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AIBU?

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Original poster

Follow up on last post ref Head/Holidays/Fining System etc

131 replies

twinsplus1sfb · 19/04/2015 11:11

Thanks for all your comments. My experience has obviously fired up a lot of feeling out there. I have read all your points with interest, and I have calmed down. I realise the head had no option to say what she did. I was not suggesting she give me special treatment, merely trying to find another way of her getting her SATS figures. I dont mind if the kids don't do them, what I do mind is that she tells me it will affect the rest of their school career. As I think that is just scaremongering.
I do feel the system has a lot to answer for - and it is the heads and the teachers that feel the brunt of a bad system - Education secretary please note - this system you have at the moment is causing friction. Surely there must be a more creative way to ensure everybody can go on holiday to have quality time with their children/learn about different cultures etc etc without having to pay double. Lay person suggestions: Different authorities stagger their holidays? Each child is allowed 5 days authorised leave per year? Lets make this a positive post and get creative and make suggestions to change the system we have in place at the moment.

OP posts:
Cluesue · 19/04/2015 17:00

To be honest I don't think the schools are the problem,I think the holiday companies,caravan owner etc camp sites you name it should be regulated and charge same prices all year not hike them up at busy periods.
But I would like the main summer holidays to be in May instead of august as that seems to be when we have the best weather

Sirzy · 19/04/2015 17:09

Prices change due to supply and demand though. For a chunk of the year a lot of holiday companies make a loss on holidays but know at peak times things will balance out.

That said not all companies do increase things a lot. We have just booked a 2016 holiday and the cost with p and O for a week in august is only slightly more than a similar holiday in off peak summer with them

NickiFury · 19/04/2015 17:17

I think it's true of you book well in advance then yes the prices can often be similar but I have found that tends to be the more expensive holidays, happy to be corrected on that though.

Sirzy · 19/04/2015 17:22

I don't know nicki, I agree on booking in advance but I don't think it's only for expensive holidays. We have booked for 5 nights in wales last week of the summer hols and paid under £250 for the caravan (could have been cheaper but we can't book the cheapest as need pet free)

NickiFury · 19/04/2015 17:26

That's very good for August. I had pretty much given up even bothering to look. I was looking at centre parcs for half term in October, was over £1100 for five days Mon - Fri. The week before it was just over £400. It's outrageous really.

Sirzy · 19/04/2015 17:28

I think centre parks are amongst the worst for bumping prices up. I would love to take DS there but when it costs more than a week abroad it seems daft.

People are obviously mad enough to pay must pay it though for them to Keep doing it

muminhants · 19/04/2015 18:23

There are lots of mums from overseas on MN. What do you think about this. Are term-time holidays allowed in other countries?

PHANTOMnamechanger · 19/04/2015 18:51

the only 3 families in our circle of friends/DC classmates who have been allowed authorised holidays in term time in recent years are

family with father on leave from armed services
family needing to make arrangements for/attend funeral abroad
family where dad is a senior police officer, and in olympics year all leave was cancelled for several months either side of the event

all these I would class as exceptional circumstances

DD (15) also has a friend who was "ill" the last week before Feb half term, but had told friends she was off to America for 2 weeks. Parents did not apply for consent as they knew they would not get it, so just lied instead. I think that is dreadful.

PHANTOMnamechanger · 19/04/2015 18:53

I think centre parks are amongst the worst for bumping prices up. I would love to take DS there but when it costs more than a week abroad it seems daft.

several of our friends go to the centreparcs in Holland as it is cheaper than the UK, even with the travel! We are in kent though, so it's easy done via the tunnel.

NickiFury · 19/04/2015 18:57

muminhants I know a few mums from the US, who can't get their heads round us following this rule. They insist they never would and don't.

piddlemakesmegiggle · 19/04/2015 19:19

We live in a coastal holiday resort and most parents are employed in some way in the holiday industry. It is impossible for them to go on holiday during the school breaks as it's their busiest times. It has always been allowed and accepted that for the children to have a break it has to be taken in term time until this year, when fines per child per parent have been introduced. There has to be some leeway but it appears not in our location. More of a 'well if we can't take time off in term time, why should you?' attitude.

Elisheva · 19/04/2015 19:42

I never went on holiday abroad as a child, (unless you count the Isle of Wight Smile), the first time I went on a plane was on honeymoon.
Many, many families cannot afford to go on holiday term time or otherwise so to dress it up as part of a broader education, cultural experience that every child should have blah blah, and then to blame the schools for not allowing it is ridiculous. You want to go on a nice holiday, fine. You want to do it as cheaply as possible, fine. But be honest about it.

NickiFury · 19/04/2015 19:46

Can it not be ALL those things? Confused A cultural experience that's great for a child to have as well as a nice holiday being done as cheaply as possible. Does one exclude the other?

Elisheva · 19/04/2015 19:54

No, my point is that the real reason most people want a term time holiday is because it is cheap. However, as they don't want to admit this they come up with all sorts of other excuses.

NickiFury · 19/04/2015 20:01

No, MY real reason is have two dc with ASD who for various reasons do better when places are quieter in term time.

Although I see no problem whatsoever in admitting that you wish to take a term time holiday because it's cheaper and you could not otherwise afford one.

Stanky · 19/04/2015 20:03

Another reason is that the entire parent work force can not get time off work during the school holidays. dh and I both work, and it is impossible for us to book off the same weeks during the school holidays. We don't go on holiday any more, we just do days out when we can.

Elisheva · 19/04/2015 20:06

I don't have a problem with people admitting they want a cheaper holiday - I think it would make the whole debate far more straightforward!

NickiFury · 19/04/2015 20:10

But that's my point, you said people shouldn't "dress it up". Why not? Why can't people justify it by saying it's culturally valuable and/or good for family bonding? It's usually true. If we weren't all made to feel so guilty for wanting those things and held under threats of fines etc we wouldn't need or bother to offer those explanations would we?

Elisheva · 19/04/2015 20:18

Because it is just as culturally valuable and good for family bonding as a holiday during holiday time. So those are not valid reasons to take a holiday during term time.

NickiFury · 19/04/2015 20:22

They are if you can't otherwise afford one.

Heels99 · 19/04/2015 20:23

But op you can take your children out, it will just not be authorized. I take UNauthorised absence every year for my children. Its not a problem, I don't need permission from school. Why do other people feel they need to reinvent the system, just go on holiday without permission its not a big deal.

NickiFury · 19/04/2015 20:24

Agree Heels.

Have you ever been fined?

Elisheva · 19/04/2015 20:25

If you can't afford a holiday then you don't take one, as is the case for hundreds of families. A holiday abroad is not a right. This year we are going to the Isle of Wight, last year we went to Devon, next year we might get adventurous and go to Wales.

teacherwith2kids · 19/04/2015 20:28

"culturally valuable and good for family bonding"

The point is that a wet week in February half term, in an ill-built shack, exploring Roman remains in Northumberland is likely to be more culturally valuable and MUCH better for family bonding (believe me, I've been there, lots ... poor as church mice growing up, we had some extraordinarily bonding holidays, usually through being in insanely small, and probably leaking, accommodation in very wet and cold weather) than the week in somewhere beachy and warm that most people want to request in term time.

Heels99 · 19/04/2015 20:29

Never been fined. Our head used to authorise all hols nobody was ever refused. Since law change she refuses all hols but fines nobody. I never request aauthorised hols I send a note sayin takin kids out for unauthorized absence. I don't have any exceptional circumstances. I take them out 4 days per year. But not during sats!