holidays in term time

[ruledbyheart]

Yes probably am being unreasonable but I am looking at booking our first family holiday next year only to a haven holiday camp but thought it would be nice for the DC to have a holiday and for me it would be the first since I was 16, But 2 of my 4 dc will be in full time school only reception and yr1 and I have found out I cannot take them out in term time.

I have looked into the prices and to go term time it would only cost us £150 but if we stuck to the school holidays the price quickly jumps to £450.

I think its disgusting as a family on an extremely low income (less than 12000PA) we cannot afford to go on holiday, factoring all our costs I need to save about 100pm to be able to afford to go in term time which will be very tight and impossible to save enough to go during school holidays.

WIBU to just take the children out of school for one week its not like at the ages of 4 and 5yrs they would miss much or do I not risk it (Ive heard rumours you can be fined?) and have to wait a lot longer for a holiday?

pretty, school is supposed to be a partnership between children, parents, and the school.

at the moment, it is not. there is no flexibility which is what a partnership implies. its all one way traffic.
we are not all feckless parents who don't feed their children properly or let them wander the streets, and frankly I'm tired of being treated as such, and my LO hasn't even started yet!

its like the notices up in every bloody public service. 'our staff have the right to he treated with respect ...'

well newsflash so do i! why do we always expect the worst from everyone, and are then surprised when we get it!!!

owlina see previous threads on here about attendance certificates and requests for doctors notes.

School is a partnership. The flexibility is you can ask to take time off, and the school can consider whether to authorise this. It has to be this way because of set term times.

A school saying 'we cannot authorise this holiday, it does not fall into the guidelines of special circumstances' is not the same as saying 'you are a crap parent'. Whether or not you take the time off then will be your decision. Equally staff can ask for an unpaid day off for special circumstances. If the governors say 'we cannot authorise this day off, it does not fall into the guidelines of special circumstances' they are not saying 'you are a crap teacher'. If then the teacher took the day off sick, it would be a different story i guess!

We are going to the sea side for a week this year, in the school holidays. It has taken us 5 years to save. I've wanted holidays the other years but you can't always have what you want, an important life lesson IMHO.

The decision to fine is up to the individual school. We only begin the process if attendance drops below 85%.

Thing is, though, we are hauled over the coals regularly for our attendance figures and we have to do everything we can to bring attendance up. A week's holiday is not an issue if a child is normally a good attender, but if it is the same child who has a day off once a week because they don't like PE, or three days off every month for period pain then it mounts up.

pixie doctor's certificates for long term we would ask for, and yes we do attendance certificates but only at end of year for 100% attendance. We don't do the half termly colour coded ones.

But if you are ill, you are ill in my opinion. You should not get angry if your child is genuinely ill.

I mean angry at the school asking for proof, not angry at your child!

I have to disagree with you. again. sorry.

the school, by not allowing an absence, IS saying you as a parent do not value education. that you have not thought about it. that presumably its on a whim.

its the whole 'we know better than you' and 'we know your child better than you' attitude that stinks.

grumpyoldbat hope you have a fab time!!

IM not suggesting you take your kids on holiday but make them read to you every day to make up for it,what i mean is they learn from being in a new culture,a new language,different food,meeting new people,spending quality time with family,are you saying its not learning because its not sitting down in a classroom?

they should really concentrate on the kids who are playing truant and the parents dont care.

They are following the guidelines set though. It's a difficult one really. I personally don't think it is bad to have a week off to go on holiday, as i have said. However, you need some form of system so that it can be seen as fair to all i guess. As youareall says, it's persistant absence that makes a difference over time.

I honestly don't think that they are saying you don't value education. I can see how upsetting that would be for a parent, when all year they have learnt spellings, done homework, washed uniform, turned up on time, attended class plays and all the other vital things that parents do to enable a child to attend school ready to learn. Then asking for a week off is rejected.

So have courage in your conviction as a parent. If you've weighed everything up and term time holiday is honestly the only viable option for you, then you will need to make that decision i guess.

I agree with you amber, i said up thread it is a different learning experience.

its the whole 'we know better than you' and 'we know your child better than you' attitude that stinks.

But they do, don't they? After all, they are qualified professionals, who are experts in their field?

If you knowing your child best qualifies you to overrule a teacher, then not only are you best placed to educate them, but also to medicate them, carry out surgery, dental treatments and all the other things that we depend on experts to provide our DCs with in life.

Teachers are a lot more approachable than Surgeons or Dentists - they do work with parents far more than other professionals. This may be why their expertise is overlooked and why they are consistently undervalued by parents who believe they know better.

more than 10 days.? Per year? Sorry but that's not what the op is talking about at all, that's just bloody irresponsible.

