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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

444 replies

derxa · 26/04/2016 12:14

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

OP posts:
LowDudgeon · 26/04/2016 19:33

4 of the kids even. I included the partner's son in the 80% Grin

LowDudgeon · 26/04/2016 19:35

in practice people did precisely what they wanted and took as much time off as they fancied (whether their child had generally good attendance the rest of the time or not)

This is where HT discretion should kick in. They know who is taking the piss & deserves to be penalised!

LowDudgeon · 26/04/2016 19:35

bold fail, dammit

MrsMook · 26/04/2016 20:08

The current system is a mess.
I would favour a return to head teacher's discretion. I've recently had a GCSE student miss the field work for her controlled assessment. Knowing the request for holiday would be refused, they didn't consult with the school in advance. Negotiating a less disruptive week in consultation with the school would have had less disruption on a critical piece of work.

I live on the edge of 4 LEAs, one of which has tended to have different holiday dates to the others. I wouldn't work there because being out of sync with my family's schooling several weeks a year significantly reduces my financial benefits of working. Also my time with my family is restricted enough in term time without our holiday time being out of sync.

Pre-family when I was a supply teacher, there was one spring where the holidays were out of sync, so that was 6 weeks of opportunity to work halved and having to sacrifice the opportunity to work in order to have planable free time. Absolute nuisance.

Given that visiting family requires staying away from home for several days, shorter holidays are important to us to be able to visit family. DH can't disappear from his work place for extended time in the summer when the school holidays are synchronised.

The current system is a mess. The Daily Mail sad face routine isn't doing her any favours, however on school dates and holidays, the government is trying to have its cake and eat it and is leaving a crumbling mess for everyone else to live around. It is a valid point that a random jumble of term dates and strict attendance policies does compromise family life.

jellyfrizz · 26/04/2016 20:10

I have known parents who thought nothing of taking their children away for a fortnight when they were in the middle of CAs and a member of my form once had a holiday booked for the week of his first Maths GCSE paper.

Well then let them fail - that's the consequence. It should still be their choice though.

kaitlinktm · 26/04/2016 21:48

jellyfrizz
Well then let them fail - that's the consequence. It should still be their choice though

I would and did - but the powers that be in my school still held me responsible. Nowadays it might well affect my pay too.

Just to be clear - I have no problem with parents choosing to take their children away on holiday during term time, as long as I don't get the blame for the subsequent fallout. It is surprising how many parents were disappointed with their children's performance at GCSE, even though they had taken them out of school at key times during years 10 and 11.

DinosaursRoar · 26/04/2016 21:57

JellyFrizz - except it's not the child's choice, but the parents, and failed GCSEs, even if resat and passed well, will have a negative effect on that child's future prospects.

DontOpenDeadInside · 27/04/2016 08:00

Well I am taking my dds out for our 1st family holiday abroad next month. If I'm fined, I'm fined but even if I am at £360 it's still saved me £700+ than if I went a week later in the holidays. My dds have good attendance and yes I think we deserve a holiday abroad after 11 years of not having one. Dds headmaster has "unofficially" told me they're not bothered as long as they have good attendance so I'm happy.

kaitlinktm · 27/04/2016 08:24

Yes JellyFrizz, failed GCSEs are detrimental to the child - so if they are willing to come at break or lunch to do some catch-up work, I am happy to help them (even though this is my non-contact time too). However, what I am not prepared to do is to use up class time to "catch them up" to the detriment of the other 30 pupils whose parents have not taken them out of school. This seems to be what some children and parents expect me to do.

Also I think it would be unfair if the results of these children impinged unfavourably on my pay and career prospects.

Blu · 27/04/2016 08:28

No school should impose yellow shirts as school uniform. Most unflattering on pale / sallow complexions.

Mosschopz · 27/04/2016 08:36

Don't get the sympathy...she chose to have four kids, they're all in different schools, sooner or later she should have realised the holidays wouldn't match up.

Fine her for those terrible names...

MissMoo22 · 27/04/2016 09:07

Takes the kids on holiday during term term if that's honestly the only time you can afford it but be prepared to pay the fine and have your kids catch up on the work. And don't bloody moan about it to the Daily fucking Mail.

GoblinLittleOwl · 27/04/2016 09:22

Stupid woman.
The child looks as sullen in the sea as she does in the first photograph.

