To take kids out of school in term time?

[AtSea1979]

I know this has probably been done to death but couldn't find it.
2 DC, yr 1 & 5.
Want to take them out for a week in November, offer came up for holiday, not exceptional circumstance. Not available in half term.

[LaBelleDameSansPatience]

Depends where they are going ... it could be an amazing educational experience of another culture ... or a week eating chips in Benidorm.

[AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore]

I took both dcs out of school for a week this last school year (yrR and yr3) for a seaside holiday. It was their first holiday ever, after I separated from their dad and we left an abusive situation, and they'd had a rough year. Ds1 is disabled and cannot cope with the larger crowds of people during term breaks, so we went when it was going to be less crowded. I don't regret it for an instant and will most likely do it again in future.

[SuburbanRhonda]

OP, be aware that if your DC's school does any kind of show or production for Christmas (more likely for the Yr1 child, I'd say), they may well get left out of having a part because they won't be there for rehearsals.

It may not be important to you but it happened in one of my schools and the child was heartbroken.

Oh and please don't ask them to collude in a lie. It shouldn't have to be said how wrong that is. Lie yourself by all means, but don't ask them to.

[Andrewofgg]

I suppose you won't mind if one of the teachers is off for the following week because an offer came up for a family holiday which was too good to miss?

YABU. Being at school is their job and making them go is part of yours.

[KrisBH]

The state do not provide a 'free education'. They are not an independent body with their own income who bestow upon us the gift of public services. The government is a representative body of our peers (supposedly) democratically elected to serve the public. We as a state have decided to pay collectively through taxation to educate all of our children. I agree with branleuse, there has to be some parental autonomy here. Obviously if your children are underachieving Atsea, then don't do it. If they're doing fine and reaching their relative milestones, then go for it. As much respect as I have for our education system and the dedicated teachers who work in it, I doubt that one week off primary school will cause your children to miss some never to be repeated knowledge that will have a detrimental impact on their overasll educational journey. I do however take the point about it being unfair on the school/individual teachers if you then expect them to bring your kids up to speed, this should be something you and your oh take on board, if required.

[morethanpotatoprints]

I don't agree that the dc will lose much education in a week if any at all and also agree that holidays provide the opportunity to learn far more than they would at school, but rules are rules.
I don't like the rules neither so I don't sign up to them, we go on holiday when we like and do what we like when we like.
School isn't all that imo and ime, but if everybody took kids out, the system to which you subscribe would tumble.

[aneekname]

In 30+ years of teaching, with one exception, all the students whose parents took them out of school in term time underachieved. Most of them were doing so before they took them out. All, without exception did not hand in homework on time/ at all. All, without exception, were poor in completing class work.

I don't believe you…

Why would I tell a lie? This has been my experience.

[Goldmandra]

Why would I tell a lie?

I don't think you're lying. I think you are misinterpreting what happened.

[SuburbanRhonda]

morethan, as you feel so strongly that school "isn't all that" do you HE your children?

[appealtakingovermylife]

As a family with 2 dc, 3yr old dd and 11 yr old ds, we had the opportunity of a free holiday with relatives in the 3rd week in September, next month.
My ds starts his new secondary school at the beginning of September, he also has aspergers, there is no way I could justify doing it ( not even considering the fine) as he would have missed way too much then been very unsettled upon return.
Dd is at preschool so it wouldn't have been an issue.
I had to decline the offer, my ds would have suffered the consequences for longer than the duration of the holiday and it wasn't worth the upset to him.
Bearing in mind this holiday is out of our reach, I've no regrets- yet!

[Glastokitty]

I'm in Oz where they are much more laid back about this and it doesn't seem to do anyone any harm. In fact my son's teacher got married last year and had a month long honeymoon in term time! We took a long weekend recently and explained to the teacher our son would be missing Monday and maybe Tuesday and the teacher gave us camping tips and said he wished he could come too. Oh, and my sons education hasn't suffered, he's in the Accelerated learning programme.

[aneekname]

• Why would I tell a lie?
  
  I don't think you're lying. I think you are misinterpreting what happened.*
  
  I don't see any misinterpretation in what I wrote: they were my observations of the state of affairs. I have not drawn any conclusions because that would be interpreting.

[curiousgeorgie]

Do it. My DD is in a nursery attached to a school and I'm taking her out for 2 weeks at the end of September.

I'll probably do the same in 2/3 years time as well, we like Florida and going during school holidays sounds like hell to me. Double the price, triple the people, ten times the queues. No thanks...

[Kytti]

I love the way all these people saying it's tantamount to neglect have really bought into the state's propaganda. The state does not own your children, though you'd think they did. Free education is a wonderful thing and should be cherished, but if you want to take your child out of school for one week, it will not do them any harm.

