Friday and Monday

[Leafitout]

The senior school my ds goes to has an inset day next Friday and on Monday. I expect a few inset days but to do it like this is annoying especially since they have only had a week off not that long ago.

I can understand doing it for a day. I am not uniformed I am entitled to an opinion and know that teachers have a hard job to do. It's just an inconvenience that it is over two days like this

If the NHS closed for 12 weeks holiday per year, they too would probably take 5 days out of those weeks, and dot them across the year.

There are not enough tutors/training specialists available to do it any other way.

But they don't and nor do the Police etc, so I'm not sure why this is being brought up?

Ivykaty44 yanbu

Why is it any different to having say 2 random Wednesdays off?
At least this way some parents will be able to take a short holiday if they can't afford peak prices.

Of course you're uninformed if you think children should be in school during training days and even more so if you think schools can be adequately staffed by dozens of supply teachers at once.

It's just an inconvenience that it is over two days like this

For every parent who feels inconvenienced, there will be others who are grateful it's over the same long weekend.

It's the way the cookie crumbles but at least it's senior school, so childcare won't be an issue for many.

A few weeks ago to be honest it slipped out of my mind.have a lot on my plate at the moment. Would not be able to afford a cheap weekend away as a single parent.

Because the argument "but don't you care about training" is an unfair one, it's a straw-man.

You could still open the school and have trained teachers - by recruiting more staff to enable it, by changing working conditions - requiring new teaching contracts and presumably a substantial increase in cost etc. There's lots of good reasons why that is the way it is, but supporting a different approach to teacher continuous development than closing schools doesn't mean you don't care about it.

Of course it wouldn't be viable or even a good use of money to open the school with a whole pile of different teachers for five days a year. Who manages the premises? Who deals with safeguarding issues? Who pays for it? How is continuity of learning and planning managed? Why is it even an issue provided adequate notice is given, since the pupils have the same number of days ' holiday as they've always had? Parents don't have to source any additional childcare as the 195 days of education are what they've always been. Assuming adequate notice it's up to parents to organise themselves as has always been the case.

Sorry, 190 days - 195 for teachers, including inset.

So fred you want children in classrooms for 5 additional days a year? When they've never been required to be there for those days at any time pre inset?

You want more days at school than your child is legally entitled to?

OP - the inset days over the year allow for the fact that the school summer holidays are a week shorter than when we were at school. The plan was that the teachers would be trained in a week of the summer holidays, in practice, it's hard to get the tutors and training schemes all in place for one week across the whole of the country, so they are split round the year, with the summer holidays being a shorter period (no longer the 6 weeks off).

You are not having to cover extra days compared to your parents generation, just moved some from the summer holidays. (My PIL still can't quite get over how "late" in July the schools break up)

Staff have to be trained, for some courses, it does make sense to have both training days close together.

Why does it inconvenience you, OP?
Are you unable to leave your secondary - age DC to their own devices?

No ilovesooty I don't, as I said originally the OP as being U, but the arguments "don't you want your teachers trained" are completely unrelated to the question, and I'd expect real responses (which you have of course given.)

The argument about the number of days teachers are contracted etc. is good, and right. "don't you want your teachers to be trained" is not good, as teachers could be trained without closing schools. It may not be the best idea, but it is perfectly possible without having the entire school run by supply teachers.

Superficially it doesn't even strike me as efficient for tutors etc. either (why not train a particular thing with all teachers with similar needs from a range of schools at the same time, rather than all the teachers from a single school) But I'll always assume it's thought out more than the superficial.

Oh I see thanks 1 I'd misunderstood. Cross school training does take place but often whole school training is necessary particularly for new government initiatives, or curriculum changes or safeguarding refreshers which are mandatory.

I love it when my kids' school does this, we fuck off on a weekend break somewhere, super cheap as its 'term time'. Winner.