To think school have said no for my child absence for a family holiday

[HidingInTheBathroom]

We are going on holiday next month. My DS (8) school have refused the leave.

I handed the form in yesterday and got a reply today. I wouldn't mind but he never has time off school. He has not had 1 day off this year and last year he had 1 and half days off because he was sick at school and was still poorly the day after.

We have never been on holiday in school time and out of all his school life I think he has had a total of 4-5 days off ill.

They say if I take him I could get find. Going next month so my DS will be off school for a total of 10 days. We have been waiting for this holiday for 4 years.

AIBU to think they should off not refused this absence.

But they don't have to beg for tie off, Lapsed, they can take the time anyway they just have to accept that it's a breach of duty/contract.

OP has a legal obligation to make sure her child is educated.
OP has chosen a state school to educate her child.
Now OP is choosing for the child to miss 5% of their education this year.
You can't really expect the school to be complacent about that, can you?!

Anybody can afford camping, ffs. It doesn't have to be "magical" family holiday in foreign climates or nothing. OP has made her choices and should suck them up, now.

Being restricted in when you can go on holiday (and having to go when demand raises the price) is as much part of the territory of having school-age DCs as broken nights is of having babies. It is very much part of the responsibility of the state to do all it can to prevent selfish parents damaging the education of the next generation for the sake of their own holidays or their own pockets.

Incog you no doubt did better for your children than the teachers would have done. But rules have to be designed for the mainstream who just want to take their holidays cheaply and sod the education of their children.

Working, I think you are being over the top. I think the content of your posts could come across as aggressive and condescending. Perhaps you don't mean it like that but there it is. You view my thoughts in a different way to me and vice versa. Maybe your view is coloured by extreme cases you see. As I said, if you want to carry this on, this thread is not the place for it.

A child being ill and missing school is unavoidable. If it's an extended period of illness, and it is appropriate, most schools will set some work. A parent who removes their child for a holiday is choosing to do so and basically saying they're not that concerned about what they might be missing. Most schools will not set work in this instance.

I have loads of children off on hols at the moment....most of them EAL children who have gone back to their countries to visit family. Just when assessments are being handed out and I`m supposed to chase kids for work. I have to pay top whack for my holiday at half term. I have never taken my children out of school for holidays and they are 26 and 16 now.
Just be aware that you child may fall behind.

I take my child out when I want to.....................

He is top of his class and I am not having someone tell me when I can take a holiday.................

I have never been refused.[from school]

Jade, I am being aggressive and condescending, over the top?
Let me just recap for you:

^OP: Yes I can read them and spell them it is in sentences I can not tell the difference. As for the speech thing I was in speech and language for upto my teens.

Jade80: I think we have concluded that the OP does not consider grammar and spelling to be of any consequence when posting here (or speaking elsewhere). Hopefully she doesn't make her view on this clear to her child or he'll be saddled with it too.^

No, my opinion is not coloured by the extreme cases I see. It is coloured by the fact that someone plainly told you that they had attended therapy for years about a problem when having stated initially the nature of their issue with language, you questioned their statement about what they found difficult with your ?proof? that really they didn?t, told them that they needed to learn a simple way to correct it, suggested that they should not ?blame it? on dyslexia and should take great care to ensure their child didn?t do the same as it would affect their education.

How would you characterise the nature of your "comments"? They seemed pretty aggressive and condescending to me.

YANBU, its an over-extension by LEAs to say kids can't go away in term time.

Unfortunately there's little to be done about it, if your area is like mine the fine will not be too much. Ultimately you have to decide whether to pay the fine or not.

And then when you get back campaign to get the LEA to change the policy!

WORKING

I have not read the whole thread but are we talking about ''kids having hols in term time'' or ''the op's bad spelling etc''

Popadop, this happens in AIBU all the time, it's like a pub conversation you can follow the part you wish to, both or none at all. It is why it is usually seen as crucial to read the whole thread. I have said what I need to now, I think my point is made.. but it was JADE80 (while we are shouting) who derailed the main topic to make a point about spelling and grammar and I felt it was important to challenge it in the context of what was said.

Agree with what incognito said - kids can learn much and gain much from holidays.

I'd love to know how many people who holiday in other countries for the benefit of their child to experience "another culture", also

• ate truly native food and not what they usually eat at home
• kept truly local hours and not the usual timetable they would keep at home
• didn't spend much of their time in bland amusement parks
• mostly or only spoke to and spent time with natives
• stayed in holiday accommodation that was full of natives, not targeted for foreigners like themselves

Coz honestly, fess up, few of you take holidays like that, do you?!

Anyway, having been to Florida & Disneyworld & Epcot centre in November, they sucked! You're alright if you go to the Space Centre, at least that is unique and special.

Tolk13N RE the children with EAL visiting other countries. Do their parents get fined for taking their DC out or do the LA turn a blind eye?

I have never taken my DC out except to Centre Parks when my ED was in nursery and also she missed 2 days in Y12. The OPS child is 8 so I think it is fair enough. He is not doing GCSE.

I go on holiday for a laugh and fun.......nothing to do with culture ....oh and the sun.

I have never been told by the head but I don`t think so. They often go for 3-4 weeks at a time sometimes. Sometimes we find that they have stayed there months after they should be back. We had 6 children not return this acaemic year. As we are a school with 25% EAL pupils from Poland/Portugal it can be problematic on times as children related to eachother often go back at same time.
I am secondary so I think it matters more at this level than primary.

Children are in school approximately 38 weeks in a year, leaving 14 weeks in a year when they are at home. I don't get the argument that to be a PADI diver or a competent skier or you cannot have family time together, you can only do this if you take time off school and cannot do this during the 14 weeks per year of holidays?????

My hubby has already been restricted for the last 17 years to a max of 10 days off between June-September, some years only 5 days off during these 4 months, because he is front-line staff, next year he has the right to NO TIME OFF in the months of July and August because of the Olympics, reducing even further our ability to "family time" on a holiday which coincides with school holidays, basically leaving us in 2012 with 1 week in February and 2 weeks at Easter for a holiday during school holidays. So yes I fully understand how difficult it is to take holidays during the school holidays, but life is not perfect, we have to adjust what we'd like to do with the children. However, we also have a son at competition level skiing, yet he's only ever skied during school holidays, we have not "needed" to take him out of school, skiing is a tricky sport to do cheaply during school holidays, we simply ski at Easter and only at resorts where there are family offers on the ski passes. So you CAN have cheap skiing in school holidays, you can do loads of other holidays cheaply during school holidays, you just have to look around and avoid actually places where Brits tend to holiday on packages - I must say that UK HOs really do take advantage more by increasing prices during school holidays, if you shop around other HOs in the EU, you will find the same holidays at cheaper prices.

YABVU

As a teacher I cant choose my hoildays. My husband works in heavy industry and he has a set holiday pattern. He cant change his. Some years we havent gone away at all because our holidays didnt coincide. Next year we will have 2 weeks in July/August but in 2013 we have no holidays together....LEA have already published holiday pattern and my husband`s holiday pattern is set up to 2015.
I just have to take the rough with the smooth!

If you choose a job that is limited then so be it................

We choose jobs that are not limited and we take hols when we want.