MP's to debate school holiday rules/fines on 24th February

[mummymeister]

Please can I ask anyone who feels as strongly as I do to write to their MP and ask for the changes in the rules regarding school holidays to be reversed. there is a back bench debate at 4.30pm on the 24th February and it is really important to bring this issue to the fore. There have been so many stories on MN of people wanting a day for funeral, to attend a family event, to visit family abroad that I know if all of us affected or who feel strongly write in at least we will have tried.

The independent schools round here definitely have longer holidays than the state schools.

Crucially, independent schools also have much smaller classes - it's always been one of the big issues for parents choosing them - and obviously this helps the delivery of lessons too

I'm gonna change my TalkName to CriminalHolidayTaker.

which all goes to show that the standard of education, what qualifications kids come out with has very very little to do with taking them out for the odd day on holiday. lljkk - is it time to put up the "lljkk is innocent" posters or am I peaking too early.

pmsl
(But am sulking because I can't seem to name change, humph)

What is irritating me is the suggestion the Gov't is making of schools setting staggered holiday times, as if that's a magic cure-all. There was a Head interviewed on TV this morning (of an Academy, surprise, surprise) who was boasting about the fact that her school went back on Sept 1st and did 8 weeks, then 2 weeks off, then 8 weeks.

How's that going to help? For a start it's hardly any different from "the norm," and b) although I haven't counted weeks carefully, I've a feeling it might mean they're all in school on Christmas Day! And 2 weeks in October/November just means straddling the regional variation in half term anyway, when travel companies hedge their bets and still have high prices for both weeks.

Moldinsunbeams-that's v similar to the private school day/terms here, too.

I wouldn't want two weeks in October/November! We can't afford to go abroad then and the weather is pants here.

There is no way of staggering term times to solve this issue. Parents need their children to have the same holidays to enable them to see each other/go on holiday. If two/three of your children are at different schools in bordering counties (v likely here) then holidays for them all would be a nightmare and also, lots of parents would be unable to work; I can't see Gove liking that much!

Just repeal the stupid term time holiday bans, Gove!

And if anyone seriously believes that the travel companies won't hike their prices to match staggered holidays (after all, there are only a few possibilities for schools to opt for) then they're daft. and I mean you, Michael Gove.

Everything I read about education policy at the moment makes me so angry! When will someone get rid of this dangerous man?

that someone is us. we have to lobby our MP's and make a fuss. this wont get repealed otherwise. and wait a couple of years. those schools currently allowing leave with no fines - well that will all change. gove likes to get the principle established then he tightens the screw. that's the kind of politician he is.

I have written to my MP twice in the last fortnight!

How convenient that some posters private schools break up at the same time, every one I knows, breaks up weeks before state! MINE did too.

This hits the poor and only the poor.

what do you suggest, I think a rally/March

The link to the HoC debate is coming up with a 'no content has been found' page and I can't find it in the debate list for yesterday. Does anyone have a link to this transcript?

Ah, got it.

www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140224/halltext/140224h0001.htm#1402247000001

so tiggy, having read through it, as I have, what would your solution be then? I felt that the old system worked well but that more should be done to tackle the regular absence and lateness that is in some ways seen as more "low level" than a week off. by that I mean there seems to be no fuss being made about this and how disruptive to a class this is. do you favour the changes to school term times then?

tiggy you have put it superbly.

My own DS is still in nursery, but I have one of those jobs when you are limited as to when you can take holiday - fortunately I can always take holiday at Christmas - in fact I am forced to do so - and although my own break at Easter can be just 3 days and sometimes does not overlap with the school holidays, I can also always take holiday at some point during the school summer holidays, and DH usually can, and it won't kill us if one year we just have a staycation in the summer.

I know about some of the families that take foreign holidays in term time or have a lot of absences from both my volunteering as a Brownie leader (not that it affects us, but families tell us where they are going, why, and when) and from a very good friend who's a teacher in an Inner London school with a lot of social problems and a lot of newly-arrived families (think 7 year olds who've come from Eastern Europe with no English who've never been to school before).

In our more middle class area, there are families visiting their relatives overseas at more convenient times/for longer. And some of those take a month off, because India/Australia is just too far. Those include children that I know are very bright who probably won't suffer, but when the overseas relatives say "but that's when the wedding IS" or "but it's just so hot in August, Granny won't want to see them then" it's hard to say no to the relatives.

I have heard from teachers that the old system did not work well. In my friend's area, there are both the long-term truants/poor attenders (and a lot IS being done to help them, including those whose families can't work out how to get up and get everyone ready for school), and those who randomly move between countries, seemingly as the whim takes them, and who are not actually that bothered by threats of losing a place at school. My friend's job includes a lot of trying to engage those sorts of families - she has had a good deal of success - it is very uphill work. But there are so many families coming and going at odd times of year anyway, that weeks of time off in term time is incredibly disruptive; it's hard enough for the teachers at her school to manage new arrivals without children re-entering after a month off.

The changes are aimed at dealing with regular absence as well as parents taking their child out for a week or more for a family holiday. The debate in parliament focussed on family holidays (not surprising since it was about the cost of holidays) but the change is not just about that. And the policy is firmly aimed at persistent absentees, i.e. those who are regularly absent even if it is for short periods. Those are the people actually being fined.

which all goes to show that the standard of education, what qualifications kids come out with has very very little to do with taking them out for the odd day on holiday

Not sure how you draw that conclusion from the information given. Absence rates are very much lower in independent schools than state schools.

Research strongly suggests that, on average, 17 days missed school a year translates into a drop of a whole grade at GCSE. So, whilst attendance is by no means the only factor determining outcomes, the evidence suggests it is a significant factor.

Some other figures for you:

• 73% of pupils who have at least 95% attendance achieve five GCSEs at grades A*-C including English and Maths

• For pupils with 80% to 90% attendance the figure falls to 35%

• For pupils with less than 80% attendance the figures drop even further

The difference between 95% attendance and 90% attendance is 10 missed days in a year (9.75 to be precise).