Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Politics
Original poster

Term Time Holidays

97 replies

dwordle · 02/08/2026 09:42

I have to be honest I take my children on term time holidays. Largely to avoid the crowds but it's also about the cost and the temperatures.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/02/children-summer-holidays-term-time-civil-disobedience-parents-england-wales
In the summer we spend in Devon where we leave the caravan for 5 weeks on a nice inland site. The children spend there entire summer down there and I travel down for long weekends etc.

But the holiday abroad I take in school time. I have been fined numerous times and taken to court by the LEA, but I'll be honest I've not paid a penny. My opinion is they are my children and I take responsibility for them. They worked hard at school and all 4 got good grades. Had they been struggling I think I'd of taken a different approach but I'm a great believer in adapting to challenges rather than one approach.

Thankfully my youngest is just starting GCSES so I won't be taking the term time breaks and I won't face another day in court. But going to court and being threatened with a custodial sentence is to put it bluntly ridiculous for something that is my right as a parent. My child my decision no one else's. I decide whether my children are well enough to go to school and I decide when we go on holiday.

There are parents out there who's kids are badly behaved, don't do any homework, disruptive and miss weeks and weeks in absence....yet take a holiday and tell them you're going on holiday I have to pay a fine. Don't pay the fine and a powerless court will threaten you with all manner of things which they are powerless to enforce. I mean what a waste of money.

I agree it's frustrating trying to deliver a curriculum and then a child goes missing for a week or two , but truth is the homework is delivered electronically so it can be done anywhere. As a parent I make sure it's all done....that's my job as a parent.

For many parents and August holiday is so expensive that it may mean they actually don't get a holiday. The last time we took a week break to Cyprus in August it was close to 6000 pounds.

OP posts:
ChloeHH · 03/08/2026 12:07

dwordle · 03/08/2026 10:02

Again common sense makes sense. The state setting arbitrary targets and turning laws against otherwise law abiding parents.

Id say 50 to 60 percent of parents are now taking their children out of school for holidays which tells me the law is no longer a law that can be applied. Mass disobedience is when laws become obsolete and irrelevant.

Hysterical response from people talking about prison time and criminal retribution just shows you that we are starting to lose tract of what is important and what is not.

As for AI, I never said I was in favour of it but I'm just being realistic. AI will unfortunately change things and teachers are in the cross hairs. Look at the reality Google Classrooms is now integrated with Gemini, do you honestly believe Google wants to help teachers. AI is a machine learning algorithm and by teachers uploading classroom materials to that platform they are effectively training a model that will ultimately replace them. We can't stop the AI revolution it's coming whether we like it or not.

The majority of parents take their children out of school for a holiday? We must use very different schools.

IonianNerveGrip · 03/08/2026 11:43

LoveTheAirport · 03/08/2026 10:59

But surely no one goes into teaching without knowing that their annual leave will have to be taken during school holidays? So that’s on them if they’re disappointed with that.

Surely no one sends their kids to state school without knowing that their holidays will have to be taken in the school holidays? So that’s on them if they’re disappointed with that.

As soon as kids start being paid a salary, pension and so on it'll be the exact same thing.

The reality is that state education isn't a choice for the majority of people in England. This is a bad policy from the state, and the resources used on trying to enforce it would be better spent on better provision for kids who are genuinely persistently absent because the state does such a bad job providing them a suitable education.

LoveTheAirport · 03/08/2026 10:59

But surely no one goes into teaching without knowing that their annual leave will have to be taken during school holidays? So that’s on them if they’re disappointed with that.

Surely no one sends their kids to state school without knowing that their holidays will have to be taken in the school holidays? So that’s on them if they’re disappointed with that.

lemoncurdcupcake · 03/08/2026 10:55

It would be nice if there was some wriggle room tbh, but I can understand from a local authority/individual teacher perspective it would be a headache to navigate if everyone was doing it.

Have 2 KS1 aged children and a newborn. DH gets 3 months paid paternity leave, so we wanted to take a term out from school and go travelling with the children. Feels like a once in a lifetime opportunity. There's no chance to take a sabbatical from work etc at another time so this really feels like the only time we could feasibly do anything like it. Can't go next summer as it'll be too late and the pat leave window is closed

But we've been told the school won't hold a place for us (fair enough) and there would very likely not be a space for us at the school (or any local schools) on our return if we chose to deregister. There are 23&26 children in our year groups which is below the max threshold so I was confused as to how the classes are considered full. Turns out it's traveller children. Completely understand that's their culture and it's been agreed, but feels seriously crap that we have to be in school and will get fined/sent to court/sent to prison/lose our school place if we miss more than 5 days whilst children I've never even met hold places in the class 😞

Ironfloor269 · 03/08/2026 10:39

I’m a secondary school teacher and if a student falls behind on a subject, it’s entirely their problem, not mine. Why should be? 🤔

Cravingquiet · 03/08/2026 10:35

It is too late for me to edit but what I am trying to say is that obviously you are comfortable with failing DBS checks, enforcement agents visiting you and unpaid court fines hanging over you that will likely be collected in the future and the risk that you may or may not go to prison but for most the large fine would simply be deducted from their wages and for many they would care about failing DBS checks.

