School Fines - Discrimination Against The Family Unit

[Chekhov]

3 hours ago, RollingJ said:

With due respect - cobblers. These decisions are made lower down the ladder, although I accept than they are theoretically 'signed off' by the top bod.

It was Gove who bought in this iniquitous law. I am sure people earning as much as that hypocrite (he was in favour of shutting the schools during Covid) could afford to take their kids on holiday at peak time, no problem.....

[RollingJ]

1 minute ago, Chekhov said:

It was Gove who bought in this iniquitous law. I am sure people earning as much as that hypocrite (he was in favour of shutting the schools during Covid) could afford to take their kids on holiday at peak time, no problem.....

It may have been him who introduced the initial legislation, but, much as I don't like the individual either, it is not him who is 'extending'/modifying it.

[Prettytom]

9 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

'Differential calculus' - in this day and age? They don't (apparently) even teach the 12 times tables.

Why would you need the 12 times table in a decimal world?

 

I’ve got more news for you, they no longer use stones, feet, ergs or dynes.

 

Differential calculus is happily ensconced in A level syllabuses, with plenty of pre-differential ideas being included at GCSE. 

[Chekhov]

17 minutes ago, peak4 said:

I don't have kids myself, though I was one some time ago.
It was almost unheard of for classmates to miss lessons for a family holiday back then, close family funerals maybe, but that was about it.

Surely this is about providing education for all the pupils more than anything else.
e.g. What happens when a kid is taken out of school for 2-3 weeks when the fundamentals of differential calculus are being introduced?
Pupil arrives back in maths class with no idea what's being taught to their classmates, so who helps the child catch up?
If the parents aren't fluent in teaching the subject, then who does?

Is it the maths teacher, who then has to take time out from the rest of the class, because of one set of self entitled parents, who put a cheaper holiday above their kids education?

Methinks you have  false memory mate.

 

You are also discounting the educational and social benefits from family holidays. We have just come back from three weeks in S Kore, AUS and NZ, we had to take my lad out fo school for two weeks for that, but I would bet you any amount of money he learnt more on that trip than he would have at school. As it happens he is well up to speed at school anyway, and his teachers were helpful in setting a load of work for him to do whilst away (something he was delighted about as I am sure you can imagine).

[Chekhov]

Just now, Prettytom said:

Why would you need the 12 times table in a decimal world?

I’ve got more news for you, they no longer use stones, feet, ergs or dynes.

Differential calculus is happily ensconced in A level syllabuses, with plenty of pre-differential ideas being included at GCSE. 

Everyone should know their times tables, I use them (in my head obviously) pretty much every day.

[RollingJ]

1 minute ago, Prettytom said:

Why would you need the 12 times table in a decimal world?

 

I’ve got more news for you, they no longer use stones, feet, ergs or dynes.

 

Differential calculus is happily ensconced in A level syllabuses, with plenty of pre-differential ideas being included at GCSE. 

I'll take your word that Dif-calc is in the A-level syllabus - it's a while since I've been at school.

 

I am also aware we live in a 'decimal' world, although some of can still happily work in stones/feet or kilogrammes/metres

[Prettytom]

6 hours ago, abbeyedges said:

We have had the 6 week holiday structure for generations. It needs changing.

 

Many in the tourism industry has to make the most of a 6 week window.

 

If the 6 week holiday (there is an argument to reduce it to 4) was spread over more weeks in tghe summer across the country then this would give the tourism industry a larger window in which to operate and offer more competitively prices accordingly. 

 

Alternatively reduce the 6 weeks holiday to 4 and then allow parents the opportunity of using 2 weeks in a given school year to take an affordable family holiday.  

I agree entirely that the six week’s holiday needs changing. It allows holiday companies to profiteer and there is loads of research which shows that such a long break is bad for student progress.

 

I don’t like the idea of two weeks of floating holidays though. If you do that, you’ll have a mish mash of kids in every class, with different levels of knowledge. It would quickly become unmanageable.

 

Take two weeks off summer. Rearrange the terms. five  terms per year. Two weeks between then, except for summer when the holiday is four weeks. Anyone taking their kid out of school at other times should be entirely responsible for any catching up required. 

[Prettytom]

7 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

Everyone should know their times tables, I use them (in my head obviously) pretty much every day.

Try reading all the words

[peak4]

No false memory at all, I only knew of one in my secondary school, no idea about Infants/Primary/Juniors, but foreign holidays were much less common then.
No-one is discounting the value of family holidays; certainly not me, I was fortunate that my parents could just about afford them, but always out of term time.

Mathematics AS and A level content Department for Education

Purpose
3. A level mathematics builds from GCSE level mathematics and introduces
calculus and its applications. It emphasises how mathematical ideas are
interconnected and how mathematics can be applied to model situations
mathematically using algebra and other representations, to help make sense of data,
to understand the physical world and to solve problems in a variety of contexts,
including social sciences and business. It prepares students for further study and
employment in a wide range of disciplines involving the use of mathematics.

[peak4]

It's clearly a long time since I was at school, and since then, I've learned to use the internet and a variety of search engines

 

National curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study    Dept for Education

Lower key stage 2 - years 3 and 4
The principal focus of mathematics teaching in lower key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils become increasingly fluent with whole numbers and the 4 operations, including number facts and the concept of place value. This should ensure that pupils develop efficient written and mental methods and perform calculations accurately with increasingly large whole numbers.

At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a range of problems, including with simple fractions and decimal place value. Teaching should also ensure that pupils draw with increasing accuracy and develop mathematical reasoning so they can analyse shapes and their properties, and confidently describe the relationships between them. It should ensure that they can use measuring instruments with accuracy and make connections between measure and number.

By the end of year 4, pupils should have memorised their multiplication tables up to and including the 12 multiplication table and show precision and fluency in their work.

Pupils should read and spell mathematical vocabulary correctly and confidently, using their growing word-reading knowledge and their knowledge of spelling.