Education! Education! Education!

[minestrone]

10k a year for my kids school. 200 yards away they have washing machines for the kids clothes.

[minestrone]

Love the casual racism thrown in there.

Dont give a **** if anyone thinkd my thoiughts are bad.

[vetran]

Love the casual racism thrown in there.

reality actually

Attendance advice-Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children (lancsngfl.ac.uk)

On days when a pupil from a Gypsy, Roma or Traveller family is known to be out of area, dueto the family travelling, and is not in educational provision, then the school can use the lettercode T to record the absence. Parents/ carers should make sure they let the school knowin advance when they are going to be travelling, and when they expect to return, so thatattendance and absence are recorded accurately.

The law recognises that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families may have an additional reasonto keep their children from school, which is different from non-Gypsy, Roma and Travellerfamilies. This is that children are of ‘no fixed abode’ (see paragraphs 17 and 18) and theirparent(s) are engaged in a trade or business that requires them to travel from place to placeand therefore prevents them attending school. Nevertheless, each child must attend schoolas regularly as that trade or business permits, and children over six years old have to attend atleast 200 sessions in each rolling 12-month period.

[eek]

Not conflating I am looking at the big picture.

My child and 2 minded kids have been off for 2 weeks because someone in their year has a suspected case.

This has caused extra cost for the parents luckily there was capacity at the child minders.

The council will be the one that will prosecute people for absence, but of course they choose who they do it to. Traveller's kids never seem to get fines.

Love the casual racism thrown in there.

[vetran]

I think you are doing your usual conflation of two different things.

It's one thing to disrupt the education of a few children for a cheaper holiday (not that I necessarily agree with the policy), but it's another to acknowledge that, with a virus running amok, keeping kids in school for the last couple of days of term is not going to help keep it under control.

That, and, it wasn't the teachers who chose to close in those boroughs - the decision came from Khan and the borough councils. The teachers may have expressed an opinion but it wasn't their decision.

Not conflating I am looking at the big picture.

My child and 2 minded kids have been off for 2 weeks because someone in their year has a suspected case.

This has caused extra cost for the parents luckily there was capacity at the child minders.

The council will be the one that will prosecute people for absence, but of course they choose who they do it to. Traveller's kids never seem to get fines.

[ladymuck]

It's funny if you leave school a couple of days early for the holidays to save a thousand pounds then you are irreparably damaging your child's education but if the teachers want to close early then its for the good of the kids.

Parents of course need to find childcare at £50-70 a day and this will upset their delicate expense balance.

I think you are doing your usual conflation of two different things.

It's one thing to disrupt the education of a few children for a cheaper holiday (not that I necessarily agree with the policy), but it's another to acknowledge that, with a virus running amok, keeping kids in school for the last couple of days of term is not going to help keep it under control.

That, and, it wasn't the teachers who chose to close in those boroughs - the decision came from Khan and the borough councils. The teachers may have expressed an opinion but it wasn't their decision.

[vetran]

It's funny if you leave school a couple of days early for the holidays to save a thousand pounds then you are irreparably damaging your child's education but if the teachers want to close early then its for the good of the kids.

Parents of course need to find childcare at £50-70 a day and this will upset their delicate expense balance.

[clearedforlanding]

If all the schools stand up to our Gav, what exactly will he do? Other than huff and puff.

It's four days. Naff all teaching happens on the last few days of Christmas term.

True. I seem to remember spending most of that time *******.

[ladymuck]

If all the schools stand up to our Gav, what exactly will he do? Other than huff and puff.

It's four days. Naff all teaching happens on the last few days of Christmas term.

[AtW]

Dumb Gavin is running interference

[SueEllen]

Or Gavin Williamson is spoiling for a fight with Greenwich, Islington and Waltham Forest over 4 days.

Greenwich schools face legal challenge from Gavin Williamson to keep schools open | Evening Standard


Council leaders who have advised schools to shut early amid a rise in coronavirus cases have been warned the Government could use emergency legal powers to force schools to stay open in their areas.


Greenwich, Waltham Forest and Islington are among the local authorities that have advised schools to shut to the majority of pupils and move to online learning.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has issued a temporary continuity direction to the London Borough of Greenwich demanding it withdraw a letter to headteachers which requested schools switch to remote learning

“It is simply not in children’s best interests for schools in Greenwich, Islington or elsewhere to close their doors," said Mr Williamson in a statement.

He added: “I have always been clear that using legal powers is a last resort but continuity of education is a national priority. That’s why I won’t hesitate to do what is right for young people and have issued a direction to Greenwich Council setting out that they must withdraw the letter issued to headteachers on Sunday.

“The Regional Schools Commissioner will continue to work closely with Greenwich Council and schools in the borough, as we have done with schools across the country, to support them with any operational challenges they face and ensure children can continue to receive face-to-face education.”

The direction states it is enforceable by the Secretary of State making an application to the High Court or the county court for an injunction.

Following the Government’s legal direction, Danny Thorpe, the leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich said the local authority was in the process of “seeking legal advice”.

“Schools across the borough have now organised online learning from tomorrow, whilst others are opening their premises to all pupils," said the Labour councillor.

“This evening we received a legal direction from the Government to withdraw our request to schools. We are in the process of seeking legal advice and will respond to the Government in the morning.

“We have alerted schools, and will speak to them tomorrow. But given we received this notification just before 5pm, it was impossible to ask schools to change any of the arrangements they have in place for Tuesday.”

It comes after the regional schools comissioner (RSC) for the South East and south London, who acts on behalf of Mr Williamson, wrote to Greewnwich council warning it could face intervention from the Government.

The letter explains that new powers, introduced through the Coronavirus Act, allow the Secretary of State to issue “directions” to require schools to enable all pupils to attend school full-time.