Cravingquiet · 03/08/2026 10:17

I haven't actually given my opinion on the laws, I have simply pointed out the legal side and where you are at with it. That doesn't make me hysterical. It is irresponsible to say that courts cannot enforce this, they can and they will. You've said you run a business with 80 employees and you've also stated you have an outstanding fine with the magistrates court. I highly doubt this is 'case closed' in the way you believe it is.

frecklejuice · 03/08/2026 10:17

Imdunfer · 02/08/2026 15:11

Fuck all the problems children on holiday at all different times causes the teachers then? Too bad that all the teachers also have to pay for holidays at high demand times, maybe they should just go absent, which is very much the message you're giving to to your children for when they become adults and go to work.

I don't understand why you haven't been fined or given a community penalty for contempt of court for non payment of fines, you would be in this area.

Edited

But surely no one goes into teaching without knowing that their annual leave will have to be taken during school holidays? So that’s on them if they’re disappointed with that.

My daughter is in year 7 now but during year 6 her teacher took a 3 month sabbatical to go travelling and she had a cover teacher. My daughter hated school but liked the teacher so that massively screwed her over and we had three months of hell getting her there.

Original poster
dwordle · 03/08/2026 10:02

Again common sense makes sense. The state setting arbitrary targets and turning laws against otherwise law abiding parents.

Id say 50 to 60 percent of parents are now taking their children out of school for holidays which tells me the law is no longer a law that can be applied. Mass disobedience is when laws become obsolete and irrelevant.

Hysterical response from people talking about prison time and criminal retribution just shows you that we are starting to lose tract of what is important and what is not.

As for AI, I never said I was in favour of it but I'm just being realistic. AI will unfortunately change things and teachers are in the cross hairs. Look at the reality Google Classrooms is now integrated with Gemini, do you honestly believe Google wants to help teachers. AI is a machine learning algorithm and by teachers uploading classroom materials to that platform they are effectively training a model that will ultimately replace them. We can't stop the AI revolution it's coming whether we like it or not.

OP posts:
Natsku · 03/08/2026 09:49

My parents took us on term time holidays most years in the 90s, was never an issue. Once it was an extended trip and my oldest brother had to keep a holiday diary to hand in to his teacher.
One year I had in my report 100% attendance despite definitely going on a term time holiday because the same report mentioned what topic I missed!

Natsku · 03/08/2026 09:45

SadiraOfTyr · 02/08/2026 17:57

In countries which do not make a big deal out of term time holidays there is no burden on the teach to help children catch up. That’s on the parents. If the child comes back and fails a test because they were absent then that’s just the way it is.

Show quote history

That's how it works in Finland, holidays are allowed at headteacher's discretion but students are expected to keep up with their studies themselves. If they fail because they didn't do the work they missed then they are the ones that bear the consequences (repeating the year), not the teacher, so no extra burden on the teacher.

researchers3 · 03/08/2026 09:41

I can see both sides and would do this to a much lesser degree but my kids won't agree to miss school.

I think a few days is ok but not 2 weeks.

As PP have said, if all pupils did this, there would be mayhem!

But I can't afford flights in the summer hols either, and given wildfires etc, I think going forward, there needs to be more school holidays in June and prices capped on air fares.

IonianNerveGrip · 03/08/2026 09:34

I just take a few days rather than 5 personally, so the fine situation doesn't arise. Annual leave doesn't stretch far enough to cover both a full term time holiday and the school holidays! Actually I reckon even more people would do it if that weren't an issue. The social contract on school attendance clearly isn't what the state and some MNers might wish it to be.

Original poster
dwordle · 03/08/2026 08:47

IonianNerveGrip · 02/08/2026 18:52

It's an interesting article.

The fining system is a terrible idea. There's no evidence it does anything useful, it pisses parents off and can damage relationships with schools, and term time holidays get used to try and obscure the fact that persistent non-attendance is a problem because we do such a shit job with SEN and MH.

Unfortunately, a lot of MNers are unable to separate whether the policy is bad from whether they disagree with term time holidays.

I don't think the schools mind at all, but they have to enforce it for the LEA.

You just have to be honest and say my child will be taking an unauthorised absence between these dates and the school simply notify the LEA. You'll get fined but the rest is up to you. The worst thing you can do is try and say the child is sick when you are away in Spain. After 5 days off sick it could trigger a visit from the school welfare officer and it just wastes a lot of time . Just be honest and ask for the material they will be missing.

As for the fines there are ways of avoiding liability but I'm not going into that on here. Local authorities don't like complicated and as soon as they hit legal complications they will always back off.

OP posts:
Original poster
dwordle · 03/08/2026 08:39

emeraldsapphirepearl · 02/08/2026 17:59

I can’t speak for primary but certainly in secondary we don’t do anything that’s so critical in two weeks it can’t be revisited.

