School Gives Pakistani Children Two Weeks Off During A School Term.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2533095/School-85-pupils-Asian-gives-children-two-week-October-half-term-visit-Pakistan-families.html

How do you feel about this, when you yourself are penalised for wishing to take your children on holiday during a school term, when that is the only time it becomes affordable?

[Zeuhl]

Talking of slow on the uptake...

Perhaps aog can tell us which airline he's got an exclusive contract with in return for prices that are same throughout the year?

[pixie373]

There must be some leeway on that, Fred? Because they randomly shut on snowy days without making up the hours.

[Zeuhl]

The Statute allows for extraneous circumstances such as weather

[FredPuli43]

Pixie, I am sure there is leeway for the result of forces beyond their control

[pixie373]

Ah. Ok, thanks.

[Zacs-Master]

Sorry iof this point has been made but, what's with all the cloak & dagger stuff. The school have, according to the DM, stated ''We are giving all parents as much notice as possible to book flights.'

Also the remaining 15% of pupils will have the time off (so it's not discriminatory) and it time lost be made up at the start of the year.

Quite pragmatic in my view.

[LazyGun]

I don't really care, so long as the extra time they take in October is made up elsewhere in the school curriculum.

I think we should be looking again at the school curriculum anyway. I think kids should be in school longer each day, and spend more days at school during the year, and that we should have 4 semesters, rather than the 3 we have at the moment. And I think the idea of a 6-8 week summer break is an anachronism nowadays, too. I think the original intent of such a long summer break was to allow kids to help with the annual harvest - not a priority consideration nowadays.

[Hypognosis]

Help with the harvest? I thought child labour was abolished 1850s-ish? Kids running around fields with scythes?

Also, my abiding memory of using any wooden-handled garden implement during my childhood was that I'd manage 20 minutes before getting (and bursting) a blister and having to head indoors for the sticking plasters.

[Ellipsis]

> The term times have not been extended they have in fact been shortened, by giving these students an extra week off.

No they have not been shortened! Nobody said they had been extended, but they haven't been shortened either.

The title and the entire premise of the OP is completely wrong.

All that has happened is that five days have been moved from the end of the Summer break to the Autumn half term break, as the letter to parents made perfectly clear:

> 'In October 2014 the school will close for two weeks from October 20 until October 31, instead of the usual one week closure ... The five days will be made up at the beginning of the school year and we will of course, have to comply with the regulatory school openings.'

The effect is that there are exactly the same number of working school days in the Autumn term for this school. Many academies and other specialist schools run "non-standard" timetables so this is nothing new and is an issue that has cropped up many times before for teachers, unions and parents. It's a one year trial and therefore even less of a big deal.

It's also unlikely that flight tickets will be significantly cheaper, as half terms are often taken at different times around the country so it's likely that both of those weeks will see higher demand for flights, leading to higher prices. The only real benefit to parents is that they will be able to go away for longer, not for less money.

The Canary Islands are nice at that time of year ...

[naomi24]

It seems an acceptable idea on the surface, but as the report says it will cause problems for parents with other children in different schools. Working parents have to organise care of their children in school holidays, so this must create difficulties for them.

[anotheoldgit]

FredPuli43

/// AOG, whether the term is shortened by a week or not, a school is still bound by law to give the same hours of tuition. Do you have any complaint about that? ///

Yes because there seems to be no mention on whether or not the other 15% of pupils and their parents also wish their school year changed along these lines.

[THECORBYLOON]

ANOTHEOLDGIT, what exactly are you objecting to? If 85% of the children's parents in a mainly white school had wanted to take advantage of cheaper holidays and go away would you have objected if the school had re-arranged the terms?

[anotheoldgit]

Ellipsis

/// Nobody said they had been extended, but they haven't been shortened either. ///

Wrong I am afraid.

/// Wensley Fold Primary School, pictured, has extended the October half-term break from one to two weeks to allow families to visit relatives abroad. The latest Ofsted figures reveal 85 per cent of pupils at the school are from minority ethnic groups ///

http://bbb-news.com/blog/2014/01/03/wensley-ford-primary-school-gives-pupils-two-week-half-term-to-visit-pakistan-with-families/

[Zeuhl]

no

Aog is wrong (again)

The five days 'will be made up in September'

So no reduction in term time

[Ellipsis]

Was it too much effort to read my entire post, aog?

[Hypognosis]

I presume we are expected to infer that the other 15% in this school are supposed to 'put up and shut up' with their imposed two week break in wet, windy, leaf-strewn, October Britain. Terrrrrrrific.

The 'Indian summer' is not unknown here but it's hardly dependable, is it?

[boxtops]

Lazy is right, hypo, as I mentioned first at 12:56.....

[Hypognosis]

I saw your post, boxy. When LG repeated the point, I questioned the child-labour aspect of it (mine of 13:30).

Not saying it was factually wrong, just asking if it was at all wise.

;-)

[zebo]

Facetious comments regarding the harvest etc clearly ignore the stated fact that this was the historical reason for the summer holiday being 6 weeks, no-one has claimed it's the reason today! Similar reason that the children in Norfolk get a day off for the Royal Norfolk Show!

[mushroom25]

//That this applies to the whole school, at the request of 85%, complies with the law, and is only the adjustment you describe, has nothing to do with it.//

actually Fred, it doesn't comply with the law - at least not yet. the school have anticipated changes which will be facilitated by the Deregulation Bill https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-deregulation-bill which, all being equal, will become law in 2015, a year after their experiment. presumably since the new law will allow what's being planned, the school are banking on there being no legal challenge.