Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for Easter?

[ice]

Re: Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for East

Must have been a box set to last three hours?

They watched two movies - I don't really have any concerns about it to be honest - just thought it was a bit Lazy but like I said in my post some teachers take the easy way out and I think we have one of those this year.

 

[Threadser]

Re: Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for East

I think teachers that have the younger classes are much better off....to be honest how much lesson planning and marking to you have to do for 5 year olds? That also finish at 1.30pm! Thats a haf day in it's self.


As a teacher, I think this comment illustrates the basic lack of understanding of the nature of the work that teachers do. Teaching a junior infant class is very challenging and involves complex planning. Teaching the "concept of a number" to a five year old is as difficult as teaching long division in 6th class. The infant day is shorter because the attention span of children at that age is very limited and lessons are changed every 20 minutes to ensure maximum stimulation for the children. The "short" infant day is highly intensive, extremely exhausting but very rewarding.

Ireland has traditionally always had a high regard for teaching as a profession and consequently teaching continues to attract very high quality graduates. This isn't the case in most other european counties. As with any job there are a few who let down the profession but my personal experience having worked in a variety of school settings is that they are very much in a minority.

There has always been a tradition of half day closings before Christmas and Easter holidays. This is nothing new so I really can't understand why some parents seem to be so unprepared for it . In my school the half day offers an opportunity for a break from the normal routine and involves fun activities, easter egg hunts, treasure trails etc. Yes, in some cases classes watch DVDs. This isn't a sinister practise but is usually a "reward" for all the hard work of the term.

 

[emmage]

Re: Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for East

I think teachers that have the younger classes are much better off....to be honest how much lesson planning and marking to you have to do for 5 year olds? That also finish at 1.30pm! Thats a haf day in it's self.


As a teacher, I think this comment illustrates the basic lack of understanding of the nature of the work that teachers do. Teaching a junior infant class is very challenging and involves complex planning. Teaching the "concept of a number" to a five year old is as difficult as teaching long division in 6th class. The infant day is shorter because the attention span of children at that age is very limited and lessons are changed every 20 minutes to ensure maximum stimulation for the children. The "short" infant day is highly intensive, extremely exhausting but very rewarding.

Ireland has traditionally always had a high regard for teaching as a profession and consequently teaching continues to attract very high quality graduates. This isn't the case in most other european counties. As with any job there are a few who let down the profession but my personal experience having worked in a variety of school settings is that they are very much in a minority.

There has always been a tradition of half day closings before Christmas and Easter holidays. This is nothing new so I really can't understand why some parents seem to be so unprepared for it . In my school the half day offers an opportunity for a break from the normal routine and involves fun activities, easter egg hunts, treasure trails etc. Yes, in some cases classes watch DVDs. This isn't a sinister practise but is usually a "reward" for all the hard work of the term.

Well I agree with the above...My son (3rd child) is in Junior Infants and I think the JI class must be one of the hardest to teach and I don't see any harm in them watching the occasional DVD..and doing fun activities...the kids work hard, and so does the teacher...they learn so much in that first year and its not just about sitting at a desk and staying until 3! They also learn skills from fun activities!

 

[thebop]

Re: Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for East

I think teachers that have the younger classes are much better off....to be honest how much lesson planning and marking to you have to do for 5 year olds? That also finish at 1.30pm! Thats a haf day in it's self.

Why do irish school's have different picking up times? nothing more annoying picking one chld up at 1.30pm and having to go back again at 2.30pm. I think they finish school way to early. In england they are in school untill 3.15pm-3.30pm, i was told because 5-6 year old arn't able for the full day!!

I dont by the reason that they cant handle from 9am to 3 pm....so why do they finish school earlier and at different times???

To a Junior Infant teacher like myself, that's a pretty ignorant and condescending view to take. I know you didn't use the word "easy" but that's exactly what you are implying and as for "patience", well I did use an exclamation mark. I won't repeat the points that threadser made but s/he was spot on with their comments.

