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 used to be one of the people who would never take my kids out of school for a holiday. However DH is in the Armed forces and for the last few years has been on deployment during the school holidays. I took them one holiday on my own, then I took them out for a week after the October week so we could have a family holiday. The school authorised it because they have to, if we have a letter from DHs superior. Apparently the schools are given extra money for "supporting pupils with forces parents"
This year I will be taking them out for 3 days in May. I am confident they will catch up- many of their peers seen to have 3 days a month off with colds or other minor ailments, while my lot have a healthy near 100% attendance. Do teachers get as wound up about those kids who are kept off frequently for spurious reasons? I've known kids being kept off because "oh, she was tired", or they have a runny nose. The best one I heard was "she just needed a mummy day". I'll wager that even with their 3 days off to go on holiday my dc have better attendance than the vast majority

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

Hardly any. Possibly lots of imaginary ones in your head though.

I wouldn’t mind in the slightest if:

1 - teachers could also take holidays in term time. Why should we not be allowed to travel when it’s cheaper

2 - teachers should have no accountability for results.

If those two things were in place I would be all for it. After all, education is either important or it’s not, for ALL

Well, your one absence would mean 25 children don't get an education for 2 weeks which they have no control over, even the children whose parent's don't take them out during school time.

1. Your decision affects others not you.

I really hope you aren't actually a teacher as your attempt at making a point makes me wonder why I bother sending my kids in at all if this is the teaching standard.

Not everyone works in areas that they can take time off during the school holidays, even if regardless of industry sector they work for a small employer then not everyone can take their leave at the same time it would leave the employer short staffed.

I was a military brat myself, have lived in a tourist area where most families couldn't take time off in school holidays and now live in an area where lots of families have someone working in the offshore oil industry which restricts when people are on leave.

And before anyone says "they chose those jobs" it's not that simple in a time when there's precious few jobs of ANY kind about.

Personal experience too - I found they did sod all educationally in the last week to 10 days of each half term - I'd LOVE to know how many teaching hours THAT wasted. Dd used to be bored rigid. Why is this? When I was at school it was the afternoon of the last day of a FULL term you'd get to watch a film or play games you'd brought in but... A week/10 days that's ridiculous.

It should be at the discretion of the head who KNOWS the children/family concerned. If it's a child/ren that are repeatedly late, often off then I understand them being told no, if it's a family where they're usually punctual, committed, rarely have time off then there's no reason why not.

The head will also know which children will be able to catch up easily and those that would struggle.

Without wishing to go all "conspiracy theory" I do wonder if it's simply another arbitrary target that gives govt a stick to beat schools with.

As for supply and demand, holiday companies and airlines COULD change their policies if they chose. They just wanna keep raking in money from a pretty much captive market.

suburban I think you misunderstood my comment. I was meaning that the school may have an issue with an individual child's holiday request if that particular child have overall poor attendance.

The schools attendance figures would have no bearing at all on my decision to take my kids on holiday.

I have always taken mine out for a few days at the end of term, we couldn't afford a ho!I day otherwise (not even a local caravan one). At Christmas there were £9.99 flights to Spain but dd did not want to take 3 days off as she is approaching GCSE year. They watched DVD's the whole last week of term, so I won't be making that mistake again.

I won't take mine out of school for holidays, I know plenty of people who do. One in particular who will take their kid out every term for at least a week, then complain to the school that he's falling behind!

Horses for courses I guess, but I think a lot of people take education for granted these days, or worse still treat it as an inconvenience.

If you won't let children go on holidays in term time you are saying poor kids don't get to go on holidays. I think that'll do more damage to their education and self-esteem than a week off school will.

Yes this is true. I think their are some people who just don't like the idea of poor children having a life bar being banged on the head with education. There's more to a childhood than that. Btw private schools stagger the half term dates, so it's often the richest parents who are able to take advantage of the cheaper holidays.

I really hope you aren't actually a teacher as your attempt at making a point makes me wonder why I bother sending my kids in at all if this is the teaching standard.

One more and I'll have all four corners.....

beetle you posted with such conviction that parents were wrong for doing so. So is your alternative for families never to go away? I'm not asking for you to comment on my individual circumstances, but you must have an opinion on how f they should forego holidays?

