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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

School msg inset day tomorrow less than 24 hours notice

172 replies

JustJ18 · 15/04/2018 14:32

I have just recvd msg that my Grandsons school is having inset day tomorrow. txt msg arrived at 1.30 pm Sunday afternoon. There is no notice given on schools website, I have searched all letters info prior to Easter Holidays, no notice given. How can this be acceptable. I am now desperately trying to find cover, both sets of grandparents working, friends and other family members are working and can't do at such short notice. Any suggestions? Should I take him anyway as Teachers will be there?

OP posts:
RavenWings · 15/04/2018 14:34

Yes, yanbu that that's not enough notice. But don't take him! Teachers aren't your childcare, if that was my school we'd refuse to accept him into our care (mind you, we wouldn't give notice of a closure the day before either).

polarb · 15/04/2018 14:34

That is really rubbish. But if you take him they will just send you away probably.

RoseRuby26 · 15/04/2018 14:36

That's awful! We try and give 6 months or more notice. You won't be able to take him in, however. Complain to governors and head.

Womble75 · 15/04/2018 14:36

That's weird.. I had a text at that time to remind me of the inset day. On the sheer coincidence it's the same school (which I doubt) there was numerous reminders on the newsletter.
But that aside, no you can't just take the child into school. They are there for training not adhoc childcare.

sanityisamyth · 15/04/2018 14:38

It's short notice but maybe something happened last week which needs an urgent full staff meeting?

Yes teachers will be at school but surely they'll be busy at the INSET so will need to attend that, not to have at least 2 of them taken off that to babysit?

user1483387154 · 15/04/2018 14:39

they will not look after your son during an inset day.

If they did not give you any notice bar the text then I would write a formal complaint to the governers.

SimonBridges · 15/04/2018 14:40

Unusual to send a message on a Sunday.
Don’t these type of things come from the school office?

Don’t take him anyway. The teachers don’t just sit around drinking coffee on inset days and they aren’t childcare.

Can you message any other parents and see if they can have him?

Nothisispatrick · 15/04/2018 14:45

Unusual to send a message on a Sunday.
Don’t these type of things come from the school office?

Yes, but the systems used can be logged in to from anywhere.

It's poor form but you can't just take him in anyway, gates and things like that won't be open and they'll just send you away.

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 15/04/2018 14:47

Maybe his parent/s knew and forgot to tell you? Ridiculous short notice if not, considering that INSET days are set by the LEA for the forthcoming school year. Could it be a sudden, unavoidable closure for another reason (like when DS1 had the day off because the school boiler blew up)?

britnay · 15/04/2018 14:47

Schools usually start back on the Tuesday of each new term. This is nothing new. Do you not have all the term dates on your calendar?!

SimonBridges · 15/04/2018 14:48

Ridiculous short notice if not, considering that INSET days are set by the LEA

Not in my experience, they are usually set by the school. For primary anyway.

SoyDora · 15/04/2018 14:48

YANBU if that is the first you’ve heard of it.
However there is absolutely no point taking him anyway. They will turn him away.

Wolfiefan · 15/04/2018 14:49

You can't take him anyway. Staff will be training. Not free to babysit.
INSET days are published on the school calendar at the start of the academic year. Check that.

divadee · 15/04/2018 14:49

unusual to send a message on a Sunday.
Don’t these type of things come from the school office?

We use a text system that you can set up the date and time you want the text to be sent. So this could of been programmed before the holidays to be sent today.

SoyDora · 15/04/2018 14:49

Schools usually start back on the Tuesday of each new term. This is nothing new. Do you not have all the term dates on your calendar?!

Not in our area. All our inset days are on a Thursday or Friday.

DragonsAndCakes · 15/04/2018 14:49

Schools usually start back on the Tuesday of each new term.

Not always! Not every school and not every term. There are five inset days for a start and three terms split into two. The other school near us does an extra week in summer and no onset days.

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 15/04/2018 14:50

In which case it would surely be a reminder, not first notice?

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 15/04/2018 14:50

That was to divadee

Buxbaum · 15/04/2018 14:52

Ridiculous short notice if not, considering that INSET days are set by the LEA for the forthcoming school year.

This is by no means always the case any more - and even where it is, the LA usually set no more than three of the five days.

OP, if this really is the only notice you've been given then it is unacceptable and you should make a formal complaint. I'd have to check with other parents to be absolutely sure that I hadn't missed anything (no letters in the bottom of your DC's bag?). There must be other parents in a similar position to you.

BoneyBackJefferson · 15/04/2018 14:53

Most schools rotate inset days so that they share the missing lessons between the staff/pupils.

BikeRunSki · 15/04/2018 14:53

Did they give notice of this in a calendar of events at the start of the academic year? Ours puts everything on this avd it’s usually issued in the first couple of weeks of term.

The inset days for next year have already been published.

Are you absolutely sure that tomorow’s Inset day has not already been notified, albeit a while ago?

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 15/04/2018 14:55

Are there any other parent's of your DGS that you have phone number of, that you could check if they knew about this inset day. (and can you share their childcare!)

AlexanderHamilton · 15/04/2018 15:00

If it really is the first notification then the school have massively messed up

Ds is back in school tomorrow. Dd has an inset day.

lalalalyra · 15/04/2018 15:01

If there's been absolutely no notice of it before now then I'd assume that there's a major issue that needs immediate rectifying. Either something in the building that has merited a shuffle of inset days or a major safeguarding issue/teaching issue (death of a teacher type thing - I hope not).

Witchend · 15/04/2018 15:01

Of it really is out of the blue rather than you family led to notice then it's probably an emergency. Dd1's school had one due to a gas leak once which they chose to call inset day and cancelled one of the inset days the next term instead.