To think education is a privilege and removing a child from that without damn good reason is shocking?

[MBT1987]

So, in the latest episode of "Why am I being fined for breaking the law?" AKA "Yet Another Unauthorised Absence", we've had:

"I'm going to tell my kids to lie"
"I'd vote Labour if they abolished compulsory education" (Fun fact - the Education Act 2006 was passed under Labour)
"My children with both parents are disadvantaged as opposed to single-parent families!"
"What are they really going to do if I break the law and don't accept the fine?" (Hint - prosecute)
"My school are lovely, so they won't mind" (Then ask in advance?)

I could go on.

There are some absolute howlers coming from this place, and it's sickening. Parents are encouraging kids to play truant and lie about it.

I don't care if I become Social Pariah of the Week as a result of this. I'll just have to be lonely on my little patch of moral high ground. Anyone is welcome to join me.

Damnit, had both threads open and meant to post this on this one:

A question for All the people saying that missing a week of education will be detrimental to the child:

If it would be detrimental, then it will be detrimental no matter what, right?

So how come it won't be detrimental for a Forces family?

I could take DD out of school for a weeks holiday every single year that I am serving. If I had her at the start of my career that would mean every single year from age 5 to age 18.

But it would be 'authorised' and no-one would fine me, no-one would guilt trip me about how much education DD was missing, how it would mean she would have a bad work ethic/won't get a job/will do badly in her exams and so on.

Because it would be 'authorised'

How does that work then? What makes my DD better able to cope with missing a weeks schooling?

These new rules are daft . An education should be broad and wide ranging, the experience if a holiday can be more educational in so many more ways than a week in school doing a narrow dictated curriculum. It is also important for families to have time together.

This fine is only so school can continue to meet targets/ complete assessments and in my view is another factor that puts schools and league tables before children.

I missed the last 6 weeks of primary school and stayed in France for 12 weeks before high school. It was an amazing experience which nurtured my love of languages. My mum would probably be shot for it now!

"Oh my Dd is off with Munchausen-CentreParcs Syndrome" brilliant OP! .

Cat many families have cut back or have never had 4x4s,Sky,mobiles etc.We certainly never have.Most of the people in my area with things like that are pensioners who can have cheap term time holidays on top just like they did with their own kids.

The law is wrong.It doesn't sort out truancy just like free school dinners and lunch box bans won't sort out obesity and longer school days won't sort out social problems or poor exam results.

The vast maj of parents are doing a perfectly fine job re raising their children and resent being told how to parent,being treated as if we are incapable of making choices particularly when many of the Tories issuing out these rules can afford holidays and private schools so don't need to adhere to them and don't have their kids missing out.The kind of school meals and buildings their kids enjoy are a world away from those being foisted on the rest of the nations children during their proposed 10 hour day.

They're lazy rules that don't sort the issues involved and lay the problems at the doors of schools who will often have more pressing issues to sort out.Education is also certainly not just that churned out within the 4 square walls of a crumbling state primary school.

There is a whole world out there and some of us want our kids to experience it and build aspirations just the same as richer kids get to enjoy.My kids learnt more French in France than they have during their whole time at primary.They also now see the point of it.They also want to make sure they get jobs that pay enough so they can travel and experience the huge world which lies outside their county.

Quite frankly the more people who protest and do whatever they feel they have to do the better imvho.I couldn't afford a £600 fine but if I could I'd go for it so certainly don't resent anybody else with the balls to do it.

My parents removed me from education in yr.8 and I returned in yr.10, I achieve all c's but could have most likely done a lot better if I had been in school continuously, although I do wonder if I would have just got kicked out as I was a little shit to say the least

And the education dep. didn't even realise!!!!!

It won't be that detrimental to one individual child to take a week out at the end of the year....

What is a problem is that that ONE child is not the only child in the class....

Why should MY kids (and all the other kids in the class) suffer the complete lack of TA availability, the teacher having to play catch up with child after child after child - between Easter and July because half the class has exercised some sort of feudal "right" to do what the heck THEY like with THEIR children...

THAT is why the rules have been strengthened...

But teachers don't do that.

Classes have a huge variety of children,teachers don't provide TAs for all the kids not at the top level.I certainly didn't.Every lesson is going to have kids with a variety of ability and exposure to a subject so you plan for all anyway.

As a parent getting work that doesn't extend so much for a few days in say maths just once out of an entire school year because he has been exposed to France,the French culture and improved his understanding of the language is a trade off well worth paying.The French lessons in his school are dire,taught by TAs who can't speak French properly and all the kids hate them.

If my son was SEN or had had loads of time off I'll then I'd perhaps choose differently,but he isn't.

That is my choice as I know what is best for him.

The problem with threads like this is that there are some people who don't think you should take your kids out of school ...great then don't, but actually lets give some power back to parents....Lets help those who are failing there kids, genuinely not able to get there kids to school, can't provide a healthy meal for their kids, don't support their learning.

Stope sending sick kids to doctors for a doctors note.just because they have been ill ..

Mostly maybe we should accept we are different and have different ideas and stop judging everyone because you didn't do something wouldn't do something...We treat each child differently because they are different. Lets appreciate different families work differently too.

There appears to be a lot of wrong information on here e.g.page 1 where it is stated that Home Educators get Ofsted visits!

