To think 10 days off seems a lot in term time?

I think they should scrap the fines. I guess its easy for me though as I knew my kids could catch up, and we only ever took a couple of days before end of term. I know the whole attendance is linked to good outcomes, but DD has under 70% attendance in year 9, and left year 11 with 12 grade 9’s. But assume that’s not the norm, and generally attendance and attainment are closely linked. I think 5 days a year should be permitted.

One more year for me and I can go in term time. Due to large gap between DS1 and DS2 I have been in the expensive holiday era for 27yrs and counting. So 28 by the time DD leaves. Though she will then be at uni for 3yrs but if I wanted to take her away i’d take her in June or September. Cannot wait, no more August holidays. Whoop.

*If we take your example of a week in Lanzarote, then it could look like this:

• child experiences a plane ride
• child experiences local (often tastier and fresher) ingredients and dishes
• child swims every day in the pool and the sea
• child sees geography completely different to the UK. They see in real life a volcanic island which is also an UNESCO site
• Child may go on some day trips around the island and learn about a different culture
• child hears locals speaking in Spanish
• child eats all meals around a table with their family
• Child is prioritised over work, household chores and life admin by parents. They experience family time where the parents can relax and be fully present
• child sees a different environment that they may aspire to live in when they are older. They appreciate there are different jobs on offer around the world other than the ones they see every day in their home town.*

Honestly what rot

• we shouldn't be encouraging plane travel
• child is likely to be eating shit buffet food in an AI, or a kids menu featuring pizza or nuggets
• yes child might swim but there are pools in the uk.
• most uk children visiting lanzarote aren't even aware its volcanic & never leave the hotels
• eating meals together around a table - the people who don't do this at home tend not to do it on holiday either
• plenty of children are not prioritised, they are sent to kids clubs!

On here people always spout about how people can't afford a holiday any other way.
Its bollocks. You don't see kids taken out for a camping trip in Wales in June.

You see a hell of a lot of kids with parents who can comfortably afford a more modest holiday, taken out in term time to go on luxury AI packages to Greece, cyprus etc where they never leave the hotel. Our friends have a household income of £140k, they are taking their two DC out of school to ski in a superb resort in early march because that way it £6k not £12k.

Its sheer entitlement, people who consume a lot of social media, and think just because some very affluent people are off in the 3 valleys, dubai, sani/ikos hotels every year, they should be able to afford this too.

We need to normalise enjoying a simpler more affordable holiday with less plane travel. A ferry or chunnel to france and a village gite in normandy costs far less.

When I was in school up to two weeks were allowed. My parents took us out for term time holidays nearly every year. I don't remember a lot of other children doing the same so I don't think parents took the piss with it, but my recollection may be wrong.

Now I've moved abroad and there's no fines for taking term time holidays, you just have to ask permission from the head (if its over 3 days and less than 3 months) and see if they approve. I only did it once with DD when she first started school, because she is unfortunately ill at least a few times a year and misses enough school already from that, so I wouldn't want her to miss any more - already had her teacher asking me if she needs tutoring to catch up or any other kind of support because she's missed over 60 hours this year.
But I've heard of families that take term time holidays ever year, even with children in upper school. Its up to the children to catch up with what they've missed though (unlike with sickness when the school will offer help), that one holiday I did with DD, her teacher told me what they would be covering during that time and I made her do the work while on holiday.

The issue that drives me mad is that schools arrange holidays and call them educational opportunities. Well each holiday the child goes on is actually educational. If abroad they learn about different cultures ,currencies language and if in Britain they are finding out about another place. I think it is terrible that schools impose fines. Out of all the years of education surely one week away is not so bad.

Yes, it was the same when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s. You could have up to two weeks holiday a year. You just had to submit a holiday form.

I think the only real answer is for all of us to stop thinking that it's acceptable to have a holiday in term time. Funerals, weddings, other exceptional things, but not holidays.

