I wanted to write about a huge gripe I have today,
I suppose a bit of a moan! School Holidays; there has been lots of dialogue in
the media about this lately, who is to blame. Is it Schools, Government or
Holiday Companies?
When Paul Cookson made a ranting video on Facebook he went viral. It seems he touched a very raw nerve. His plight hit online media all over the UK and this in turn propelled Donna Thresher's e-petition to reach far beyond the required 100,000 to 170,888.
This clearly is a subject people feel very
strongly about. Why? It is common knowledge that holiday companies charge more
during peak holiday times, they have cited this as supply and demand and I get
this. But there was always flexibility in our School System for families to
take up to 10 days with the agreement of the School, to enjoy family holidays.
Now the government have outlawed this practice and
deemed it educationally damaging to our children, it has created a landslide.
Everyone with children of school age must now take their holidays in the
allocated time slot. This has had some negative effects of our society.
• This
has priced people out of the holiday market; some families simply cannot afford
the inflated prices.
• Some
parents can't holiday with their families as they are employed within a parent
heavy workforce, I have friends who have worked all Easter as not everyone can
have the same 2 weeks off work, as a result they have lost out.
• Holiday
companies will now have to charge even more to supplement the losses they will
incur from families being unable to holiday in term time.
Schools have announced they are trying to help the
situation by adding inset days onto holidays to allow parents to get time off
from work and afford family holidays. This however has its problems; I have two
children at two different but very good schools, and they both have given two
separate weeks to my children. So although the gesture may be well intended,
rather then having the luxury of having that golden week to be able to book a
cheaper holiday we now have two extra weeks to find childcare for, so we are
actually worse off!
My questions are as follows.
• There
are so many parents that do not encourage their children to attend school so
therefore have terrible attendance, this will not be affecting them as they
will holiday regardless, as this minority do not care, what is the consequence
of their non conformance?
• Why are the
people who support our schools are the families to suffer?
• With
this in mind, can extra days not be allocated as a reward system at the maximum
of 5 days per year to those that attendance is strictly 96 percent or above,
allocated on application only?
• Or
most sensibly can LEA'S not communicate to allocate the same inset days per
area, so that parents feel the benefit of these days rather than the
inconvenience. This could be staggered all over the country so that all
areas get the benefit off an extra week at different times?
There must be a solution that does not affect
education, but supports the institution of the family. Family time is so
precious and with families working harder then ever, surely this is time much
needed. And travel is generally educational in itself; a bit of communication
could resolve this issue for once and for all.
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Thank you so much for leaving a comment, I love to read them and will always reply to any questions, Many Thanks Sarah x