Late holidays no threat to show (From Daily Echo)

I listened to a woman on Radio Solent this morning who made it sound like it was the end of her world - the show should take priority over school holidays and schools should close earlier etc. etc. Now I know that the show is important to many but how many hampshire school children need to go on more than one day for goodness sake. Surely our children's education is more important. If the whole of hampshire broke up two days earlier and went back two days sooner to accomodate this then we would have parents and school staff complaining that they only had 4 complete weeks in which to book their holidays. The school dates have been published for two years now so no one can complain they didn't know them.

What a joy for people that want to attend without the constant screaming of children spoiling the show.

No children - sounds great.

Any hoop-lah has been raised by one concerned mum. Mr Dooley doesn't seem to bothered so non-story.

'HCC should have made it a priority'? Yeah, change the school calendar for the New Forest Show, what planet is she on?

Seriously? This woman really thinks the whole of hampshire's school schedule's should be changed for a show? Surely she's not serious? Stupid woman.

Can I put this into some perspective, especially as I work for HCC in schools.

1. The school year must last 195 days, although this ironically includes INSET days when schools are closed to children. The Royal Wedding also reduced actual attendance by one day for the current academic year.

2. HCC do issue calendars in advance, but I am not sure the county consultation and agreement on dates is actually considered a "consultation" or "agreement" in the true sense by staff and parents.

3. Clashing with the New Forest Show does have some impacts, because many secondary pupils are involved in voluntary groups that exhibit at the show.

4. This is also a problem for me as a staff member, but as my Year 11 students would have finished at the end of June I am fortunately able to still continue with my voluntary duties at the New Forest Show.

5. As far as having a show without any screaming children, it sounds like heaven ... except neighbouring counties would have finished on the previous Friday allowing them to attend all three days if they want to.

6. And if Hampshire parents want to take their children for all three days, they will do it anyway. This will be marked as an unauthorised absence, the parents might get a warning letter, but HCC doesn't have the money to go through with any prosecution just for a couple of days at the end of term.

Finally, HCC has only granted a five week and two days summber break this year, which includes a bank holiday. It might keep some people happy, but how can other counties still manage six weeks?

eurogordi wrote:
Can I put this into some perspective, especially as I work for HCC in schools.

1. The school year must last 195 days, although this ironically includes INSET days when schools are closed to children. The Royal Wedding also reduced actual attendance by one day for the current academic year.

2. HCC do issue calendars in advance, but I am not sure the county consultation and agreement on dates is actually considered a "consultation" or "agreement" in the true sense by staff and parents.

3. Clashing with the New Forest Show does have some impacts, because many secondary pupils are involved in voluntary groups that exhibit at the show.

4. This is also a problem for me as a staff member, but as my Year 11 students would have finished at the end of June I am fortunately able to still continue with my voluntary duties at the New Forest Show.

5. As far as having a show without any screaming children, it sounds like heaven ... except neighbouring counties would have finished on the previous Friday allowing them to attend all three days if they want to.

6. And if Hampshire parents want to take their children for all three days, they will do it anyway. This will be marked as an unauthorised absence, the parents might get a warning letter, but HCC doesn't have the money to go through with any prosecution just for a couple of days at the end of term.

Finally, HCC has only granted a five week and two days summber break this year, which includes a bank holiday. It might keep some people happy, but how can other counties still manage six weeks?

After you've already stated that the School Year must last 195 days, other Counties must have shorter Easter or Christmas breaks. No doubt the teaching staff in surrounding counties will be questioning their shorter breaks at these times when HCC staff are on a seemingly extended holiday. Do schools still have swings and roundabouts in their playgrounds?

What an absolutely ridiculous non-story!