To think this mother is right. Holiday in term time.

[derxa]

Normally I think children should not be taken out of school for holidays but this mother may have a point.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3559089/Mother-four-fined-60-truancy-taking-youngest-daughter-term-time-holiday-Government-free-meant-children-s-Easter-breaks-different-times.html

Good sad face as well

Slippery slope their Chili.

Headteachers have objected, but at the minute I think they are a bit more tied up with curriculum change, acadmisation etc etc. Some parents taking their kids on holiday when they are not supposed to and getting fined will be pretty low down on their list of things to be lobbying the DofE about.

The whole concept of school holidays needs a bit of a rethink, imo.

Exactly Tiggy, All are being effected because a small yet significant majority couldn't be trusted and took up far too much time.

Slippery slope their Chili.

what slippery slope? you mean parents are going to have to take responsibility for their children's education? isn't that what the government wants?

The Head Teacher's union supported the current system we have.

of course. Perhaps they do deserve a little yelling at then. but the big target should be the government.

when parents didn't bother avoiding GCSE or test dates

a few fails will fix that. Why should my family be punished for this?

in any case, no doubt there is pisstaking. And of course head teachers support it because it is less work for them this way. But shouldn't dealing with pisstaking by some be part of the job? Draconian fines are the best answer? Seems to have created a poisonous relationship with parents.

GraysAnalogy re - "The 'funny face' is because you brought up a completely different issue." I odn; tthink I did.

You said you were not bothered about holidays but lots of people are. They do boring or dull or exhausting jobs and they want to get away from it all. Some (not me) may not be able to go abroad unless they go in term time. I don't resent people doing that at all.

Re "Your money therefore your human right to spend it on what you wish." I did not say it did, I said I think people should be allowed to go on holiday with their kids. The article in the Opening post was a women whose kids were at different schools and because of the crazy way schools can now choose their own hols she could not go on holiday with her kids together.

"But that doesn't mean having a bottle of wine is a human right. Get my meaning?" I totally get your meaning, I am just not agreeing we are talking about the same thing, which is fine. You've brought in inflatable dinosaurs and wine. I am talking about families wanting a nice holiday together and my not objecting to it.

lurked101 was that 'Nuremburg precedent' to me? I was only joking. I was meaning that the school is administering the system which is causing issues for families. I was not meaning to be offensive.

My DCs suffered no ill-effects from having taken time out of school. In the '80s and '90s, before the non-attendance Gestapo existed, absence was authorised at the HT's discretion.

I took my DCs out of school on several occasions.

On one occasion, my parents turned up unexpectedly for a visit while DS, then aged 7, was at school. We decided to have a day trip to the seaside with DD (age 3) but my parents wanted to just say hello to DS, so we stopped at school on the way. The headmistress pretty much insisted that I take DS with us! She said that a day out with his grandparents is just as educational as a day at school, bless her!

can you provide evidence of that ?

I thought it changed because attendance became increasing linked with OFSTED requirements - Heads tended to permit 10 days per year IF attendance was goood

Chilli your sliperry slope was then stating "what next inspectors coming round" etc etc.

As previously stated there were a small but significant minority doing all of what tiggy says. It left the decision to the head, who faced endless debates with parents about allowing it or not. This led to it being taken out of the head's hands.

No, I don't think having to explain to parents why you approved Johnny's families holiday but not Jenny's is part of the job, or spending a disproportionate amount of time arguing about.

Creating a poisonous relationship with parents? Heads have to manage the school so its best for every stakeholder involved, kids, parents, teachers, DofE etc etc. Its a lot of people to keep happy, I think there are far more important things to do for a head than placating parents who want exceptions for their decisions all the time.

Loving the sad faces :)

In my last school we gave out a cup for best weekly attendance. Madness!

Chilli as I have said TWICE now I haven't applied my post to schools stopping people from going on holiday so I'm not sure why you're making the comment about me not wanting to live in a world where people can go on holiday I'm saying I find the attitude that a holiday is a human right odd, instead of viewing it as a luxury. I've said nothing about people going on holiday during term time. It was me musing about sociological attitudes nothing more. How some people seem to think holidays are the be all and end all and get very upset at the thought of not having one.

I really do feel like I'm talking to a brick wall. I am NOT saying that you haven't or shouldn't have the right to take a holiday during term time. I'm questioning attitudes, that I have observed in RL not on this thread, were people seem to think they're behind denied a life giving thing by not being able to go on holiday. I didn't apply my thoughts to the school issue because it isn't relevant to what I was thinking.

I'm saying I find the attitude that a holiday is a human right

It isn't a human right. but it's also not something the government should habitually stand in the way of. We should better ask should the government have the right to make holidays more difficult. it already is barely affordable for a lot of families.

It would be unfortunate to return to a situation of routine term time holidays, which over the course of an education could put a child almost half a year behind their peers

you've got to wary of the language here. could could mean anything. is it likely? 1 in a million? What does could mean?

The real problem is holiday pricing and we would urge the government to work with the holiday industry to resolve the outrageous differences in price.

the real problem is how much BS is in that statement. no, holiday companies are not the problem. they are responding to supply and demand.

That's the quote from the NAHT not my words

i know.

Their proposal for lowering holiday costs was I believe to stagger school holiday dates from area to area to drive down prices by making the holiday time less predictable. The government allows that to happen but in practice it doesn't vary that much.

that might if it actually varies.

Therefore if the holiday dates are staggered by school or even by region it could still cause more problems than it solves.

well, yes, don't have different dates in K&C and Westminster. And no doubt it will create problems for some families. But I think if done by region it could be workable.

Not read all thread so possibly off topic now but in my small town every primary and secondary seems to have different dates. Our kids have only just got back after Easter and finish for summer on 10th July which is sooooo early for a state primary school. Schools are making it difficult for families - Easter is way cheaper than summer and staggering Easter like this makes abroad holidays only a thing for the well off in that case.

To be fair - our school head still authorises holidays upto two weeks a year- has done for years and insists he will continue to do so. Ofsted were in at Xmas and it hasn't changed a thing and he's still authorising so surely it can be possible. The linked secondary still authorises too and neither are academies or private