KingThistle, I was being light-hearted when I said that I could now take more than 10 days every year and I certainly don't intend to do it but I utterly refute your comment that it's irresponsible. I appreciate that a lot of people think that only at school can you get an education but I'm not one of those people. We took 12 days last year and the HT was more than happy for us to do so - he could only authorise 10 of that, of course, but he had no problem with it at all, quite rightly imo. Obviously it's not the same for all children but in my DD's case I know without a doubt that her education didn't suffer one iota. She learned a heck of a lot that wasn't on the curriculum, for one thing! And at primary age (I appreciate that secondary is another matter), it's not like they teach the children one skill and then never mention it again! What about home-schooled children? How do you think they learn without going to school? A child who is struggling, or who has parents who aren't interested in their education will, of course, suffer from regularly missing school. But a child with parents engaged in their learning doesn't have to suffer one jot. As proof, last year, my DD missed every single afternoon of school from Monday-Thursday for the entire year, whilst I educated her at home - yet her SATs levels went up by more than expected. So yeah, I feel pretty confident that my child can miss a bit of school with no problems and I am being far from irresponsible. (Her teacher wasn't inconvenienced at all, incidentally - I would never take a child out of school and then expect a teacher to catch them up!)

Sorry for essay but I feel quite strongly about this :)

comparing teaching to surgery is hardly like for like.

as I said up thread, I used to be a teacher. we knew the child, in school. parents always know the child better, in fact I think that's the advice doctors do give don't they? if parents feel a medical professional has brushed them off.

that's all beside the point though. parents are treated as if they suddenly don't know what's best for their children once they reach school age, right down to that ridiculous comment about school dinners upthread.

it is a parents right to decide what goes on on their family and that extends to holidays. they shouldn't be fined for it. utterly ridiculous and an abuse of power.

From September 2013 HT's will not be allowed to authorise any term time leave at all. No discretionary leave etc, unless in emergencies/exceptional circumstances.

If people feel that they should be allowed to take kids out whenever they want to get cheap holidays, I hope they don't use any official data to 'judge' schools that they select for their kids. Attendance is a big thing, and term time holidays screws attendance figures.

It's always been the case that holidays are more expensive at high season. Save your ire for holiday companies, not schools.

And spare a thought for school staff. Most support staff are on £12K salaries and can't request leave so they can afford a holiday. I bet people would be spitting feathers if TA's/Teaching staff were able to take time off in term time to afford holidays.

I disagree with a fine for a week's holiday.

I agree parents know their children better, i like to think this knowledge can be shared in partnership.

Please try to direct your anger at the government tho, not the schools who are told to follow these guidelines re healthy eating and attendance.

And enjoy your holidays.

alistron that's entirely the point though. people who earn small salaries whilst taking on this supposedly super important job of educating our children are loosing out too.

its placing too much importance on the wrong people!

nobody tells hospital consultants, MPs and the prime minister when they can go on holiday do they?

apply the same rules that some of you seem to live by and the pm wouldn't go on holiday for 5 years. a hospital consultant would probably never have time off particularly if teaching.

i can see that happening - not!

so why are parents vilified and punished for wanting family time, with decent weather, at a reasonable price???

so why are parents vilified and punished for wanting family time, with decent weather, at a reasonable price???

You seem so angry about this subject. And hospital staff etc probably don't get 13 weeks holiday a year, so it's not comparable in that sense. You wouldn't want all surgeons on holiday at once either.

Most families could reasonably go on holiday in school holiday time. For a few there are special reasons why they can't. If your reasons are valid, the school can support this. If they are not, they can't support it.

I don't think this is about vilification (is that a word?!)

I think the reasonable price thing is key. which is what the OP originally posted about.

alongside all the other reasons I've detailed.

and yes I am angry about it. for all reasons below. I come from a place where this type of authority imposition does not exist. I'll preempt you all.....maybe I'll go back and watch this ridiculous policy unfold from afar because sure as hell someone's going to test it

oh and according to lots of teachers and their spouses on here they don't get 13 weeks holiday a year. they're faaaar too busy planning, marking, sticking up displays, training, yawn. another story. remember I used to he one.

If you did no work in the holidays or at weekends then I'm not sure how you managed to be a teacher. It is impossible to do all the planning and preparation in the 'free' time at school.

Yes, holiday companies need taking in hand over this. Are you listening Gove?

Personally, if the choice was a holiday i could afford in term time, or no holiday as i couldn't afford it in school holidays i would go in term time.

BUT lots of people COULD afford it, they just choose to pay less. In the op's situation i would go if my children had had good attendance all year.

I think MPs are supposed to take holiday outside of parliamentAry sitting times.