I didn't address your last point as I was too riled up and completely forgot. There is no standardisation of starting or finishing times for school in general or for Infants. What has happened in recent years is that the inspectorate have targetted schools who sent kids home before a second lunch break and made them lengthen the day. They would argue it allows for more socialisation and parents are doubtless happier about the hour or so less of childcare that needs to be paid for. The infant day in my current school was lengthened before I joined the staff so I'm not sure about when exactly it happened. Basically the kids are in school for 45 minutes longer and this time is spent with 30 minutes on lunch / yard and 15 mnutes to sort out yard issues / injuries and get organised for home.

I don't think it would be feasible to have finishing times totally standardised across the board - it would be a nightmare for parents who have kids in different schools.

Hope this helps.

 

[samanthajane]

Re: Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for East

I was by no means underminding what any teacher does. My experience of them ( apart from one ) has been brilliant. I have a 9 year old and a 6 year and god forbid i have had to deal with 30 of them. I'm sure every year the teachers swap classes they pick straws to decide what poor sod had the bad luck of taking which ever class my son was in!!!

I still dont think my remark about the lesson planning and marking for a 5 year old was unresonable. My daughters teacher leaves the school at around 1.45 pm when all the children have been picked up. While the other teachers stay till after 2.30pm. I see her do it every day. There is no point in me going home to come back again at 2.30pm. I'll relent on the leson planning a little bit as i admit i dont know what time/effort they put into this....but judging by the homework side of things my daughter gets reading everynight which i do with her and then sign to say she has done it, and once a week she has a work sheet to do. Now compare this to my son that brings home at LEAST 90 mins of home work a night which the teacher marks and is always returned 2-3 days later. Now from my point of view you can see why i said that a junior infact teacher doesn't do that much marking as that of a teacher who is teaching a few years above this.

As regards standard times across the board i think for primary schools there should be. Children who have moved on from primary school in most cases they would either walk or get public transport and are able to make their own way home, and all schools that i know of they would finish later as well. How many people would have children that are primary school age going to different schools? A small amount i would imagine. I'd even be happy to pay for the extra hour just so i only had to make 1 journey. Call it want you will..... help with reading/homework, just watching a dvd, i wouldn't mind what they did as long as she was there untill the other one finished school.

 

[samanthajane]

Re: Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for East

The infant day is shorter because the attention span of children at that age is very limited and lessons are changed every 20 minutes to ensure maximum stimulation for the children. The "short" infant day is highly intensive, extremely exhausting but very rewarding.

My daughter went from finishing at 1.30pm to finishing at 3.15pm for 2 terms while i was in England, she had no problem adjusting. I dont think you can say the above statments as being correct for every child, she was more than able for it as was every child her age in the school.

Those extra few hours really helped her, as well as the school and the assistants in the class. Every day she had help which she didn't get in Ireland. Not the teachers or the schools fault that there is no assistant to help the children that are a little bit behind, and with 30 odd children the teacher can only do so much. She started in the new school at 5 years old not able to read, write or even know all her alphabet. Now it's a totally different story she is flying, they couldn't believe how far she had come on. She left the school last week being the top speller in the whole of her year. ( there are 3 classes, so appox 90 children ) She won it last term as well and was the only child to get all her spellings correct every single week.

So how would you sum that up? That all of a sudden she got it......the extra hours in school helped?......the teaching assistant she had also helped? Probably a bit of all 3, but with out those extra 2 hours in school i dont believe she would be anywhere near where she is now.

 

[Complainer]

Re: Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for East

I think teachers that have the younger classes are much better off....to be honest how much lesson planning and marking to you have to do for 5 year olds? That also finish at 1.30pm! Thats a haf day in it's self.


