Does it really do any harm??

[fruitandbarley]

Holidays in school time. I'm 40, my parents took me out of school for a week once a year to go on holiday.
I've done ok for myself, don't believe it's affected me in any way.
So AIBU to ask if it's really such a big deal. ( So long as it's not a silly amount of time).
Disclaimer:- I've had wine, any spelling mistakes are due to that and not a week camping in Cornwall when I was 8).

new different person with a different way of teaching and a different view of life coming to teach my kids for two weeks a year

Nope, they wouldn't be doing any teaching, just supervising the colouring in. I don't mean "imagine if a substitute teacher took the class for a fortnight".I mean "imagine if the teacher took a holiday and no teaching at all would take place in those two weeks".

But that would be fine, because missing two weeks of school isn't a big deal, right?

Ah yes I see what you mean now Midnite , DS will be going back into the same mixed class as this year so seating arrangements do not change and he allegedly knows where everything is

Things regularly change. I often change my systems every year, because I have learnt more every single year when I teach, and from seeing how others teach, and from doing professional development. My classroom has never looked the same from one year to the next, even if I do have many of the same students.

When I was about 8 me and my siblings missed out on about eight weeks due to repeated illnesses (whooping cough and German measles I think) and I really did miss out on long division. I arrived back and everyone else was doing arcane calculations that meant nothing to me. To this day I don't understand how they did it (I just remember long rows of numbers), but it hasn't held me back. I have no problems with numeracy and got a top grade in my O level (because I am that old), I worked in finance for many years and have an MSc.

And before anyone says it was different back then my 21 yo DS has a close friend who missed years of secondary education due to ill health. He is now medically qualified and holds a responsible job in the NHS.

So yes, I think restrictions on taking children out of school for a fortnights holiday are ridiculous and excessive.

Tigermoll - I'd be fine with that, a new different person with a different way of teaching and a different view of life coming to teach my kids for two weeks a year? Awesome!

It wouldn't be a new person teaching. It would be no person teaching.

"he is working 70+ hours a week already and some idiot parents have had their child away (y9) for 10 days, resulting in my colleague spending an hour a day helping him catch up. "

Sorry for my ignorance, but why isn't the work given to the parents so that they can go through it with the child. They chose to take the time off so why shouldn't they make up for it.
And serious question, what would happen if the teacher refused to do this extra work?

I am torn on this.
I do think it teaches a disrespectful attitude to kids.
1 week of school you can miss a lot and some parents won't put in the effort to ensure the kids catch up.
It isn't for the school to chase the children nor parents.

Ds will be missing a few days of school next year due to going on holiday. His severe sn means holidays during school holidays are too busy for him and because of his complex needs it is difficult to find holidays that work for him. It won't effect any other children because he has his own curriculum in special school. I think his school will probably authorise it but if they don't we will still go.

There's no way any sort of regulation would make prices during holidays decrease, I never understand what people are really suggesting when they say this.

Prices are set by balancing supply and demand. If the holiday prices were so high people couldn't / wouldn't pay them, demand would fall and companies wouldn't charge them. They clearly can charge the prices (demand is high, supply is fixed/low) as many holidays sell out. If they were forced to standardise the price somehow, they would have to ensure total year income was still achieved and it would be very unlikely to reduce holiday prices.

I don't take DC out during term time, mainly because DH and I both work so to take time out during term time makes spreading holidays out to cover school holidays even harder than it is already.

The only realistic possible solution I can see is to stagger holiday dates around the country to lessen/flatten out the peaks. This can be very problematic if you live in the border of two areas though and have DC in different schools, you might be trying to cover over even more weeks off school over the year which makes working even harder. But I still think this would be a more realistic goal than 'make holiday companies reduce prices'.

If it's just a few weeks, I think it has no detrimental effect. In fact, it may well be positively beneficial. That's my experience anyway.

We took our DCs out of school on many occasions. When DS was 8 he "missed" about 3 months of school due to us relocating abroad and to our own holidays. When we were back in the UK, we took 2 weeks in June when DS was 15 and DD 11. Then in the following 3 years we took 3 weeks in July and 2 weeks in December.

Both DCs went on to good universities and both achieved 2:1 honours degrees. So, there is absolutely no evidence that either child was detrimentally affected by having taken term-time holidays.

I do think there is a balance to be had.
I read on here about children who are refused a day off for a relatives funeral or wedding, or the chance to visit a dying grandparent. That's clearly bonkers and nobody should be penalised for that.

However cannot help but think of work colleague who chose to take his 3 DCs out for 3 weeks for a repeat trip to Disney in September.One was in S1 and another was DSs age at the time so 8. We are in Scotland so no fines . He was a contractor too so its not like he could not afford peak season. His argument was that the weather was just right and the queues a lot shorter at that time of year.

I think a week off in primary particularly if you pick towards the end of summer term is not going to harm your DCs education. But a fortnight in the middle or indeed even a week, well fine go for it but do not expect the teacher to bridge the gap for you.

