Just me venting steam to stop myself exploding so please, feel free to ignore this thread ....... but this is another little twist of the knife of life by people who spout about being holier than they are! My 14 yr old lad goes to a bog standard common or garden secondary school, which spends £1000's on brochures/seminars about how 'equal' and 'non-dsicriminatory' they are ...... yeh, maybe against race, religion, or ability ... or anything else they can be sued for .... but when it comes to wealth ! With half term hols coming up, they organised a school trip to New York as part of their compulsory 'Learning for Life' class (yep, I asked "WTF is that?" when he started there), so long as you had a spare £800, badgeing it as a "cultural exchange, beneficial to the course". Now, as many in the same boat know, work/contracts etc have been a bit scarce over the past few years, so I haven't got £800 + spends sat in my ar%e pocket doing nothing, so I told my lad sorry, but he can't go. No problem, and he understands the financial situation and is fine with that. Instead, as he hasn't seen his grandparents or auntie for a few years now, we're going for the weekend to my sisters gaff (she's paying for the trip) on the Isle of Man! However, he came home yesterday with a right gob on him. Turns out the NY trip flys out today DURING term time, and those who aren't going have to go and sit with other classes in the school and basically amuse themselves, with the teacher explaining to the class they have been dumped on that "these are the children that haven't flown out to NY" Then, to cap it all, I received a letter today from the Head saying that my request for my son to not be in school on Friday afternoon ('plane goes when it goes; they wont work around school time) has been turned down, and he will be marked as an 'unauthorised absentee', and this absence also noted AGAINST ME as a parent for refusing to ensure he attends !!! So, if I had spare money to throw around, he can swan off to NY with his teachers during term time .... but because I haven't got the spare cash, he (and others) are being denied proper education for the three days, yet are not allowed to take 1/2 day off to fit in with travelling to see his family! I really do warn any teachers on here to keep out of my way .... and yes, I have written to the LEA to register my disgust! Rant over !!!!
the furthest i got was to piss up against the gym wall.. Bert, i totally hear you mate. (read my rant about hating my job...i think our menstrual cycles have aligned).. Anyway, ive been involved in education for years, and take it from an 'insider' of sorts..they are all total and utter middle class, snot nose, arse wipe tossers..All of them..All...Everyone. The stories i could tell you Bert but i wont.. Im due to return to work over the next month after almost a year off, but yesterday, actually yesterday, i was talking to a head of music in a place i 'work'..she's leaving in january unbeknownst to the school/college. the head treats her like crap, and thinks that everyone is 11. during a dressing down this head actually said, 'oh and another thing, you didnt even buy Karl a bottle of wine when he left'..Karl by the way, was a supply teacher for 6 weeks who taught DRAMA. Ive had more run ins with these pencil necks than you can wave a shitty stick at mate...ive literally walked down the corridor with my middle finger extended in the air as i walk away saying, youve been in the job too long love' when being talked to like an infant. My advice? Get your arse down there and talk to the idiot. If they do mark you card so fkn what?? are they going to give you lines?? fuck that and fuck them. They talk bollox mate, they cant touch you..it takes all their balls to sort out a kid whose been sniffing glue and getting the cookery teacher pregnant, again.
Remember going to France and buying knives and bangers But yes I had the 'were going skiing in Austria ' school trips but normally in holidays and worked out cheaper to take myself Did go along on one skiing trip though - geeze what a nightmare 30 kids under 12 - never again lol
I remember the school trips to Italy and Greece that I had to sit out, as a schoolkid. The stories my friends told me when they got back! How wonderful. Made me feel special hearing all about what I missed out on. You see, it's all about privilege. Privilege is what's made 2% of this country great! Don't knock it! 'Bert, your tale incenses me. You have responsible parents here that want to take their kid out of school on a useful trip away that they actually can afford. Unfortunately it isn't the jolly-up the school has organised for its teachers (oh, and the kids of the richer families), so no authorised absence. No common sense or sense of perspective. Pffft.
Although Loz, i wonder how many of the parents really can afford it..? I bet more than a few are struggling. I for one, am sick of the UK and how weve gradually become a child-centric society where everything has to be done for the little darlings.. Every kid should know what it is to want. Only then can one learn the true value of anything.
School trip to Borneo , yes that's right BORNEO . And how much ? .........£3000, three thousand English pounds just in case you think that's a typo . We declined the offer but apparently the aim of the school trip was to experience the wildlife , take part is some jungle trekking and assist in some local construction projects . A day trip to South London for some community service would have served up the same .
Primary school (1971) - my first experience abroad: 3 days (could have been 2 nights) to Belgium (Ostend, Waterloo). There was a school trip to Austria or somewhere skiing in about 1973, but my parents couldn't afford to send me on it. Plenty of parents couldn't. Don't remember if it was in school time or not - I think it was. That was it for foreign school trips. But New York? Borneo to see wildlife? What are the kids going to do in their adult lives when as kids they have been all around the world, and been given every electronic gadget they ever coveted? I'd organise a school trip to a shanty town in Africa to get them to live in shit for a week with nothing. If that didn't motivate them to knuckle down and work and get a job, and to appreciate their privileged little existences... But health and safety would never wear it.
I've just had a very, very similar thing from my little girls school, because she missed five days to go see her granda in Cyprus for his birthday. Inconsiderate of him to have a birthday in school term I know, but I don't think they'll be calling me into the school again anytime soon. Fuckin totalitarian megalomaniacs the lot of them, their bullying, scaremongering tactics may frighten the kids, but I'm a wee bit long in the tooth for that and soon had the tables turned, when I reported the schools behaviour. Teachers jolly??? I only ever got as far as the lakes....45 mins from home! I feel your frustration m8......
I am relatively high up in the system a my 2p worth. Just take him out for the afternoon and do not stress about it. Most of the stupidity is to stop parents who think 80% attendance is good. I wonder how many underprivileged kids from lazy families got to go for free just because their parents are layabouts
Yep, Knives and bangers, I soo remember that. Littlebert, I think the form is a standard thing now, I get one every year when I take the kids skiing in term time (school hols too pricey). The head doesn't report it up the chain though cos they are not perpetually skiving etc. I suspect your Head will treat this the same, if they do make a big thing out of it though then you are dead right to have a go about it. Do they know your reason for going? On a similar note, my neighbour's 15yr old lad went to the Ducati factory with the school as part of his design course . Got to say their teacher obviously has some style, but again only the minted kids can do these things
Yes I just got one for a few hundred to take my lad on an adventure trip... Given he has broken both his arms and again last year ripped the ligaments and sus[ected broken arm again climbing up something , then 2 days ago fell and damaged his back there is no chuffin way he is going mountaineering !!!! These injury's bar one all at school .. no way is he going he is a walking disaster area. I know they casually said can we have x hundred by next week... I have not had a holiday in about 9 years. Its just me at the mo and I feel so crap saying no. However my Mum was in the same boat was just me and my Mum for a while and then my step Dad , there was always expensive ski trips , I really wanted to go but my family just could not afford it at the time. It sucked but at the same time I totally understood my folks couldn't afford it so I never kicked up a fuss. Then you got filtered into other classes and got taken the mickey out of for being poor. However after 3 students went over a cliff and broke multiple limbs while drunk on skis the school ski trips got banned I honestly can't fathom they think £800 for a school trip is ok? Its bad enough for couples in this day and age ... I feel like the worst Mum in the world when I have to say no. Oh but if I sat on my arse all day and didn't go to work they would chip in ... thats fair then not
