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Taking children out of school....

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Quote:

The Head also said he would push for a fine if he had been lied to.

Cool
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
alti - dude wrote:
Whilst the law of supply and demand will mean 'peak weeks', I do think there should be some form of guidance/regulation which might stop half term week being say 200% of a week in the middle of January. Very difficult to do in practice however.


I love the fact that people think there should be regulation of pricing. How many of you would be prepared to sell your house for less than the market value if it was in a very desirable area? A house in Kensington will be more expensive than the same house in Toxteth. It can be argued quite easiy that non peak weeks are the discounted weeks. If tour ops are expected to cap prices for the school holiday weeks they would have to increase the cost of other weeks, however, these weeks would not sell and they would go out of business. The governments postition on this issue (which is actually one of truancy) was just an ill conceived idea and rushed out without thought. I see that Gove has now moved across to take charge of the justice system, another area that the government has totally mismanaged under Grayling.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Taking a child out of school ,to enjoy family time, life experience , is better than a week at school anytime, they can learn more on a treip than in school , THAT IS ACTUALLY RELEVANT TO REAL LIFE, meeting and interacting with new people, handling foreign currency, working out , where to go and what to do , from foreign signs etc

Happiness is the key to life , not a piece of paper saying 100% school attendance .

My daughters school threatend us yearly with fines, my reply was always, go ahead and all I will do is split the fine between the teachers cars we service and they pay it for us!!!!!!!

ASK your self this, WHEN was the last time u used Pi ??? Thought not ..... Puzzled Eh oh! snowHead too
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Quote:

ASK your self this, WHEN was the last time u used Pi ???

Funnily enough I used it very recently, in connection with cake tins. wink

I hope there are not too many parents who think maths is irrelevant to real life! We have too few scientists as it is.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I would fess up the day they break up & say you got the dates wrong by looking at a 2015 calendar when making the booking & you thought you booked Sunday to Sunday.
However, because of the 1 day difference to 2016, it is now monday to monday....
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Pi not maths in general
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Pi not maths in general
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@winterfunman, yeah, you're right. Pi is, like, rubbish , innit?
.
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It has it's place , but not that often used , compaired to useful life skills Toofy Grin

AS FOR PIE nom nom nom
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winterfunman wrote:
It has it's place , but not that often used , compaired to useful life skills Toofy Grin

AS FOR PIE nom nom nom
Real life skills like spelling?

On a more serious note, nobody has ever suggested that family holidays have no educational value, or even that they may not have greater educational value than many school days. That is not the point. It's not even close to being the point. What the government and education system want parents to do is to take their children on all sorts of wonderful, amazing, educational holidays, but do it during the holidays.

Use of Pi? About once a week. Everything from cake tins, hose lengths, calculating land areas and that's not even including children's homework. Definitely one of the most useful bit of maths that I learned at school. Quadratic equations are arguably less useful in everyday life.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
I teach 7-8 year olds so we haven't got to pi yet. However, it was used regularly in my previous job, calculating floor space.

Trouble with the argument of going away on a family holiday being more educational than a week at school is that it much depends on how unique the holiday is for the children or the mentality of the adults involved. This is why it is difficult for heads to use this as an excuse.

I'm guessing my summer holiday this year (in holiday time) cycling in the Alps will be a lot more educational for Jnr than our holiday last year. We were knackered and spent the best part of a week sat on our backside in a hot sunny place, Jnr spent the week messing around in the sea or pool, playing football and table tennis.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Quote:

Definitely one of the most useful bit of maths that I learned at school

I use it surprisingly often, too, given that I lead a pretty non-technical life. I just use 22/7, or sometimes a mental approximation. No need for 300 decimal places. I am a huge fan of education but that doesn't mean I discount the value of a family holiday (though I agree with @hammerite that some holidays are more "educational" than others.
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@foxtrotzulu I suffer from dyslexia , so again ANOTHER JUDGING PERSON
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@winterfunman, My comment about 'useful life skills' was a cheap crack and I would have added a smiley after it if it had been easy to do it retrospectively with an iPad. As it wasn't you had to live without. However, my point remains valid. As someone who suffers with dyslexia you will surely appreciate more than most how critical school time is. As others have pointed out we do actually use Pi pretty often.

