holidays in shcool term time adn bringin in sweets on return

[michellemcmanus]

does anyone elses kids have to endure kids taking holidays in term time then returning wiht sweets for their class mates?

I don't want to be mean, I don't want to make DS1 be the only one who doesn't have sweets - I'd just rather everyone didn't default to an attitude of: oh, a treat? You should have something sweet! (This is an argument I have with the grandparents, too.)

And if they give them at the end, that's worse, I'm the one who has to deal with the hyper behaviour. If they want to sugar him up, they should be the ones to deal with it.

well whilst we are in a virtual chatroom Ill have to presum e theya re!

Yes ok

I meant we took sweets into class after EASTER holiday

Or Half Term holidays

I think I have missed the point of the thread

Sorry

that's because we are told to take a dim view of it by the LEA! I'm not saying it's the ideal, just that it can be turned into a postive. I teach in quite a deprived area and for many chidren it really does mean the difference between having a holiday or not.
As for making them the star of the show, they all need that every now and then and the other kids love the unusual lesson too.

Is this a discussion about taking kids out of school during term time or about bringing in sweets?

If the former - what choice do most of us have? There's no way we can afford even a UK seaside holiday in a caravan during the summer holidays at the moment. When we can, we will. Our school condones up to 10 days pre-arranged, except in SATs years when they are doing the tests. And friends who are teachers say it's best to do it in the 2 weeks at the end of summer term, cos not a lot happens then!

As for the sweeties argument. Hmm - I certainly don't intend to do this when we take DS to Cornwall the week before Autumn half term. However we did it for his birthday as it's the 'done thing'. Most weeks now he comes wandering out with a handful on horiible Haribos. I take most of them from him and just give him one or 2 - he soon forgets he has the rest!

as for the sweets, most schools discourage this but parents still send them in

Think that's a shame Dinosaur - lots of kids wouldn't have a holiday in that case.

why on earth should it be a positive?

I would have thought if you teach in a deprived area you'd be better off channelling your energies into making your shcool work less boring and encouraging kids not to skive off with their parents during term time

I bet you have a couple of kids who never go on holiday in term time and work really hard and take school seriously and I bet tehy will go on to do very well. thats what teachers should be encouraging IMO.

yay dino.

I say good for your school. I though govt guidelines were going to stop term time holiday s anyway.

if you can't afford it - dont go.

take time off from work and do local things with your children instead.

WORDSMITH
There are have been long & heated discussions in the past about taking children out of school during termtime.

A little girl brought in blowing bubbles instead of sweets for her birthday prez to her classmates, last week; I thought that was a terrific alternative to sweets. Yes I am a snob about what my kids eat, and not ashamed of it, either.

I think the kids have enough half terms without taking them out at school time so i can entertain them

we havent been able to afford a holiday in 2/3 years. i dont feel deprived

Also, just to let you now that no school I know has formal lessons in the last week of the summer term. Basically, teachers take down displays, clear cupboards and clean classrooms whilst children draw and play games. Not ideal, but no money for someone to clean boards, desks etc during hols so we do it ourselves.
Anyway, back to point, children miss nothing other than sports day in last week of term!

I disagree.

They miss the routine and discipline of going to school. Of course sometimes school is boring but thats life isnt it.

lol RTKM you did miss the point but feel better about your school now

When i was teaching a couple of parents actually asked if i could set their child work to do whilst they were on holiday, and give them extra reading books! And this was an infant school. And the chair of governors took his family on an expotic holiday during term time for his wifes 40th, and the head made a big thing of it in assembly when he got back - talk about mixed messages!

Enid, I dont think there's any need to be offensive, i spend most of my weekends preparing interesting lessons for my class. I'm lucky, we can afford to go on holiday during the hols but many families can't and I see them everyday struggling to do the best for there kids when they're living on virtually nothing. So I don't condemn when granny helps them pay for a week in blackpool even if it is in school time!

Zebra! (A bit shocked when I saw my name there in caps and bolded!) Must have missed those threads.

Everyone else who says it's wrong to take them out in term time - yes, I agree! But my DS1 is in reception and this will be the first year we have to take holidays in school holiday time. When I looked around for something we could afford I was amazed at the hike in prices (yes OK maybe I am naive). I'm not talking about 2 weeks in Mauritius (I should be so lucky!) Just a week in Cornwall or Wales. Like someone else said we can't afford much more than £200 and we can't find anything. We are buying a tent for next year. However this year my parents have booked at cottage in Cornwall for the week before half term in Oct and we are going with them - all the sch hol weeks were booked already. Do you have to be in some secret club to get those weeks?

Another point - when children are young (primary) don't you feel holidays can be as educational as school? Last year in Cornwall my DS1 learned loads about nature, how and why tides happen, and loads of interesting stuff that would have been less well explained in a classroom setting.

A friend of mine who has a dd in yr 1 asks the teacher for a list of the things the kids will be covering the week she is away and does homework with her a couple of nights while they're on holiday. I think this shows initiative and thoughfulness, not the recklessness that some posters seem to believe!

Fortunately for us, DS's school seems to agree that education doesn't only happen in the classroom and that parents taking their children on holiday is a positive thing in most cases.

Anyway - what about lobbying the travel co's and holiday camps to stop their blatant profiteering from school age kids?

Dh works term time so our holidays are very restricted,luckily we have been able to have free holidays in my parents caravan. However I see nothing wrong in taking a young child out of school during term time. I think its different when they are leading up to GCSE's for example but certainly not primary age.

I wouldn't bring sweets back though.

Oh i get it, the kids of people on low incomes should not go on holiday in term time incase it makes the kids who go out of term time jealous and upsets the teachers. So they should then not have a holiday at all.

Hmmm then they go back after 6 weeks hols of whatever and listen to the 'oh we went her there and everywhere from the kids who's parents can afford holidays in school hols time'.

Bugger that, my kids deserve holidays as much as the next child.

not offensive

but I would be furious if dd1's class spent time talking aobut Switzerland just becuase Bruno goes there twice a year (that was for you batters)
or even if they spent tim etalking about Blackpool

I thought you said you talk about different countries originally and now suddenly its a cheap tent in Blackpool.

The last week is full of fun activities at DS's school, plus he gets to say goodbye to his teacher properly. There's something really exciting about the last day of school before 6 weeks of holidays. I think it would be a shame to miss it.