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.

I have to do it- I’m an expat in Aus. I will be taking my child to the uk during UK summer holiday and will miss three weeks of third term here. I would rather she sees her family (grandparent) whilst she has them, and happy to take work with us. At her age (6) family is more important for me

It didn't use to be like this though- parents were able to take their kids out of school and nobody batted an eyelid and I don't think kids' education suffered as a result (because why would it if you miss a week). I think I went on holiday when I was at primary school and I honestly don't think it made any difference to my learning whatsoever.

Primary if your child is doing well. At the end and start of term as they are often not doing much learning at that time, so not such an issue.

High school no don't do it espicaly now with the new GCSE's parents need to wake up these are full on and they are starting the content for them now in year 9 in many schools. Most schools have a policy of work till the last day. So I would not in high school no way.

It's shocking if you talk to teachers though how many of their class can be absent in the summer term just from going on holiday. Up to a 3rd at times that's very disruptive. That's in DS class at primary he's year 2.

Funnily enough our school regularly raises money for a place in the coast that takes children who have never had a holiday yet fine parents for taking their children away .

People always assume it is a trip Spain . I took my Ds out in year 1 as it was date given us for Sun holiday in a caravan . It was all I could afford .
He has now struggled with school for various reasons and I would not take him out term time because it would be too disruptive to him and therefore the rest of the class too .

I also would like to add . That I know my own child has grown in many ways on all inclusive holidays , the obsession with learn learn is so sad . Children are far more than robots to be given information to learn

sooz Its completely different that you can't take time off in term time. You have other dates in the year that you can go and guess what? You have set holiday dates like many many other parents that work.

Why should those kids never get a holiday with their parents?

I only take my kids out for the last day of term simply because they ain’t doing any work, just doing fun stuff. Next year I won’t because it’s DS last year at primary school.
It’s not all about cheap holidays, sometimes it’s because some jobs tell you when you have to take holiday.

I’m a teacher and couldn’t care less about this. I never set extra work or give myself more to do, but always send them off with a ‘have a lovely time and send us a postcard’. Frankly, fewer children in the class is always a bonus...

It’s not always about cheap holidays. I’m well able to pay premium prices but sometimes I’m unable to get cover for my job during school holidays. We do get to avoid going away during term time but sometimes it’s unavoidable. We don’t get fined where I live (NI)

I didn’t do it and always took on board the message that it was important to be at school because of the packed curriculum etc. But there were times when my dc were at primary school in the last week or so of term, (and specifically in year 6 when the Sats were over) that nothing much educationally seemed to be going on. So I did wonder then what difference it would have made tbh.

sooz I really wouldn't care if a teacher took 2 weeks out as long as there was adequate cover.

We don't, nor have ever. Partly I guess if we took our 2 week summer holiday in say June, we are then left with 8 weeks of summer hols stretching out to find fun things to fill them with. I really don't care if other people decide to do it though. They know their children and can make a call if it will be disruptive or not.

It is not really much of an issue for us now.
However, even before the government imposed the ' holiday fines' we never took the kids out of school for holidays. At one point we didn't have much money so we cut our cloth accordingly.

I have seen people over the years on MN say a holiday is a right, that maybe so but you haven't got a right to go to Florida or wherever if you can't afford it.
I'm not against what other people do about holidays in school time. I think there are bigger worries than having one block of absence. I am currently working with a family whose child was at 44% attendance as of the middle of January and has still not been to school. He is not unique. There are dozens like him in my town. I would say that is more of a worry than a family having a week n Tenerife in term time.

I don't and I work in Education.

I'm not talking about the kids that go every year but occasional ones. We took ours at the end of the holidays and didn't come back the first week once( before I worked in Education) because my DH works away from home and we wouldn't have had a holiday that year if we didn't. We had a fabulous four site holiday in France ending in a trip to Eurodisney ( recently opened)for Ds3 birthday. We encouraged the kids to speak French at the markets and on site. They also worked out prices. I don't regret it.
Some families have a parent who is in the Forces or works away for weeks or months at a time. I only had two holidays with my dad because of this. I think this needs to be taken into account.

I wouldn't do it routinely but occasionally I think it's okay. Our children's education is suffering much more because of budget cuts and the govt screwing over teachers, than they are by missing a week or two of class time. I'd rather get worked up by the fact that schools can't afford photocopying or text books and that the curriculum is constantly tampered with and all the TAs have been let go, than about term time holidays.

@LyannaStarktheWolfMaid 'travel broadens the mind' Of course it does, if you are taking your children trekking through Nepal or to help build much needed schools in Africa or climb Machu Picchu! But please don't spout nonsense about broadening the mind in a 3-star Thomas Cook in Benidorm 😂. I'm also a teacher and actually have no issues at all with families taking two weeks out of school for a cheaper holiday...whether it's to 'broaden their mind' or get high on ice-cream in Costa-Del Monte! I've not been away in over 10 years...I can't afford the prices and obviously have NO other option but to go in the holidays, so completely understand why they want/need to do this. It can be the difference of thousands of pounds. Where I do have issue is serial absenteeism and families who take multiple breaks throughout the year. This does seriously disrupt their children's learning. One or two weeks? Meh! I can cope with that...enjoy your family time xx

Yes, I agree notacooldad. We have some that are" one, two, miss a few" children. The demise of the EWO!

I find it very odd that you can take your child out of school altogether and the State barely bothers to check up, but you can't take your child out of school for a measly day without getting into trouble. Lots of what is done in school is stuff that you could do at home or on trips with your family, and there are things I'd love to teach my daughters that it's hard to squeeze into weekends and school holidays. I find it patronising in the extreme that parents aren't trusted to make a sensible judgment call on this one.

I always think it odd that a school ski trip can be in term time but the school would not authorise a family ski trip anymore.

The best is when the kid who won’t shut up has a two week holiday.

Not all periods of holidays and respite involve going away

I was going to reply but @YeehaaJessie covered it. Education does not begin and end in a classroom.
Secondary education fair enough but at primary level I think it's fine.

I'm a teacher and can fully understand why parents do this. When I was a child, myou mum worked in a factory and couldn't choose her holiday weeks. Between the ages of 5 and 15, we went away maybe 6 times to a holiday camp (money was tight) and always in term time. I'm 51 now and have clear, happy memories of our family time together. My school days are harder to recall.

If school children had a certain amount (10 days or so) of 'annual leave' they could take for holidays, that would have been ideal. 😁

Maybe the answer if your school in not fully subscribed, is to deregister them and then re-register them when you get back in

I think kids should attend during term time. We are lucky enough to receive free education in the UK, it the least we can do to make sure the children attend. I think people would thing twice about removing there children from school if they had to pay for education by the term.