common practice?

[victor]

our D-i-l tells us that the school her 5 yr old goes has a ploicy of

5 min late in the morning=£15 fine
5 min late picking up in the afternoon =£15 fine
absence other than sickness =£60 fine per day

never heard of this before

[JoM]

I think it might be something new Vic, I've heard about a few schools doing this lately.

[meriad]

Same as Jo I think it is a recent thing that more and more schools are implementing. Not sure I totally agree with it - 5 minutes isn't much and all it takes is a traffic jam or accident along the way and you're done for.

But on the other hand I suspect it'll be more for the habitual late comers as they do interrupt arriving late.

As for the fine for absence other than sickness, in all honest who can blame the parents at time. Prices for hotels, flights, cottages etc go up something stupid during holiday time; which mean a lot of parents just can't afford to go anywhere. Even Staycations become very expensive

There should be some leeway with that one I always think

[Workingman]

Will parents be able to bill the school £60 per child for every Inset day? These, after all, also remover teaching/learning time form the school year. And how much will they be allowed to charge when a supply teacher (not subject specific) takes over a lesson to cover ill health or training?

I think that if I had found myself in a position where I was going to be a few minutes late, and be fined, I would have stayed away for an hour and told the school that I had a dentist/doctor/optician appointment.

[Rodo]

It shouldn't be needed, but there are a lot of feckless parents these days. It's the parents who need the discipline more than the children.

As for taking the children out of school in term time. People still say it doesn't really matter, but it does. The work they miss cannot be repeated. There isn't time in the crowded timetables that schools have to keep to. A child will miss two weeks work that might be important for their exams. People always used to know that having children meant you had to make sacrifices, but these days that seems to be changing for some reason.

[Rodo]

WM Inset days are not taken out of teaching time. Teachers do extra days to cover those. The children actually attend for the stipulated number of days as laid out by Government requirements. This is a mistake that people often make.

[Kaz]

I hope common sense is applied, and they save this for habitual latecomers - it would be shocking to be late for a genuine reason and be fined in this way. That's a lot of money in these straightened times

The holiday business makes me cross, but more cross with the holiday companies who so blatantly profiteer, rather than the schools themselves..........

[Rodo]

People don't realise that the teachers have to have their holidays in more expensive times too!!

[Kaz]

Rodo my SIL-to-be is a Primary School teacher. She is a lovely girl and I love her to bits but I don't feel sorry for her on that score. She and my BIL go on lots of holidays, almost each term break! Skiing in the Christmas hols, usually a cottage somewhere at Easter, at least one long break in the summer hols, sometimes two!

When my daughter went back to school after the Icelandic volcano debacle, the one that stopped all the flights over Europe,11 teachers from her school were missing, stranded abroad

[miasmum]

Lets hope it works both ways when it comes to snow days I would love to fine teachers for those