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.

[TheRunawayWife]

What rubbish, I think if a child missing a few days school is the worst thing the police have to deal with then the world has gone mad

[Serendippy]

LeQueen serious question, not trying to wind you up, but why did you not go to Tuscany for one week and then America for the last week of term? Did you not know about the opportunity that would arise in the summer? Do the school only authorise 2 consecutive weeks? I think it is very generous of the school to universally authorise 2 weeks extra holiday in the first place.

[KindleTheSky]

YANBU its bonkers, what a waste of money.

[curlymama]

Lazylula, maybe you're right, I was just thinking back to my own school days wher trips like that either took place in holiday time or the vast majority of children did go.

But even so, if it's a school organised trip then the teachers can plan for the childrens absence, and it's worth it for them because it's a whole group of children. Presumably they orgainise these trips at a time that will have the least disruption to the curriculum. As for the children left behind, they are unlikely to start covering new topics that will be hugely relevant to their exams when it will have to be taught again for a number of children anyway. I imagine that soem of those lessons are fairly easy going ones or they are lessons used for revision purposes. It's still not the same as one child being taken out of a class at a time to suit the parents.

[Serendippy]

Fair enough, LeQueen but as the school have given you 2 weeks graciously, you would just have to take the other week unauthorised. Otherwise parents will decide that they would like to take 6 weeks off in total and it will never stop.

[AngryPixie]

I never take my children on holiday during term time, but that's because I am a teacher and I think you would all frown upon me buggering off for a holiday with my family because it's cheaper.

I only have a problem with it when parents ask me to provide work, or expect me to do 1-1 catch up on their return, and many do!

[Onetoomanycornettos]

We visit the grandparents in Eastern Europe once a year. I would like nothing more than to go in the long summer school holidays when it is sunny and warm, but mysteriously don't have the £1200 for flights alone that it would have cost us to go in the summer for a family of four. Luckily I did have £265 to go in wet rainy November, taken a few days before half term, coming back half way through the half-term travelling through the night.

Of course, I could not take my children to my grandparents ever, and it is all my fault for marrying a foreigner, but still...

[mutznutz]

Thankfully most Head Teachers and Governors will look at each request on its own merit.

For example a child with an already poor attendance record is more likely to be refused than a child with a very good one. If the poor attendance record is down to a genuine medical complaint, that will also be considered.

Some schools however, do have a straight 'NO' policy unless there's a death in the immediate family or something like that.

[camaleon]

What catsmother said several (page 2?)
Many of us have family very far away too. Prices for a normal family of 4 are ridiculous during breaks.

I have managed once to pay the price (during summer). My youngest has been only once in his father's country, which I think is not only an issue of 'educational holidays' but a question of identity and keeping a link with your roots and family.

Many are in our situation. We do not miss school lightly (very selfish reasons; we both work full times, difficult enough to deal with official holidays). But I cannot see how someone can judge another parent as 'irresponsible' for not putting the school above every other need of the family.

[curlymama]

AngryPixie, what do you do in those situations, where parents expect you to help with ctach up?

[Inertia]

Karmabeliever- it's possible that a theme park visit could be curriculum based. There is a small section of the AQA Physics in Context A-Level which covers topics such as SHM, circular motion, conservation of mechanical energy, angular momentum, moment of inertia etc in the context of theme park rides. I accept that few students are likely to be studying this course though!

In response to the original question, I think threatening billboards are OTT. I'm a teacher, and I don't think that term-time holidays are the biggest cause of under-achievement, or even the biggest cause of poor attendance. Some primary schools send children home if they have the slightest sniffle, some schools spent days on activities with questionable educational value, such as nativity plays. And, as others have said , education isn't just what's formally taught in lessons and examined- even a beach holiday provides an opportunity to learn about geographical and geological features, the nature of waves, weather patterns, the tides, how to swim and observe safety rules.

With regard to the bigger picture of under-achievement- people who take their families out of school for a holiday are an easy target. Other factors which can result in under-achievement include inadequate provision for children with SEN, inadequate support for looked-after children, inadequate support for children with deeper attendance issues due to , for instance, the child being a carer, or children suffering from bullying problems. It's easier to blame parents than to accept that, in many schools, there are serious problems with behaviour management which may lead to the disruption of entire lessons. Schools are likely to be cutting teaching and support posts, increasing class sizes, reducing resources- these factors are much less likely to be trumpeted on billboards.

