To think billboard adverts threatening parents about removing their children for a holiday in term time are a bit well, pathetic.

[BurningBuntingFlipFlop]

Haven't the government got bigger concerns?

Sure a couple of weeks of a child experiencing a different culture once a year during term time isn't that bad?

My children aren't old enough but if they were i probably wouldn't pull them out in term time personally. But i'm shocked that this is apparently a major concern in the education sector right now? What about the parents who just don't give a shit if their kids ever go to school? Or the cuts that are happening?

I can't find a link, they're in Manchester anyway.

"But then, lying on a beach with the dc in a kids' club sounds dreadful to me so possibly I have a different frame of reference - our holidays are full of trips,hikes, museums and so on."

I doubt this is true of many who take their kids out of school.

BerylStreep (great name!) - are your DC primary or secondary?
I only ask because (as I posted earlier) I certainly keep my pupils working right up to the end in secondary, as do most other secondary teachers I know. Only the last day is for fun stuff.

I'm amazed tbh that so many schools seem to be spending a whole week at the end of term watching DVDs and stuff - we are strongly discouraged from doing that.

so what this thread has demonstrated is that parents taking children out of school term time is quite a widespread problem.

It has always bothered me seeing kids on holiday in term time. Not trekking around athens learning something but stuck in the kids clubs and pool in a tourist zone.

You are only at school once, why disrupt everyone? It is disruptive to their friends, education and school.

I don't think it is aimed at one week off every two years. There are people who obviously make a regular thing of it.

Buzzlightyear

The reason I will not take ds out without permission is that I will incur the wrath of the headteacher which is not a pleasant experience and I don't think it is setting ds a good example if we flout the rules.

But it isn't fair the school should have discretion to allow a week.

its not a problem for those of us doing it. Why is it a problem for you if you don't?

and you're only at school once? you call 14 years at school once?

We currently live in Italy and the kids can come and go as they please as far as holidays are concerned. if they are away from schools more than 40 days then they risk being failed and having to repeat the year. But it is at the principals discretion.

I have a question. I have 2 kids and I am coming back. I want my children to maintain their links/language/friendships here, so will I be able to have an odd day here or there for the coming and going. Considering they will be practising and maintaining their 2nd language and we aren't sitting on the beach. We could also throw in a cultural visit given whats here in Italy, do you think it will be allowed????

Skyswept

my dc won't be treking round athens at all .Mind it's not exactley wheelchair friendly

We shall be going swimming ,lazing around will do some sports ,fit in a train ride and we shall be watching some shows.

What we will be having is quality time together,ds shall be able to do things as not to busy for him .Ds teacher is all for it reckon it will do him good .Also his speech unit do not do trips out ever .

Dd head has agreed as well she recognise how much harder it is to accomidate ds3 .

The Athens trip will wait fir when can take ds2 on his own on a weekend

where we can do museums ruins to our hearts content

think a lot depends on ages .I won't take my senior pupils out for holiday

BalloonSlayer It was me who mentioned centre parcs - if you check you will notice I have said nothing abour cultural experiences or holidays being educational on this thread

you are getting peoples point confused - disagree correctly :o

seriously though I want to have a break with my 3 kids (as a single parent) where we are all catered for and activities are included as it takes the pressure if me and makes it a holiday for ALL of us - if that means they miss 3 whole days of school (when both a classed as G+T and educated in the next year group half of the time) I can live with it :)

Mowiol My DC are young - 3 and 5. We still get snotty letters home if we take time off (last year, was 1 day and 2 days), this year will be 3 days & 5 days).

It won't stop us though. (Although we did decide that 2 ski holidays was probably too much )

I would imagine that things will change as the DC get older.

Mind question for secondry teaches .I know there not keen o. Dc being out in term time .Yet school organise holidays often are .In ds year some of the kids ae going on a ski trip ,so where does this fit into the curriculm.

Ds is out for 5 days with school on a german trip though. I do accept this will fit in with history and Re studies yet not quite sure how it will fit in with the rest of his lessons

so how can it be right for the school but not for parents

not read this thread in full but am going back to catch up but wanted to say that i think its a silly too!

We havent taken DCs out of school for about 2 years as have always managed to do holidays in half terms thanks to our county having different half terms to the rest of the country and holidays being cheaper BUT this year we will be taking DD and DS out for one week in OCtober.

The reason for this?

Each year we have 2 weeks holiday in UK in a caravan, normally we have a week in May which DSD comes with us as it normally matches our half term (she lives in a different county) and then we have one week in October with just DD and DS. THIS year we are expecting a baby in MAY so in order to have a holiday with DSD this year we have made the decision to spend all our holiday funds (£500 a year for both weeks) on one week in a caravan in DSDs October half term which is not DS and DDs half term.

This is important to our family, we both work hard all year and the holidays we have are what we look forward to.
Do i think it will affect DCs schooling and education? NO i dont, any work my DCs miss i will gladly do with them at home on the weekends or indeed over the half term the week before we go on holiday! DCs are 10 and 5 BTW

I can't afford to take holdiays in term time, as the then I would need to pay for childcare in the school holidays, so I wouldn't get cheaper holdiays.

