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

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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 don't agree with taking children out of school for holidays during term time due to the impact on the rest of the class when the child(ren) return -I know that I am in the minority with this view. My point for posting however, is to ask what everyone will do in a year or two when the travel companies push the prices up year round due to increasing demand. I daresay these companies are already planning their strategies.

My Dd's school still give out attendance awards to pupils who have taken time out term term, one pupil actually left the school and out of 250 children was the only one who got an attendance award.

"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?"

The state only sets the attendance rules for state maintained schools.

Kids are off x30 for all sorts of things.Just this week my son has gone cycling,on an English afternoon and will be visiting a secondary school.His whole class won't be.Kids are off for G&T courses,sports fixtures and events,music lessons,music activities,acting.......then we get sickness,teachers PPA time,sports week,Christmas.....

It does not have an impact on the rest of the class.You just teach as if all were there,chances are somebody will be out for something.Tis not a big deal.

Oh and one week equals what 5 literacy/numeracy lessons so taking out movement,settling,PPA time etc you're probably talking 2 hours max of each.To be frank if missing 2 hours of literacy as a one off has that much of an impact something isn't right.Kids re-visit areas every year and some will be massively ahead of others.

Shrug. If I was in the UK I would do what Iliked and pay the fine if necessary. Though I woukd contest it as well.

Happily DS1 was in a private school in London and here in Oz things are a bit more sensible.

I am the parent, I will decide what is best for my children.

private schools have longer holidays anyway so parents can go when its cheaper.

Mortloth, in some cases yes paying fine will be easier and cost effective, but I am at the moment saving up bit by bit, penny by penny for a four night break in france...i could not afford that fine.

Thank you-just curious as to why private schools weren't impacted. Surely this is going to widen the gap between rich and poor even more. As children get older and go out into the real world there is more to being a rounded person and getting on in a career than just having academic attendance. Spending time with family/friends, travelling and perhaps experiencing other cultures, is going to only add to making that child better educated all round.

That said a little more clarity and consistency wouldn't go amiss.

Surely this is going to widen the gap between rich and poor even more.

Yep, that's right :(

Now most of our children will be stuck in crap schools and cant even escape for a week.

Private schools cost far more than a fine! They are still paying the fees if they are away and they get longer holidays- it makes economic sense to take them when you are not paying for the school term.

Yes it is shit Rambling and not fair. Agree it will widen the gap further.

Certainly my experience is that private school heads are very reluctant to authorise term time absence indeed and in fact very few people are away in term time. For example when I wrote asking for my DS to have three days off for my father's funeral as it was a long way from where we live and my DSis was coming from abroad and I wanted to see her I was told no. So I suspect if anything there is much less absence at private schools. But because they don't have this crazy rule they can use their common sense and especially when they were younger I did occasionally ask for a week because my DCs had different holidays and it was always nicely granted.

Because if you take a holiday during term. Time and simply pay t he fine it's still cheaper so people still do it if the fine amounted to the same as a simmer holiday then no one would

If a term time hoilday is £300+60 fine however
Summer hoilday is £600 then it's a no brainer

However if they made the fine £300 during term time then you might as well wait

My ds friends mum y had the fine ready sent it in with the note telling the school they would be off for a week

Is the fine per "offence" or for every day a child is out of school? Surely it's a greater problem if someone takes two weeks out in the middle of term than someone adding an extra day to Christmas/half term holiday?

Also it seems ludicrous if parents are being pursued and fined for one day off when, as has been noted on other threads, some children from certain communities/travellers go off willy nilly and face no penalties.

Someone told me (utter hearsay here) that one London borough (Enfield?) was taking into account attendance in allocation of secondary schools and also sibling priority was removed if term-time holidays had been taken.

but if course we working class state educated low life have to be told how to look after our children.

we are far too stupid to make out own sensible decisions.

thank you Mr Gove/Cameron. gosh I really hope you can afford to take your children on holiday this year. although of course with the long private school break you can go off peak do to speak and even if you can't it must be too too jolly to be millionaires.

Term time fines are maximum of £60 per child per week. It cannot be more than this...(dispute all the scaremongering you may hear!) the higher fines you may have heard about arose from families who refused to pay initially and so It doubles etc. you need to check your lea for the period of onset, most leas can't fine until 5 days are missed so for the most people, missing a few days will go down as unauthorised but won't be fined.

Oops sorry £60 per parent per child per week. So a week for family of four is £240

So pretty much a bargain then cheaper to pay the fine

Where does the fine money actually go? Back into the LEA ?

I listened in to the debate yesterday about this. school absences in senior schools due to the taking of holidays account for 0.1% of absences. yes, that's right, 0.1%. there is another thread where an expert tells me it is in fact 0.3% but still less than one. so the other 99.7/99.9% of absences have absolutely nothing to do with holiday taking. All of you who think that school holidays in term time are a huge problem - look at these statistics. tiny, tiny amount of missed schooling. well done Mr Gove. instead of tackling the 99.7/99.9% you have gone for the 0.1% so that you can frighten and intimidate parents.

They seem to get authorised left, right and centre at my DC's school. I will not be doing however as I don't agree with it at all. I feel it's disruptive for both the child and the rest of the class.

I do feel however, that the holiday companies should be doing more to help combat this too, the prices are really prohibitive to go in school holidays.

I've worked in a primary school for 8 years as a TA and never saw any detrimental impact on the class education due specifically to holiday absence.

Many children loose class time one way or another through the school year, as listed up thread already - sickness, parent apathy, activities (deemed by the school as educational) outside school, injury, church attendance, family events, etc. Some of these children loose more than others. If it's down to parents not being consistent with getting their children to school - fine them by all means!

Your average family take their child out of school during term time for 5/10 days for their annual holiday because they couldn't afford a holiday otherwise. The bottom of this heap financially now cant afford the fines ether. It is a tiny minority of parents in main stream school who are rich enough to take their children out of school for weeks on end for foreign holidays. Why is joe average once again being punished for the sins of a few?