Yes, this Wednesday my school is striking & I find myself wondering what I should do. You see, this year the school adopted the 4&half day week & it was all very disorganised for the schools, students, teachers & parents alike. Just to provide a little more detail: on 2 days the kids finish at 3.30 &have 1 hr of extra lessons, I should say activities- at the min occitan/singing& then the other 2 days they have 30min which as u can imagine they don't get to do much. I did have experience of the Wed off system & I must admit the kids seemed to cope a lot better, not as tired etc...i also wonder about the usefullness of the so-called extracurricular activities. The main concern for a lot of the parents is the fact that the children are tired & I believe many would prefer that the system hadn't changed, or that Sat was an option & not Wed. There is also reference to it costing us tax payers more in the long run, the mairie funds the activities but they cost 45euros/hr! Furthermore, the contracts for these intervenant are not stable/reliable. Imagine also where we live-at the foot of the mountains, not easy getting/finding these people.
So, the school is striking, why do I sigh& think "Not again!" I understand sometimes there is a need but at the expense of my children's education?. I understand why private schools are so popular. Has anyone similar experience? Any thoughts? Good to her that off my chest.
We are still on a four day system so our kids are off Weds and Thursday this week - great for them, not so great for us as we have just moved house and with the bank holiday that's only 2 days in school this week! They think it's half term again
Hi Angela, What are your thoughts on the new system? Do you find that your little one is more tired than before? What class is she in ? I can understand when we consider the little ones in petite/moyenne section but most parents work all day anyhow so i cant see how it changes many things. Furthermore, for some in the larger schools- it must be a great benefit as kids get to do more sport and cookery perhaps which cant be bad for them with such an academically weighted education system.
My daughter's primary is striking on Thursday for the same reasons; the teachers are all against the new system.It seems it is being done to pass the financial charges over to the communes instead of the state. One local commune has gone back to the 4 day week after trying 4.5 for the first half-term; exhausted children & parents having to pay for the extracurricular activities. The only positive coverage I have seen was of a school in a disadvantaged area in the north, where they found the children benefitted from being in school more, but even there they said it cost a fortune & they had special subsidies to do it (if I remember correctly).