holiday during school time dilemma!!

[CLL]

I am a secondary teacher and taught for a while before I had my son. The amount of school trips and 'fun' days added up to a lot more than a 5 day holiday, plus teacher training days. as a teacher i never spent time 'catching up' in class, if a child missed work i sent it home. My son missed 1 day of school last year due to a sickness bug and he didn't get the reward for full attendance. Guess what the reward was - a day out of school at the local soft play centre!!! Tell me what message does that send to our children.

[FussyElmo]

I think this is one where you either take the children out of school or you don't. Don't think there is a right or wrong answer. I do firmly believe that something should be done about the holiday companies hiking the prices in the school holidays to increase their profits. The government keep moaning about what childcare costs why don't they start on the companies that make millions.

However I do think the part about the child about the not having to be in school legally till the term after 5 is a bit of a mute point as you fully intend to use the place for all other times of the year.

Honestly the fine isn't going to stop people as it still will be so much cheaper than going in the holidays.

Beachgirl if you really want to go then book and then put the holiday form in and expect to get it back unauthorised its 5 days in the grand scheme of things. I wouldn't say she was ill because if she is anything like my dd she would have to tell her teachers/friends all about meeting Minnie mouse and then if someone said oh I thought you were ill. I wouldn't put my children in that position for something they had no control over

[amanda1309]

We are booked up to go away in October and we are taking a couple of days before the October half term and I'm not changing my holiday for any one

I will pay the fine and it can go down as unauthorised. My dh works 3 on 2 off with no extra holidays so we don't really have an option to holiday when school decides.

We looked at going in August but it was almost double the price we are paying for October.

[rickysmiths]

People will need to take account of Unauthorised Absence. It goes on your child's school record which will travel with them throughout their Education including when applying for University.

It could affect your application for a school if you have to move say in the middle of Primary or Secondary school because some school may not be keen to offer a place to a family who regularly takes holiday time out in term time.

It is disruptive to those who are left behind when a child returns because however an educational the holiday was they are coming back into school needing to catch up on what they have missed. The teacher has to offer extra help to that child which means that they are taken away from the rest who have been in school and this may happen several times in one class as various parents do the same. Is this really fair on the Teachers or the children who do not take term time out for a holiday? No Head in future will be willing to take on such a family so do be aware of the possible on going consequences of unauthorised absence.

I think that if a child is taken out of school for a family holiday then one of the parents should spend the week of return in school helping their child to catch up so that teachers and other pupils routines are not upset.

[kellib]

I do it, I take my son out of school twice a year. Its usually only a few days before the end of a term but he has missed a week here and there before.

His gets put down as unauthorised absence but I'm not too bothered by that, his school lets kids go visit family in other counties for 2-3 months so a week for my son isn't a big deal in my eyes!

Travelling the world and experiencing other cultures is an education they simply won't get in a classroom, my sons teacher loves it when my son comes back from somewhere as he always finds something on holiday to do a show and tell about! Last year his class were studying the Romans, we found real Roman baths on our holiday, not many of his classmates will be able to say that!

[AgentTink]

I will also take my child out during term time, unauthorised absence wont stop my child achieving their full potential. I have no worry about applying for secondary schools as my little one's school automatically feeds into secondary school, and with regards to applying to university there is no way that they are going to have even the faintest interest in my childs attendance below the age of 14.

Lets face it their are families out there who just dont send their kids to school becuase they cant be bothered. In these cases i doubt that even try to keep their child up to date and request work. As a hands on parent i always educate my child in all outings that we have in a fun and enjoyable way, this doesnt stop just because i go on holiday. I will always ask for work from the school and on my return double check if anything else was missed.

My partners work could not cope if every parent had their 4 weeks holidays in school holidays only, and in fact there are strict limits for the amount of people allowed off during the holidays as alot of the workforce have old style contracts were they only work term time, so do not work in the holidays. In this whole 6 weeks my partner has been able to get off 4 days, none over xmas, 2 at easter, and half terms he has been lucky to get 1 day on all of them.

[beachgirl29]

we decided its too cold to go in nov and we need to save up for a new bay window really. so no holiday this year. never mind

maybe save some money for a holiday during the school holidays i guess!

[Daftbat]

I agree, what about those children who can afford to go on skiing trips, trips to Europe with the school? I guess they put it down to education, like that's OK, but the children can not possibly have an educational holiday with the parents!!!

My daughter went skiing with school but it was planned during February half term and teachers gave up their so called time off to take the children.

[blue bear]

If its authorised how can ewo get involved makes no sense

It's purely on the the attendance percentage, we had EWO ring when ds had glandular fever followed by para influenza plus numerous other days off school with illness and hospital appointments, EWO were really understanding and just needed to check the illnesses were genuine even kthpugh I'd sent letters and sick notes to school for every absence.

[KaicosMummy]

We had a letter from our school saying under no circumstances would any holidays ever be authorised during term time as from september (they have always allowed us ten days holiday, though i have only used two ), they cited the new law coming in and said their hands were tied and would not be allowed. Only things authorised would be children seeing parents on leave from the services and religious holidays. Our LA is imposing a fine of £50 per child, per parent for each unauthorised absence. For example a family of two parents and two children I know who requested holiday a few months back for october and had it authorised have now been told that because of the new law they will now have a £200 charge applied when they go away, which I think is naughty!! There are arguements for both sides, but I tjink a couple of term time days off a year is not the crime of the century.......

