To ask teachers if you just accept the inflated holiday prices?

It isn't only the cost, it is the lack of flexibility.

August is often too hot in typical holiday destinations but other than May or October, there is no other option and these holidays, at that time, are often not warm enough (within a reasonable three hour flight). I'd much prefer late June or mid September.

I want to visit relatives in Australia, but want better weather than August offers. Two weeks at Easter/Christmas isn't long enough.

I want to be able to go to UK events. I've never been able to choose Ladies Day at Ascot, or Chelsea Flower Show. I want to join friends at local events during the week but can't take a days leave.

One of my DC’s teaches in Scotland, we struggle to time holidays together.

I will certainly have a well planned calendar once I leave.

@LoveBluey

Retail often means no December holidays.

Yes agreed & I don't think retail or hospitality are especially family friendly jobs. Unsociable hours & working evenings & weekends. I feel sorry for them when it's bank holiday weekends & most people are off work.

This - what I could spend on holidays is swallowed up by paying for childcare during the holidays. Even with tax-free childcare it works out at approx £3,500 per year.

If I was a teacher I wouldn't have the childcare costs and therefore would be able to afford a proper holiday in the summer holidays rather than the odd sun £9.50 holiday weekend here and there

Working in finance generally means no annual leave the first week of the month, and definitely none in April. I haven't had time off around Easter in years.

It’s supply and demand. Don’t look at it that’s it inflated in the school holidays, look at it that’s it’s discounted off peak and normal price peak.

Yes but I will have children in compulsory schooling for 16 years which is quite a big chunk of my life to pay the premium.

Also there are other jobs with restricted holidays but often not as up front. Everyone knows teachers are restricted to term time but my previous job had a ban on annual leave in September which pre kids was exactly the month I wanted to go.

Retail often means no December holidays.

I’m not a teacher but I work in school so restricted to the school holidays. Yes, I just have to suck it up. However now that my DC are adults DH and I go away just the two of us for all but one of our breaks. We’ve found that holiday accommodation for two adults, left a bit late, can actually be cheaper because most couples aren’t tied to the school holidays. Our self catering holiday last week was nearly twice as expensive as it would be the second week of September but it was a family cottage and our DC joined us. The two person accommodation on the same site was empty and was being offered at half price! The owners told us that the two person accommodation is mostly fully booked outside of school holidays but they have trouble filling it during but they sometimes get a family in the family accommodation and the grandparents in the two person.

In my school the week or so of cover would likely be covered by one of the school's own cover supervisors, who have full time roles at the school and know pupils and teachers well, unless for some reason that week an unusually high number of staff were unexpectedly absent. I realise that this won't be the case in all schools, but for the short period we're talking about, I still don't think it would be as chaotic as you suggest.

Of course, I'm not saying that classes having a small amount of cover is the ideal, but it's far from disastrous. I don't miss my children's school assemblies, sports days etc if they fall on my working days - I get cover, set work and go to them without any guilt, as do other colleagues, because my current school/SLT are openly very supportive of this. (I realise I'm lucky in that respect and not all schools are the same, as I've previously worked in schools where this would not be permitted).

You obviously think some reasons for using the leave are acceptable, and some, such as family holidays, aren't. But the fact is, teachers, like all parents, are entitled to use the leave for holidays or however else they wish.

Your comments come across as a bit judgemental of/guilt-tripping other teacher parents about using their entitlement. The 'but it's all for the kids' aspect of our job already expects us to go 'above and beyond' and has us giving so much of ourselves to the role. Teachers using unpaid parental leave is clearly not something you agree with and that's fine, you don't personally have to take it.

Anyway, I don't want to derail the original thread too much so I'll leave it there.

after y11 leave is a very busy time with lots of residential trips requiring cover in my school, plus y10 and y12 mocks.

Using it for a holiday is very different from using it to extend maternity leave as I have explained as maternity leave can be covered through longer term supply rather than a weeks cover here and there to cover a holiday.

The costs of cover are not just financial also. Poor behaviour and disruption is much more common when students have supply teachers who they feel are not invested and don't have a strong relationship with the group. That's not the fault of the supply teacher it's just the reality that it's much easier to have a strong behaviour climate when you know the students and have built a relationship with them. So the teachers pay being used to pay for cover isn't an ideal solution, it has drawbacks.

Yeah imagine paying for childcare and then having to work unpaid....shocking really isn't it?

Oh you didn't know teachers have to do this? Or the teachers today at school for GCSE results...who will spend the next few weeks unpaid looking over scripts to be remarked....can't do that in Portugal can you? Ah but yes it is 6 weeks off.....or is it?

You could always use it towards the end of the summer term after Year 11 leave if you wanted to.

Well, that's your choice, but as it's something that all parents are entitled to, it's the choice of other teachers to use it. I've used 4 weeks of unpaid parental leave so far, not to go on holiday, but to extend my maternity leave by 4 weeks. I didn't feel 'uncomfortable' about this at all, because ultimately, though our job is important, we do have our own lives and my own children come first.