I could rant for hours about how the UK is happily accepting state-run everything. School is mandatory else you'll be fined, sending children as young as two to full-time nurseries is 'normal', school dinners are 'better' than food in the home. Why don't you lot just hand over your babies at birth and go back to your slave masters - sorry - I mean chosen jobs?

It's a holiday FFS.

[KrisBH]

Yes! What kytti said.

[MrsItsNoworNotatAll]

If you're prepared to pay the fine then go. I've taken the dd's out in term time but can't do it now as I work in a school myself. It didn't harm their education one bit. It was the last week of the school term and all they missed was watching dvds all week.

And what Kytti said.

[SuburbanRhonda]

The likely reason your son's teacher was allowed a month off is that her role can be covered by a supply teacher, in the same way as if she were ill.

Your child cannot nominate someone else to do their learning for them while they are out of school in term-time.

[SuburbanRhonda]

kytti, I've read some melodramatic statements on countless threads on this subject, but yours are in a class of their own.

Takes me back to my uni days and "Class War".

[ApplebyMennym]

I wouldn't do it myself, but can't bring myself to get worked up about others who do.

[Noodledoodledoo]

On the saying your ill option - take care as children are rubbish at playing this game.

Towards the end of term one of my students was noted on the register as having chicken pox and wouldn't be back until September - two weeks. I accepted what was on the register no questions.

During those two weeks we had a catch up session of injection - and some of his friends were moaning about having to have an injection and one's comment was well X had to have extras to go to Tunisia - which they all discussed never going anywhere where they needed jabs. One then said - well I hope he is enjoying the sun at the moment to make it worthwhile and discussed him missing school. Quite openly - including asking me about jabs for holidays. So I wasn't earwigging.

The Head of Year followed it up and its pretty easy to do to get an idea of if they are lying or not.

As other teachers have said - its up to you - you know the current rules, just don't ask the teacher to spend extra time catching up on work with your children.

[fuzzpig]

I'm torn on this one.

I am tempted to do it in the future because we have a very low budget and the savings could make a big difference - although the £240 fine may well end up eating that up anyway.

I would never do it for a seaside type holiday but would consider it for the trips we really want to do - most holidays we are dreaming about are based around specific places we want to see (eg just got back from a long-dreamed-of trip to bletchley park, and are considering Amsterdam for Van Gogh obsessed DD, and the titanic stuff in Belfast - both things she has learned in school) and would be really enriching experiences.

But when it came down to it I wouldn't have the guts, I think. If money were no object, and the fine would only be a small percentage of any saving for an expensive holiday, then maybe...

[ChickenMe]

I would do it if I was unable to afford an alternative. Going on holiday is rewarding and is important family time. I fondly remember all the family holidays I went on. Two of them were in term time (we didn't have much money and it was the first time we went abroad, 1985.) I have common sense and wouldn't take kids out of school at an inappropriate times.
The government has become a bit of a nanny state. When it suits them at least. They only pick on people who actually give a sh*t. The ruling isn't going to suddenly make someone who doesn't care about their child's education care about it. The people who make these rules live in a bubble.
Primary school takes itself too seriously these days IMO. Have you seen the amount of homework they get?! In my day it was spellings and times tables and I still managed to go to uni (in the 90s when not everyone "had" to go) and get a good job.
I think that it would be wise to realise that preventing normal people from making decisions about their children is not going to make a blind bit of difference to the underclass minority who couldn't care less either way. It's like the alleged lunch box inspections. Do they really happen or is it a DM invention?

[JustAShopGirl]

We have -when DDs were in primary school, we were not fined - but the feeling about the rules was a bit more lax a couple of years ago.

We took them out for a week added to the October break, (so 2 weeks holiday) to the US for the Haloween/pre-Christmassy stuff with family from Scotland (who got 2 weeks holiday). It was an absolute blast.

School is important, we support their learning at home - and caught them up on the work they missed. The kids fully understood what we were doing was not ideal, that they would miss school, that school is still non-negotiable in terms of attendance.

They understood that it was we parents that were taking the decision - it was not their fault or problem that they were missing school, that sometimes real life gets in the way, that sometimes things are more important to some people than others, that we chose to break the rules on this one occasion for financial, weather and family reasons, that there may be penalties, and they would need to work hard to catch up with the work that they missed.

And everything was fine...

[Andrewofgg]

kytti and others making excuses about wjlhy they do or would do this:

Have you read the posts which point out that getting your DCs up to speed impacts on other pupils?

Going to school is your children's job and making them go is part of yours.