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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

School closed next Monday!

261 replies

Schoolclosure · 28/11/2019 12:15

I’ve been meaning to post this all week, I got a text from my dc’s school on Monday saying that due to the electricity board doing work on Monday 2nd dec the school will have no electricity and therefore will be closed. AIBU to think that it’s a tad ridiculous and. They could have just done the work over the bloody weekend!!??

OP posts:

FlamingoAndJohn · 28/11/2019 19:47

Yes we do our hours in those days. The pp made it sound like all schools disaggregated those hours.

Dementedmagpie · 28/11/2019 19:55

Most schools in our area have an "occasional day" /teachers shopping day this week or next. DC school used to have black friday as their occasional day which was a PITA as it was one of mine (and DH) busiest days at work. Thankfully they've apparently saved thr occasional days for the end of summer term.

LolaSmiles · 28/11/2019 20:01

Dementedmagpie
Term time is 190 days for students.
If the school is closed for everyone then it's because it would have been a PD day so your child wouldn't have been in school anyway. The reason staff aren't in is because they'll have done the additional hours in twilight sessions.

190 term time days with students + 5 PD days for staff is the same to parents as 190 term time days for students + 4 PD days and multiple twilight sessions for staff.

EggysMom · 28/11/2019 20:06

Our son's school is closed tomorrow for an inset day. If the LA want to give them one of the inset days to go Christmas shopping, rather than undertaking training, that's up to the LA. As a parent I don't care, it's coming from the quota of five inset days. As a taxpayer, I'm more concerned .... but I can't be bothered to drive past school tomorrow to see who's in

BoneyBackJefferson · 28/11/2019 20:10

EggysMom

As a taxpayer, I'm more concerned ....

Concerned about what?

Dementedmagpie · 28/11/2019 20:13

I don't know what PD days are, (so that probably makes me "ignorant and/or thick" ) I'm not having a go at teachers, I'm saying its difficult to cover black friday if you work in an industry where that's the busiest day.
But of course in MN world I should have budgeted for enough childcare, school uniform, school trips and planned for every eventuality before ttc!

LolaSmiles · 28/11/2019 20:14

As a taxpayer, I'm more concerned ....
Why?
Concerned that people in a different line of work undertake the same hours of INSET but it's at a different time?

Out of interest, do you also get concerned it other people work compressed hours over 4 days when others work 5 traditional days?

BoneyBackJefferson · 28/11/2019 20:18

Dementedmagpie
I don't know what PD days are, (so that probably makes me "ignorant and/or thick" )

It doesn't make you either, How would you know unless you used it?

I'm not having a go at teachers, I'm saying its difficult to cover black friday if you work in an industry where that's the busiest day.

And its a valid complaint, but its not the teachers that set the dates for these days.

Winterwoollies · 28/11/2019 20:19

I imagine a large number of residential properties will also be affected, as well as the school. They do these things during the week as most people will be at work and not at home, so won’t be inconvenienced by the power cuts. During weekends, as well as staffing being more expensive, it’s assumed more people would be at home and so more people would be inconvenienced.

fedup21 · 28/11/2019 20:20

@ EggysMom what exactly are you concerned about as a taxpayer here?!

0hT00dles · 28/11/2019 20:20

Hrtft but considering my dad a works for the esb and was on call for many years (including the weekend of my weekend!) it's scheduled maintenance- on call is for emergencies which there are a lot of.

Jesus I used to teach and the school would have to close due to no electricity.

It's a 9-5 job - the weekends are for places that can't be done safely Monday - Friday- and given a lot of schools are closed either this Friday or monday, due to inservice, they've done well.

I applaud the esb during the awful weather we've been having lately. You don't see them out every night in the lashing rain and howling wind obviously

Drabarni · 28/11/2019 20:28

can you point out to me where I said the shopping day came out of teaching time, or where I suggested it, please.

I'm sure at least 4 of you are making your own posts up, and I know at least 2 of you are teachers. Making your own assumptions is a bit thick.

EggysMom · 28/11/2019 20:29

The thing is, I don't know that the teachers have done their training in the evening and tomorrow's inset day is in lieu of that. If it turns out that my son's school teachers are being given a lieu day which they can use to go Christmas shopping, I have no way of distinguishing that from the LA calling it an inset day but actually simply giving them a day off to keep them all happy. Considering the other failings our our LA, I wouldn't put it past them to have come up with such a daft idea. As a taxpayer, many things about our LA concern me!

BoneyBackJefferson · 28/11/2019 20:33

Drabarni

So if you understand where these days come from and how they work why are you moaning about them?

