...who took his 7-year-old for a week's holiday in term time. The law only states that parents should ensure their children attend school regularly; so it appears the 85,000 fines issued by local authorities are without legal justification.
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Where as a matter of interest you you think the line on pupil absenteeism during termtime should be drawn?Originally posted by ardcarp View Post -
Doesn't that depend on the fines being issued only to parents of children who had attended school regularly? There is a big possibility that those fines were levied on many parents of children who hadn't attended regularly.Originally posted by ardcarp View PostComment
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Really excellent news.
we have to trust trust people to do all sorts of things properly. We can expect them to take a responsible approach to ensuring their children receive a good education, whilst allowing them flexibility to make decisions that include occasional absences for family holidays, special occasions , and so on.I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
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Not sure at all about the "Hurrah!" aspect, ardy - and, unless the Law has changed recently, I don't think that there is any requirement for parents to send their children to school at all. As long as it can be demonstrated that a child has received an education of comparable merit and safety to what would be found in a competent school, parents can teach or have their children taught at home.[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
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What seems odd about the apparent stringency of this regulation is that you can educate your child at home if you want to, and you don't even have to follow the national curriculum.Originally posted by teamsaint View Post
(I see ferney covered this while I was checking my facts!)It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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odd is a nice way of putting it.Originally posted by french frank View Post
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
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It's Hurrah for our family. How much more a child will learn in a week abroad than preparing for boring and irrelevant SATS in school. (I guess you can all tell where I'm coming from! Some of our friends' grandchildren are home-educated...and it's wonderful.)
A government spokesman said that a week out of school (at age SEVEN) will lead to poorer performance (performance...are they race-horses?) at GCSE.
B******s!!!Comment
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I used to have this argument with my sister-in-law (an ex-teacher and then local govt education officer).Originally posted by ardcarp View Post
What is education? What is it for? Experiencing the world around you is surely as educational as school work? I retained virtually nothing of my primary education, bits of secondary (languages, obviously) and a bit more of university (quite important bits of it now considered to have been wrong, I now learn). The notion that doing well or badly in school exams is absolutely dependent upon a child not missing a single day of school is a concept I find hard to grasp. In fact, when I was teaching, I remember one of the education lecturers saying that children were more influenced by their home environment than by school, hence the importance of having well-educated parents is fundamental.It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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Unbelievable judgement and chaos will ensue as a result.
Of course the law will now be strengthened by necessity and it could well be seen later as a Pyhrric victory for those with little sense of communal discipline.
It is interesting too that some who constantly preach 'solidarity' suddenly now appear to be in favour of rampant individualism?Comment
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Exactly.........It isn't as if there aren't serious problem children of one kind or another to spend resources on.Originally posted by teamsaint View Post
Incidentally, the reason why so many parents are being fined, and why schools are taking such a hard line on this, is because of the current inspection regime. All schools have to meet a number of aggregate attendance targets, so they push every child to attend every single day. Whether this or that particular child has good reasons to stay off or not, is irrelevant: in the hunt to meet these targets, every day counts. The consequences of failing to meet this target are absolutely overwhelming. As many of you know, Ofsted rate schools as "Outstanding", "Good" etc.... all the way down to "inadequate". These ratings depend on many different variables, of course, and are usually based on a full inspection lasting several days. However, some targets are deemed to be so important, they trump all others. Attendance is one of them. So, if a school fails to meet its central aggregate attendance target, it CANNOT be deemed to be Outstanding or Good. No matter how good the school actually is, no matter how good the teaching etc. It cannot. The best a school can do is "Requires Improvement" - which is sufficient to trigger all kinds of unpleasant consequences, takeovers and sackings for that school.
So, naturally, every school takes a very, very hard line on attendance, even though many of the teachers involved know it is utterly absurd.
(I have this from my brother, a long time classroom teacher..........)Comment
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Oh indeed 'targets' are a curse. Teachers teach to the target, and all other aspects of school life have to tick the target boxes.
...like not hanging out the washing on a Thursday?for those with little sense of communal disciplineComment
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