Would you take the dc out of school on the last day of term to see the Olympic torch?

[MrsRichards]

Year 5 and year 3. Would you?

So shoot me.... yes I would. I went in TW the other day and it was cool; really nice and patriotic. The torch itself goes quickly but it's the buzz.

Who knows when they might get to do it again?

Yes I would too it's part of history in the making.

I would definitely as alot of kids have already gone on holiday anyway. It is educational and your dc will no doubt learn more than they would on the last day anyway

Yep.... What will they be missing? A DVD and a load of playtime! We went to see it and it was a great day. What time is it with you? Could they not do some of the day?

Definitely - it's a (probably) once in a lifetime chance and the last day of term is not exactly prime learning time! My 5yo loved seeing the torch and plays 'olympic torch bearer' all the time, LOL. It's a memory that will stay with them for way longer than whatever DVD they're likely to watch would be. Our school gave permission to take children out of school on a monday morning a couple of weeks back for it - they felt it was a worthwhile enough experience for them to miss some much more educational time than the last day of term.

Yes i probably would though thankfully we have already seen it twice. Once on a Sunday afternoon and again the following morning at 7am (so before school).

I took the kids to see the Queen in Leeds today (finished school already) and they loved it even though we were waiting 50 minutes longer than i expected!

Yes, they just play on the last day or clean out the classroom!
Go for it!

Our children were allowed to leave early when the torch passed through our town (although it actually went right by our school so those not picked up just stood on the school field and we had a brilliant view of proceedings!!) I am surprised your school hasn't already done this, if it is local.

It's not my 'thing' do no, but I certainly don't think anybody would be wrong to do that. It's probably a once in a lifetime experience. last day or not.

Yes, they are just going o watch. DVD anyway

I wouldn't be surprised if the school authorised an absence for this reason - ours did :)

yes I probably would.

The olympics won't be here again in our lifetime.

I'd take my kids out of school, sparingly and judiciously, for a variety of reasons - family, cultural or educational outings - but the Olympic torch? No way.

That's me though - not my thing at all - if you think its got more value in it for your kids as a 'life experience' than a day at school would, than do it.

Yes, watching DVDs and leaving early -damn you school--

It's coming by us tomorrow and afaik all the schools which aren't already on holiday are closing early. It's a bit tight time wise for us to get a bus to where it's going to be, so we're going to see it next week instead.
If youre talking about tomorrow, I'm surprised the schools aren't closing for it.

Absobloodylutely!

Thanks for all your thoughts. Interesting to hear what others would do.

I wanted to do it and would have rearranged my work schedule but the dcs didn't want to miss the leavers service and saying goodbye to the year 6s at school. So, we'll watch it on tv later.

Our local schools (primary and secondary) gave an authorised absence for the Olympic torch if you pre-warned them and got to school by 11am. (The local events were at 8am and 9am ish)

Here there's a leavers service at church in the morning - the children aren't just sitting watching DVDs and playing.

Yes, definitely!

I planned to keep the dses off to see the torch if it was during school time. It wasn't, it was 5:30pm but well worth seeing!

It went past the end of our street, great to see so many people out, loads of children. A really positive experience.

For the last day of any other term - absolutely. For the last day of the year - I don't know because it's such a milestone day for them. It's not that I think they'd be missing anything educational (ds1's teacher always says if she hasn't covered it by the last day it isn't happening ) but it's the whole 'marking the passing of a year' thing. Could you pick them up and take them back again?

Yes I would & did something similar. The torch passed by our house a month ago & I got DD1 out of school an hour early to see it. It's such an iconic thing to see & should help them get in the mood for the Olympics too so has lasting effect. Mind you, I couldn't bring myself to admit it to the teacher so DD1 had 'a dental appointment'. Tricky to explain to DD1 & DD2 why you have to lie but they got over it...