tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post6583608898554244430..comments2024-01-01T16:01:35.711+00:00Comments on Dick Puddlecote: A Good Man Is In Court TodayDick Puddlecotehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481866882188932892noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-28373739743437211612014-01-16T22:54:23.962+00:002014-01-16T22:54:23.962+00:00I, too, am a bit torn on this one. I can understa...I, too, am a bit torn on this one. I can understand how the parents want to take their children away on holiday, and I can understand, too, how for parents who are struggling, the high-season holiday rates could make a holiday impossible to take during school holiday time. I also understand the principle that, ultimately, children are a parents’ own responsibility – not the State’s, not the schools, not the Social Services’, not the courts’ – and that therefore it must be the parents’ decision whether or not their child misses school.<br /><br /><br />On the other hand, I hope that in the event that if parents do decide to exercise their right to decide when their children take their holidays, and if this does impact on the child’s education (because sometimes it will and sometimes it won't) – missing a particularly vital element of the course, missing an important test or<br />preparation for one, or just (as might be the case for a less-than-able child) losing continuity by a mid-term absence – then they won’t turn round at the end of the day and try and hold the school to blame for it or (as I expect might be very likely) assume that school staff will voluntarily give up their free time on the child's return in order to help them catch up on the work they have missed. If the courts decide in their favour and establish the principle that it is the parents’ right to take them on holiday whenever they wish, then I hope that some proviso will be included to ensure that the parents also have an obligation to make sure that the child catches up on any vital work missed themselves, if necessary at their own expense.<br /><br /><br />It’s the old maxim – no right to rights without the obligation of associated responsibility. I’m sure that there are many parents would wouldn’t object to this, but I have a suspicion that there may be more than a few who would; and I suspect, too, that those are the very parents who, given the green light by the courts, wouldn’t just do this once, in an exceptional case, but would take their holidays every year, regular as clockwork, slap-bang in the middle of term; and then expect the school to pick up the slack, year in and year out.Jaxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-9709815967833564852014-01-16T21:19:55.007+00:002014-01-16T21:19:55.007+00:00http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2533095/Sc...http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2533095/School-85-pupils-Asian-gives-children-two-week-October-half-term-visit-Pakistan-families.htmlgrumpyanglernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-27343275402169248892014-01-16T18:02:18.643+00:002014-01-16T18:02:18.643+00:00I saw this in the news a couple of days ago. What ...I saw this in the news a couple of days ago. What really got under my skin was the arrogance of the authorities when stating that the couple had failed to get permission. "Permission"? Who the flying fuck do they think they are? We should not need to get permission from these jobsworths because the law should not be there in the first place. Bad law and a really really vile and spiteful prosecution. I hope he wins. And the state is not your friend.Longridernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-18731831998269628592014-01-16T17:23:58.728+00:002014-01-16T17:23:58.728+00:00They can't put any of it in October because th...They can't put any of it in October because that's Black History Month. ;)Dick_Puddlecotenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-52001813386229617942014-01-16T17:22:52.038+00:002014-01-16T17:22:52.038+00:00I heard a head teacher turning parental choice and...I heard a head teacher turning parental choice and responsibility on its head this morning by saying "children have a right to education, you can't get past that". <br /><br /><br />They're not your kids, they're the state's kids.Dick_Puddlecotenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-89818571841593616492014-01-16T17:21:01.534+00:002014-01-16T17:21:01.534+00:00Or they could provide study guides before the week...Or they could provide study guides before the week's holiday. Teachers have planned out their lessons, I assume, so could let parents have what had been prepared for class. To Rhodes, that's 8 hours in the air for the kids to bone up at least (nearly three of the school days they missed). <br /><br /><br />And what of the benefits of the holiday itself. Travel broadens the mind in itself, yet that is completely disregarded by this policy - we tend to come across quite a lot of benefits being ignored with issues covered here, eh? ;)Dick_Puddlecotenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-88550554737557367112014-01-16T17:16:53.720+00:002014-01-16T17:16:53.720+00:00Can't disagree with any of that. Well put.Can't disagree with any of that. Well put.Dick_Puddlecotenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-91899347787040626582014-01-16T17:15:54.799+00:002014-01-16T17:15:54.799+00:00Thanks for that, just seen the article on the BBC....Thanks for that, just seen the article on the BBC.