To be confused re school holidays as children at our school seem to be still taking them in term time

[Retropear]

which I don't have a problem with as such.

However I've just paid premium price booking a holiday in the summer holiday with the understanding we 'd get a huge fine if it was taken in the term time.

I'd have booked it in the term if I'd known it was ok to do this.

Confused.

I agree tail twister.

I don't.

Classes have various ability groups anyway with kids working at different levels and speeds.As an ex teacher myself I never found the odd holiday had an impact on the rest of the class.

A one off 5 day holiday isn't consistent truanting and is often less school time than some have off for sporting fixtures.

I think I have said it before retropear. I wish you were our school head. this week DD year 9 has a school play. no lessons tomorrow. in and out of them until next week now due to rehearsals. that's not disruptive then or is it OK because the h/t likes putting on theatre. end of Christmas term the last week was putting on carol concerts or rehearsing for them. when in lessons they were watching films and doing word searches. so had I taken them out then for a couple of days that would have made a huge impact on their education - not!

Our school and several others I know are still authorising holidays if attendance is ok. They're actually ok about it but want us to explain fully the reasons why just so they can justify to lea. No one I know has had it unauthorised.

State England school

If parents are happy to have it as unauthorised and pay a fine it isn't a problem for them.

Who issues the fines?? Does it come direct from the school or lea? How does the lea know that the child hasn't been sick for a week? Is it the schools responsibility to tell the lea? How does it all work?

mm yes lucky Michael Gove and the rest of the millionaire cabinet ministers who have very long holidays and whose privately educated kids presumably have long holidays too.

how nice they can afford to go away and pay the prices.

when my 4 were younger we simply couldn't afford to go away to bloody Wales, let alone abroad, out of term time.
my dh worked away a lot and our family holidays were the one chance we all got to get together and bond as a family.

they were priceless. family holidays are priceless.

by all means fine the habitual truants and those who take the piss but this legislation hits normal families.

absolute bollocks.

bearing in mind most schools do fuck in the week all prior to most holidays. I work in a school.

Still authorising at our school. With the blessing of the Local Authority (I was in the actual meeting when they said our attendance was fine so no problem). Ofsted didn't mention it either when they were in last term.

to add at our school the HT uses commen sense. unless a family takes the piss the leave is authorised.

it's called commen sense.

It depends on area, ours told Heads 5 years ago that they couldn't authorise holidays.

Our school is authorising absence for things like family weddings.

In November DS was authorised a day off because he was appearing in a professional musical and had matinee and evening performance. But I also know the head has warned some other parents in similar productions (same show plus panto) that they have now had 5 days and no further absence will be authorised this school year.

Since I had to produce DS's letter authorising the absence there is potential that this may impact on children being able to participate in professional productions.

As an ex teacher myself I never found the odd holiday had an impact on the rest of the class.

But it's not the odd holiday is it? If you have 30 children in a class, all of who have the 'right' to take holiday within term time, that's a lot of disruption for the teacher and other children to deal with. The term dates are there for all to see, they don't suddenly get sprung on people at the last minute. People can plan ahead and if the holidays are more expensive then save!

Also the rule doesnt kick in until they are five as that is the legal age by which they must start school.

Dd's HT is still authorising holidays providing attendance outside the holiday is good. Dd's was authorised as was her friend's.

talimy child comes on enormously when I am able to spend one on one time with her.There is no chance of my DD holding back the class there just isn't. At primary age the teacher can hand parents that weeks work or tell us what it is, and we can cover it - and much more.

bearing in mind most schools do fuck in the week all prior to most holidays. I work in a school

Yes DD told me she had to read very quietly to the teacher as a film was on!

ramblingrosie - for heavens sake don't try and be a good parent. the govt just will not allow it. we are all feckless and useless and need them to tell us exactly what to do as we are completely unable to think for ourselves and make good decisions for our children.

Do these changes not impact on private schools then? If it's not down to individual schools to choose how it's implemented why are private schools exempt?

talimy child comes on enormously when I am able to spend one on one time with her.

That's great, but I don't see why you can't do that in the scheduled school holidays. It's not as if they are few and far between is it? You may not think taking time out has an impact on the class and you are probably right if you look at it in isolation, but x30 and there you have a problem. Not to mention where does the HT draw the line? Just keeping a track of who is taking time off and when, across an entire school is almost a job in itself. The rules are there for a reason and people don't have to take up a school place if they feel it's too restricting. Home educate if you feel that strongly and if it's that easy to cover to the work.

At our school, I would say most parents care about their childrens education, and if we are all bringing them on at home, then it would benefit the teacher enourmoulsy should 30 children come back from a holiday where they have covered one to one, that weeks work probably in one day

I just do not buy the idea that a few pupils going out at term time effects their education.

I think its utter bollocks.

I think that because at my school several people went like clock work every year, they did not affect us at all, they got the same work grades.

I think that because most parents are conscientious and will bring their dc on, in the time they are away.

I think children and people learn a great deal from travel.

My DC do learn an amazing amount from travelling.

As a child who did not go abroad until I was 12, I feel I massively missed out.

I delight in being rather stereotypical mumsnet in alot of my views :) but this is one of the few topics where me and mumsnet majority part ways. School attendance is important, but schools are not factories, nor are children and parents slaves to the government and it's systems.

Its gone a bit wrong somewhere, as i suspect the people who do need to have school attendance enforced are untouched by new measures, and all that's happened is that families who support education have become more fervent.

I had a term off at a time growing up, through primary and secondary, as well as numerous one week and two week absences. Not saying that is in any way ideal, but I didn't have problems in catching up or in reaching my potential. I don't actually think it effected my learning whatsoever, though it did effect socialization & I wish I'd had a helping hand / bit of understanding about how hard it is to join in established groups as a child.

I didn't have alot of extra attention or extra lessons, I had no extra help in primary school, and I had two x 15 min sessions in science and the same in history, in morning break times when I got back. That's it. One hour of extra teaching time! I worked through the exercise books and my dad helped me do maths homework after. I was lucky in that I came from a thinking culturally rich family and above average intelligence. But even so, it was shocking how little I needed to catch up on.

To be clear, it wasn't ideal, it wasn't what I think anyone else should do unless they have to, and if everyone did that, classes and teachers would suffer.

But i do think people over estimate the amount of actual subject learning that happens in a school day (as any of the great home ed parents will testify), and also they under estimate the ability of a teacher who really isnt going to be derailed if children are away for a week here or there, especially when you consider how many other streams of work and the multitude of things going on at any one time in the classroom. The idea that everyone must be at exactly the same level at all times isn't happening anyway as part of modern teaching, and it's not a practical or useful aspiration.

The slavish idea that everyone must attend school every second of every day or the sky will fall... Well, I think it plays into the hands of politicians very nicely.

I hate to think what would happen these days to my parents though, the meetings and threats and censure they'd go through. On top of having a child in and out of hospital and 22 operations before the age of 18. At least in those days people were allowed to be humane about it and realise that having a living child is more important than having x number of days in attendance.

its different for private schools because you are paying for the education, you can probably afford a holiday at any time or you are so skint paying fees, it becomes irrelevant joking aside, its likened to home schooling where you can make your own rules as long as they are getting educated, state schools have to follow state rules and the rules say no term time holidays. my two eldest children only ever had term time holidays as I cant stand crowds or paying through the nose, one has a 1st masters degree in physics, the other has a masters in bio medical science and on her way to ph.d so not had a significant impact on their education.

My ds's school will not authorise holiday in term time but don't start to issue fines until September.