As a teacher, I think this comment illustrates the basic lack of understanding of the nature of the work that teachers do. Teaching a junior infant class is very challenging and involves complex planning. Teaching the "concept of a number" to a five year old is as difficult as teaching long division in 6th class. The infant day is shorter because the attention span of children at that age is very limited and lessons are changed every 20 minutes to ensure maximum stimulation for the children. The "short" infant day is highly intensive, extremely exhausting but very rewarding.

Ireland has traditionally always had a high regard for teaching as a profession and consequently teaching continues to attract very high quality graduates. This isn't the case in most other european counties. As with any job there are a few who let down the profession but my personal experience having worked in a variety of school settings is that they are very much in a minority.

There has always been a tradition of half day closings before Christmas and Easter holidays. This is nothing new so I really can't understand why some parents seem to be so unprepared for it . In my school the half day offers an opportunity for a break from the normal routine and involves fun activities, easter egg hunts, treasure trails etc. Yes, in some cases classes watch DVDs. This isn't a sinister practise but is usually a "reward" for all the hard work of the term.

I'd agree with all of this, though I do think that 3 hours of DVDs is a bit OTT. I'd certainly be keen to mark teacher's card on this.

 

[Yorrick]

Re: Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for East

The teachers unions are always whinging about their entitlements but never seem to have any regard for members of other unions.
It is hard enough to organise childminding without having to factor in half days, in service days, parent teacher meetings etc etc etc.

 

[thebop]

Re: Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for East

The teachers unions are always whinging about their entitlements but never seem to have any regard for members of other unions.
It is hard enough to organise childminding without having to factor in half days, in service days, parent teacher meetings etc etc etc.

To be fair, there is one inservice day and one parent teacher meeting this year and one staff meeting per term.

 

[thebop]

Re: Are Primary Schools permitted to close at 11 am on the Friday they close for East

I was by no means underminding what any teacher does. My experience of them ( apart from one ) has been brilliant. I have a 9 year old and a 6 year and god forbid i have had to deal with 30 of them. I'm sure every year the teachers swap classes they pick straws to decide what poor sod had the bad luck of taking which ever class my son was in!!!

I still dont think my remark about the lesson planning and marking for a 5 year old was unresonable. My daughters teacher leaves the school at around 1.45 pm when all the children have been picked up. While the other teachers stay till after 2.30pm. I see her do it every day. There is no point in me going home to come back again at 2.30pm. I'll relent on the leson planning a little bit as i admit i dont know what time/effort they put into this....but judging by the homework side of things my daughter gets reading everynight which i do with her and then sign to say she has done it, and once a week she has a work sheet to do. Now compare this to my son that brings home at LEAST 90 mins of home work a night which the teacher marks and is always returned 2-3 days later. Now from my point of view you can see why i said that a junior infact teacher doesn't do that much marking as that of a teacher who is teaching a few years above this.

As regards standard times across the board i think for primary schools there should be. Children who have moved on from primary school in most cases they would either walk or get public transport and are able to make their own way home, and all schools that i know of they would finish later as well. How many people would have children that are primary school age going to different schools? A small amount i would imagine. I'd even be happy to pay for the extra hour just so i only had to make 1 journey. Call it want you will..... help with reading/homework, just watching a dvd, i wouldn't mind what they did as long as she was there untill the other one finished school.

I'm astounded that any infant teacher would leave as soon as the kids are gone every day - that is most certainly not the norm. I go home early the very odd time with my principal's blessing as I do so much supervision in my classroom before the day starts.

Teachers have very different views about homework - I personally adopt a 'let's start as we mean to go on' attitude in every sense when it comes to fostering good habits towards school and I give about 15-20 minutes. But there are plenty who would be of the opinion that kids work hard enough in school and shouldn't have to do any more at home.

As for the amount of planning required, as was mentioned earlier lessons are 20 minutes max so that's about 8-10 per day which takes a lot of organising.

And finally just to clarify my point about standardising finishing times - what I meant was it would be a nightmare in single sex schools where kids have siblings in nearby - or not so nearby - schools when you consider traffic it would be mayhem.