When budgets for schools, care support, and family services are being slashed, parents taking children out of school for a 2-week holiday are a cheap and convenient bogeyman.

[DozyDoll]

It infuriates me. Parents who are much better off than us at DS school regularly take hols in term time. They use it to fund ADDITIONAL hols during term time 'cause it's cheaper and then go during sumer aswell! We have never taken kids out of school for hols & we have 4 kids - we either go somewhere very cheap, save like mad or go without hols if necessary. Grrr!

[McHobbes]

Until the prices of holidays come right down at peak times they can fuck right off. I don't have the means to pay the massively inflated peak time prices for a little break away - even a simple one (for we rarely go abroad) involving a self catering cottage up North.

Asides from that imho only one person needs to authorise my child's absence from school and that's me.

[Serendippy]

I agree with LeQueen 's head teacher. If you think that the last week of term is always a waste, always use part of your holiday provision then. It would not be fair to let you take your children out for 3 weeks, she would have to do it for everyone. My main gripe is with prices, I still think this is where the fault lies, not with individual head teachers who are doing their best to meet attendance targets set by the same government who, by allowing slashed term time holiday prices, are not supporting them in achieving these targets. But then again I blame the government for most things

[wineonafridaynight]

AngryPixie I 100% understand your frustration there. I'm not a parent yet myself, but, do you think that parents ask you for the extra work because they are given the impression (by government campaigns and the like) that they shouldn't be taking children out of school due to them missing work? Therefore they feel that if they ask you for the extra work it will make up for it somewhat and make their request seem more reasonable.

If I were a parent I wouldn't have thought twice about asking a teacher for the extra work but wouldn't after your comment because actually, it would be really unfair of me to expect you to prepare your lessons early just so I can take a holiday with my kids. I would be more likely now to ask you for the work on our return, once I know that you have given the lesson so everything is already prepared. I would certainly not ask you to do extra tuition though - that is really cheeky!

[mutznutz]

My problem is not so much with the expense (although the holiday companies do totally take the pee) as I would just book a cheaper holiday...or if we wanted to go somewhere specific, I would take another year to save for it.

My problem is with schools that refuse to aknowledge that some parents have to take their holidays when their company tells them...and that's not always in the school hols. Therefore I disagree with the Heads who have taken the point blank 'NO' stance.

[upahill]

I know excatly what people mean about prices. I have often gone away say on a Friday night and come back on a Thursday or a Sunday just to keep prices down.

I know it is not for everyone but I have had some dirt cheap holidays in holiday time by booking stuff independently and being prepared to go at odd times.

We have used hostel accomadation (we have our own room),read up on the country before we have gone to look for cheapest ways of doing things, bought rail tickets to travel cross countries in advance to save money.

As a side one year I booked us into a hostel in Switzerland for a skiing week. We got there and the hostel looked dismal and all our hearts sank. The hostel was basically a bunk house in the grounds of a hotel. We had to check in via the hotel. It turns out they were keeping the hostel shut until summer and we had been upgraded f.o.c. to the master room. It was great. That story isn't anything to do with anything by the way!

I am not one of the mums that bang on about holidays being abroad being a fantastic culture experierence and know most kids like water parks and adventure. That said they have enjoyed the myths and legends of they Eastrern European countries they have visited, learnt about different ways of doing things and so on.

Still I wish holiday times wasn't so bloody expensive. Oh well DS2 goes to Secondary in September so only a few more years left!!!

[curlymama]

I think the biggest probalem is that parents feel they are entiltled to take 10 days. Almost like it's something that they should do because they are 'allowed'.

It's not like that, heads can, at their discression, authorise up to ten days, if they feel it will benefit the child.

If parents started to see it as less of an entiltlement then maybe they would try that little bit harder to take their children away in the holidays, but it seems that lots don't bother. The 10 days authorization was intened to be used for certain circumstances so that children didn't end up with unauthorised abcences when they had a valid reason not to be at school. It was not intended to give parents cheaper holidays, but that is what it has done, and that balance should be readressed.