Learning is delightful and delicious …

Well, it’s shaping up to be a typical British summer holiday so far – completely unpredictable weather-wise.  I wish somebody who can actually DO something about it would listen to those people who, every year, suggest it’s about time we change the dates and length of the school holidays.

Not that I’m against a long break – far from it – but this year’s been a good example of the fact that the weather in the Uk is (according to met office stats) generally better in May/June than it is in July/August.  Finishing in May or early June after the exams are finished makes much more sense – those pupils taking exams don’t then have to come back into school until the new term and pupils who aren’t get more of a chance to be outside in the sunshine!

I don’t really know what the answer is – but it doesn’t make sense that we’re still tied into holidays that were fixed when we were an agrarian society and kids were needed to help in the fields!  I read a couple of items around the end of term talking once again about the thorny issue of whether parents should be allowed to take their children out of school for holidays in term time when the prices aren’t so extortionate - and again, perhaps changing the school holidays – or perhaps even staggering them throughout the country – might help. As a parent, I can totally understand why people would take holidays in term-time. I think I’d do it myself if I wasn’t a teacher – I really resent being ripped off just because the holiday companies and destinations can.

On that note, we’re off camping next week. It’s what we used to do when I was a kid, so I’ve come full circle now, with my own! Given the unreliability of the weather, we’ve decided to have two separate weeks in two different destinations, rather than going to one place for a fortnight. My eldest can’t wait to get to as many old houses/castles as possible and has already been going through the English Heritage/National Trust books to work out where to go.

Yes, it’s almost the end of the term and the academic year, and it really can’t come soon enough. This half-term is always a long one it seems, although the last week or two are pretty much a waste of time in teaching terms, because the kids are demob happy and it’s a challenge just keeping them in the classroom, let alone trying to actually teach them anything!

My school had the right idea this week, though. Monday was Sports Day – albeit not in the conventional sense – rather, it was an “outdoor” activities day (with a few indoor ones, too) which seemed to go quite well. Then on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the kids are engaged on various activities, some in school, some outside, and Friday is a half day.

Thing is – those of us who didn’t have a big enough number sign up for our activities instead have to babysit the “remnants”; those kids who couldn’t be bothered to sign up for anything or for whatever reason couldn’t undertake a particular activity. As you’d suspect, the majority of them are the kids that we’d all rather had just bunked off. It was made clear to all those who hadn’t signed up for something that there would be normal lessons, they were expected to wear uniform – in short, these will be normal days for them.  About two thirds of those on the list didn’t bother to turn up at all, and those that did… we had year 8s for a couple of periods and year 10s. The 8s weren’t too bad, but the 10s were appalling. The thought that in less than a year these kids will be let loose in society is a pretty scary one.

Given the small numbers, we decided that we’d put on a DVD (with the proviso that those behaving badly would be removed and given actual work to do!) – but even that wasn’t good enough. When I was a kid, we didn’t have DVDs- or even videos – but I’m sure that given the option of watching a film in a lesson or doing some worksheets, I’d have opted for whatever was offered. These kids? Thought they were going to come into school and do exactly what they liked for the day. Newsflash – we’re not a free leisure centre or place you can come to doss about with your mates.

Seriously, by the end of the day, my colleagues and I had been a cross between babysitters and sheep-dogs. I only wish I’d had the option of sinking my teeth into a few of them. Although perhaps not – who knows what I might have caught?

We’ve got our fingers crossed that more of them bunk off tomorrow!  I’ve got a load of work I want to do before the holiday and managed to get bugger all done today. With any luck, the kids that do come in will be the ones who can be given a job and trusted to get on with it with minimal supervision!