Taking kids out during term time for family holiday?

[NotmySundaybest]

Do any of you do this?
When we were kids we always got took out to go away. I know times have changed & obviously fines are now issued.
Just wondered if you would still take the kids out of school as paying the fine is cheaper than the extra holiday cost?

If you would do this or have how old are your kids?

Since mine have been at senior and mid way through Primary I always book when they've broke up. If I knew they deffo wasn't missing anything important I would be tempted.

@Fizbosshoes I know! It would make my life much harder if I used my leave in term time.

I’m Frequently to my friends I can’t do a trip for their hen/40th as I can’t use my a/l for that, it’s all for school holidays.

As a single parent... it is my choice yes. My child not yours.

So DD has been learning about a particular artist. We were in London for part of half term and I took her to an exhibition by that particular artist. Didn’t have to, but she was obviously interested in their style and it was easy enough for me to support and expand that learning.

She’ll have 3 days in another country later this month (1 day off school to facilitate it) and will have the chance to practice a language she wants to do at GCSE with native speakers. Not to mention experiencing a bit of the culture. Is that not enhancing her learning?

Or is classroom French and an exam in 2 or 3 years meant to be sufficient?

Appreciate not all children are the same but one of my most important roles as a parent is to give DD a love of learning to last her a lifetime. Frankly, the high school environment struggles to do that. Classrooms aren’t the best place for learning for lots of children.

The curriculum in Wales is rather different to England’s, I suspect.

I am taking youngest dc out for a holiday this month. It's only 4 days, but it's the only way we can afford it this year. But because it's only 4 days, we should avoid the fine.

I'm quite happy to do it. We aren't going on a boozy AI holiday. It's a city break and he'll be going to museums, eating new foods, getting some language exposure, probably learning more in 4 days than he would doing phonics and making collages in Y1. I did the same with my eldest when she was 6 and it was fantastic. Still her favourite holiday and 5 years later it's still the one she talks about the most.

@Miracleasap You seem determined to make some kind of point to me. Have I not made it clear enough that I couldn't care less if you take your child out of school? What has being a single parent to do with it?
Once again: do what you like and don't agonise over excuses and lies to the school. A simple answerphone message is sufficient.

@SilkFloss I haven't lied. I don't even know why you responded again it's uneessacary. A single parent makes a huge difference when your paying for holidays actually. It means 1 parent paying instead of 2!!

Did I suggest you'd lied?
What is your issue? Move on, fgs.

I took ds 19 out for last minute holiday when he was in year 7, I sent a message to say he wouldn't be in as we were at the airport. Nothing was mentioned except his form teacher asking if he enjoyed his holiday.

No i didn't because school is so important. The kids have 13 weeks of holidays a year, we went then.

I wouldn't - we value education highly and I don't think it sends the right message, as it were, that school is optional when it comes to a holiday. Really surprised at some of the responses here, to be honest. Who on earth has their kids miss four days of school for a festival?

We did 4 days before half term and haven't been fined. (Ds has no other unauthorised absences and excellent attendance) we saved about £1000.

I personally think if children under 12 have good attendance parents should be able to take them out for a week. The time spent as a family, travelling, seeing other cultures is totally underestimated.

Seems fair enough, as long as I can fine the school for all the times my kids come back and tell me that they didn't have a teacher for this or that lesson.

Every day counts (except for the ones where there is no teacher).

This is some serious Darth Vader shit - "I have altered the deal, pray I do not alter it any further".

If Glastonbury built a 3 star minimum hotel, I would.

Education is about so much more than school, which is basically an exam factory these days. Which is fine, if that’s what you value.

I usually wouldn’t and never have but only due to not having enough annual leave to cover school holidays.
As a one off I am 40 in January and we are taking her out for a week for a special holiday.
she has had 100% attendance this year and last.
She’s nearly 7.
I will just chin the fine.
I think a weeks grace for every child should be allowed bar maybe exam years.

