4 days out of school = (1 Viewer)

mojomuddywulf

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So feeling lucky to have enjoyed 1st leg of spring motorhome tours. Bilbao-Formigal-Medinacelli-Medellin-Seville-Tavira-Fuseta. Had to take the kids out of school 4 days to make it two weeks, but hey ho. Got to give the new lovebus ( who delivered on all counts) a thorough test and sometimes in well below zero conditions. Found a few nice spots for the night mixing aires (Bilbao) and off site parking.
 

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Trixie

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5th picture looks fabulous, young explorers.

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Hi,

Lovely photos and plenty of long lasting memories. Good for you guys. Those Children look so happy and a cracking MoHo too.

You learn more out of life than you do in School.

Looks amazing.

We have just been to Bilbao-St. Lary-Soulan-Javea-Bilbao.

Wish I could convince My Daughter and Son-In-Law the benefits of a couple of days (12 hours) out of School. Like a Flight for £25 each rather than £130.
 

Anthea M

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Loving the photos and what an adventure wish we had had a Motorhome when ours were little ( a frame tent doesn't quite hack it for travelling!!)
We were always stuck with school holidays being the teachers but never begrudged a few days off if families wanted a cheaper holiday!( hope you don't get a fine! And religious days seem to fall on school days a lot!)
Enjoy!
 

Carol

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Looks as if you had a great introduction to your new Motorhome, 4 days of adventure fun and family time how can that be wrong. Look forward to hearing about your next adventure .

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Oct 9, 2017
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Lovely photos. Your children look to be having a great adventure. Go for it!
My daughter is a teacher (with one 18month old daughter in nursery-picking her up in few minutes as she is off with measles) struggles to afford a holiday due to the hike in prices in school holidays.
David.
 
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My three spent most of their time away from school in a motorhome and never did get bored with it. Great pictures...(y)
 
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mojomuddywulf

mojomuddywulf

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Thank you.
Here are the grid refs for the places we stayed

Bilbao Municipal Aire , lovely location , excellent facilities , easy bus hop to centre 43.259444, -2.963611

Off site parking in Formigal -

Portalet - with a couple of other french / dutch vans , at the top of the mountain pass just as you cross the border, very cold location so watch temps and overnight snow.
42.806094, -0.418793 , no services so tank up

Formigal , lower location during heavy snowfall, again just a few french dutch vans,
42.772688, -0.360146, no services so tank up.

Would have had a night in Camping Escarra but was full so tank up on the way to the area.

on way to Portugal
Medinaceli,

41.171193, -2.431282 , well known, nice elevated position , quite cold, but good for football, artesenal products, interesting walk around roman area. Good service point

Medellin
38.9655,-5.96311 , the original Medellin, who knew!, fab history Roman archeaology, ideal river bank picnic area, service point ( hard to get water though as tap fixing is not threaded)
, on our own .

Seville,
37.362661, -5.994406
Large compound parking, quite busy, laundry , easy walk into centre
Had to go to get new water pump from Hidalgo here,
37.328981, -5.805436
helpful dutch chap knew exactly what we needed.


Tavira, edge of the east lagoon again with some french , dutch , a very special place for SUP , Kayak
37.119950, -7.620737

Fuseta,
37.052437, -7.743610
probably a Portugal fave for the astonishing fish lunches at Casa Corvo, safety of the lagoon ( kiddies kayaking, schools of mullet) and kitesurfing options when windy.






 

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mojomuddywulf

mojomuddywulf

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Hi,

Lovely photos and plenty of long lasting memories. Good for you guys. Those Children look so happy and a cracking MoHo too.

You learn more out of life than you do in School.

Looks amazing.

We have just been to Bilbao-St. Lary-Soulan-Javea-Bilbao.

Wish I could convince My Daughter and Son-In-Law the benefits of a couple of days (12 hours) out of School. Like a Flight for £25 each rather than £130.

Ha Ha, well I do have a job arguing the case a bit with Rach (wife) but just keep highlighting the, far better than school, educational benefits, Apart from the obvious physical activity, character building stuff, there are plenty of other real life educational opportunities, language learning, art, culture, history, maths, ( a bit of evening pontoon/rummikub ), teamwork ( washing up etc), technical ( you lot, there is the kayak , there is the pump, there are the instructions, blow it up!) . I would avoid making savings the focus /reason ( nice to have as well though!). The fact is, if we didn't have this kind of plan, lower travel cost mhome option, at this time of year, the kids would never see a ski slope at half term chalet prices! Also as soon as we got to the sunny lagoons / beaches of Portugal the kids were not the least bit interested in ipads, screens, just wanted wetsuits on, to be out in the fresh air etc.
 