[littlemiss60561]

I took my daughter out for 3 days in yr 1 with an unofficial nod from the teacher. Went down as un authorised but teacher said she will learn lots more by seeing a different country and speaking the language in those 3 days than she will at school. Ok it was Disney .. But I did make her speak some French and she's now a* gcse so Teacher was right.. It's all down to mr Disney lol
I wouldn't take them out every year and this was the only time, but I do believe that a family benefits from a holiday and if the only way to doit is to take them out then so be it. And your child would have formed friendships by then and I'm sure will be fine.
Maybe we should all bombard the travel companies with complaints? Your heads reply will be no. So don't think by waiting , you will get a different reply.

[littlemiss60561]

Also, I'm from a family of teachers and my head Teacher sister says she hates having to say no to families but rules is rules. She appreciates that the children would not otherwise get to travel or benefit from making family holiday memories. She has said to parents before that on paper i have to say no, but i wish i could benefit from taking my children on holiday and gives them a look to say do it! I don't think this makes her irresponsible. Obv timing is key and sats year is a no no .
Maybe are a book to read on the way and add up the price of ice creams!!

[rosebud]

I won't enter into the debate about whether we should or shouldn't take children out for holidays but would like to add two points:

1) Parents are frowned on for taking children out of school and affecting their education and yet nobody ever talks about the amount of education missed during the last 1-2 weeks of EVERY term when the children seem to sit and watch DVD's, take in toys, have fun days, etc.

2) Holiday companies are businesses - of course they are going to respond to Market need. If local authorities staggered the school holidays so that each area has slightly different dates then there would be less difference in cost between Peak / Off peak times and the problem would resolve itself. Yes its nice to have 6 weeks off in the summer but if we included June and September as summer (It usually rains all the way through August anyway!) then school holidays could be spread more effectively. Problem solved!

Thats All.

[wendywu]

So what about the days schooling that the children lost when the teachers went on strike, or when the schools close as they are used in elections for polling.

Its ok when the boots on the other foot. I would take them out and say they were sick , or with any luck it will snow in Novemer and the schools will close

[zippy]

I took my kids out for 9 days two years ago so my youngest could meet his grandfather who lives in America we struggled to afford it then and definitely could never afford it otherwise, we were planning to hopefully go again next year looks like that's now not going to be able to happen, seems they think education is more important than family definitely not in my view, ill take the fine I'm afraid it will be that or he may never see him again I know what's more important even if they don't. My kids got toms out of that trip and so did the other children back at school they were learning about space we took the kids to the NASA space station, and saw a shuttle launch doesn't get much more educational than that. We also popped into the education centre at NASA whilst there and took a ton of resources back to England to share with the other kids. The teacher spent no extra time with my child on returning apart from that of sharing all the new resources they had. I took all the work se was going to miss with me and we handed it in on our return alongside a log book she'd kept of the holiday. Maybe they should spend more time worrying about the kids that are rarely there than worrying about the few that miss a couple of days.

[Hatchlings]

When they are young that these days so many parents are working so many hours you hardly see your children anyway & altho they will miss a couple of days family time in the times we live in is just as importaint i wanted take myn out 1 day early last year & was told it was no exceptable but i did it any way or we would not have seen her dad for 10 days as he had to go away on buisness so we went with him but the company he was working for would only pay for us if we flew out together so we went school said they then understood but she had a black mark for missing 1 day attendance oh dear bad mummy wanting her see her daddy & give her a holiday of 1 day more haha world gone mad we dont raise our children the goverment do

[Lincsminder]

I live in a seaside town and time off during the summer for most workers is never going to happen. So their only option is term time, I don't think the odd few days hurts either. What annoyed me was the letter home form school saying the Y5's are going on a 2 day residential trip to an activity centre ( rock climbing etc.) and they will be spending a great proportion of the term planning the trip talking about taking risks and being away from home, it said how important this trip is and all should attend. It then goes on to tell you the price and how this can be paid in instalments. Now this trip is during term time and sound suspiciously like a holiday to me but without the parents, now if I wanted to do the same trip during school time they would have said NO.

[rickysmiths]

I won't enter into the debate about whether we should or shouldn't take children out for holidays but would like to add two points:

1) Parents are frowned on for taking children out of school and affecting their education and yet nobody ever talks about the amount of education missed during the last 1-2 weeks of EVERY term when the children seem to sit and watch DVD's, take in toys, have fun days, etc.

2) Holiday companies are businesses - of course they are going to respond to Market need. If local authorities staggered the school holidays so that each area has slightly different dates then there would be less difference in cost between Peak / Off peak times and the problem would resolve itself. Yes its nice to have 6 weeks off in the summer but if we included June and September as summer (It usually rains all the way through August anyway!) then school holidays could be spread more effectively. Problem solved!

Thats All.

I don't know what school your children go to but mine went to 3 different Primaries over the years and my husband has taught in another 5 over the last 24 years and in none of them have the last 1-2 weeks of term been spent watching DVDs and taking in toys. They have all worked up to the last day when they may have had a DVD or free time. I'm not sure what you mean by fun days but in all the afore mentioned schools they may have been a Sports Day, a Concert or two or an end of term/year production and yes these things are fun and they are not formal lessons but I can assure you they take often weeks of planning and practice. If you child is off they then miss the chance to take part in something they have practiced for weeks and will bee gutted if they can't take part. It also means that the production is upset if people are missing. If my children had been missing lessons in the last 2 weeks of term I would have had quite a lot to talk to the school about!

[candy cat]

I am doing it next may....a one off ...never done it before, won't do it again... but after a tough few years we are treating ourselves and saving £2500 by going in term time.
Yes my children will miss 2 weeks, but will gain lots of cultural education ;0)