LolaSmiles · 28/11/2019 20:38

The thing is, I don't know that the teachers have done their training in the evening and tomorrow's inset day is in lieu of that. If it turns out that my son's school teachers are being given a lieu day which they can use to go Christmas shopping, I have no way of distinguishing that from the LA calling it an inset day but actually simply giving them a day off to keep them all happy.
The LA aren't running most schools.
But let's put this another way, do you seriously believe that schools who struggle to cover everything within contracted hours and run on thousands of extra hours with staff topping up resources from their own pockets would happen to think "you know what, sod running a school, stuff all the work that needs doing, y'all have a free day off"?

If you're so unbelievably bothered (and I can't tell if this is woeful cluelessness or plain goady) then I'm sure you could contact the school, ask for their directed time calendar confirmation that students are indeed being given their 190 days. At this stage in the term you can be the one who gives the school a laugh so that you can know.

DrCoconut · 28/11/2019 20:38

I've never heard of teachers shopping days. Sounds fresh from the daily mail o matic machine to me. I have 2 training days coming up and they are actually training days, one involves a pain in the arse commute that messes with my childcare arrangements.

LolaSmiles · 28/11/2019 20:40

DrCoconut
It's out of the daily mail for the whingers and straight out of the common sense colloquial phrasing for everyone else.

Some people can't won't get their heads around the idea that 190 days + 5 PD days can also be achieved as 190 days + 3 or 4 PD days and several twilight sessions.

theluckiest · 28/11/2019 20:41

DS is off tomorrow as his (secondary) school has a training day. My school doesn't though, so he's coming in to help me...mwahahhaa

I can only dream of a Christmas shopping day
Mind you, my school is the only one in the whole world it seems that stays open until 3.30pm on the last day of term....

(Should I also mention that some schools might be closed to children on Election Day too? )

Drabarni · 28/11/2019 20:42

boney

I haven't moaned about them.
My kids are older now and when at school I was a sahm, I loved them being off.
I've never complained. I used to love them when I taught at college, kids were little and shopping was great.

I don't fully know where they come from, but nowhere did I suggest they were taken from teaching time.

BoneyBackJefferson · 28/11/2019 20:51

Drabarni

I see that you haven't.

But it has been extensively explained on this thread where they come from and how they work.

The inference that they are paid days just given to teachers is just bollocks misinformation.

FlamingoAndJohn · 28/11/2019 20:52

As a taxpayer, I'm more concerned .... but I can't be bothered to drive past school tomorrow to see who's in

Last PD day we had we were all in another school for the day training. Had you gone past my school you would have seen it shut up, car park empty and lights off. Didn’t mean we were all off on a jolly though.

CountFosco · 28/11/2019 21:31

At the very least school SLT should realise advertising a day when the kids aren't at school as a 'Christmas Shopping Day' is going to get the back up of all the parents who aren't afforded such a luxury. Call them an inset day and manage your staff how you want within the law.

Secondly, having every school in the county having different inset days each year is a nightmare for parents, it's impossible to get paid childcare for those days and so if you have children at two different school (e.g. a primary and secondary in the same area) then you have to use 10 days of annual leave to cover them. If the schools in an area all agreed to have a week of inset days in e.g. June (the week after half term would be lovely which is what happens in one of the LAs near me) then there would be local childcare options and parents would have the option of going on holiday for a week. Much more sensible and considerate of parents.

Thirdly generators are not that expensive, certainly not to hire which can even be done at short notice for businesses (my company use to hire generators at 3h notice) and are far less of a EHS nightmare than e.g. a school minibus (same combustion engine but no possibility of crashes).

LolaSmiles · 28/11/2019 21:41

count
The thing is schools will choose their days when works for the school.

We have a PD day closed to students but staff are in during GCSE and A Level mocks. We put it there because that's when staff need the time and it's used for moderation. Why should we put it on the end of June half term (for example) because it's easier for parents?

School isn't childcare. Inset is time for the school to allocate their staff according to school needs and other events/deadlines in the school calendar. It's not time to free up for family holidays.

The students have 190 days at school each year as part of term time. Any time around that isn't term time and parents should be entirely expecting to make arrangements. Equally school calendar dates are frequently released at the start of the year and are available on their websites.

Aragog · 28/11/2019 22:02

Countfosco - all schools having the same inset days doesn't work that well for training. We often want to access the same or similar training and there are only so many trainers available. They can't cover every school on one day.

Similarly some inset is taken to meet the beds of the school at a time - having 5 days in a row is often not very effective in terms of managing that training and needs. They need spreading around often as they are in response to specific school needs.

TheWaiting · 28/11/2019 22:13

@CountFosco, trouble is, often insets are used for training by external agencies and they obviously need to train staff on different days. There’s also the fact that at least one is needed in September to go over with staff all new initiatives (both School and government) plus discuss any new children with additional needs or critical health issues. I agree that it’s useful if schools can add them onto existing holidays but it’s unworkable for all schools to block them together for 1wk in June just to allow parents a cheaper holiday.

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