Gwenhwyfar: Given by whom? The teacher? Two weeks of work for a primary school teacher would take hours to put together as a clear sequence with modelled examples, instructions and resources. Why should a teacher spend their time like this?

I was once asked by head teacher to keep my ds off school during a planned ofstead inspection.

He was later diagnosed aspergers. I don't think they could cope without a diagnosis.

She didn't dare try to refuse me the odd couple of times I requested a week off for him after that.

We took our kids out of primary for 3 months for a sabbatical. I was supposed to home school, but well, we didn't so much. We had dodgy wifi, so all the on-line work went out the window. Fighting with them to write for me wasn't fun at all.

We did tour all around Italy and take Italian lessons. They read dozens of books (thanks in large part to dodgy wifi). I made them study an opera and attend one with me, and now they hate opera (or maybe all non-musical teenage boys hate opera?)

My kids entered the new school year just fine. They didn't even notice the missed months. My eldest did miss the primary lesson on Victorian England - but he seems to have caught up in secondary. We could have sorted that with a book if we'd bothered.

Missing a week of primary is no problem. When DS is even ill during secondary, it creates a cascade of difficulty in terms of assessments and missed learning. It is harder to catch him up - mostly because neither he or his school keep me in the loop.

We took out son out of school for 3 months when he was nearly 8.

Did him no harm at all.

rookiemere pretty much has it spot on. A week shouldn't be a big deal (although I would do the work of catching my DS and DD up myself not expect their teachers to do any extra). Of course kids should go to important family events but it should be balanced - it's clearly going to cause a massive hassle in the classroom if every kid is missing two weeks here and there and aren't being caught up at home on the missed work.

I do think people forget that their child isn't the only one in the classroom. Imagine trying to organise 30 kids who have all missed different huge chunks of work and need catching up on it. That's a huge amount of extra work for the teacher and not at all the same as a few kids missing a day here or there while off sick.

Different LA's have different rules, so my friends LA they can have a week off. In ours you can't. But realistically the fine compared to holiday prices, I'd take the fine.

On the holidays are too expensive in holiday time front.

In real terms flights are a lot cheaper than they were say 20 years ago, and people have a lot more options to search for alternatives using the internet. If you have the ability to book far in advance as soon as flights come out and you're confident on the web to search around, then there is much less difference between school holiday and non peak prices.

If you expect to rock up in May and book yourself a summer holiday in August at a good price, then not so much. Also in a large part nothing to do with school holiday dates - people are staying away from countries where they perceive there is a terrorist threat, therefore there is a lot more demand for so called safe places such as Majorca, Portugal or the Canaries.

In defence of it, holidays are life experience, they can learn a lot.

My kids missed the first 4 years of school. They had lots of fun and learned what they wanted to learn. When the first one started school I was given a stern talking to by the head, dire warnings of the support that would be needed. At the end of the summer term before she started school in the September I was asked to take her in for 3 days so she could be assessed. Special support was never mentioned again. She was started in a middle group and within the half term she was moved to the top table.

Think of all the stuff she missed in those 4 years and it didn't make a jot of difference to her.

In defence of it, holidays are life experience, they can learn a lot.

Very much depends on what type of holiday.

I would do the work of catching my DS and DD up myself not expect their teachers to do any extra).

Good to hear. How would you know what they had missed?

Sorry for my ignorance, but why isn't the work given to the parents so that they can go through it with the child. They chose to take the time off so why shouldn't they make up for it.

Very few parents would actually do this. They expect the teacher to do it.

And serious question, what would happen if the teacher refused to do this extra work?

I flat out refuse to 'put together some worksheets' to send with children who go on holidays. They never get used for anything more than playing hangman on the back on the plane. My boss more than supports all of us in this, and has no hesitation in laughing in the face of any parent who expects the teacher to do a load of extra work to facilitate them going and laying on a beach in cheap season.

I think it depends on what time of the year you take it. If it is close to the end of term, then I'd say take the holiday and have a good time. I'm sick and tired in the last two weeks of school hearing about DVDs being watched, whilst being told how important being in school is. I have DVDs at home.

I wouldn't do it because I want to send the message to my son that his education is a massive privilege and is not something he can pick and choose as is convenient to him/us. There are children around the world who would love to have the opportunities he has and I don't want him to take that for granted. I'm not going to ram that message down his throat, but I do think that taking time off for cheaper holidays undermines it somewhat.

I also don't want to send the message to his teachers that I don't value their time and effort, because I do. I don't want to make extra work for them or disadvantage any of his classmates.

I suppose it depends on how well smart your dc is and what level they were at.

I could never take my dd out at term time because she is dyslexic and it would take forever for her to catch up if we had a fortnight in Majorca during term time.

At primary the odd day here and there is fine but I would dream on it doing it at secondary.