Schools closed for the Queen’s funeral

[Notme1980]

First off, Queen Elizabeth II was an amazing ruler and an inspiration, we are a forces family and my husband has served her for 30 plus years.

but - I do not want the schools to be closed for her funeral (or for any reason at all), I want us to do what I believe she would have done, press on.

I know its not the day off that you would like

😂 This is so irrelevant. A bank holiday and day off for schools will be happening whether you like it or not.

Could do. They’ll have to come out for a big long walk with me rather than sit glued to the telly though

How many of the posters here complained last year about the Jubilee bank holiday? Every child had 1 day fewer at school last year than in a normal year.

Ditto for William’s wedding - that one was really disruptive to education because it bell in a short term after Easter as well, but I remember not one whisper of discontent.

Equally, I am not sure why the focus us on schools? It is a Bank Holiday - a very large number of employees will not be working, and the vast majority of workplaces will be closed. Like schools, many of these were closed / online or otherwise not working normally during the pandemic. Why the animosity only about schools and teachers?

Don't worry schools will be close for lots of days this coming academic year for teachers and then support staff strikes!

Of course it should be a bank holiday, people should be able to line the streets of London or watch it from home.

Because it was clearly teachers who made the decision to have a Bank Holiday, just so they can sit on the sofa and skive another day off work!

Oh, wait.........

I want us to do what I believe she would have done, press on

I suspect King Charles has a better idea of what she would have done.

I think the Queen was a wonderful woman. The Bank Holiday will mean nothing to most children though who will not watch the funeral. The parents also will not be able to watch it so what is the point? Is it just a token gesture?

Just as an aside... If you are part time and don't work Mondays do you just lose that bank holiday? You don't get time off another day? Was just wondering.

@cantkeepawayforever no animosity towards schools here, I was answering someone so that was just an example I gave.

Will have to see what coop do, hope they close for at least a couple of hours for the funeral (I'm working a week Monday). I'm not a royalist at all but would like the opportunity to watch it.

It's a massive historical moment. Good grief.
I'm a republican but even I know that children and teachers etc should be allowed to watch the funeral.

^ This 100%. In the past we have every now and again had a bank holiday thrown in due to a major national event and those years have resulted in school children receiving one fewer schooling day that particular year. Schools always close on a bank holiday and if the extra gifted bank holiday falls during a school holiday, an extra day off is taken in lieu another time in the school year to compensate.

This isn’t something new or unusual. It has happened for decades if an extra bank holiday is gifted by the government. The only difference with this one is that it has shorter notice period but that’s because you can’t plan the exact day of someone’s death in advance like you can the Queens Jubilee. I think to the average person it was foreseeable that a major event such as a monarch funeral or coronation could feasibly be a bank holiday due to its significance to the nation as a collective.

Teachers aren’t in charge of allocating the countries bank holidays. The government decides for the country and then schools do what they are directed to by the Department of Education.

I don’t think you have to ‘watch the funeral’ to mark the event with and for your children. Go for a walk and chat about the Queen with them. Dress up as Kings and Queens and talk about them. Look at pictures of the Queen’s life, or go for a walk past a castle. Spend quiet family time together, to make it a memorable family day because one say not all of you will be able to be together either.

I don't think people should worry about children missing out on education for this. This is history unfolding here and now and as such they may learn a lot from being aware of, and in some ways involved with, what is going on.

I don’t know how it works in other jobs but as a teacher who didn’t work Mondays for years, I just didn’t get those bank holidays.

I think a lot of parents know they won’t be able to watch it in peace and quiet.
I’m a single mum of 4 and I will be watching it. It will be on my TV all day. I can still watch it while doing other things.
I might not be able to watch it uninterrupted, but having to leave the house 3 times to do school runs and nursery lunchtime pick up would be far more disruptive. It would be 2-3 hours out of my day.
Plus school staff should be able to have that opportunity to watch it properly at home.

Aren’t most bh’s during school holidays anyway?

I thought the bank holidays and annual leave in general was worked into the leave during school breaks which is way above the statutory 28days for full time.

It's a bank holiday and The Queens funeral, I'm hoping most will be watching including children. I can still remember watching Charles and Diana's wedding it wasn't a bank holiday so we rolled an ancient tv into one of the classrooms.

I think we should drop the early May bank holiday permanently and then any random 'extra' Bank holidays have already been accounted for.

Well I don't but it would be a way around it. It's just bad timing that the jubilee has been followed so closely by the funeral & presumably next year's coronation (which at least will have the date fixed well in advance).

Part of me wonders whether the NHS should stay fully open and the workers there get a more planned day off another time rather than rearranging operations etc but that doesn't seem fair (especially after the last 2 years) and I have no idea how it could be organised.

@zonder you’d have to check with your employer but I imagine it’ll be added to your holiday allowance on a pro rata basis. I used to get four hours for each bank holiday (even though my working day was eight hours) so it’s worth being aware whether you’re going to get paid for less than a full day or need use annual leave hours to make up a full day.

The Jubilee bank Holiday was during the June half term, so children were off anyway, hence no complaints

Googling tells me that it was a public holiday. It was also on the 29th July which would have been during the school holidays.

I think many people will find that with this being an extra bank holiday they won’t be entitled to take the day off work, depends on terms of contract I think.

is the primary purpose of the bank holiday to allow people to watch the funeral live? Obviously they can watch it any time. I certainly won’t be watching it live as I have a toddler who won’t be on board with that plan, but I will probably try to see it at some point.

Schools were given the bank holiday to place in the school calendar anywhere they liked. Some had it before Christmas, others closed for the summer a day early.

But every school took a separate day off at another point in the year - so every child got 1 day less in school, as school staff had the right to the extra Bank Holiday in lieu.