Some families wouldn't be able to afford to go on holidays in the school holidays, so it might be an option for them.

I just wouldn't feel comfortable going on holiday and leaving my y11s who are relying on me to pass their GCSEs in the hands of a supply teacher who they have no relationship with, especially when I get 13 other weeks a year when I can go away.

@Midnightafternoons but you and @RosiePH seems to be saying that it's not a problem as not many people will do it but also simultaneously that's is a great solution to the issue of holiday prices therefore more people should do it.

I dunno, I just feel If it's something that would cause chaos if everyone did, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it myself. It seems a bit entitled, although I'm sure I'll get flamed for saying that. But then I'm a teacher who feels ok about paying more for holidays as I see it as a payoff for other things (more holidays and no childcare headaches in holidays).

@00BonneMaman00

What rules?

I think there are stricter ones coming into play from this September onwards - there's a big drive on improving attendance.

www.gov.uk/government/news/new-regulations-for-schools-in-next-stage-of-attendance-drive

I'm a secondary teacher and know of secondary teachers who have used their right to take unpaid parental leave in term time. I also intend to make use of my right to do so. Because it's unpaid, the teacher's usual pay is used to pay for cover for that week or two.

I don't intend to use it every single year for holidays, but for bigger, more special holidays.

It won't be chaos because as a pp mentioned, not all staff will take it. Not all staff are parents of children under 18, for a start, and many of those that are won't be in a position to or want to lose the pay.

Unpaid parental leave can certainly be used because you just fancy a holiday with your children - in fact, one of the possible reasons for taking it listed on the gov website is 'to spend more time with your children.'

https://www.gov.uk/parental-leave

Parents are entitled to 18 weeks of unpaid leave per child before the child turns 18, with a maximum of 4 weeks to be taken in a year.

There's a lot of confusion between the gov unpaid parental leave entitlement and your company/school's personal leave policies e.g. dependency leave. A lot of people aren't even aware that they're entitled to it.

No, that would be emergency dependency leave. Unpaid parental leave has to be applied for in advance - you have to give at least 21 days notice, I think.

Yep. Charity worker here.

What rules?

Ooh, what kind of places?

pupils were back on 13th Aug in my local authority area and the neighbouring one.

I left the country on that date 😂

OP, definitely look to change your days off in the future, and get a Monday or Friday off.
we have Friday off and have headed to the airport after work on a Thursday many times.
late flight and strange night time taxi rides but then wake up Friday morning on holiday!

Don’t forget that school holiday times also include 8 bank holidays (which I assume you can also add to your leave allowance? Depending what job you have of course) Many non school staff work flexi and can also accrue toil. If you’re a school staff subtract a week off the total “parental” school holidays for INSET days which school staff have to work. Plus, the main thing is, non term time only
holidays are PAID. they give you some money towards the childcare that you do need.

When I was on a “TTO plus a week” contract I worked it out once, the difference between the actual number of days off between me and people I knew who had normal jobs (but whose leave allowance was maximum as they’d been there a long time.). I got about 3 weeks extra. Big deal. And don’t forget that term time only staff’s holidays are completely unpaid, remember. They accrue a very small amount of “holiday pay” just by working, as anyone does, but that small amount just gets paid as part of their salary. No real advantage when you consider how restricted you are the rest of the year.

for some TAs, it’s really very difficult as not only are they term time only but they also don’t do a 9-5, BUT are still expected to work beyond the time that the children leave school . Which means they still have to fork out for morning and school clubs or a child minder, whic often means paying for a full session when you might only need An hour or even less.

Many TAs I know do it for the vocation. It’s completely shit pay and it is VERY restrictive.

@BiscuityBoyle as you have to book it at least 21 days in advance and all employers (not just schools) can suggest alternative dates for it within a 6 month period, then it can’t be just for emergencies. You also have to take it in periods of 5 days, so at least a week off work and a maximum of 4. It’s different to taking a short-notice day off as your child is sick. Legally every parent in the country is entitled to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave before their child turns 18.

As I’ve said upthread, my husband will be taking a week next year whilst I’m on maternity leave. We will go on holiday out of term time. It’s actually in the LA’s parent policies booklet they sent him home with when he applied for his 2 weeks paternity leave as an option. They are treating it the same as his paternity leave in that a cover has to be found, but at least with this week they know exactly when it is. Paternity leave is an estimate at best!

Not all teachers will choose to do this so it isn’t the big disruption people are claiming. Many won’t want a week of no pay, others will think it’s too disruptive to their own teaching. Others will have children in school themselves so won’t do it because they can’t set a bad example of taking their own children out of school in term-time. It will be a feasible option for a small number of teachers with pre-school aged children but it is an option they are allowed to take if they want to.

They don’t need to “discount” to attract the people who are able to holiday then. The people who ARE able to will just go then anyway, obviously. Why would they choose to go during school holidays when it is crowded everywhere, often badly behaved children screaming, or the weather is far too hot.

it absolutely IS down to dynamic pricing, and the fact that attendance rules are getting tighter (supply and demand). I’m involved in school attendance and even I think it’s getting silly.