To wonder why it's deemed acceptable to take children out of school for cheap holidays?

[shrunkenhead]

Am I the only one who thinks it's not on to make your child miss school for the sake of a cheap holiday???

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

where have I said "any child"? I'm saying a blanket no is a bad thing which is what it seems to becoming.

[SuburbanRhonda]

The OP is about any child. I presumed your anecdote was posted to counter the OP, otherwise I can't see the point of it.

It's not a blanket "no". It never has been. But schools have to be careful about what they authorise because (a) they have to justify it to Ofsted and (b) honestly - with some parents, you give an inch and they take a mile. Some parents even believe it used to be a "right" to have ten days off a year

State school rules, before anyone jumps on me

[Tinkerball]

gorionine

I can only speak for my local authority but there is not such an obsession with attendance and figures, Ofsted has no say here. If you want to take your child out of school for any reason a note to the teacher suffices. Fines don't exist. And the education system doesn't grind to a halt.

[BigBoobiedBertha]

The problem with the old system is, as Suburban said, that people assume that they are entitled to 10 days extra holiday rather than it being at the HT discretion. I know at DS2's school they used to get two or three requests for time off every week which was a lot of work for the HT and the office because people always wanted to talk about it, assuming they were unique. The new rules make it easier for the HT to say it is out of their hands which must be a good thing from their point of view.

Those requests have almost entirely dried up now. People don't tend to ask unless there are indeed exceptional circumstances and not just booking a holiday on a whim because it costs a bit less, which has taken the pressure off the head especially as all requests get run passed the governors too.

I was also wondering where the cost saving comes if you take your children out of school for a cheaper holiday but then have to pay for holiday child care instead because you have used up all your holiday allowance from work. If you are saving so much that it is even more than the cost of the child care then perhaps people shouldn't be so entitled and scale back their expectations of what they are going to do on holiday. Why not go in the holidays if you have that much money to throw around?

[Retropear]

Our authority is like Tinkers,things are just the same as they've always been.Lot's of kids go on holiday in term time,no fines.Attendance clearly isn't an issue as said school has just had Ofsted and got good.

[MrsTaraPlumbing]

I want to comment on the cost of childcare in the school holidays.
In my area the savings made on going on holiday in term time are considerably greater than the cost of school holiday childcare.
Depending on the holiday a family could be easily be saving £500-£1,500 per week in the Sept-December period on a budget type holiday.
I expect the savings are greater on "luxury" holidays