to think that term time holidays are not just about price

[QueenofKelsingra]

that they are also about the volume of people?

so many threads about the crack down/fines for TTHs (term time hols) but they all relate to the price. am I the only one who thinks this is only part of the issue? for my parents it was also about the skislopes/beach being overcrowded with people and this would be part of the reason that I would prefer a TTH for my DC too. its no fun if you are packed in like sardines!

or is that just me?

[georgesdino]

I agree. I dont care how much the fine is per child there is nothing that will stop me going away in term time.

[ThePinkOcelot]

For me, it is specifically about cost though I can see how others prefer quieter times than school holidays and that should still be our choice.

On a different note, dd1 is in yr 8 and half of her class have gone off to France on a skiing holiday 4 10 days. The ones left behind have been told that they probably won't be doing 'proper' work this week. Surely, half the class being away and the others not doing proper work is a hell of a lot more disruption than 1 child being away and the others getting on with proper school work. Reeks of double standards to me!

[mummymeister]

Queen - there are reasons why some children and adults struggle in crowds so can see that under this situation then it is about asking the head for exceptional circumstances leave. also, lots of other jobs like mine mean we can only take leave altogether as a family in term time. this I am also trying to claim as exceptional circumstances. for others they work somewhere with lots of other parents all of whom want the 6 weeks or whatever off so they end up only being given term time. and again others have a shut down fortnight or time when they are told for operational reasons they can take leave and this can fall in term time. there are so many exceptional circumstances but you have to make the case and hope that you have a reasonable head teacher. one of them isn't that you just want somewhere to be less crowded. we feel the opposite we would love to go in school hols so there were kids for mine to play with. Thepinkocelot there is another thread on here about this - hate it that schools take kids on trips but some cant go - awful for those left behind. all this now means heads and all teachers will come under a lot of pressure at the ends of terms. I will be up to school like a shot if its the usual tidy up, vidoes and games for 3/4 days rather than lessons.

[seb1]

A problem we are finding more and more is where DH works there is no slack to cover holidays so 4 people all with children at school covering shifts over 7 days/24 hours each trying to get 2 weeks off each during a six week period doesn't work. Last time we had two weeks off DH then worked 4 weeks without a day off to cover other people's holiday, he could have done with a holiday to recover.

[mummymeister]

yes - Seb1 - this is real life for a lot of people trying to sort out family holidays. would you take a term time holiday? would you request this from your head as exceptional circumstances? I just think the current law imagines everyone works 9 - 5, 5 days a week and can take leave whenever they want. doesn't work like that in the real world.

[perplexedpirate]

Why are we concentrating on the price of flights and not the fact the this is my child, and if I chose to remove him from school for what I consider to be a more educational experience, it has nothing to do with anyone else.
We are taking DS out for a day next week to take him to a once in a lifetime experience within Britain.
We have had to factor £100 of fines into that.
It's the schools that are behaving ridiculously. If they had a little more flexibility, so might the travel agents.

[Misspixietrix]

Excepting the obvious cases of serving army parents etc. I'm genuinely looking forward to correlating all the people frothing over the Teachers' Strike and that 'they are making their child miss out on their child's education'. Alongside those who took their DCs out for two weeks Midterm and didn't miss anything more important .

[Misspixietrix]

Perplexed it's actually the Councils that install the fines not the Schools just in case you weren't sure.

[perplexedpirate]

Fwiw, I 100% support the teachers strike also.
And I do know it's the the council that levies the fines, but the school decides on authorised/unauthorised absences.
I do realise it's more complex than I said in my post.

[CrohnicallyChanging]

delores alas, looks like it isn't mentioned in statutory guidance, only the term 'exceptional circumstances'. The school that I work at lays out what they deem to be 'exceptional circumstances' in their attendance policy- and this gives an example of jobs where holidays are fixed/allocated as being exceptional circumstances. It looks like this is a decision made at school level though.

Do check your school's and county's attendance policies though in case anything more specific is mentioned in there.

seb it is illegal for your DH to work 4 weeks without a break. Working time regulations insist that workers have a day off per week, or 2 per fortnight.

[mummymeister]

Misspixietrix, yes it is the LEA/Councils that fine but only when the head teacher has refused to authorise the absence. so sorry, this is all about the head teacher and what they have as their policy in their school. some heads and schools like Crohnicallys have a strong written policy. at the other end of the scale there are heads who are copping out by saying "not me parents, I have no control, I have to say no" when actually they don't.

[WooWooOwl]

They don't always have to say no, but they will be looked down on from above if they grant authorised access willy nilly without good reason.

Why should they put their professional reputations on the line just so that parents can get cheaper holidays?

They do actually have to justify the decisions they make you know.

[StanleyLambchop]

We used to take term time holidays back in the days when it was allowed. It was blissfully quiet. Then I read my DD's account of her holiday and she had written that she was disappointed as she wanted to make friends on her holiday and there were no other children around. I felt really sorry for her then, we have always gone in holiday time since, the DC have always enjoyed running around with the other kids.

[hunreeeal]

if I chose to remove him from school for what I consider to be a more educational experience, it has nothing to do with anyone else.

It does affect the teacher as they'll be the ones helping them catch up afterwards (leaving them less time for other pupils). Maybe not too much lost time if only one child does it, but if everyone in the class takes a term-time holiday it gets multiplied by 30.

[Stinklebell]

Yes, I agree.

For us it's about when DH and I can both get time off together. DH has time off during a school holiday once since my eldest (now in year 7) started school

I do take the kids away for a few days on my own, DH takes them as well, but whether it's a week camping, a day trip to Thorpe Park or 2 weeks 5 star all inclusive in Barbados, a family holiday, with Mum and Dad is priceless IMO

We're going away during the May half term, due to flights, DH's holiday allowance, etc, we need to take the Friday before. When we booked our holiday, the Friday had been booked as a development day, this has now changed so we will have to take it as unauthorised absence, and risk a fine.

[WooWooOwl]

Even if teachers don't give extra time to helping children catch up, if the child's grades are affected because they have missed out on learning about something they will be tested on, it will have a negative effect on the teacher's grading.

Teachers can already be assessed unfairly if they just happen to have a below average cohort, so it just makes it even more selfish to take children out if school so you can save a few pounds.

There are problems with the state system and the way teachers are assessed that obviously aren't the fault of parents, but if parents choose to use the state system to educate their children, then they have to take the rough with the smooth.

[TheBody]

totally agree op. when ours were little it was the exquisite pleasure of a sun drenched peaceful welsh beach, quiet cafés and farms/parks plus if course the cheaper prices.

think this new policy is ridiculous frankly and disadvantaged those families who perhaps need a break the most.

[lionheart]

I think the thing about private school holidays is a bit of a red herring. My children get off a week before the state schools break up but the prices have already jumped for that time period.

Unless some private schools have very reduced terms.