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mojomuddywulf

mojomuddywulf

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Don't you get fined taking them out ?

Always possible but never have been, I do think it helps to discuss with headteacher your plans and to look at ways to minisise the impact. Eg two days in front of a half term week, 2 days after, + a staff inset training day = only 4 days out of school and they got to have a full 2 week period of travel.

Our headteacher, smiles and agrees, it is extremely good for the kids, even looks forward to seeing the kids present their travel blog in school!

There is a landmark case where a parent refused to pay a fine and initially won , https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/Parent-who-won-term-time-holiday-court-case-fined-again/ , successfully arguing that unauthorised absence did not mean failure to attend school on a regular basis so no offence. We also live in Wales where education minister, Huw Lewis, ruled that such bans are illegal.

However the same parent 2nd time around, at supreme court has lost , https://www.telegraph.co.uk/educati...-supreme-court-rule-parents-can-legally-take/ so it is still a game of state / verses some parents, most will just pay the fine if they get one. We don't know of any one in our school / authority that has been fined.

Our view is that the decisions should always be made by those closest to the children, i.e. you and hopefully a decent relationship/dialogue with the headteacher. Good headteachers/educationalists know ( if they have bothered to read the , The Impact of Parental Involvement, Parental Support and Family Education on Pupil Achievements and Adjustment: A Literature Review Professor Charles Desforges research) that the single biggest factor affecting the development of children at primary school is in any case parental support /involvement outside the school building/hours.
 
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magicsurfbus

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Most children spend less than 20% of their year in school so of course it's outside school experiences that have the biggest impact on their development. Anyone who believes it's up to schools to teach them everything is delusional.

Absence in term time can of course be educational and that's good in my opinion, provided that:

1) their teachers aren't expected to spend any extra time covering missed work ready for the next important test or exam.
2) their teachers don't get clobbered by management at appraisal time if the children miss their 'targets' due to term time absence.

It happens in some schools. It shouldn't of course, but it does.

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mojomuddywulf

mojomuddywulf

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Absence in term time can of course be educational and that's good in my opinion, provided that:

1) their teachers aren't expected to spend any extra time covering missed work ready for the next important test or exam.

Important test or exam. Do you mean like the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level, also called the O-level or O level, introduced in 1951 and still used as the gravy train of self serving educationalists, examination boards, who's CEO's have the biggest salaries in our Education system?

It happens in some schools. It shouldn't of course, because times have moved on. I do believe kids need much more than the bit of knowledge needed to pass those to fulfil their potential in this globalised world! I would just get these O'levels over with at Primary school, with tools like calculators/google, see just how big a pat on the back our education system can award itself, based on those archaic measures.
 
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moggyg

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Took our kids away for 9 months when 10 12 and 13. They came back after 9 months touring Europe and never missed a thing. Straight back into same classes ..... exams .... then uni.

Travel is the best education ever.

Ciao
 

hilldweller

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Our headteacher, smiles and agrees, it is extremely good for the kids, even looks forward to seeing the kids present their travel blog in school!

What an enlightened treasure. You are very lucky.

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magicsurfbus

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Important test or exam. Do you mean like the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level, also called the O-level or O level, introduced in 1951..

Strictly speaking, no - O levels ended in England, Wales and NI in 1988. I fully agree with you that out of school experience is far more important for personal development than the short time we spend in school - I said that above. It was certainly true in my own case and I spent 30 years working as a teacher.

No, what I meant was those tests or exams deemed 'important' enough by school management for teachers' jobs to be put at risk if the children are thought to have under-performed in them. What the parents or the pupils might think of their relative worth is, in some schools, frankly irrelevant. If the kid's enrolled into the school then they buy into the system. It's a simple equation - pupil x is supposed to achieve target y, and if they don't it's teacher z's fault, end of story. Teacher z can then face punitive measures from above.

Not pleasant I know, but not all schools are run pleasantly.
 

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