To think children shouldn't be taken out of school for holidays?

[MidiMitch]

Just that really. An article today says four million school days a year are being lost by parents removing children for holidays. I am a teacher so probably rather biased on this but I think it's dreadful that children are taken out of school because of a cheap holiday. I definitely think that more needs to be done to stop the hiking up of prices in holiday time but I don't think the answer is to disrupt a child's education.

We have taken our eldest DD out of school for a holiday. She learned more of the French language whilst we were in Paris for a week than she did for the whole school year. The school also authorised this absence.

I really don’t think it’s Just about cheap holidays

It’s about Affordsble holidays

• about family life and a full time working culture that pushes working parents to burnout

So fed up heard the defeatest attitudes in this country

Of course something can be done !!!!!
Something must be done

My partner and I both work in well paid jobs and couldn’t even Consider a trip to centre Parcs during school holidays

We haven’t had a proper sun holiday in seven years

We are both totally tied into the school Callander with school kids

In other countries in Europe the school holidays vary from District to District . Thus avoiding the enormous demand for holiday accommodation eg for Easter week

I’m also strongly in favour of schools being more flexible too

Why shouldn’t families be able to travel homevto Ireland or India for important family events

Being a working parent in this country is increasingly difficult

More needs to be done to support families

I teach and it really doesn't bother me - especially for primary school. Two weeks for an average child is fine so long as parents don't expect teachers to plan and Mark work for them.

I had 1-2 weeks away from school every year. Dad had shut down at his work when we were growing up - only time they could have time off in one go and it was the middle of June. All three of us children have all done well at school, for degrees and working in professional jobs. None of us were affected by missing time from school growing up.

I think there is a huge benefit to families to have a week or two away from the pressures of school and work together. Even if it is just in a beach or a theme park.

I wish our children a fabulous holiday when they tell us they're off.

For some families it can be a decision of termtime holiday or no holiday at all. I priced up our family holiday to Gran Canaria that we took in August, to go in termtime and it would have saved £1,300. Am in a situation where my two have GCSE's & A Levels, so cannot take them out of school, but if they were younger I would consider it.

I don't think schools should be under such pressure and so academically focused/driven that a child taking a week or two out of the school year should cause them additional stress or put jobs on the line.

It's perfectly feasible that a child could be off for that long because of illness or injury.

It's the system that's broken.

and how do you suggest this happens? the only logical way this can happen is to spread the demand and allow schools to set their own holiday dates - therefore there would not be a glut of people wanting to go away over August

Why doesn't this happen already? Or are most of the children still involved in helping their parents bring in the harvest over the summer?

We do it now and again, only 1 or 2 days. My lot are never off sick their attendance currently is 100% so those 2 days will make it 98.9% I am confident that there will be no long lasting impact on their education. I can guarantee that the holiday will make memories that will last a lifetime, not so sure about those two days of school.

the education system (and society!) has changed massively in the last 5 years, let alone a decade or more...

Yes. Children are under more stress and pressure in school and are being tested increasingly so. It's not a good thing in that sense. Especially for primary.

I wouldn't advocate taking children out of school when they are in KS4/5 or probably not y9 either. But below that I really can't get worked up about it.

so its more important to go on holiday than to educate your children

Because my childrens main and most important education only happens during the 5 day period we actually manage to get off together as a family?

Or is it that education lasts all year in everything you experience so taking 5 days together as a family shows my dc that time together as a family makes everyone happy and could potentially inspire children and in my case help heal wounds caused by seeing so little of my dh that we were considering splitting?

I think there is a huge benefit to families to have a week or two away from the pressures of school and work together. Even if it is just in a beach or a theme park.

This. And for some families doing it out of holiday time is the only way it's affordable.

Even basic accommodation, UK days out, parking costs etc go up in the holidays.

I’m a teacher and I think it’s fine to be honest, assuming good overall attendance and not in an examination year.

How many school days are lost with teachers incessantly on strike?

It adds stress to teachers, as our jobs rely on getting so many children to a certain place by the end of the year. Trying to catch children up that have missed lesson time is tricky, especially when any TA you may have is usually used for interventions or behavioural support in the classroom. I've had to use my TA before to sit with children doing assessments, who missed them due to being on holiday. How is that a good use of that TA's time?

YABU. I don’t care about term time holidays in primary education. We took five days once. It was authorised due to the utterly awful experience my children had been through and they needed to get away. We hadn’t been able to go during school holidays for a year because of unpredictable court dates.

It’s not about having a jolly sometimes but a complete break away from specific environments for mental health purposes. Two head teachers agreed and said yes.

I think there are plenty of complex reasons why children might need to absent like that and I’m surprised as a teacher you lack the empathy to be able to see this considering the sensitive child protection information and family backgrounds you will be privy to.

I would (and will) take ds out for a week in primary.

What damage is 1 week going to do seriously?

I just had this conversation with my exh he wants to take oir son out of kindy for an extra week of the 2 week July holidays to see family in the UK (we live in Australia but are both British) I felt it was wrong but agreed after talking to other parents.

It depends whether you see teaching as purely informative or not Sooz

Never let your schooling interfere with your education.

Provided that the child otherwise has a good attendance record, I think it’s disgraceful the state tries to curtail parents’ freedom to make this decision. Obviously it’s different if child is doing GCSEs or something but for primary school it’s fine. Life can be hard enough for families without pricing them out of an annual holiday because of the nanny state.

I will add that teachers would never be allowed to take 2 weeks off mid-term; parents would be outraged! (I know, we knew the holiday thing before we became teachers, but parents know the holiday thing before they become parents!)

Family holidays can be important formation experiences for children.

Couldn't agree with this more. I have wonderful memories of holidays in September down on the coast, the bullying hellhole that was school not so much. It made little difference to my education in the long run, but the experiences on holiday and the memories from them are very important to me. More important than a few weeks of the curriculum.

Op is just jealous because teachers can't go in term time

We did it a couple of times in Primary school because DH runs his own business and it was always a case of whenever we could go.... but we stopped once they were in Secondary. I think travel is good for kids, we tried to make them interesting holidays rather than theme parks and forced entertainment type.

I agree with OP but I grew up near a seaside resort and some kids had parents who worked in the tourist industry, so they would find it difficult to take a break in peak season.