Do I notice when people use sloppy English, weak punctuation and poor spelling? Yes. Is it an issue? Probably not. However, you can't expect people not to pick up on it if you are saying that schools should focus on 'useful life skills'. Is my spelling and punctuation perfect? No, but I try pretty hard to make sure it's as good as it can be.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@hammerite, a week messing around in the sea/pool sounds wonderful; something many adults would benefit from.

@foxtrotzulu, there are a few dyslexic people on here, so maybe you should accept that it's a cheap shot pointing out spelling errors. As for how critical school time is for dyslexics...I'd rather quality over quantity.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
pam w wrote:
Quote:

ASK your self this, WHEN was the last time u used Pi ???

Funnily enough I used it very recently, in connection with cake tins. wink

I hope there are not too many parents who think maths is irrelevant to real life! We have too few scientists as it is.


Snap - trying to work out how much cream I would need for a quiche (after guessing the volume of the eggs . Embarassed )
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Shimmy Alcott wrote:
@hammerite, a week messing around in the sea/pool sounds wonderful; something many adults would benefit from.

@foxtrotzulu, there are a few dyslexic people on here, so maybe you should accept that it's a cheap shot pointing out spelling errors. As for how critical school time is for dyslexics...I'd rather quality over quantity.


I said above that it was a cheap shot. No argument there. Quality vs quantity for dyslexic pupils? Certainly, but as the quality factor is largely in the hands of someone else DfE, Heads, teachers etc then surely you have to maximise quantity to try and offset any lack of quality and the challenges posed by dyslexia?
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
musher wrote:
pam w wrote:
Quote:

ASK your self this, WHEN was the last time u used Pi ???

Funnily enough I used it very recently, in connection with cake tins. wink

I hope there are not too many parents who think maths is irrelevant to real life! We have too few scientists as it is.


Snap - trying to work out how much cream I would need for a quiche (after guessing the volume of the eggs . Embarassed )


Guessing??? Volume of an egg = 4/3 x Pi x abc (wher a,b,c are the semi-axes) Very Happy Very Happy
Then again, life may be a bit short for that!
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Drop the egg in a jug of water is probably easier for most and you can see if it's still fresh or not
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@foxtrotzulu,
Silly me - knew I should have kept the calipers in the kitchen.
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As far as I recall, eggs to cream ratio is a few:some. With a dash of pepper and a pinch of salt. Oh, and a knob of butter. wink
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Arctic Roll wrote:
As far as I recall, eggs to cream ratio is a few:some. With a dash of pepper and a pinch of salt. Oh, and a knob of butter. wink

Is that a metric knob or an imperial knob?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
It really does depend on your local authority: it has nothing to do with the school. Since the new rules came into force we have removed our daughter for 7 days for a trip to Australia in one school year and for a week's skiing in another school year: to date we have received a fine for neither absence. We have booked our ski holiday for next year and will be removing her from school yet again. However, as of 2017 she will be at secondary so we will not remove her and will brave the half term hordes.
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School for me was a drag, was destined for my career from the age of 4 , I now have 3 successful thriving business's who I let my staff work about spelling and grammer Puzzled
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@winterfunman, good for you. A lot of people are doing well at things where it's necessary to understand concepts such as pi. So whereas I'm OK with kids being taken out of school (it happened to me lots in an earlier era), being relaxed about kids not grasping fundamentals is not very clever.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@laundryman, surely you can appreciate that some kids will just not be able to "grasp" some elements of the curriculum? Especially if they have some form of learning difficulties? Especially as meaningful additional support for these children is often lacking.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@Shimmy Alcott, oh yes, certainly. But pi was first brought up as if it were irrelevant to everyone; as if missing school didn't matter if it made the difference between grasping the concept of pi and not. That's what I disagree with.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
winterfunman wrote:
School for me was a drag, was destined for my career from the age of 4 , I now have 3 successful thriving business's who I let my staff work about spelling and grammer Puzzled



The cars you service were designed by engineers. They use pi, equations, and other things they learnt at school every day.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
pam w
Quote:

I recall one Snowhead, carried away by his own righteous indignation, mentioning totalitarian regimes and a complete disregard for family welfare. Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing


I believe that may have been me, in full flow. But your mission has worked. I've had a look at Hampshire's policy and we're not in imminent danger of huge fines. In fact, what they seem to have achieved, with this policy, is to reinstate their previous policy of allowing 10 days of absence before they take action. Which was a policy I agreed with. So although I disagree with political interference with the general policy of allowing responsible parent to be the main decision makers of their children welfare I bow to Hampshire's LEA in instigating a sensible approach to absence and to your good sense in quelling my more passionate reactions!

