PGCE and Booking a Holiday

[chestnutflower]

I know I should just ask the uni but I'm worried that I'll give off a wrong vibe and look like I'm more bothered about booking a holiday.

I'm starting a PGCE this September, looking at a holiday for next summer and would like to go in July before the school holidays as prices go up in the school holidays. The course has an end date at the end of June which we've been told about and know not to book anything before the end date of the course. Hopefully I will be starting my first year as a newly qualified teacher in the September but would I need to be available in the July for training or would I just have to show up in September when the school year starts.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense I'm just trying to understand it myself

@HelloDulling It will be Primary

A lot of PGCE jobs start in the final half term instead of September, so you get paid over the summer. This is part of how they attract NQTs. Personally I wouldn’t book a holiday for July, but I don’t think that if you do it will look bad as your course is finished. Just book something cheap or where you can cancel the accommodation until closer to the date.

Usually schools like to have you in before the holiday starts for induction days etc, it’s also nice for you to go in and see your classroom before September. But due to covid and the missed training a few schools I know are did more inductions and CPD days in June/July especially for NQTs which may be carried on in the future.

It’s taking a risk.
I would try and get a refundable one if possible and tell the new school that you had booked it a couple of years ago or it was cancelled due to covid and this was the only free dates they had.

Why don't you just save up the money/put the money to one side and book it last minute of you are available? It's still going to be cheaper than a school holidays break.

I did a PGCE a few years ago.
Uni finished around end of June - some
students had to go into July to finish off placements due to not having been allocated placements earlier. It was then the rounds of interviews and of course graduation was in July. I secured a NQT role and was asked to work the last 2 weeks of term in July for training, meeting new class, induction etc. Was very grateful for this time.

There is no way of knowing how things will pan out for you. You may secure a job and they only want you for one day in July. It may be negotiable, it may not be. Totally depends.

If it were me I would not book a holiday now in term time but it is a call only you can make.

Are you cut out for teaching?!

Reason I say is that you need to resign yourself to holidays during the school holidays for your entire teaching career.

So might as will start now!

Some schools do a whole school transition day in July, where all the children spend some time with their new teacher. Although you wouldn't be criticised for missing it if you had a pre-booked holiday, it would be a shame for you and the children.

@bluechameleon

Some schools do a whole school transition day in July, where all the children spend some time with their new teacher. Although you wouldn't be criticised for missing it if you had a pre-booked holiday, it would be a shame for you and the children.

Not criticised But they would be given you have gone in to teaching

@MrsTWH

I was able to get an NQT post that started July 1st so I got paid over Summer, which was brilliant. I wouldn’t have gone on holiday instead. I’d hold of and maybe do a last minute thing if possible.

Same here

My only concern is if, for whatever reason, you haven't got a job for September, you are going to miss those last min July interviews but other than that, I'd say go and enjoy your last quiet, cheap holiday.
I don't think I'd want to work for a school that begrudged that last chance so it might help you weed out those that don't value your personal life.
I don't doubt it happens, but I've never known an NQT to start in July other than for the odd day of supply or a get to know you day.

My PGCE year I went to Glastonbury I knew that embarking upon a teaching career it would be the last chance I’d have to go until I was retired basically. It actually fell on the last week of my final placement, however I negotiated with the school to finish on the Wednesday of my final week, travelled to the festival that night, travelled back the following Tuesday and went back into placement school weds, thurs and fri of that next week. I had a good relationship with them. As some others have mentioned, I then got a job which was to start in September but throughout July I was invited in to staff training, class transition day and even the staff end of term night out to get to know them, all of which I wouldn’t have wanted to miss. Best to stick to august, the sooner you get used to it the better Good luck with your year.

Secondary school teacher here. We definitely wouldn’t expect you in school before September. We usually have two INSET days before term starts, so plenty of time to get up to speed. Sometimes people come in for a day in July to talk through their new timetable etc but this would be at a mutually convenient time/date.

Book your holiday in July and enjoy it

We have all new staff in for an induction day in July, and the y7 tutors meet their forms that day. We ask NQTs in for a couple more days for induction that week.
This year it was the first week in July.
I have to say that I would be unimpressed if I had to plan my ECT induction around holidays.

@MrsHamlet Glad you mentioned ECT because on my course we have a ECT week in June which is for 5 days so I wonder what that might be about.

Trust me, book the holiday. It’s the last term time holiday you’ll get and you’ll deserve and need it after the rollercoaster of PGCE. You’ll need at least a day to meet your new class and do paperwork etc but the likelihood of it clashing is small. If your new school expects you to come in more frequently towards the end of the school year they should be paying you.

@chestnutflower it could be anything but I suspect it'll be mostly paperwork for the uni rather than anything relating to the ECF.

Induction is the responsibility of the employing school but the uni will be graded - in part - on their support for the ECTs they send off.

@MrsHamlet Thank you wasn’t sure what it meant. Still don’t know what to do at the moment so will wait and see but I definitely do not want to create a bad impression of myself and unimpress people with booking a holiday.

I think it would be fine. I heard of these mythical July starts for NQTs when I trained 10 years ago but have never come across a school or NQT who has had one since so I think they’re a thing of the past.

It is possibly that your week might clash with the schools’ induction day, which would be annoying. However I think in every school I’ve been in, they’d just arrange for you to come and meet the class before/after that day instead and it wouldn’t be a huge deal.

It is also possible that you might be unavailable for interviews if you haven’t secured a job by then.

I have never heard of anyone having to make up placement weeks after the course has finished (unless they missed a month or more but then they didn’t pass the course and had to return in September to complete the placement) - if people were off sick or whatever they just missed those days. I took 2 days off for a sports event in my final placement and didnt have to make them up. However it’s 10 years since I trained and I concede it’s possible things have changed, and that different unis might have different rules on making up the time.

To all those saying ‘you won’t be able to have cheap term time holiday in future, best get used to it now’ - why shouldn’t the OP have one last cheap holiday before a life of expensive ones?? I wish i had!

I work on a primary PGCE course. Ours actually finishes on 1 July next year, but after that we do not expect our trainees to be available. The course has finished and you are free. Should you not have met the standards by the end of the course, you might be offered an additional or extension placement, but that is in the autumn term.

So no problem going on holiday from the PGCE course perspective.

HOWEVER, primary jobs are mostly later coming out than secondary ones, and this year (worst year ever) only 25% of our trainees had jobs by the end of the course. By the end of term 80% had. So booking a holiday now for that last month of term could be risky from the point of view of securing your first post.

You could miss out on visiting your new school too, but as others have said, it would mostly be you rather than the school that would miss out (although it is nice for your new class to meet you before the summer) and it wouldn't be held against you ( by most...).

I can massively see the attraction of taking a last term time holiday, but I think I would wait to see how everything goes before booking.

I’d probably look at booking something the week starting the 16th July or something. Most schools would still be in, so it should be cheaper, and it’s unlikely the transition days would be that late.

@Howshouldibehave That's a good suggestion I'll take that in to account

Finished my PGCE this year, the uni told us not to book any holidays following the planned finish date because we may need to make up for any lost placement days at the end of the course. I imagine bubbles and isolations made it more likely than perhaps 'normal' illness in previous years, but our placement requirement days were also reduced so I don't know anyone who needed to do so.