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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask for a justification of inset days

368 replies

5Foot5 · 17/07/2015 23:50

Really, really don't want to sound like I am teacher-bashing here. This is a genuine question.

There is a story being discussed on the news programme about a school which has decided to have all of its inset days at one go so that parents could potentially take advantage of term time prices for holidays. This got me thinking about the timing of inset days generally.

I assume that these days are used for training and /or acquainting staff with the myriad changes imposed on them all the time by government.

But, here is the question, why do these days have to be taken during what would otherwise be term time? Why are they not held during the school holidays when there is surely enough capacity to accommodate these days?

Can i add that I am no longer affected by this since DD has now left school but it really has only just occurred to me..

OP posts:
echt · 19/07/2015 09:47

Good point, Grumpy. When I was last in the UK, INSET days were set in stone for the year. That was part of the point.

Hard to see how it is OK for them to change/be unpredictable. Not OK at all.

clam · 19/07/2015 10:00

All the schools I'm in close contact with set the Inset dates at least a year in advance and publish them on the website/newsletter.
How on earth do some other schools not have to do this?

Sunnymeg · 19/07/2015 10:03

A primary in the next town has offered 5 inset days together in May for a couple of years. In practise it isn't that helpful. Families with children at secondary can't go away, and there have been issues with local firms who can only let so many workers off at any given time. In reality it meant of lot of people having to organise childcare for an extra week, rather than for Inset days dotted throughout the year.

Our local primary used to have two Inset days tacked onto a weekend in June. This was because the school is off the A39 and it closed when the traffic for Glastonbury was at its highest and the teachers used to meet together off site.

LindyHemming · 19/07/2015 10:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Iggi999 · 19/07/2015 10:45

Euphemia - my dcs' school gets a week off in Feb. Quite common in Scotland. If you can get a flight somewhere it's good, otherwise can be dismal!

NeedsAsockamnesty · 19/07/2015 10:47

There are schools in the UK that have random middle of term inset days?

Bloody hell you learn something new every day.

23 years of parenting all but one child attended schools off the top of my head I'm thinking about over 20 schools (think one of those schools may have dropped from the top ofstead rating once for a short time) and all of the had inset days or TT days at the start or end of pupil holidays as do the schools my current school age children attend.

clam genuinely interested but why would this be considered bad practice?

Tanith · 19/07/2015 11:40

Cruikshank, I'm a childminder and we do cover INSET days.
I have never been asked to do so by a parent who didn't already use my before and after school service.

Have you asked any childminders, or have you just assumed we're all full?

This reminds me: our LA is encouraging childminders to take 5 INSET days throughout the year so they don't have to put on so much evening and weekend training for us.

Iggi999 · 19/07/2015 11:42

Sometimes a middle-of-term one coincides with an election (when many primary schools are shut)

madamginger · 19/07/2015 12:14

Our school adds them to half term in October February and May and then the other 2 before term starts in September. I like it and it's not too bad covering them since they are already off school the week before

Yarp · 19/07/2015 12:23

Euphemia

Yes indeed

SuffolkNWhat · 19/07/2015 12:29

In all the schools I have worked in INSET days are set at least 1 year in advance, sometimes 2. They are published in every newsletter and on the school website. Often the parents who complain about them suddenly deciding to have an INSET day are the ones who have ignored these newsletters every month for the entire school year.

LindyHemming · 19/07/2015 12:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 19/07/2015 13:10

"Yeah, well the clue's in the T of Inset. In Service Training"

Clearly I am an idiot, because I always assumed they were called inset days because they were set into (or inset in) term time.

JadeJaderson · 19/07/2015 13:18

I was confused by something ds2's teacher said to me.

Their official last day of term is next Tuesday. But Monday and Tuesday are inset days, so they finished on Friday.

I was chatting and said to the Teacher on Friday 'nearly done, only two days left for you' or the like and she said, oh no, they've all managed to make up the hours over the last couple of weeks so the teachers too finished on Friday.

How does that work?

spanieleyes · 19/07/2015 13:25

These are called "Twilights". Instead of coming in for an extra day, the time can be made up by having training after school for a given number of hours ( we have to have 6.75 hours of twilight training to make up a day) This is especially useful for "improvement training" So for example you might have 2 hours extra training one week on a particular principle/practice. You then use this in lessons during the next week and have a further 2 hours training where staff can discuss pro's/cons of the practice, it can be modified/amended as needed, implemented the following week and a follow up inset of 3 hours used to assess/monitor etc.
As most schools don't finish their directed time until 4,30-5pm and the training hours have to be in addition to this, it can make for a long day!

clam · 19/07/2015 13:26

A number of schools do this (not mine though Sad ). They have twilight training sessions (in addition to normal staff meetings) until 6 or 7 in the evening, which frees them up to finish earlier in July.

ilovesooty · 19/07/2015 13:26

They will have done twilight evening sessions to claim those days off by working additional hours.

trufflehunterthebadger · 19/07/2015 13:26

Am i the only person who enjoys inset days ? I take a day's holiday or swap a day off and actively enjoy a day off with DD when the other schools are open.

clam · 19/07/2015 13:26

Sorry, x post.

ilovesooty · 19/07/2015 13:26

Cross post, sorry.

intheenddotcom · 19/07/2015 13:27

They are held in the holidays - students are at school for 190 days, teachers for 195 - the extra 5 are INSET (some schools have them in the evenings). We are paid for 195 days but the pay is spread equally over the year.

Prior to 1988 teachers worked 190 days without INSETS - so actually we've lost out.

If you don't like it become a teacher - massive staff shortages almost everywhere (I wonder why).

ilovesooty · 19/07/2015 13:27

Cross cross post clam Grin

Noodledoodledoo · 19/07/2015 13:29

JadeJaderson my school does this - we tend to have two at the end of term to ensure we finish on a Friday to have 6 clear weeks rather than two halves at either end.

We attend twilight sessions throughout the year to make up to the hours we should be in school next week - so for two days next week we have done 4 2.5 hour sessions after school training during the year.

Next year we are working September 2nd to get a day off in July 2016!!

Noodledoodledoo · 19/07/2015 13:31

Even more of a cross post from me!!

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 19/07/2015 13:31

our secondary has some INSETs randomly during the week - the reason given is so that the lessons missed by the students aren't always the same ones (ie always a Monday or a Friday). Not so much an issue as the majority of secondary age DC can be left at home.

Primary/Junior/Infant schools we were at tagged the INSET days onto holidays though.