<br /><br />http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-25733272<br /><br /><br /><br />Quite absurd.Dick_Puddlecotenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-57879604335480995072014-01-16T17:12:31.047+00:002014-01-16T17:12:31.047+00:00That's interesting Sam. It got me thinking abo...That's interesting Sam. It got me thinking about another aspect of this issue. If it were a private school, then the school could obviously ask the child to leave if it wished. It could also, if it thought the holiday absence wasn't damaging the school, via league tables for example, tell the parents that the child would be given no help catching up and would not be provided with the missing lesson notes but otherwise the holiday is OK. That would suit many parents, as they would be in a position to fill in the gaps, either by themselves, or by hiring a tutor. State schools appear not to have that option and, it seems, have a duty to help the child catch up, at a cost to the other children. Therein lies part of the problem.JonathanBagleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-73677819061501343122014-01-16T17:03:57.052+00:002014-01-16T17:03:57.052+00:00DP... how have these people suddenly got the power...DP... how have these people suddenly got the power to impose a £360 fine in the first place... and then to decide that doubling it is a good idea? Shouldn't the parents sue the school for £720 every time it shuts due to teacher traing days or teacher rebellions etc?smiffy01noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-90738455218238617342014-01-16T15:32:14.046+00:002014-01-16T15:32:14.046+00:00Hmm. I'm really in two minds about this. In a ...Hmm. I'm really in two minds about this. In a market-based education system, there's an inbuilt incentive not to take your kids out of school during the term: you've paid for it. I had my entire schooling, from the age of 3, in the independent sector, and I don't recall anyone ever missing time for a holiday. It just didn't happen. (Neither did strikes. Or in-service training days. And the place was only ever closed once for bad weather.)<br /><br />While state education is far from free, taxation, and the fact that you pay the same whether you have kids or not, creates the illusion that it is, and so the feeling that you're wasting an economic good that you've bought is lessened, if not non-existent (indeed, the very idea that education <em>is</em> an economic good is weakened). This is obviously an attempt to introduce that incentive into the system.<br /><br />Yes, it's ham-fisted - is the state ever anything else? - and yes, it's a pain in the arse for parents on the receiving end of it, but it's a consequence of the socialist system people voted for. The wreckers and deserters mush be punished. Let everyone mind their own business and buy their own kids' education, and the problem vanishes.Sam Duncannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-8537362194331865072014-01-16T14:59:00.927+00:002014-01-16T14:59:00.927+00:00Actually they were in court yesterday, nearly £100...Actually they were in court yesterday, nearly £1000 fine including £63 victim surcharge ( the only victims are them) Both schools are very close, the secondary school close at the faintest wisp of snow, they have a late start on Thursdays regardless that parents have to be at work for 9. It's been a few years ago now but I removed my children from the school due to their bad attitude ( the schools not my kids)Callienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-15194610730844293482014-01-16T13:24:29.568+00:002014-01-16T13:24:29.568+00:00Dear Mr Puddlecote
Fines without due process are ...Dear Mr Puddlecote<br /><br />Fines without due process are illegal and void under our written constitution covering presumption of innocence. Our government seems determined to over-ride our constitution in favour of the Napoleonic code which presumes guilt.<br /><br />The purpose of school is not to be a prison for the crime of being young, though increasingly it seems that it is.<br /><br />Parents have sole responsibility for their childrens' health, welfare and education and can make any decisions regarding their schooling. A week out is not going to affect anyone's education. For the headmaster/mistress to pretend otherwise demonstrates his arrogance. The idea that anyone involved in schooling should be able to levy fines upon parents is laughable and highlights the government's attempt to alienate us from our constitutional heritage.<br /><br />Education has devolved to a combination of custodial sentence with an assertion of proprietorial rights of government to indoctrinate children with whatever pap they decide. Being force-fed dubious facts without critical analysis is not education save in the Orwellian sense.<br /><br />I hope the parents take their children to court to let them experience the stupidity of government first hand.<br /><br />DPDPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-37543363374183211052014-01-16T12:55:03.743+00:002014-01-16T12:55:03.743+00:00he should have changed his name to something suita...he should have changed his name to something suitably ethnic, told 'em he's off to 'his village' where his daughters would be married off to cousins as required by his culture.<br />No one would have batted an eyelidgrumpyanglernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-35310179656736155802014-01-16T12:48:41.435+00:002014-01-16T12:48:41.435+00:00I'm in two minds about this but the fact that ...I'm in two minds about this but the fact that for one of the six days school these children missed, the teachers, according to the parent, were on strike, blows a hole in the usual teachers' claim that parents are doing irrevocable damage to their children's education.<br />Perhaps schools should shunt all the crap you describe into the last week of September and the first week of October. Why not the first two weeks of September, I hear you say? Because that's when I go on holiday and I want cheap flights on aircraft free of children.JonathanBagleynoreply@blogger.com