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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To consider a term-time holiday

247 replies

ScatteredMama82 · 02/05/2019 16:00

So I'm looking at prices of flights for February half-term next year to go skiing in Germany. For a family of 4 it's £1300 just for flights in half-term. For a different week it's £280! It's just a crazy amount of money. We love skiing, and are just getting back into it now that DS2 is old enough (he's 4). DS1 is 9 (will be Yr 5 next year). I think we're going to go in term-time. We did it this year, and it got approved by the school as DH is military and had been away all summer so we didn't get a family holiday. We won't have that excuse this time though (unless he gets sent away between now and February which is unlikely in his current role).

Would you do it?

OP posts:
Sallycinammonbangsthedruminthe · 02/05/2019 16:04

Its a tough one this OP ....I think with those savings the 120 quid fine might be worth the gamble though!! My dd is 7 and I am taking her out of school for 2.5 hrs....they wouldnt give me the permission to go and said she would be an unauthorized absence and the fine kicks in after 5 missed sessions...we are only missing one session in effect so its ok...could you not go maybe on the last day of term to try to minimize the absence? Thats what we are doing..

TheExtraGuineaPig · 02/05/2019 16:07

Yes, unless your children are struggling in school I would do it at that age. We have taken ours out a couple of times in primary school - even if they fine you you'll still save money.

WeTookVows · 02/05/2019 16:09

Unfortunately my opinion on this is if you can't afford to go in school holidays then you can't afford to go. I am a bit of a jobsworth rule followed though!

Obviously it was different when your DH's military career affected you. There could be other DC with parents in the military in future who won't get out-of-school-holidays at all (there's talk of increasing fine to £1000 as a more effective deterrent) due to pisstakers.

PoptartPoptart · 02/05/2019 16:13

Would you be ok with your child’s teacher going on holiday during term time to save money? Or would you say that given children and teachers get 13 weeks of holidays a year that they should book during those times?

DontLookBackIntoTheSun · 02/05/2019 16:14

Parents given a 4 week suspended sentence of imprisonment for taking children on term-time holiday:
www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/cambridgeshire-school-termtime-holiday-jail-16211468
The cost could well exceed the saving in air fare

grubus · 02/05/2019 16:18

The people threatened with jail hadn't paid the fine. So if you get a fine, pay it (I'm sure that this is what you would do). Then you won't get a jail sentence.

JaxTaylorDidIt · 02/05/2019 16:20

Go for it OP. I'm taking mine out next month for a week. I'll pay the fine if I get one.

Original poster
ScatteredMama82 · 02/05/2019 16:22

@PoptartPoptart no, I wouldn't be happy with the teacher doing it but they choose that job. I only get 5 weeks holiday a year, so the fact that my children get 13 doesn't help really does it. They can't go on their own!

@DontLookBackIntoTheSun they didn't pay the fine. I would.

OP posts:
hsegfiugseskufh · 02/05/2019 16:24

dontlookback they got that because they didn't pay the fine, if you pay it straight away its £120.

also there Is no talk about it going up to £1000 wetookvows it was a rumour about a certain council which they have strenuously denied.

I would do it OP without a shadow of a doubt.

Skihound · 02/05/2019 16:25

I take my children (12, 5) skiing in March but my eldest attends a specific camp for junior racers / advanced skiers and they say they won’t run it at half term as it is too busy - we want at half term once and it was so bad I will never do it again, the number of accidents and length in queues was unbelievable. I have never been fined but always unauthorised. I always do summer hols during school holiday though

Original poster
ScatteredMama82 · 02/05/2019 16:26

@Wetookvows that's an interesting way of looking at it. Unfortunately my opinion on this is if you can't afford to go in school holidays then you can't afford to go I think this is probably true but I'm so tempted. Although DH isn't overseas, he's still away all week and home at weekends. Our skiing holiday last year was bliss, it was so good to have a week together doing something we all enjoy, we can't afford the half-term prices though.

OP posts:
TheExtraGuineaPig · 02/05/2019 16:26

No I wouldn't be happy if the teacher went on holiday in term time because it's their job to teach. The only equivalent would be if I wandered off on holiday over my 5 week allocation without doing my job and leaving my clients without their service, it's in no way comparable to a 9yo missing 5 days of school.

