to wish parents would check when exams are before booking their term time holidays?

[Goldidi]

I'm not really keen on term time holidays at any time, particularly at Secondary school in exam years. I do appreciate that people have all sorts of reasons for needing to take them though and generally try not to complain too much to the children as it's not them who have booked the holiday and I don't know (or want to know) all of the circumstances surrounding the holiday.

I HAVE complained at the young man in my year 11 class who informed me today that he won't be here for the modular GCSE exam he should be taking in November. We have worked really hard for 6 months studying for this exam, he is now at a standard that he stands a good chance of getting a grade C in this module (a MASSIVE amount of work has gone into that). If he does not sit this module in November he will have to sit it in June as well as the module the whole class will be taking then. He has had the date for every modular exam since last September.

So AIBU to think his parents should have checked with school (or on the timetable we kindly provided for them twice last year) that their term time holiday wasn't going to clash with GCSE exams? It is his grade that is going to suffer but he and his parents will expect me to give up my free time to help him revise for this module in June.

Practical exams such as Art and music are arranged by the exam board sometimes at reasonable short notice (although they fall within a prearranged period). However, as others have pointed out, there is plenty of holiday time in which to go away which you can be confident will not include exams. THe results day comes late in August, so needn't interfere.
YANBU in thinking the parents are sending the wrong meassage.

Another reason why linear exams and no controlled assessments would be better.

Only a complete idiot would be away in the main exam season.

Goldidi. You sound like a very dedicated teacher.

plenty of warning is given then agree that the holiday shouldn't have been booked but i really dont think that this is the boys fault.
He may well have told his parents about the exam but they decided to book anyway. And if he can sit it in June then he's not really losing out.

My DS took his GCSE's this year and the timetable wasn't released until 6 weeks beforehand.
We thought we were playing it safe by booking to go on holiday during his 2 week break from school, Thus taking the 2 other DC's out during thier term time. (with permission)
And yes you guessed it the exams took place throughout the 2 week break.
We were never told not to book during this break or that exams would be during this time. In fact they never discussed with us/sent a letter to explain what was expected of parents/students during the exam period at any stage during his final year.
It has always been drummed into us not to book our holidays during term time at all 3 schools...which in turn left limited time that all 3 DC's were off at the same time. (4 weeks summer and 2 weeks christmas) And trying to work these times around DH's holidays from work made it very difficult.

He missed 3 exams in total but it was discussed with the school and they tried everything to us to cancel/leave ds behind. We told them we would pay privately for him to sit them in the future, should we think they were relevant to his career choice (they weren't anyway)

Eventually although they weren't happy they agreed to pull him out.
He still got 11 gcse's without the 3.

If the timetables are set 2 years before hand i dont understand why Ds's school only gave us 6 weeks notice.
Had they given us the exam timetable at the beginning of January we would never have booked.

Is he not actually going to be at an advantage taking the exam when he has 7 months more experience ?

Can he not just revise from the course notes you will be giving for the Nov exams ?

I am not getting this!

Research shows that 10 school days missed each year at primary level is the equivalent of dropping a whole GCSE grade.

As a secondary maths teacher I would like to see the data for that study.

My gut instinct is that the sort of parents who take children out of primary school every year (which is implied from the statement above) for holidays don't value education as much on average as those who don't. Then they are the same parents who don't provide all the help and encouragement that helps children do well at GCSE.

So it is not the holidays that matter it is the attitude to exams and education.

Plenty of HE children don't go to school at all and do very well- being at school is not the be all and end all as long as other support is in place.

PS Goldidi YANBU this would have annoyed me greatly too. Sometimes the teachers care more than the parents and child. Do your best for him so that you can't reproach yourself and can hold your head up high afterwards.

Has this holiday been passed by the school? I tried to take dd out of school for 5 days in year 7 on the last five days of school term (July) and was threatened with a nasty letter stating i would be fined £1000 or could end up in jail. So i changed the holiday as it was booked by my mum. Dd didn't have her holiday in July but plenty of others did!! (am still fuming over it because nothing happened to the other parents!!!). BUT taking a child out when it is exam time is disgusting. Obviously the parents are not bothered about his education are they?

No he will not be at an advantage taking the exam in June when he has 'more experience'. He will be at a distinct disadvantage because we have been intensively studying the content for this module now and in the summer we will have been studying completely different content for a completely different module which doesn't rely on the content from this module so he will have forgotten everything we have done now because he has not used it. So yes I do think he is missing out and I will have a lot more work to do to prepare him for this module AGAIN as well as preparing the rest of the class for the next module.

you are BVU to suggest your pupils should take holidays in July and pull siblings out of primary school! I am not suggesting that should be a great time to take holidays, obviously I want pupils to take holidays during the school holidays whenever possible. What I am suggesting is that if you are planning on taking holidays during term time then it is better to book them for after the exam period so you are absolutely certain your child will not miss vital exams or revision lessons. Of course primary school is important too but unless your school is drastically different to the one my dd1 went to there is a lot of extra curricular stuff going on (school trips, art and drama days, sports day, etc) which I would have been less worried about dd1 missing than earlier on in the year when she was expected to be doing work all day.

