Can School Extend Easter?

[EasterEvenLonger]

My kid’s school had published Easter holidays as:
Mon 7 April - Tuesday 22nd April

They have written today to extend it to:
Friday 4 April - Thursday 24 April
An additional 3 working/school days

I can’t list all the reasons this is a fucking nightmare for me. Can they just announce this without any consultation and just 3 weeks notice? They haven’t taken any subsequent days off to compensate. It’s an additional 3 days.

YABU - of course they can
YANBU - no they shouldn’t be able to do this

A relatives wedding is not "life happens". If a student's house burned down, or was flooded and they had to find emergency accomodation and were absent for a couple of days that would authorized. You have dismissed the explanation given about the difference between an individual child missing and being behind and the whole school. In the latter case, as a pp said, some desirable but not essential elements of the following weeks' curriculum would be dropped to ensure the core curriculum was caught up. It's not hard. You just seem determined to have a bun fight.

Please can you give me the page number and I will go back to look?

No no, I said that your opinion is not interesting.

I think my opinion is very interesting. You engaged with it so eloquently.

A relatives wedding is exactly life happening. Important life happening.

This building work is not an emergency. The school did not burn down.

I haven't dismissed the explanation, I just don't agree with it.

I'm committed to defending my view.

Good for you!

I'm actually genuine with that. Your reply is pretty funny! 😂

It really isn't hugely important that a primary age child is at a relatives wedding unless it is a parent. A scheduled building work that over-runs due to unforeseen complications is an emergency. They can't just chuck a tarpaulin over it and carry on.

Respectfully, going to have to agree to disagree on that, I think. For me it's genuinely really important but I accept people have different views on families/weddings etc.

That's fair. That aside though, are you really so entrenched in your view that the idea that schools are in fact bound by the same laws of sod as the rest of us when it comes to building and it's not done deliberately by feckless planners because they don't give a shit? If you are, then I respectfully suggest you volunteer for a governing body and get some insight.

Right MN - it's been sort of fun....

I'm about to get off my train, leaving my working week behind and this thread - don't particularly want to drag this into the weekend. I will bid you all good weekends/Friday nights.

There has been a couple of fair points but mostly I'm still absolutely rigid in my view that schools should be held to the same standards they set for parents. And while many have put up a good debate I haven't changed my mind on that.

schools should be held to the same standards they set for parents

The government set the standards, not the schools.

Schools might like to grant your child a week off to go on a once in a lifetime holiday, but they are not allowed.

Yes - sort of. I don't think the school did it deliberately. I just don't think it should have been an option. Whoever the powers that be are, I believe should say - we cannot close the school for 3 days during term time, when telling parents they can't take their kids out for 3 days. We have to come up with an alternative.

Or we allow reasonable flex within an academic year for all.

A fair, equitable and level rules/playing field for all - schools and parents alike!.

Right. I really am going now, I'm the next stop😂

Just look back till you find 13.11 - not that hard, no?

So why did she not just go regardless?
so what if it’s labelled as unauthorised - depending on the LA or Academy the funeral day may be authorised but not the travel days, others will authorise all of it.

why even ask?just say they won’t be in.

Most LAs don’t fine til day 5 either .

Does this mean they’re not delivering the 190 days they have to? Really poor form to do this with such short notice.

My daughter is carrying on her schooling at another building site after spending years watching her primarily school be rebuilt as they’re building a new high school. It’s a 2.5-3 year project so they can’t be entirely sure when it will complete and in any scenario the school will be shut for 3-5 days during term for the teachers to set up and test everything. They will ensure not to handover during exams but it could be the Feb, Easter or summer break - no way to know and will certainly change several times between now and next year.

Hrft and legally I've no idea but even if school can do this I'd submit a formal complaint bc if you work anywhere that's not ultra flexible, then it's a problem.

Personally dreading DS starting school bc of the childcare issues. Although obvs happy to lose nursery charges. I have a 1hr commute which is 1.5+ hrs in peak traffic. School drop off and collection will be a nightmare.