And on the matter in hand, I will continue to inform the school that my daughter will be absent for a school holiday. I agree that I shouldn't make her lie. And if we are to have family holidays we will have to take them during term time.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@henzerani, don't confuse 10 sessions with 10 days.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@pam w, you worried me there for a minute. Hampshire's code states 20 sessions. Reading it does calm the nerves. They don't seem to want to fine people for reasonable absence. So thanks for pointing me in that direction.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I asked for permission to take my eldest (6 but going on 40) out of school this year at the end of January. I am not able to have her with me over the half term as this is an extremely busy week and we (well I really) want to ski as a family.

The school told me they couldn’t allow it as it would detract from her “learning experience and overall education”.

During the last week in January this year she and her class spent a (full) day at an animal farm and had another (full) day’s “play experience”.

But in the school’s praise they did allow, during the same week, a teaching assistant to read them a story for a full afternoon.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@Lisa_BrentaSki, they can't authorise it...but it just goes down on the register as un-authorised. Read your LEA Code of Conduct - it will be online - for the detail but you can probably go five days without a risk of a fine.
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@Lisa_BrentaSki, it seems that teachers have personal opinions as well. Some feel that kids can gain valuable learning from outside school and others don't, so as well as the "rules" there are personal beliefs involved. Ultimately they only go by the LEA's Code of Conduct. But I guess they have a point: some kids grasp thing easily and others have to work for it. There must be a level of absence at which all children will suffer and that will depend on the individual child. I suppose if a teacher said to me that my child was struggling and that time away would harm her progress I'd have to put her education first. In fact, I'm anticipating not taking time out once she gets towards her GCSEs. However, like all parents, I believe that my child takes after her father and is therefore clearly a genius who could pass a degree whilst skiing all season and all in Year 4.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Shimmy Alcott wrote:
@Lisa_BrentaSki, they can't authorise it...but it just goes down on the register as un-authorised. Read your LEA Code of Conduct - it will be online - for the detail but you can probably go five days without a risk of a fine.


They can authorise it. They can put it down as an approved educational activity.
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@henzerani, I think you mis-state the argument. All teachers feel that children can gain valuable learning outside school (you'd have to be an idiot not to), but some feel that this learning should be done outside of school time and others feel it doesn't matter so much.
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@Lisa_BrentaSki, Instead of half-term, why not take her in the Christmas holidays or the Easter holidays?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Hello Foxtrotzulu

It is nothing to do with skiing, so not sure if it’s relevant (or allowed) here but the truth is that I can’t take her at Christmas as it was only 2 years ago that I put my foot down and got both sets of grand-parents to come to ours for Christmas day. Before that we had the standard double visit that many couples do, of visiting one set of grand-parents first and then the others, which was quite tiring for the kids. Ha Ha maybe the forum moderators will delete this as not being ski related, but that’s the real reason we can’t go over Christmas.

I understand I could just take her out of school but (again not ski related, sorry) you would not believe the stress I went through getting her into the school she is now. The council wanted to put her in another school which has (to say the least) not a very good OFSTED appraisal. Her brother will start school in 2 years and I don’t want any negative comments on the records. He should be OK as his sister will already be there. But honestly they really do have us over a barrel on this so just have to stick to the rules.
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@Lisa_BrentaSki, the school will have published selection criteria, I've never heard of attendance levels of a sibling being mentioned. Seems like your school just want you in a position of fear so you comply.
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alti - dude wrote:
Perhaps a way out of this is schools need say 3 or 4 'duvet' days annual allowance then? That would mean not lying about the state of health of relatives/cat/dog/child


THat's what Swiss schools do - they have 1 or 2 "joker" days that can be taken. However the rest of the time, school attendance is mandatory with huge fines for the parents if kids aren't there. Please don't take it for granted that in the UK "education" is mandatory - here it's "schooling", no home-schooling allowed. Expats living half way around the world from home here have real problems just seeing family and fitting in with school dates, heads can authorise a 1 day absence for e.g. a funeral or wedding, but that's not easy if said funeral or wedding is in e.g. LA or Sydney. Having said that, we have 5-term years with 2 weeks between all except sumemr, whcih si 4 weeks, and of course skiing is a weekend activity
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