What are the chances of taking son out of school in term time for our wedding next year?.

[costacoffee]

We are planning to get married next year and want to take ds on our honeymoon/holiday after the wedding.

If we applied now do you think they would give us permission?. He is only 5 so I dont think its a problem,but worried as they can be funny about taking children out in term time.

Pad - it probably was a bit bitchy - but I found your tone a little bitchy, too. Words on a page and all that though.

I'm not saying you have ripped off any street traders or gone on whistle stop tours, by any means. But good lord there are some real travel bores about and I'm not convinced that travel has done anything to make them (not you - I have no idea about you) more rounded human beings. They'd have been better off trying to live off benefits for a few months in a skanky tower block. Now that demands and develops resourcefulness, wile and an understanding of the human condition

I would take ds out of school for a few months (or longer) in a heartbeat, if the opportunity arose. But I wouldn't take him out for a fortnight in a resort.

Yes if I had the money and a job where I could take 6-12 months off I would go travelling round the world with my boys like a shot.

Just wouldn't have a job to come back to and our house would be reposessed!

This is a totally different thing to people saying that they are entitled to 10 days off during term time and that if the school doesn't give permission they would go anyway. I object more to this attitude as I think this is teaching terrible values to your child than the actual fact of a few days off.

The fact is though that excepting travel as above, family weddings, sn children and other rare exceptions that the vast majority of holidays can be easily taken in term time and dressing up a couple of weeks in the sun as educational to justify the fact you want to save a few hundred quid is not something I will be doing.

Can I ask a question of those of you who are saying it is OK to take your child out of school for a holiday.
When you are looking at information about a school for your child do you take any notice of the attendance figures?

If the time off is authorised, and most LEA's WILL accept 10 days off depending on time taken off for illness etc, then it wouldn't be reflected in the unauthorised attendance figures.

No I don't pay much attention to attendance figures, not for primary schools. One of the factors in the choice of school is them being flexible with the likes of holidays in term time, whilst focusing on the issues that really matter more as academic standards and anti bullying.

such as academic standards

I am just bitter that as a teacher, I have no choice - I have to take my holidays during official school holidays.

Although judging by this thread, I don't know why since all the kids will clearly have buggered off on holiday the day term begins again!

SleepingLion, that has been the case for, well, ever. Surely if you choose to be a teacher, one of the things you consider is that you will NEVER have a term-time holiday.

If you are a teacher, you are in a profession you have chosen, and presumably in making that choice, taken in to account and accepted, as part of the package, the restrictions on leave.

It is completely unreasonable to expect the parents of all school-age children to be bound by the same restrictions, as well as juggle their own work commitments. Ten days of leave is not going to harm the education of the majority of children, it is a perfectly reasonable decision for a parent to take a child out of school for an occasional holiday. And I don't see why other people have any interest in or opinion about someone else's child having a few days out of school.

Lol at jenai - oh yes we have all heard from some numbnut who bought a tribal pot or something and boasted about how they haggled down the price to something like 50p from somewhere like India.

Bollocks to that I would prefer to let myself get ripped off rather than haggle with someone in the third world.

OP - 5 days off at that age will not matter. And I speak as someone who was taken oout of school 6 weeks a year up to and including GCSE years to go on some jaunt to Africa with my gran. Managed to catch up and did well. Wouldn't recommend that you do this, mind, but 5 days to attend a parents wedding, well of course that is acceptable.

Anyone who says that you shoukld plan your wedding date around a 5 year old's school calendar is mad.

I did look at attendance figures - poor ones are an indicator that the school's parents don't give a damn (I don't mean parents who have - after consideration - taken their DCs on holiday in term time, I mean parents who regularly cannot be arsed to take their DCs to school) and/or that the school isn't run efficiently enough to control this.

OTOH one of the things that appealed to me about DS's school was that they were very positive about friends of mine taking their DCs overseas for months at a time.

Yes, how foolish of me not to realise the restrictions teaching would place on my holidaying. I really should have looked into that more carefully before stumbling into such a recklessly chosen career.

I don't think it is totally unreasonable to expect others to be bound by the same restrictions, actually. Everyone gets bloody weeks and weeks of school holidays and if they can't juggle their work commitments to fit in with that - what kind of job do they have, FFS? Even David Cameron seems to have been able to spend a family holiday with his kids this summer, and he's the bloody Prime Minister!

And if you don't see why anyone else should have an opinion on someone else's child being out of school, why are you on this thread,eh, grumblegrumble?

It's just logic, SleepingLion. It's a bit like someone in the Police moaning about shift work.

But using that same line of thinking, you chose to have children. You presumably were aware that those children would grow up and have to go to school. You presumably were also aware that while school is in session, children are expected to be there.

