Taking kids out of school for a term

I would suggest that you speak to the Education Welfare/"School Attendance Team in your local authority and ask them for advice in your situation and what the guidance is.
You're planning to return and can provide proof via tickets so it's not always the case that schools can remove from roll. As I say your LA will be able to provide further info.
Hope it all works out.

That would completely throw your plans off course for the year because you’ve never had any refugee children turn up mid-year and needed to catch them up without risking your class data, shock horror.
Obviously.

OP I’d go for it! You had a fab experience as a child and odds are they will as well.

the narrow definition of education as the curriculum is nonsense. Education is way broader than that and the experiences they would gain from a term abroad at that age would be massively enriching.

re the UK school Id speak to the headteacher to understand how oversubscribed the school is. You will have to officially deregister them but maybe there’s a good chance they could rejoin when they come back?

It impacts other pupils because if the children of poster come back significantly behind where they should be, it then becomes their teacher's responsibility to help them to catch up. Depending on the cohort of their class, the teacher having to do this takes them away from helping other children. Obviously.

Totally agree with this. There is so much more to educatiin than sitting in a classroom. I say this as a teacher. Travel and family connections are so important. OP, good luck with speaking to the head and putting your case forward.

If it is a no, you could wait until the eldest is in y6 and de register them for the last term of y6, (at least they will miss the hysteria of SATS!) Then you will only have the youngest to get back on roll and they are more likely to remember the trip bring a few years older.

Not keen on facts?

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10016/

As a young child, I would have hated missing school at these ages. It would make me anxious and I would feel left out etc. That could just have been me being a nervous and insecure kid however.

In that case it's foolish to take them now - your YR 5yo will barely retain any memories at all of the trip, just a few blurry recollections of colours and crowds.

If you go in April-May when your older child is in y6 that would be the least disruption - your older child will miss SATs but that won't be much detriment and worst-case scenario if you lose the school place there will only be half a term of difficulty before starting y7, and your younger child will similarly only be half a term away from y3 at which point the infant-class-size rule relaxes so it will be easier to get her a place. However your younger child will still only retain quite vague memories of the visit at that age - but waiting any later would disrupt your older child's secondary education and that's more of a problem.

They can offroll due to the length of the unauthorised holiday. It's a specific category for leaving in the census. And distance.

That’s generally because of institutionalised racism and bullying - as a result, their parents are reluctant to send them to school. I know of Traveller parents who have sent their children to private school to avoid them being bullied in state schools. This should not be happening in 2024.

Well, there's a little matter of the law that will stop them deregistering. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/1751/regulation/8

She won't get deregistered. Look at the Regulation linked above.

I really don’t think Traveller kids are the night comparison here. By most standards their formal education is very poor.

I have reported this as hate speech. Perhaps “they” have absolutely awful educational outcomes because of teachers’ attitudes. Please educate yourself.

Education doesn't happen only in the classroom. This will be practically homeschooling for a few weeks, the OP is confident she can cover it, there really is nothing wrong about that

Prioritising school attendance will teach the children that requirements of institutions are more important than family, even if the requirements in question don't make sense.

Their education should be prioritised. That's all there is to it.

"my headteacher welcomed fairground children who would come to our small Church of England primary school for a fortnight every year and they enriched our understanding of a different culture and way of life."

This is very positive and I'm glad it worked out.

The school I remember was a small Catholic school and the head teacher and staff were worried - perhaps because it was a one-off and a bit of an unknown (I was not involved).
Anyway not relevant now - think OP has got some things to think about.

I can understand about being glad to be out of it now!

Yes, it isn't school curriculum, it is life curriculum. Learning at school isn't the only learning.

I know that in the UK school attendance has recently became a new religion, and schools can dictate to families lots of things above and beyond law.
Still, in this case children with family ties to other country have an option to spend some time there - so it won't be just vacation, but real immersion into the culture and lifestyle, and supposedly the family here can continue with learning the language afterwards.
If you can't see how it will be beneficial for them, you must be blind.

Generally, school curriculum is pretty random thing. Every country teaches something different and it doesn't really matter. The main goal is building ability to learn.
Every year many children are out of the school sick or injured for some time and have to catch up. Other have to move. That's life.
I was pondering recommending some tutoring afterwards, to make the catch up smoother, but as the OP said, in this grades parents can do completely fine.

I knew it. You are the Penguins of Madagascar trying to get back to the Antarctic and I claim my five pounds!

Take 1 week and the whole of Easter holidays.

I was a teacher for 27 years and I’m not surprised a school didn’t want to take Traveller children, because I have heard plenty of anti-GRT racism from other teachers in my time. As a child, though, my headteacher welcomed fairground children who would come to our small Church of England primary school for a fortnight every year and they enriched our understanding of a different culture and way of life. No disruption was involved.

I know that plenty of primary schools are under PAN so I don’t think the OP’s children would have a problem getting a primary school place, although they may not be able to return to the same school. The same goes for children from private schools - they might not get the school they want.

I’m so glad to be out of the profession - it’s changed beyond all recognition since 1994.

You can easily get the learning done much quicker at home - child gets 1-2-1 attention. No registration, no assemblies, no lining up, no disruptive children, no taking in turns with other children. School has a value - being with other children, learning to get along, easier to do sports or drama etc and the all important childcare while parents work. But don't delude yourself that it is the most efficient and/or effective way to educate children.

Makes me wonder what standard of school the child attended if parents could get the child miles ahead academically in only an hour a day.