Students to be taken out of school for holidays

I’ll never understand the not reading thing. We read every morning while I do their hair. It eats in to zero time and keeps minds off any knots from sleeping.

That's not how its done in KS2, a new topic per day in English and Maths. It's not recapped till the following year and then we have identify the children with gaps, try and plug them.

Yes, I've taught most years in primary and think for a lot of children it's fine. I work part-time and have taken my own summer-born out because she's GD across the board so I have no concerns.

I'd far rather we had a conversation about why the majority of parents don't consistently read with their children more than twice a week after about Y2 or help them learn their times tables. I'd rather talk about childhood obesity and spending time with your children outside. Missing 5 days a year for a holiday really isn't on my radar given all the challenges we face in school now. As for the idea it's selfish, as one pp said, well I find that ludicrous. For every child who is off, I can spend more time supporting other children in class. There is simply no time to catch anyone up, so it doesn't have any impact on anyone else when that child returns.

We took DD out of primary school a couple of times, but once she was at secondary school it was a no no. I felt that her education was far more important than a week in the Med. Besides, she would have been too anxious about missing stuff and falling behind.

Statistically, the education of children who miss a lot of school does suffer, so while there are brainy outliers where "it didn't affect me" it isn't true of the vast majority.

I’ve never taken any of mine out.

You sign up for school, you make a commitment to have them there everyday, bar illness.

(Not that we can afford a holiday even in term time 😂)

Are there any actual teachers/TAs commenting on this? I have worked across all primary year groups and I can tell you absences for holidays do set children back. Also parents rarely do this just once during a child's school career. Usually the same parents take their DCs out year after year so over the long term, it does affect them. I would also like to add that Foundation and year 1 are the most vital years for attendance. They learn so much, it's hard for children who are absent for long periods to properly catch up.

Sorry @Antibetty i seem to have quoted you in error

We used to take DS out usually for a week to tag onto half term, this was in the days before fines when you could just request up to ten days for holidays in the year, it didn't make any difference, he still got As and A* as expected in his GCSEs.

WTF??? Maths v Music? What teacher in their right mind is even going to go down that particular rabbit hole? And they made life a bit tricky for you? poor you!!!

Our children catches up no problems.
We always plan so nothing important is on at school.

A lot of people work at weekends/Christmas/Easter/Bankholidays/ NewyYear ect and aren't able to travel these holidays. I do. A lot of people do. A lot of people forget that because they don't.
We have family outside UK and take part in weddings, funerals, big birthdays and other important family events and it needs time for traveling.

Our children. Our choice. They don't belong to school or society. But we never expect school to take responsibility for homework or missed classes. We use a tutor if needed.

This school year we have asked for fours days. They were given without any questions.

How is this relevant to 2024?
Absenteeism is at an all time hight nowadays, and not all kids are as bright as you were.

As a kid I missed a few weeks here and there as I played sport at a high level and travelled abroad for tournaments. I was also ahead academically and had a headteacher for a mum who was hands on with revision/homework etc so picking up what was missed was fine. I got all A*/A at GCSE (not sure what that is in the new numbers but the highest 2 grades available at the time), including taking GCSE maths early and got an A at AS level maths in yr11 despite definitely missing at least 1 full week of school a year plus numerous afternoons

I would imagine the outcome might not be similar for those struggling academically, with disinterested parents and a chaotic home life. I’m aware it makes me quite privileged to come from that sort of household, but it does frustrate me a little bit how those conscientious families are now forced to be treated like the feckless ones with fines and threats for a week here and there when the outcomes are clearly not the same.

Most children never really catch up, the gaps can cause quite a few difficulties for them longer term too, especially in maths. I wouldn't do it personally. I'd rather save for a lot longer if need be and just go in the holidays.

Where I teach (in a county in Wales) headteachers can still grant up to ten days leave for annual holidays, as long as the pupil's attendance is otherwise good - though it is still frowned upon in exam years in high school.

As the teacher, it's a bit of a nightmare accounting for the different parts of learning that a child misses, especially if in the middle of a sequence of preparing for a final piece of writing, for example (I'm upper primary). But not really much different to when any of them have been poorly and have missed days.

I won't set work for them to do on holiday though. That's taking the mick. If you want them to not miss work or have to make it up later, then don't take them out of school.

Precisely this!

It's not a hood ideato muss secondary school but primary not an issue. It's not like they do decimals once then never again or whatever. Kids are ill and still manage. School closes at the drop of a hat nowadays so teaching time presumably unimportant.

I don't take my dc out for a full weeks holiday but would miss a day or 2 to avoid crowds at the airport. Nowadays a couple of days before is just as expensive as the weekend of the holidays. Its quite depressing.

Ha I see 😅😂 sorry! read too quickly.
Glad you manage to get away!

Thinking about it, perhaps things like fines for parental decisions only antagonises parents and sets schools and parents against each other when they should be working together.

Problem is the problem families/parents that don’t care about attendance be it a holiday or a fuck cnba day.

So all families are “punished” 7 days out of a whole school year are nothing. Covid showed us this, the last few days of terms being toy days and play days show us this. The fact my daughter can miss 6 days of school on a school ski trip show us this.

Its regular absence that is an issue not 7 days in a whole year.

I know not all people with PhDs are academics. I was agreeing with you. And university semesters are much shorter than school terms, so there's usually scope to get away, we manage it every year.

We are not academics. People have Phds and work in all sorts of industries. academics usually work term time too btw.

It’s not always a question of money either.
my point is we care deeply about education but to pretend every day at primary school is crucial for their future success and wellbeing is frankly nonsense. And not all teachers are brilliant and inspiring.

I don't know that this tracks. Like I said, in Ireland it's very normal to take kids out for a holiday in primary school (not in secondary exam years), and educational attainment is higher there, education is valued and teaching viewed as a respected profession.

Parents support education (or otherwise) in so many ways, I don't think a week in the summer is a big deal. The other 51 weeks will determine the children's outcomes.

Yup. Our DC are being raised by two academics who happily take them out for a week in May in primary school - because academic salaries don't cover a week away in the summer.

Nonsense. We care a lot about education and have 5 degrees between us. Our children are all very academic, bilingual and avid readers. We take them out to visit family in different countries(where they speak their second language and experience a different culture) and because sometimes they frankly do F all at school (days before Christmas, the week before summer holidays) and yes it saves us hundreds. We then spend this money on activities like days out in London, sports and music. Your are just judgmental and know nothing about people’s lives.

and we never had to do any “catch-up” not even when the kids were sick. Guess they don’t cover life changing stuff in the last 4 days before summer holidays or the days before Christmas break.

I don't know why this has become such a big deal. I had service schools and I had regular time out. In fact my school closed down in May of Year 9 and I didn't return to school until Year 10 and my exam results were excellent.
The only time I wouldn't consider to do this with my 2 is exam years. Having said that I will only take them out for a week max.
I don't think primary school is an issue at all. My eldest missed a big chunk of reception and Year 1 through covid (no online lessons) and she is doing well across the board. A lot of stuff is repetitive and if they are pretty on the ball then there is no problem in "catching up". I have taken her out twice so far, once a few weeks into reception and once at the very start of Year 4. You have to weigh it all up really and use a bit of common sense.