[Stuart]

Originally Posted by rogerdraig

just in case i confuse (dyslexic sometimes i get confused by my posts )

1 I think most good teachers are underpaid and over worked

True.

2 i dont agree that term time holiday are always detrimental and parents should be the ones deciding that.

Now, this is where I'll get shouted at by the parents, but I can see the problem the current system was meant to address.

Back when I went to school, some parents were taking their kids out of school 2 or 3 times a year, to go on Holiday. Others were taking their kids on holiday for up to month, In both cases, this was during term time, which may have been having severe negative effects on their kids education.

The current system is far from perfect. I think it could be made a lot better by banning holiday and travel companies from upping their prices during holiday time. After all, the travel industry is the only one that raises it's prices according to demand. You don't pay more for a TV, computer or car at certain times of the year, why should you be expected to pay more for air travel or a hotel?

3 i think that messing about with the holidays is daft unless done nationally or at least making sure ALL local schools follow the same days where they are in the catchment stream ( i mean by that the feeder school where younger siblings may be and even the six form or colleges where older ones may be are synced else it makes it much harder for families)

however if we are going to muck about with holidays i would have thought it should involve moving exams to a different time of year when its not so hot the chances of hay fever are lower etc then move the holidays around to take advantage of the warmer weather and have a real discussion with parents and maybe even employers to get times and length to best suit the majority

I think to some extent, the Local Education Authorities have always been free to alter the holidays a little, but not sure how this works now, especially with the Academies which aren't usually LEA controlled.