DinosaursRoar · 27/04/2016 09:25

Mosschopz - she didn't have 4 kids, she has 3 but her DP has one with his ex, and quite rightly, she's treated her step-child as one of the family and taking him on holiday with them. They are at 3 different schools because one is at primary, her own older 2 are at one secondary school and the other one - the step child - is in a different secondary school. Even if her step-child was at the same secondary school as her older children, that wouldn't stop the problem as it's the one child in primary that's got the different holiday dates, both secondary schools have the same dates.

Sistersweet · 27/04/2016 10:14

I'm taking my kids out for 2 days for a holiday. My choice, I will no doubt get a fine for the one in a state school. I will pay it and accept that's the consequence of my decision.

tiggytape · 27/04/2016 10:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Worcswoman · 27/04/2016 10:57

I am for a limited agreed amount of holiday in term time. Not yr 11. Kids can catch up. There is a premium on hols in school leave time. Poorer families benefit from hols in term time and other families may want leave for other things such as golden wedding celebrations for parents living at a distance.

Moistly · 27/04/2016 11:00

She should have quietly paid the fine and said no more of it.

Floggingmolly · 27/04/2016 11:00

Of course the silly cow doesn't have a point. All kids get six weeks holiday in the summer.

Original poster
derxa · 27/04/2016 11:01

Well the panel on the matthew wright show support the mum Grin

OP posts:
JayDot500 · 27/04/2016 11:04

I remember my first holiday. Single working mother of mine won a holiday for 4 to Tenerife. Had to be taken in term time. I was in year 6. As much as I will not take my own child out of school for a holiday, (since I can afford the seasonal rates), I know how much that holiday meant to me and my brother. We didn't have another after it for 5 years.

I can't judge this woman.

SaucyJack · 27/04/2016 11:08

A lot of us aren't judging her for taking a holiday JayDot.

We're judging her for thinking wanting a beach holiday in Ibeefa is an exceptional circumstance that should excuse her from having to pay the fine. It isn't, and it doesn't.

She hasn't even had the indecency to bring up a second cousin once removed who had cancer 5 years ago.

They just fancied a holiday.

Summerblaze100 · 27/04/2016 11:24

As many posters have pointed out, a £60 fine is nothing compared to what she'd saved on her holiday. She didn't save anything as she went in Easter holidays (peak time) AND paid a fine.

However, I have and would go on a holiday in term time and have sucked up the cost of the fine because the savings have been way more. Most people do this so I can't see how the government are helping education. Students still aren't there and teachers still have the catch up work to do. The only difference is that the government pockets are a bit fuller.

It's a money making scheme. They don't care about kids education.

mygorgeousmilo · 27/04/2016 11:25

I think that, in moderation, holidays during term time aren't the worst thing, particularly if the child is doing very well and has otherwise perfect attendance. If anyone has sat and looked at the price difference between just after Easter, and the summer holidays - then they may be more sympathetic. What I don't understand is why this mum is up in arms about it?! It's £60 just pay it, you knew it was against the rules, whether you believed it to be fair or not, this was expected - surely? By not going in the summer holidays she probably saved thousands, so be happy with that and pay the bloody fine. It's worth noting, also, that the child had perfect attendance up until this point, so it could be safe to assume that in general this mum takes her child's schooling seriously and isn't irresponsible.

northernshepherdess · 27/04/2016 11:26

A friend of ours has a child in a school who's easter holiday time started after everyone else's finished. Her holiday was £3400 if she had been in a school in line with others but as it started so late it was only £1400. Now that's ridiculous!
I do have another friend who was fined for taking their children to visit his mother in Spain as after his father's death (which he didn't take the children to because he was already dead) his mother had started drinking and had been rushed to hospital with liver failure. She was in a bad way.
The school fined them for taking a holiday even though their own rules stated sickness/weddings and special occasions (muslim celebrations etc) were allowable.
The school felt that because the eldest child had a tan, it was a holiday and not an emergency trip, even though they could prove they were there only to see his mum because it looked like she would not recover.
They obviously went to court but the council staff, head and court clerk had already decided that the fine would stand and advised the magistrates as such. It cost them £810 Sad
I've never been on holiday, I don't even have a passport. But, if I was too take my children, it would not be to a resort type destination like ibiza. It would definitely be to somewhere in the out backs as my fella has worked several seasons abroad. So in that I think she was wrong.
It does grind my gears that parents cannot take their children out of school for a holiday and yet schools can take children on holiday during term time.
It's Orwellian to me. That's why we homeschool.