Show quote history

Exactly and if you time it correctly and pick the last two weeks of term you will be missing very little.

I think we place too much responsibility on teachers these days on achievement. If a child is off sick etc then the parents have a duty to find the time to make sure an effort has been made to cover what has been missed.

It's not like there's no material out there for us to help ....BBC bitesize, YouTube teaching channels....there's tonnes of material to help parents understand things that we have either forgotten or never understood ourselves.

The state should only step in if a child is repeatedly absent and it's affecting their education. It should not be about maintaining attendance targets.

Obviously it would be foolish to miss classes on the run up to GCSEs but between the ages of 5 and 13 are the golden years of childhood.

OP posts:
Fireflywhy · 02/08/2026 21:12

I'm a secondary teacher of a core subject and I don't agree with fines and don't blame parents at all for taking their children out of school in term time to go on holiday.

Obviously my family have to go on the majority of our holidays within school holidays now because of my job, but if I wasn't a teacher I'd not hesitate to take my own children out for a week or two each year.

As a child, I went on holiday with my family during term time every year. Many families in the school I work in and the school my children go to still make that decision after the introduction of fines.

I did actually take my own kids out last year for a week during term time and I took a week of unpaid parental leave for a particularly special trip. (I work part time so it only affected a couple of lessons for each class, and I set detailed cover for those lessons). Even with losing a week of pay, we made a huge saving. And as another poster mentioned - better temperatures, destinations not as crowded.

bitmiffed26 · 02/08/2026 20:48

Imdunfer · 02/08/2026 18:49

Yes? It's unauthorised absences that are a criminal offence.

Show quote history

Yes? Which was my point. In previous years, school have been able to authorise term time holidays.
now, thanks to the newer, stricter rules, they cannot. HTH.

moonraker0 · 02/08/2026 19:41

ChloeHH · 02/08/2026 19:20

I wouldn’t want your DC in the same class as my DS.

Why?

ChloeHH · 02/08/2026 19:20

I wouldn’t want your DC in the same class as my DS.

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/08/2026 18:57

dwordle · 02/08/2026 16:53

The courts are powerless, there's no room in
prisons and who looks after my children while I'm away, who runs my company which employs 80 people. I'm afraid the courts have better things to be doing which is why many parents simply brush them off. It's pointless fighting courts it's far better to ignore them as irrelevant inconveniences.

The prisons don't need people like me when they are are kicking rapists and violent thugs out early. There is currently a crisis in prisons to the point we may actually run out of space this summer.

There are rules and then there are rules, some rules should be broken if they clearly ill thought out or simply bonkers.

There needs to be a proper debate in parliament about school holidays and making schools more flexible. In that I mean teachers should also be allowed to take leave in term time. I know teachers and summers are not all holidays, they work throughout the summer, they are expected to run after school events for absolutely nothing in terms time. While it's a great rewarding job I think a lot of people seem to think it's an easy career choice.

My view is that we should be able to take our children out of school for one to two weeks a year between the ages of 5 and 13. This avoids crucial build up to the GCSES. We should abolish SATs in primary as again these are irrelevant and another hurdle for schools at an age where we are meant to be nurturing young children.

The responsibility for catching up missed lessons is on the parents and these days this is very easy through things like sparks and Google classrooms.

In twenty years it's highly likely that teaching will largely be done through AI. Human interaction will be limited and while I still believe there will be school I don't think it will be recognisable.

Show quote history

If AI is teaching our children instead of teachers in 20 years, we will have completely failed them.

A study of kids leaving care gave an interested, safe adult as the first thing they needed. AI cannot take the place of the safe adult who sees the child.

IonianNerveGrip · 02/08/2026 18:52

It's an interesting article.

The fining system is a terrible idea. There's no evidence it does anything useful, it pisses parents off and can damage relationships with schools, and term time holidays get used to try and obscure the fact that persistent non-attendance is a problem because we do such a shit job with SEN and MH.

Unfortunately, a lot of MNers are unable to separate whether the policy is bad from whether they disagree with term time holidays.

Imdunfer · 02/08/2026 18:49

bitmiffed26 · 02/08/2026 18:32

I’ve previously had any term time holidays authorised by the school, and that’s been in the last 8 years.

Show quote history

Yes? It's unauthorised absences that are a criminal offence.

Cravingquiet · 02/08/2026 18:47

penelopepocket · 02/08/2026 18:35

How have you managed to avoid paying the fines / being sentanced?

She hasn't. She has been to court where they likely gave her a hefty fine. She has now ignored the fine issued at the court. They will now use various debt collection methods to attempt to collect the fine and may consider a custodial sentence given her wilful refusal.

Miyagi99 · 02/08/2026 18:38

I always went on holiday in term time (primary school and first two years of secondary) but it was authorised by the school.

penelopepocket · 02/08/2026 18:35

How have you managed to avoid paying the fines / being sentanced?

Swipe left for the next trending thread