School holiday row could end in court (From Northwich Guardian)
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School holiday row could end in court
9:43am Wednesday 1st September 2010 in News
ANGRY parents are preparing to take the council to court in a row over school holidays.
Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) published its holiday dates for 2010-11 in September last year after consulting with schools, professional organisations and unions, and received no objections.
But Weaverham High School has changed its dates for next year’s Easter break, forcing some parents to abandon holiday plans and causing chaos for families with children at different schools.
Now a source, who does not wish to be named, told the Guardian some parents were preparing to take CWAC to the High Court, seeking a judicial review of the school holiday policy.
The problems came after the dates were published and Weaverham High, on Lime Avenue, rejected council recommendations for the Easter holiday break from April 15 to May 3, stating those dates would not provide adequate preparation time for GCSE exams.
David Charlton, headteacher at Weaverham High, said school governors had adopted different Easter holiday dates, running from April 4 to April 15.
He said: “If we went with the Cheshire West and Chester Council dates, there would be a very, very short period of time between the finish dates and the start of GCSEs.
“We wouldn’t return until May 3 and we expect GCSEs to start around May 10.
“Because we are a foundation school, the governing body decides the dates of the holidays, in the best interests of the pupils.”
Other high schools and feeder schools in the area are reported to have followed suit, but were unavailable for comment.
Ian Callister, senior media relations manager for CWAC, said: “Local authorities are unable to dictate that all school holidays are taken at the same time simply because foundation and voluntary aided schools and academies are not obliged to accept the recommendations.
“When the local authority questioned this decision, it was advised by headteachers that insistence on its recommended dates would cause chaos for parents and staff, many of whom would already have made holiday plans.
“To avoid this disruption, we took the common sense view not to enforce change back to the recommended dates.”
He added: “In an attempt to find a common solution throughout West Cheshire, consultations with representatives of all relevant bodies have already begun with regard to the 2011 to 2012 school holiday dates.”
The Guardian’s source, who we have agreed not to name, said Weaverham High’s holiday date change had brought three main problem: Issues for parents who had followed the Cheshire West and Chester (CWAC) holiday dates and booked holidays or arranged events and have since been informed that the school Easter holiday dates have changed.
Problems for parents who usually take an additional four days’ leave before the Easter weekend, to make the most of the opportunity of a 10-day break.
Problems for staff members with children at other schools using the CWAC holiday list, who now may not be able to spend the holidays with their children.
Comments(3)
northwich99
says...
6:04pm Fri 3 Sep 10
I work for the neighbouring council, so it seems crazy that such intelligent teachers who are educating the youth of tomorrow, cannot themselves organise school holidays effectively and efficiently! If the school has the option to choose their own holidays, would it not have been more democratic and courteous to conduct some sort of opinion poll, so that parents at least had the option?
Why should my child miss out on the Easter break with the family & friends, loose 2 weeks education if we went away during my holiday break or vice versa, why should I be forced to take unpaid leave to care for my child during the holidays just because of the Year 11 students and exams? This could be seen as the year 11’s taking a higher priority and are the ‘be all and end all’, what about the rest of the school, are they second-class by comparison? Surly, this is not the first time Easter has fallen at the end of April.
This is symptomatic of the schools becoming recruitment agencies for Year 6 intake, rather than an establishment to educate the young adults of today! It is all about the race to have the best grades. Well for my family unit the time we have together are equally as important as education.
My dilemma now - take my child out of school while I’m off for Easter, which will mean missing school for the whole of April and receiving a black mark for an "unauthorised absence" or for me, loss of income for 10 days unpaid leave. If at least one of the weeks over lapped, it would help!
If the year 11 students and staff are so keen to do well, why not hold revision sessions during the holidays of what would have been the 'normal Easter break'? Yes, there is still inconvenience - but not for an entire school!
This is not to discredit the current year 11 who, also deserve every opportunity to do well, there are not easy solutions and I would not like to have the job of coordinating a school timetable. But now parents are faced with huge inconvenience coupled with the loss of funds to the school/local council if the matter does indeed reach the High Court.
A simple solution for the future, is that the Government sets the school holidays nationwide for all school!
D Williams
says...
9:44am Wed 8 Sep 10
My own view is common sense went out of the window here and has plainly not returned.
I’m not sure the Weaverham High school acted correctly either as they only decided to adopt foundation status on the 24th of March this year with it coming into effect on the 1st of September, what is clear from Cuddington primary’s website is that Weaverham were the ones that started this. .
I am one of the people that are involved in what looks like taking CWAC to the Court I and my friends do not want to, we have other things we would rather do but we are being left little choice as I value my family time and had already acted on what CWAC had told us. The school it seem have no legal remit to change their dates yet they did and CWAC did little. Lest face it CWAC spend a lot of time trying to get us et us all to conform yet when it is their own it seems they do nothing.
I am wondering with the Guardians permission if we can publish an email address and or postal address for all those others affected, not so much to join us (so don’t worry no costs) but of course you are welcome but to at least register your names and address’s so we can act as one.
I do want to say that we have pointed out to CWAC the cost involved and of course would not be looking at this if we didn’t think we would win or if they would do the right thing. In burying their heads in the sand it won’t go away I don’t relish taking my own County Council to Court especially in these times of financial constraint, but before anyone says I shouldn’t ask yourself this. If this was a private company that had stepped out of line, the council would undoubtedly prosecute and we have little say in that do we. Days are gone one its one law for Joe public and one for the officials, it’s a fair playing field nowadays and the Council should remember that.
On a final note well done Weaverham for your results it’s a shame you marred them by this, that of course refers to the school and not the pupils who had nothing to do with this.
saltonian says...
3:33pm Fri 3 Sep 10
Weaverham High, as a Foundation, has the authority to set its own holiday dates but many of the high schools which moved from the CWAC dates did not. In turn many of the feeder primary schools felt they had no choice but to follow the high schools lead, even though few of those had the authority to very their dates from those set by CWAC.
Had CWAC acted when it first became aware of the problem it was early enough to tell those schools that it should have had control of to follow their dates (which legally they are obliged to do).