It's a non-argument I'm afraid. I'm with sleeping lion here.

I don't know what it's like now but it can be hard to get time off in certain retail occupations, or if you work in tourism. That's why my parents always took us out of school for holidays, they weren't just being bloody minded - it was the only way we could take a holiday as a family

Fact is there are a lot of good reasons why people might choose to take chidren out of school during term time for holidays. I wouldn't mind betting though that the majority aren't restricted by work / have a sn child / have a family wedding or similar to attend / disneyland is educational etc etc and just choose to because its cheap.

Personally I think that is wrong, it is sending the wrong message to children and that if you can't afford it you save up and go less often or take cheaper holidays. And this is from someone who stayedwith parents and friends this year as we couldn't afford a 'proper' holiday not someone with a big load of cash in the bank.

My family had a business that was seasonal. We didn't go on holiday much. We went to school.

I don't think you should never take time out for the odd trip/day away, but I just thought I'd point out that it's not compulsory to go on holiday at all.

Thank you, Sandstorm

What's just logic, Lougle? That people with children of a school-age shouldn't go away during term time? Yes, that is just logic. Not sure where the police come into it, though

If you're referring to my tongue-in-cheek complaint about not being able to go away during term time because I'm a teacher, on the other hand, let me refer you to the definition of 'tongue-in-cheek' - meant or expressed ironically or facetiously.

I don't have a view about other people taking their own children out of school, I do however think that all this agonising about taking a primary school age child out of school for a week, and the sermonising that goes with it, is barmy.

The hardline approach of not granting leave in term time actually creates more unfairness, as lots of people feel so pressured they don't take a holiday at a time when it is more affordable or convenient, so their children miss out. Whereas the parents who don't care/can see the 'truancy' argument for what it is, go ahead.

And it's not just about 'weeks and weeks' of school holidays - the rest of the world doesn't stop because the schools are closed, it's about fitting around work commitments, deadlines, the leave plans of colleagues and clients etc. And the idea that holidays should be forsaken for a few days of schooling is madness.

Sandstorm, no the LAs disagree with you there. They accept that parents may wish to take their child out of school for up to 10 school days per year, and allow Headteachers to authorise that absence accordingly.

The idea that schooling should be forsaken for a few days holidays is madness.

I really had no idea people thought early years education was such a pointless waste of time.

I wouldn't previously have checked attendance figures when choosing a school. I will now.

Basically, I would imagine most people take holidays during school time because it is cheaper. And I am not saying that the way holiday companies increase prices during school holidays is not iniquitous because it is. But please don't try to dress the term time holiday up as something other than a desire to save money with all this business about work commitments and deadlines and so on.

I don't dress it up as education. We travel once a year as a family as being in a mixed culture marriage, we need to take the children to see their grandparents who live abroad (or perhaps you think I should have thought of that before marrying a foreigner):) I can't say I class it as a holiday.

We usually compromise by travelling partly in the school holiday, then returning a few days after school starts. I don't think 10 days a year in the children's second country of origin is unreasonable. I do think it's unreasonable to pay £1200 for flights in the middle of August, though, which is why we pay under £300 for five days out of school (plus 5 holiday) in an extremely unpopular time of the year (Nov). I'd rather go in the sunny long school holidays myself, but if it's that or not visit for years, I don't give a stuff about attendance targets.

Neither do the attendance officers who are usually embarassed to have to visit people's houses when they've come back from visiting their relatives for a few weeks (not us, but others have had visits). They are supposed to be helping the truanting teenagers who literally don't go to school, or the six year olds whose parents have alcohol or drug problems and can't get them there on time. As usual, the excessive rules focus attention in the wrong place.

It isn't education. It's allowing my DD1 the best chance to actually tolerate and enjoy her holiday without the stress that holiday business brings. She will be going to visit her Grandparents, who live abroad.

Holidays during term time:

You should not normally take your child on holiday in term time as it can be disruptive both to your child's education and to the school.

Holidays in term time can only be agreed by the headteacher or someone with appropriate authority. Schools can use their discretion to grant up to 10 days? authorised absence in a school year if both:

the parent the child normally lives with applies to the school in advance of the holiday;

there are special reasons for the holiday
Schools can only agree to more than 10 school days? absence in any school year in exceptional circumstances.

Schools must judge each holiday request on a case by case basis. They can take into consideration:

the time of year for the proposed trip if it's near any exam dates

your child's overall attendance pattern
any holidays already taken in the school year

the age and stage of education of your child
your wishes

the ability of your child to catch up the work that they have missed

the reason why you are taking the time off during term time

Schools should not take into consideration:

availability of cheap holidays

availability of desired accommodation

poor weather experienced in school holiday periods

overlap with the beginning or end of term

source