Oh and no this holiday has not been authorised (although he tried to tell me it had). SO his absence will go down as unauthorised absence but that will not be enough to trigger a large fine for his parents as there are persistent truants who haven't had any fines even though they have been absent for more than 10 days, but they do all turn up for exams.

A boy in my school missed his one and only chance to sit one of his Science papers last year owing to a holiday. It was a unit only offered in the June exam series. He dropped 2 grades.

Meowmi, what do you mean by "two week break"? Do your dc have very different school hols?

I wondered that too born. Our school would never have a two week break anywhere near the exam period unless you count study leave as a break. There is half term in the middle of the exams but the exams stop for that week.

www.education.gov.uk/comptimetable/

This website is fantastic as if you know your DC's exam boards you can work out their own timetable. It works for a number of different types of exams.

If 10 school days away from school at Primary level means a whole grade dropped at GCSE, then DS2 is buggered.

He has chronic asthma, has currently been off for a week, with no end date in sight, because every time he is immune suppressed from prednisolone, chickenpox seems to start at the school.

He has between 7-30 days off with his asthma EVERY school year. And there's NOTHING I can do about that.

We get tiny bits of work sent home. The LA are meant to provide a home tutor for a minimum of 1 hr a day after 14 days. But they never chuffing do. Even when he was off for a month he never got any help from the LA, despite me badgering them.

Bet they'd be on my case if I took him on holiday though, complaining about missed work.

It's fine to hassle parents about work missed through holidays, but they do fuck all for those who are missing work through chronic illness!

That's awful Couthy. Your ds should definitely be getting the work/tutoring he needs when he is ill (as long as he is fit to do it). I have a boy in my form who misses massive amounts of school because of chronic illness and we make sure he gets work sent home as soon as he's been off 3 days. I'm not sure whether he gets a tutor because his mum didn't seem as if she wanted it when it was offered as she used to be a teacher and was happy to do his work with him herself.

Hi, sorry for getting back to this thread late I forgot i posted!!!!

Born & Goldidi Let me clarify.
Yes my DS's School has a 5 term year, meaning that they do 8 weeks in and 2 weeks off right throughout the school year apart from the summer hols when they got 4 weeks off (going back mid august)
So unfortunately, some of the exams this year fell within his two week break from school in may(which would be the equivalent to half term at other schools)
it meant that he had to go in only for the exams.

His school is the only school in our area to have 5 terms and because my 2 other dc's are on the usual term time meant that they have different holidays.

The only time all Dc's were off together was the first 4 weeks in summer and the 2 week christmas break (Easter holidays dont exist at that school)

I'm sorry but there is NO excuse for taking year 10 and 11 children out for holidays in term time unless it is a true emergency ie family bereavment or something.

Preparing them for their future is one of the most important things you can do for your children so why would you book a holiday when they would miss exams.

The schools should provide complete timetables at the beginning of the year (even infant/junior schools manage this for their SATS).

Frazmum - I am confused as to why you can't go in school holidays ie easter or xmas or before results day in the summer?

Don't worry too much CouthyMowWearingOrange. I had a lot of time off primary school due to my asthma and I got the best grades in my school for junior cert (Irish equivalent of GCSEs). One time I was off for nearly two months because I kept getting new infections. There was never any attempt at lessons in hospital or any work sent home either.

I agree with Queen - I was off an awful lot in Y10 and 11 but still did well - these situations are unavoidable but blatantly booking a holiday is inconsiderate!

YANBU, it doesn't take much thought to check exam dates with schools, and if parents don't they are just inconsiderate to their children and to schools. However, I know that many public servants, teachers included have a completely unrealistic view of what working life in the private sector is like for many people.

Unless you are fairly senior in your company, you will probably find that your 'superiors' have first dibbs on holidays dates, so taking your holiday entitlement over the summer is a non-starter. Most bosses couldn't give a toss about whether you want to have a family holiday during non-term time.

Taking your children to interesting places can broaden their minds and outlooks, so unless they are missing exams etc, why should they miss out on a valuable experience like a trip abroad?

Lesley I don't think I have an unrealistic view of working life in the private sector, after all my dp, dbro and dsis all work in the private sector as well as most of my friends. Most teachers I know realise that there are many reasons why all parents can't manage to book time off for holidays during the school holidays. That's why most schools do authorise short holidays during term time. We don't think those holidays should be taken during exam times or even in the weeks leading up to the exams as revision and exam preparation are just as important as the actual exam (unless you have a particularly motivated young person who will do a good job of revision on their own)

The majority of holidays taken by the students at my school don't seem to be designed for broadening their minds or outlooks either. It may just be round here but ime most holidays taken during term time seem to involve lots of time sitting around on a beach or beside a pool without leaving the English speaking resort. I'm not saying that's not a good holiday if that's what you choose to do, but it's hardly a valuable mind-broadening experience is it?