Parent Teacher Meetings

[amblincork]

My son's class in secondary school in Cork has had 4 half days for Parent Teacher meetings this year, one before Christmas and three after.
They get a half day on wednesday, but none of the PT half days were on wednesday.
They got another half day on fri- for a staff meeting- why does the school need to have a staff meeting 3 weeks before they close for summer holidays ?

What has gone wrong ? I dont think secondary school any longer qualifies as full time education.

[jady88]

When was the last time you were in secondary school?

[cenfath]

Were all of the half days for PT meetings for your son's class, or for different classes/years in the school? Going by the size of most secondary schools, it'd be common enough to have PT meetings on a few different days, it'd be impossible to meet every parent on one day.

As for the half day for a staff meeting - all schools, primary and secondary, take half days around now (they're not half days for staff, just pupils). These meetings have to take place to make decisions regarding staffing, booklists, class splits, organisation of resource, learning support hours etc. A lot of this information needs to be made available to parents before the summer holidays, so that's why the meetings can't take place during the holidays.

[patronsaint]

I was surprised recently to hear that a principal of a large secondary school in Cork will have no more than 3 weeks holidays in the summer, the rest of the time being given over to preparations for the new term in areas like budgets , rosters, special needs issues, etc.

[JollyRedGiant]

I am a substitute teacher - I do not get paid for any holidays (Christmas, Easter, mid-term, Summer). I also will not have any holidays this summer.

For the first 3 weeks in June I will be assisting with state examinations - I then have four days off - I then work until the last week of August teaching English to foreign students - I then have 3 days off - then I hope I will actually have some work in September and not become one of the thousands joining the dole queue every month.

[patronsaint]

I am a substitute teacher - I do not get paid for any holidays (Christmas, Easter, mid-term, Summer). I also will not have any holidays this summer.

For the first 3 weeks in June I will be assisting with state examinations - I then have four days off - I then work until the last week of August teaching English to foreign students - I then have 3 days off - then I hope I will actually have some work in September and not become one of the thousands joining the dole queue every month.

Maybe Uncle Joe will fix you up with a handy number when he goes to Brussells, or he might ask you to ghost write his " Irish " Daily Mail column.

[JollyRedGiant]

Maybe Uncle Joe will fix you up with a handy number when he goes to Brussells, or he might ask you to ghost write his " Irish " Daily Mail column.

If only I was so lucky - unfortunately i didn't make it onto the substitutes list.