In primary school it makes no difference to school education if you have a few days out on holiday. In secondary it might if your child is not very bright. It made no difference to my children,up to year 9 I have always taken mine out for a week or a fortnight every year. Now we are all doing exams ( including me) we are not having a holiday this year instead we are having a couple of short breaks in Europe in the school holidays. But it sad that for the next five years we cannot (and may never again as they will be older) go to Disney World or on a Cruise together and the teens are unhappy about that. That's
why we went somewhere lovely every year when they were younger and I have wonderful memories and photos to hopefully get us through. But it's sad that at 13 and 15 I know those lovely times have passed.

@Valentinesfart. I trust you are homeschooling your kids if you don’t believe in formal education.

@JacquesHammer phew! One less for me to lose sleep over . Formal education has its place as does informal education. Balance and all of that. Each has its own place and time. But if a person puts their kids through state funded schools, they really should play by the rules that have been set.

I've never done it, mainly out of respect for the teaching staff rather than thinking it would impact my children's education, however I think there are good reasons (e.g. work restricting when you can take holiday, visiting family overseas, parent with cancer). I probably would take the last day or two off at primary school without feeling guilty since I know my kids only do colouring in and watching films towards the end of term.

The schools attendance figures would have no bearing at all on my decision to take my kids on holiday.

So you’d still take them on term-time holidays if the school went into special measures because of poor attendance?

In primary school it makes no difference to school education if you have a few days out on holiday

Yes, the teachers stop planning the second your dc go away.

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

Hardly any. Possibly lots of imaginary ones in your head though.

@Feenie

Why can't I manage bold, just why?!!

Then the targets are the issue not the parents who don't comply with silly targets.

Quite. So how come people have been posting on these threads forever about how unreasonable the schools are, and not lobbying the goverment to allow parents to take term time holidays whenever they want to?

suburban Yep I would. I work during the holidays so I'm not going to give up our family holiday for something that I am a teeny tiny part of. The schools targets set by government are not my concern.

We once took both DC out in primary school for 1 1/2 school days (wrapped around a weekend) to go to a very significant family celebration (and a very rare chance to catch up with all DH's family). Would never do it for holiday purposes.

My idea has always been that the Govt should give all school age children two weeks of 'flex' for term-time taken holidays, family weddings/funerals/special occasions, over the course of their entire compulsory schooling. That's it. It can't be banked at one school and then used again at another/later on. Beyond that there should be zero tolerance and much more costly fines.

nicky

Why am I not surprised by your reply?

valentines I AM a teacher! 20 years and never a single off-peak holiday. And I don’t mind if the standard is students in school also are not permitted to have time off for holidays. If the standard is that it’s ok for kids to go on holiday for all the “important” reasons given then staff should also be allowed to go. It’s hypothetical of course, because I will bet my enormous teacher salary that there will never be a situation when a teacher would be allowed to have a holiday in term time.

The school could buy in supply, just as they would need to if a teacher was ill. The kids wouldn’t be sitting there in an empty room.

What many parents do (with lots of support from MN) is to phone in and lie.

And to the pp who asked if it was annoying that some students are off for “mummy day” or “he’s a bit tired” well I’m secondary so don’t see every student every day, but it is frustrating because of course you have to take time away from other students or out of your own lunch time to help catch up the absentee students.

Another thing that they do in Germany is that thet give teachers a sabbatical after 15 years of service. That would be lovely too. But of course that will never happen in the UK. They can’t even retain the teachers they have.

Valentinesfart. I trust you are homeschooling your kids if you don’t believe in formal education

Actually, I think homeschool is a great idea but I don't have the money or the time to do it. Although I didn't actually say I was anti formal education, I said it wasn't as important as spending time with your family.

So how come people have been posting on these threads forever about how unreasonable the schools are, and not lobbying the goverment to allow parents to take term-time holidays whenever they want to?

Presumably, because they have jobs and lives (hence taking their children out of school at odd times) and other than signing a petition (which I have done) don't have the means to take on the government.

nicky

I’m completely with you on this one, I don’t know one parent who would prioritise government school targets over their childs happiness. Don’t know why suburban is trying to make you feel bad about something that is perfectly normal for a parent to prioritise! Very strange.

Caulifower. You have job. You are not a child in school. I don't know how else to explain it to you that you are not a child. And children are not tiny adults with jobs. I don't know any adults who can ring and say I want two weeks off. Most employers probably all have some black out days for employees. They can't call into work and say they aren't coming because some children take days off school.