J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by snowb4ndit

AllyG wrote:Snowbandit,
I'm really sorry - I totally misunderstood what you were talking about :oops:

I am trying to get my head around this, and finding it rather difficult.

Are you saying that the government is going to stop parents taking children out of state primary schools during term time? When my kids were young it was not a problem when they were in primary school.

Ally

Head teachers are no longer allowed to authorise an absence for holidays in term time. So: Parent asks permission, school says 'no', family go on holiday anyway and absence is recorded as unauthorised. Attendance figures have an influence on the outcome of an OfSTED inspection.

millstreet wrote:flying to Geneva on April 9th, thinking of heading to Avoriaz for 4 days as its only one hours drive.

Would like to hear from anyone who has been there, getting mixed reviews on it. Looking for good intermediate skiing.
Thanks

I'd leave it until as late as possible if I were you. If the weather doesn't change you'll need to travel further from the Geneva and find a much higher resort.

OldAndy wrote:His fault Smartski - plain and simple.

In all conditions, no matter what the lower skier does - uphill skiers gives way.

However daft, unpredictable, plain crazy is the "route" of the lower skier - uphill gives way and avoids.

end of ........

Agreed!!!

Snapzzz wrote:

snowb4ndit wrote:
It is a very popular service at present, that is not in question. What I am thinking is if the opportunity was there for the nanny to be a qualified teacher that liaised with the child's school and prevented an absence would you choose that over the usual ski resort nanny service.

I definitely see why your service, as is, is successful, it sounds ideal. I think that as it stands you have the right idea as the kids are having a holiday and most importantly having fun. I think if you try and introduce a formal educational aspect then you run the risk of ruining that fun vibe.

Aside from all that i think you will be hard pushed to get any UK school to agree to it.

I've been a primary school teacher for 20 years and I have only ever taught in a fun and exciting way. I would definitely not be expecting children to do anything that resembled 'formal' education. As already stated it would only be formalised in regards to school liaison.

As an ex head teacher I know I would be more than happy to work with a nanny/teacher to prevent unauthorised absence. Schools are under a lot of pressure from the authorities and OfSTED, to stop parents taking children out of school for holidays and this pressure is now being put on parents. I have already asked a few friends who are current head teachers and they said they would very be happy with the idea in principle. Obviously the legalities need to be checked out next.

Thank you for your replies I am finding them very useful.

Firstly it would be for children who were between 4 and 10. Secondly the children would not be 'going to school'.

The nannies at present go to the chalet and look after young children who don't ski all day, or they pick up from ski school and then go to the chalet. They plan a fun week with the children which involves all sorts of activities that the kids really enjoy. The activities take place indoors and outdoors. The large majority of the things we do are educational anyway and the difference would be that the nanny/teacher would talk to the school before hand to get an idea of the child's ability level and they would also receive a report on what the child had done during their stay. This could then possibly count as off site education and the unauthorised absence that would normallly be recorded will be avoided.


It is a very popular service at present, that is not in question. What I am thinking is if the opportunity was there for the nanny to be a qualified teacher that liaised with the child's school and prevented an absence would you choose that over the usual ski resort nanny service.


I do appreciate that many of you simply wouldn't leave your children at all but there are many that are happy to do so.

I am currently in the French Alps working with a team of nannies that care for children when their parents are skiing. This is a very popular service.

Like you, I know how expensive it can be taking a vacation during the school holidays and I know how much pressure schools put on parents nowdays regarding attendance. As a skier I am also very aware of how busy and sometimes unenjoyable the slopes can be during these periods.

I am planning on moving permanently to the Alps and have been thinking about offering a service to families whereby children can attend a holiday during school term time and NOT get an absence mark in their school register. They could be cared for during the week by a qualified teacher, that would be able to tutor children in a fun way (say five half days) that would be linked to the national curriculum and the childs level of ability. This could be accomplished through liaison with the child's school, necessary planning and assessment, crb's, risk assessemnts...etc. Expectations on the school would be minimal i.e. taking a phone call and accepting an end of week report.

As already stated this is just an idea at the moment but I wanted to ask you all what you thought of it and if you were able to, would you use the service?

I am more interested in your thoughts as a parent who might use the service as I am already pretty clear about what a school would be prepared to do and not to do and how to deliver an appropriate and fun curriculum.

Please let me know what you think even if your reply is a simple yes or no.

Dorset Boy wrote:

sfiddik wrote:........They were also preserving runs for their local slalom courses! They were all kept nicely groomed! Sorry we as tourists have paid a lot more than local or seasonaires to ski the mountain! We went through a closed sign to ski on beautifully groomed red run that was closed because they were holding some kids slalom event on it a bit later......

Last time I looked a season pass was considerably more than a one week pass!!! :roll:

I will never ever criticize the guys who maintain the pistes. As far as I am concerned they do an amazing job and I don't for one moment believe that they are being lazy or selfish. There are many reasons why decisions are made to groom or not groom a piste and I am sure they know better than us.

...and I think you'll find it's the locals and seasonaires that groom the pistes and pretty much make it possible for the tourists to ski at all! :roll:

I don't expect blacks to be pisted and usually over here they aren't.

However a couple of weeks ago I took a friend to do a black expecting a nice steep mogul field (as it had been before) and to my disappointment it had been groomed.

I have no idea when and why they choose to groom pistes here in France or anywhere in fact. The red and blue pistes seem to be groomed everyday.