before?

"Oh yes, little Jocasta is going to be having a fantastic cultural experience for ten days in Indonesia. She'll need worksheets and will bring back a video of her riding an elephant."

Really translates to:

"We're going to a tacky three star resort in Bali and have no intention of leaving the confines of that pool area and the closest we'll get to experiencing culture is the tacky souvenir we'll buy in Kuta on the way to trying to find somewhere that sells bangers and mash. I expect you to spend several nights putting together worksheets so that I can sound like a responsible parent that cares about my child's education, but in reality they will get shoved in the bottom of the suitcase, and if we get desperate the backs of them may get used for a game of hangman on the plane."

Sure, I'll supervise the missed SATs after school or at the weekend.
You can pay me time and a half. Or whatever the overtime rate is in other professional jobs.

Just go and sod the sats. Seriously.

However I agree its unreasonable to expect staff to work during their holidays or weekends or their evenings just to cover missed sats. I know tons of teachers who work 7-7 on week days (no lunch break), work the holidays and work weekends writing up courses, doing prep for lesson plans, sorting out classroom displays, endlessly marking and meetings. Teaching takes up a lot of family time without any extras.

But do go. Don't ask for worksheets. Just make the most of the holiday, wether it involve swimming, building sand castles, spotting exotic animals, visiting stately homes or attempting to say a few words of French to the waiter. Family bonding and new experiences are very valuable and memorable.

Yabu to ask teachers to rearrange work.

But, you should check the fine policy with la and go on holiday. Kids won't suffer to miss stupid sats.

I've never seen the point of SATS: continuous. monitored teacher assessment is far more valid.
But it's a government hoop, schools are judged on them, teacher performance management is often based on them and many parents obsessed with them...
Given the choice, I'd rather not.

A very accurate description of a classroom at lunchtime AsBrightAsAJewel and the Yr2 SATs- I don't think some people have a clue!

SATS are there to assess the school and the teachers. They're all about jumping through hoops for Ofsted. They will certainly not affect your children in any way. Why don't parents get this?!?

Sod the sats and the head! Pay the fine and enjoy your holiday!

Sod the SATs

Sorry, not sure where that extra - Sod the Sats, came from on the end!

One can never say tht too often IMO.

I think that this has been covered, Anna, as a poster thought OP was most gracious to allow the school access to her children outside the school day and they should be overjoyed to work in half term, after school or lunch time!

No point in endlessly discussing it- only 2 solutions- cancel or go anyway. Up to OP to decide. The unreasonable part is expecting compromise on the part of the Head when 'compromise' actually means 'do it my way'!

Fines are not the school's fault - the rules have become much stricter. So term time holiday = fine, except in very exceptional circumstances.

The SATs dates may not be set in stone, but anything like this is a logistical nightmare.
YABVU to expect the school to change things because of your mistake (have worked in these things and everyone thinks the school should make a special case for them).
However SATs at this stage have very little bearing on anything. However, yes they are important to the school, but again this is the fault of the policy makers, not the school, so direct your anger elsewhere.

Losing - a term time holiday doesn't equal fines. My county only sends a letter after 10 sessions (5 days), fines happen further down the line but are still small

I flatly refuse to put work packs together for children taking term time holidays. If parents value the education, keep them in school, if not why should I spend extra time preparing work for them. It is standard school policy for us. It is totally different if a child is on long term sick leave, but missing school by parental choice - no way!

Parents ask for my lesson plans, but I don't know exactly what I will be doing in two weeks time (or even the following Monday as I plan over the weekend whilst reflecting on the previous week's learning) and the plans I have done will have children's names, personal comments about their learning needs, etc. which other parents shouldn't see. Even plans I have for next week only cover Mon - Wed and will be adjusted or even totally scrapped in light of what learning happens in the classroom on any particular day. Plus I don't use worksheets so I can just pull those out and send those home, and worksheets without the prior teaching that goes with them are pretty useless.

I can see why parents want term time holidays and I do have sympathy - my family didn't have a holiday for many years as we couldn't afford them in my school holidays and my husband had strict holiday allocation. But the counter-argument is that if child A has week 1 in the summer term off, then returns so you help them catch up the following week, but children B & C have the next two weeks off, then child D has ten days... etc. it is highly disruptive to the progression in teaching for the whole class.

I tend to suggest that tey keep a detailed scrapbook of their holiday, with annotations. I never set work for holidays.
I have given my incredibly detailed lesson plans for a week to one parent (sensitive information removed) just to shut them up as they had no idea how complex my plans were and how much detailed teaching knowledge they'd need to do the input and create the activities.
They decided to do a scrapbook instead.

I see this at both ends. Educationally and in the courts as I am involved there. When it gets to courts the parents get so irate but know that they have no defence.
We once had someone who's mitigation was that their aunt in Italy or wherever was dying and they all needed to see her urgently the last week of the summer term.

Asked when the tickets were booked and application to school made- may. Hmm.

It's not just OP's child or Y2 SATs, though, is it? HTs must hold the line or next year it's more children and something more important.

And there's no harm and every good in parents getting the message that the school system sometimes involves their little darling beings at Place A on Day B whoever much they and their families would rather be [on the beach at] Place C on Day B.