LellyMcKelly · 02/05/2019 16:27

If you need a cheap holiday more than your kids need to be at school then go for it. Make sure you bring all their school work for the week so the teacher doesn’t have to take time out of teaching the other 29 kids to help yours catch up on what they’ve missed.

stucknoue · 02/05/2019 16:28

School is important, there's lots of holidays each year, so no I did not take my kids out of school unless it was a wedding or funeral. We skied in Scotland when they were small as all staff are properly registered and checked.

TheExtraGuineaPig · 02/05/2019 16:29

My view is if it's a family activity you all love (sounds like this is), a chance to be together in a busy life and it's just 5 days it's incredibly valuable to you all and worth missing primary school for. Pretty miserable to say if you can't afford the extreme high prices of skiing in half term you don't deserve it.

DontLookBackIntoTheSun · 02/05/2019 16:30

They were not offered a fine or fixed penalty on this occasion. Fixed penalties were not paid twice previously, so the parents ended up in court and received larger fines. For this third holiday, no fixed penalty was issued and the Local Authority issued a court summons instead.

EleanorLavish · 02/05/2019 16:30

I would do it without hesitating. I have done it previously too. Twice, for Disneyland Paris. Its so much better with smaller queues etc in term time.
It wasn't an 'important' exam year, the kids all do well at school. Missing a few days at school will not destroy your child's education.
I just told the school we were going, there was no fine or anything.
We also took them out a day early before end of term as was £1200 cheaper to fly the day before!

Original poster
ScatteredMama82 · 02/05/2019 16:32

@stucknoue I don't see the relevance of this... We skied in Scotland when they were small as all staff are properly registered and checked. What have the staff got to do with it?

I do agree that there a lot of holidays each year, but as I say I work and so does DH so it's not like WE get our pick of the 13 weeks, and as stated we just couldn't afford to do it during the school holidays. We either do it in term time or not at all.

OP posts:
Original poster
ScatteredMama82 · 02/05/2019 16:34

@Dontlookbackintothesun so they were repeat offenders who hadn't paid their fine. My point stands, that doesn't apply to us. My kids have never had unauthorised absence. We WOULD pay any fine that came to us.

OP posts:
hsegfiugseskufh · 02/05/2019 16:35

They were not offered a fine or fixed penalty on this occasion. Fixed penalties were not paid twice previously, so the parents ended up in court and received larger fines. For this third holiday, no fixed penalty was issued and the Local Authority issued a court summons instead

yes, exactly so if OP has previously taken two unauthorised term time holidays and not paid the fine, then she may well get imprisoned but I take it that she hasn't done this, and would pay any fine she got!

PoptartPoptart · 02/05/2019 16:36

@ScatteredMama82 yes teachers choose that profession, and a good thing they do - so our children can receive a free education!
Teachers work extremely hard and it is unfair that they have extra work put on them in order to catch children up who have missed school to go on holiday.
The fact that you only get 5 weeks holiday a year and your children get 13 has nothing to do with it. School isn’t childcare! You can coincide your family holiday in the school holidays like millions of other people do.
Taking children out of school sends all the wrong messages imo. It teaches them that is ok to break rules to suit yourself. We tell children that school and getting an education is important but then we contradict that by saying it is ok to miss school in favour of a holiday.

Longdistance · 02/05/2019 16:36

Go for it. But, do mention that your dc will catch up on some work. I believe this goes down well. It does at my Prep school anyway.

thisisthetime · 02/05/2019 16:36

Go for it. We do one week a year but make sure all other holidays are during school holidays. It’s usually because we want to go for 2 weeks during a half term and as it’s long haul the weather isn’t ideal at other times. We were fined this year and paid it straight away. I’m a teacher and all of the colleagues I’ve ever discussed this would also do it. Including senior leadership. This isn’t their rule unfortunately.

The only times I would say don’t do it/consider more carefully are if your dc are massively struggling, if it’s in September as they need to settle into a new class/routines or if they’ve already had loads of time off due to sickness. When they get older they may prefer not to miss school anyway.

Drogosnextwife · 02/05/2019 16:39

Yes. Most summers we go away the week before they stop school. Don't get a fine in Scotland though.

Hiddenaspie1973 · 02/05/2019 16:40

Absolutely I would do it. Unless your kids already have low attendance.
They're not at a crucial stage and when they are, you'll wish you'd done it whilst they were younger!
Life is short. In 10 years they'll have fond memories of the trip. Especially the older one.