I think that problem has been that a privilege has been misused. Historically parents have been entitled to 10 days authorised absence for their children, at the discretion of the Head Teacher, and this means up to 2 weeks off in term time. Some have granted more, e.g a child I know with a New Zealander mother had longer when they needed a visit to a sick grandmother. The Head teacher knew the parents and whether a trip would be educational, whether they would keep up with work, what their general attitude to school was, their attendance, whether they chose 'sensible' times in the school year , whether they were taking it because they couldn't get away in holiday times as farmers, members of armed forces etc etc
It has been abused and a host of parents just do it to save money (that the rest of us have to pay or find cheaper holidays) or they place no value on education and will just take them out to buy new shoes etc. They make no effort to catch up work, or go in difficult times, like September.

It has now been taken away from the discretion of the Head. My LEA did it about 6 years ago, others have been much slower- hence all the fuss now.

I am amazed at the naïveté of the view that you can take your child out of school in June , for a week with sickness, and think that no one will check up. If you have more than one child suspicions will be aroused- many people have 2 or more children at the same school and they are all going to start and end the illness on the same day and come back to school healthy and suntanned! I think phone calls might be made- house calls! Especially on the scale of people on MN who are suggesting they will lie. Maybe you need to be sure that you go somewhere cold and damp so the children come back pale with a cough!
Even more naive to think you can deregistered for two weeks and re register on your return! Find out how popular your school is first and how over subscribed! The LEA are obliged to find you a school place, they are not obliged to give you one at a specific school. I think they might turn awkward if you do it more than once!

It's sad that people think a two week holiday in the sun is an entitlement but to me that's just a result of the last labour government deciding that anyone with a joint family income if less than £49k needs topping up with benefits.

Not only did it falsely inflate the economy but it made people think they are entitled to a certain standard of living rather than having to work to attain that standard of living.

Not sure why all of you bother engaging with the OP. He/she is clearly ignorant of many things, full of "if's" and generalisations.

Actually there may be several things beneficial for a child with SEN out of school during term time.It's funny my son has had loads of days off on G&T courses,the sporty kids miss school for fixtures.So that is ok but other kids should be stopped from getting enrichment too?[ hmm]

Doesn't seem fair in my view.

Also would like to point out that teachers quite tightly have time off for courses and "meetings".The TA and supply cover used to cover their time is nowhere near the same quality but that is ok too.

Madame people are working,they're working a lot with a crappy standard of living compared to previous generations and very little sun.

Not all parents want to take their kids out for sun but for a whole host of other reasons.That said given the huge benefits of sunshine all power to those that choose to seek to expose their kids to it.

Exactly or some can miss all sorts because they're sporty and more able.Ditto the double standards re ski-ing and enrichment weeks.

I resent being treated like an imbecile and naughty school girl.I am a parent and perfectly capable of doing the best for my child.

A minority don't,so tackle them and think of something slightly better than a sledgehammer approach and leave the rest of us alone.

Yes, these are our children and as such we should be able to judge if they would benefit from being out of school for a length of time.
But the problem lies in the fact that parents often seem to take the piss with what they see as a valid reason.

I'm not old, but even I can see a huge change in attitude from my school days. My parents 100% backed the school in terms of my attendance and work etc; they wouldn't have opposed the school unless it was something huge, like a death in the family etc. not that school would have stopped time off for that!

I'm incredibly liberal in outlook, but I really believe we need to return to strictness on attendance & work, with schools and parents working together on it.

What boils my piss about this whole thing is the double standards!

I totally agree. Especially as for the second time this school year, DS2 has had no supply teacher this week when one of his teachers has been absent. So it's OK to miss a week of teaching when it suits the school!

Like LtEve, I have magic DC who this law won't affect. Well it won't affect DS1 because he has left school, and it didn't affect him when we took him out.

It is totally and utterly wrong imo. The government should let us be parents and decide what is best for our own DC. My DC didn't have time off for a sniffle, or because they had a late night, they went to school. They worked hard and abided by the rules. This won't help the serial truants. It's just another way of them wanting to take control over everything we do!

My plan is simple for the 2 or 3 days at the start of autumn term I am taking with dd3. I am not going to mention it. She has had 3 days sick over her 5 terms so far. I did not phone in and didn't send a note. No one has ever asked.

I totally agree. Especially as for the second time this school year, DS2 has had no supply teacher this week when one of his teachers has been absent. So it's OK to miss a week of teaching when it suits the school!

you sound like you are suggesting the school wanted to him have no teacher!! Blimey, such negativity for the school. Perhaps you should change schools?

WeAreDetective. This week they did. The teacher was on a course and according to the HT their policy is they don't get a supply in for planned absences anymore! I have written to the Governors about it.

Sinister. We were poor too. I learned to swim in the local pool.

No need for the passive aggressive guilt tripping.

I'm speaking from the perspective of a secondary school teacher.

Personally, I think we need to be most angry at holiday and travel companies who hike their prices sky-high during the school holiday time. This is where the government should be taking action: clamping down on these companies to ensure that they cannot make prices unfair for parents of school-age children (and us teachers, who have no choice about when we take our leave, whether we have our own children or not!).

Until any action on this happens though, yes, I believe they miss a lot if they have two full consecutive weeks off school. Maybe not to much at primary, but I'm currently tearing my hair out with worry over a child from my GCSE class who is supposed to start a controlled assessment in Shakespeare and poetry next week, having missed most of the learning which took place in lessons due to being taken out for TWO fortnight-long holidays in the last two terms.

I'm sorry, but no matter how "fulfilling" and "educating" an experience cruising round the Med and the Caribbean undoubtedly was , it hasn't exactly furthered this pupil's understanding of poetry.