While I agree that there's too much focus on learn-and-churn for exams, I can't believe anyone could claim with a straight face that two weeks in an AI in Majorca/on a French campsite/at a music festival in a field is truly "educational".

Formal education is undervalued in my opinion - I can't be the only one who winces as she reads the multitude of "we was/you could of/I brought a house" posts on here. We probably need more classroom teaching, not less!

I’m a grammar pedant. That comes from reading extensively throughout life rather than school.

Have never been on a AI holiday anywhere. I can’t stay in one place for more than a couple of hours so our trips are to see and experience amazing, once in a lifetime things. So many amazing artists have died before I’ve had chance to see them that taking DD to a festival would absolutely expand her mind. There is huge value in the arts.

(When we went to see Six it brought another dimension to what school had taught her about Henry VIII - a feminist one - which led to very interesting conversations and thoughts that it’s extremely healthy for a young woman growing up in the 2020s to have. The Michael Jackson musical lead to conversations about childhood talent, domestic abuse and violence, race, the drive to keep going as a result of trauma and the trappings of fame. Hadestown that not all stories have a happy ending. Every day is a learning opportunity.)

The thing about fines is some schools will request them from the council, others won't, so depending on which category your school falls into you may get fined you might not.
If your school has a very poor overall attendance percentage then you might get hit with the fine, otherwise you might get called in for a meeting or even just a warning letter.
Best to be honest though because most kids will let something slip, if not to the teacher then atleast to friends who then might mention that your child's on holiday without realising they're landing you in it.

In Scotland there’s no fines, children are regularly taken out of school for holidays. Sometimes more than once a year, a child I taught went to Tenerife 3 times in the one year. Another family always went on holiday for 2 weeks right after term went back so 6 weeks off then they would have another 2 weeks. So the new class was all settled in and the child would come back 2 weeks later. Taking children out of school last week or two is also very common for cheap holidays.

As a teacher the odd weekend is ok but a whole 2 weeks is different as they could miss a whole topic and if you have 32 other children it’s difficult to then try to find time to spend 1:1 teaching to catch them up with the rest of the class.

That all sounds great, but also things that can happen outside of term time? Recently took dd to Hamilton during half term and it was £20-30 more expensive than if I had gone a different week. If I had been a bit more organised I could have done it for less. With holidays a bit of advance planning and creativity (not going to the ‘popular’ destinations) it can be very affordable. And while I value travel abroad, I don’t see the need to do it every year, let alone multi times per year - there is so much to see and do inthis country, including in our immediate vicinity.

if your school is shit, then deal with that, but learning outside of school can happen outside of term time.

I've just done it for my DS who is year 6 but I won't again when he's moved to high school. This was my first and only time and the last chance to do it.

When I was a kid I always missed the end of term for factory fortnight as we went on holiday when we had to.

That did happen during a school holiday, as it happens.

I’m trying to demonstrate that experiences can enhance learning. Not all of those experiences are available/affordable/can be accommodated during school holidays.

DD is in the air cadets. They often have flying slots on weekdays during term time and cadets are chosen at random. You can bet your house she will be missing school the day it’s her turn to fly a plane.

Agree that experience enhances learning, but object to the reasoning from many that it is experience vs school. There are lots of opportunities to give your children experiences, I just think that 9/10 times it shouldn’t come at the expense of school.

Meh. Home educators can achieve what schools can in significantly less time in a day. Most of secondary school appears to be centred around crowd/behaviour control rather than developing global citizens.

Both of my parents were educators. Neither in roles that followed rules. School now is very “one size fits all” when it actually doesn’t. I’m 100% responsible for ensuring my daughter gets an education. How that happens doesn’t have to follow just one (outdated/ineffective) model.

You never been to Glastonbury then? 😂
my GDs go every year with me DP and DD ….I took my kids every year ….it’s our happy place 😊
and judging by the number of kids at Glastonbury , lots of people who think like us !