As fo rhte person that said it was only 10 years -my dd started school aged 4 and will be in education until she is 18, she will not legally be allowed to leave education earlier

you're not the only one to mention Centreparcs, gordyslovesheep, but I may well have deliberately misinterpreted the intentions of the poster who did refer to centreparcs while also mentioning culture, just to take the piss, so I accept your chastisement

housemum shagaluf maguluf can be very educational we went there for our uni field trip

Gordy

centreparcs is great especially when you have range of ages to amuse

and dc can try new things.High ropes ,Archery Fencing to name a few.Then there is the guided nature walks to.And yes even Butlins offers new experiances for dc

So no maybe not culture but it can be chance to try something new.Dd can not wait as she finally be old enough to do activties .Ds3 did the zip wire with a instructor last year the man made the time to hoist ds3 up and then slide down with him and the look on his face was fantastic .This would not be possiable in holiday times as just to busy

I haven't read the whole thread, but I have decided that I will be taking holiday in the school term this year, assuming that ds1 has maintained his 100% attendence up to that date. There are a number of reasons for this-we want to spend time as a family; we will save money; we will do a lot of sports that we don't have easy access to in the UK, but most of all because I have been refused leave in any of the school summer holiday, because of the need for constant cover and because my employer has let a number of people return on term time only contracts, therefore meaning that those of us who have subsequently applied for term time only working have not only been refused, but also have to cover all the school holidays. My employer? The government. The same government who wants me to take my holidays in the school holidays so I don't have to take my children out of school...

"Although we did decide that 2 ski holidays was probably too much"

Haw de haw.

I think travel is so important for kids, doesn't have to be far away, just a few days away from the usual routine and with other kids and families. We go to yha s in Wales and the Lakes and it brings my daughter on in ways that do not happen in school. I have taken her out of school in the days leading up to half term for two or three days to save big money on flights. I don't feel guilty about that. I'm not into two weeks off though, that is taking the Michael and they are missing too much schooling. Agree with sakura, holidays are life changing quite often, as they were for me as a kid

Bellsaringing, I can also sympathise. My husband works with other parents and quite often the school hols are block booked so we can only take about four five days in school hols. So he ends up with too much hol and we can't take it all together without taking daughter out of school for a couple of days. That's not good really.

My parents always went on holiday in May and took us out of school ( except for exam years ) It caused me no problems. I have always taken my children out of school for however many days I need to at the end of the summer term to be sure we get cheaper rates and flights - absolute nonsense to suggest they would suffer in anyway or miss out. DS1 now at Oxford and DS2 on track to join him. I will not allow the state to dictate how my family live their lives.

I value education very much, but time spent together as a family doing things you would never do normally (including camping and a weekend at centre parcs) is extremely valuable to the whole family.
If the only time a family can afford to do this is in term time, then so be it.

The government should be tackling the families who don't care enough to make sure their dc's go to school on a day to day basis, not the ones who make an informed decision that is best for their families.

Oh, and the snide comments from a certain poster are just looking like a big dose of chip-on-shoulder-itis.

I'm a teacher in secondary and actually don't have an issue with the parents who take their children out of school for a week during term time as long as they are responsible about it. Last year I had one of my year 10s take a 2 week holiday right before his mock exams and I openly disapproved of this since his family were obviously putting holiday as more important than his education, when I offered him work to take with him he informed me that he was going on holiday so wouldn't be working. This year I had a year 10 girl come to me to tell me she was going on holiday for a week (3 months before exam) and ask for the work she was going to miss. When she returned from her holiday the work had been done. Her parents obviously thought her education was important but so was having a good family life.

I don't see any harm in missing so little school time as long as the work is caught up on. Before starting their GCSE course I also think that the work they miss will be covered again before they sit it in their final exam so the harm is minimal. I sympathise with those hard working parents on minimum wage that just can't afford to go on holiday if they leave it to the school holidays. In response to those who say "the time from 5-15 is so small what is the harm of putting off a holiday for that long if you can't afford school holiday prices" I would like to say that I agree that this time is small but it is also precious, teenagers are less likely to appreciate family holidays as much as a 10 year old might.

Ofc as a teacher I am forced only to take holidays when school is out but the supposedly since I earn more than minimum wage I can afford the extra to pay the premium. I am hardly going to resent others doing it because my job stops me.

I work as a teacher at a school with a high percentage of children whose families are from Pakistan. We often have the problem of childen going on holiday to Pakistan and not returning for more than a month. It is often impossible to contact the families and in some cases if they do not return to school after warnings, and there are children on the waiting list their place is withrawn. I dont disagree with term time holidays on the whole, but I do know children can miss out on vital learning during their time away.

I think its OK if its occassional, but its the persistent absence which causes a problem

The real issue of course is that holiday companies and airlines hike their prices for school holidays, so some families can only afford to go on holiday at all if its in term time.