I’m so pleased someone said it! I don’t agree with the principle of fines either but 10 days, 2 weeks, is ridiculous. It will only cause disruption and a massive headache for already overworked and overstretched teachers. I’d much rather see more flexible approval system whereby a Head can look at a child and think “This child has never had an unauthorised day off they’re now in year 6 yes they can have 5 days to have a cheap family holiday” and the school isn’t penalised by Ofsted for it. A blanket 10 day legal right whereby parents book whichever days they feel like it’s some sort of annual leave is ludicrous.

I think the fact that this has risen to the need for formal policy reflects how skewed priorities are. I wouldn’t contemplate a term time holiday just for the sake of it - maybe if we had a terminally ill family member or something similarly one off? Education is far more important than trips abroad, even supposedly educational trips abroad, and you certainly don’t need to do that every year to have an impact. I absolutely agree with fines for those that skirt the rules. You can have lovely holidays and plenty of family time without leaving your house - a holiday abroad is not an entitlement.

i feel very differently about attendance rules in other circumstances, such as send- wanting a cheap sunny holiday is fundamentally different from children struggling to cope with school.

As a teacher I'm not fussed about parents taking kids out for a holiday, especially if they are a family who I know might not get this experience otherwise/attendance is good/safeguarding concerns are non-existent.

What I despise is being asked to provide work for said child to complete over the time they are absent for them not to complete it. If you don't want them to miss the work, keep them in school!

We’re allowed 10 days in a year here (Wales).

Absolutely. Our experience is the opposite thankfully.

As a teacher, I have seen teenagers with 100% attendance and high grades denied leave to attend grandparents’ funerals.

Fine, that's your choice. But it's a choice not the only option as you make out. I have young children too. Last year we did Norfolk, Scottish borders, Edinburgh, London and Paris.

I don't even contemplate taking them out of school as an option. It's more the message it sends to my children that puts me off then their attendance figure. I choose to let them know that I value their education above most things, respect their teachers and value their time. School is compulsory and we have to get up and go every day, even if we'd rather be doing other things. That's a valuable life lesson IMO and one that was pretty widely agreed upon until recently.

And in terms of earnings, studies pretty conclusively show that it's the educational level of achievement of the mother (not father) which determines outcomes.

Unless of course 1 of those parents is in the military. The last week of shore leave (which, surprisingly the MoD don't centre around school holidays), was always spent on holiday as a family...term-time or not.

Fine. And like I said in a previous post, that is your choice of how to do things. For those with three young children (like me), many short breaks throughout the year instead of one / two weeks away are not an option. Just the cost of getting us all somewhere, and the work of packing, only to come back two days later, then repeat every couple of months - no. So, we take the kids out of school for a week instead. They aren’t behind, they still hit 95%+ attendance each yr, and I cannot for one minute think it’s going to affect them so much that it will have an impact on their earning potential when they are older, as you seem to be insinuating above 😂

It's often hard to get leave from work in school holidays - so some years we won't have a holiday. I wish there was more flexibility.

We spend loads of quality time together and have a lot of short breaks. I pay for things I feel benefit us as family unit for the long term. Spending thousands on a fortnight all inclusive ranks very low on my priorities list, despite the fact I could afford it whenever I fancied.

What’s the point in being two “high earners” (as you say you and your partner are), yet not being bothered about spending at least one week a year away together as a family?? Sounds miserable to me, and like you have your priorities wrong

Yes and the government and I prioritise education! And sorry to state the obvious but it's the primary way to ensure you can afford holidays out of term time!

I disagree. Children should be in school. Parents should book holidays in term time. That's not robbing anyone to pay anyone.

It isn't fair, I agree, but life isn't fair. Lookong at the "nice middle class student" as an individual means that their circumstances mean they can take time off and still meet minimum attendance criteria and keep pace with the class. It's not fair, but refusing them the leave because someone else won't be allowed doesn't make it fair or improve the opportunities and outcomes for the other students. It's not robbing Peter to pay Paul, its robbing Peter for the sake of making sure he doesn't have more than Paul and that's not fair to Peter.

Clearly we have different priorities as parents. Which is fine. The problem is that the government is only allowing your priority to be the option. Families who think the same way as mine have no option available to them.