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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask how many of you take your children on holiday during term time?

86 replies

Afternooninthepark · 13/11/2019 11:45

In order to have an affordable family holiday do you take your dc out of school?
If you do, have you ever been fined by the local authorities?

OP posts:

GrumpyHoonMain · 13/11/2019 12:16

@charlestonchaplin - I am British but of Indian origin and my (or my other Indian origin friends’) expectations for our kids / education is no different to a British person of Irish or Chinese origin. We all ask the school to provide the school work / home work / worksheets our kids would miss while away, and we all ensure our kids get them done while on holiday.

If you take education seriously then the odd holiday during term time should be a benefit. Don’t make this about race because it really isn’t. It’s about priorities.

longhaulstress · 13/11/2019 12:17

We did while they were in primary and were never fined. We'll have to see now they're high school I haven't ruled out going away but it would have a holiday worth paying the fine for.

Namechangeymcnamechange11 · 13/11/2019 12:20

Mine aren't school age yet, but I won't be taking them out. We were never taken on holiday during the term and there has always been an emphasis on education in our family. My mum was in hospital a lot as a child and always felt behind. A child can miss a lot of content in a short time, and potentially a whole topic in primary school if they're having a week off.
The increased cost of holidays is just something we will have to factor in when our children start school. We don't particularly splurge on holidays anyway, we self cater, camp in the summer so main expenses are site fees, ferry crossings and petrol.

Charles11 · 13/11/2019 12:25

I’ve done it twice but I only a few days either side of a school holiday. It’s amazing what a difference in price even a couple of days can be.

VardySheWrote · 13/11/2019 12:26

I don't really- when they are in Primary school, I wouldn't be that bothered about leaving before or coming back after their holidays.

My issue is more about them being bored during their official break if they have taken their holidays during term time! Summer is lovely, but wouldn't be so great if they were stuck at home for 6 weeks, and stuck at home during all the other school breaks.

oreosoreosoreos · 13/11/2019 12:27

We did this year - there's a 10year age gap between DSS and DS and we'd always planned to go this year when DSS had finished his GCSE's.

DS missed the last 12 days of summer term of year 1. By that point there wasn't a lot of learning still going on, and we had an amazing family holiday to Florida.

Not massively educational (although we did travel around Florida, not just spend 3 weeks at Disney), but to be honest we'd had a really shitty year up to that point, and I'm so glad we did it. It'll probably be the last big family holiday that DSS does with us too, so it was an epic end of an era kind of holiday!

It was unauthorised by school, the head told us that as it was over 10 days she would have to send it on to the LEA, but we weren't fined. Even if we had been, it would have been far less than the cost of moving the holiday into the school hols.

UndertheCedartree · 13/11/2019 12:28

I have once taken my DD out for a long weekend. This was authorised by the school, though.

I personally have no problem with children missing school for holidays sometimes but I'd do it rarely as it is so frowned upon.

notso · 13/11/2019 12:30

I can't think of a family who hasn't at least once. Even relatives who teach have had time off in term time for a family wedding abroad, unpaid obviously.
Primary will authorise providing attendance is good and only 10 school days missed at one time unless circumstances are exceptional.
Secondary say they won't authorise although they did for DS1, it was only a day tagged onto a school holiday though.

I don't know anyone who's been fined. A friend of DH's went to Florida for three weeks in GCSE year, school didn't bat an eyelid. We're in Wales though and I believe things are more lenient.

Clangus00 · 13/11/2019 12:32

We don’t have the fining system up here, so loads of people do it.

Ratbagcatbag · 13/11/2019 12:36

My DD is in year 2. I have never done it up until now.
But we're doing 5 days in Lapland in December (so misses 3 days of school) and I'm doing a fortnight I'm disneyworld Florida in June. I've waited until after Sats and assessments and she'll be out of school for 12 days in total. It's not ideal. But the holiday cost doubles for us if we go in the holidays.
Our school have never fined before but there are lots of people now doing term time holidays so I expect changes will come in.
Worst case they fine me and I have two pay both lots of it (mine and her dads fine as we are separated), it's still much cheaper than going in the holidays.

livingthegoodlife · 13/11/2019 12:41

I am taking 5 days to go skiing in January. My first port of call was to price up in half term but the cost is around 4 times greater. The flights for half term are double the cost of our whole January holiday. It just comes down to cost for us.

MrsNoMopp · 13/11/2019 12:44

No, I don't agree with it TBH. We are lucky to have schools for all children in this country and it seems wrong to take education for granted. If we can't afford a particular holiday (which on a low income is nearly all of them) we don't book it. We might stay in a youth hostel family room a couple of nights, get a last minute deal on a caravan/camping site, house-sit, or just not have a holiday (which doesn't mean we don't need one as much as the next people). I know there are no prizes for low budgets or being 'uncool' enough to have these opinions though

Appletreehouse · 13/11/2019 12:45

Our Dd is only in reception but we've booked a term time holiday to run into the May half term. I checked prices for school holidays and it was ×3 more expensive. Our school said they rarely fine. Will continue to do it until they're in secondary.

charlestonchaplin · 13/11/2019 12:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

drspouse · 13/11/2019 12:49

We took DS out in Jan to go skiing, twice, once he was pre compulsory school age anyway.
He has SEN and struggles with crowds and I'm slightly wondering if we might be better doing this again (though the current plan is to go to a less busy resort in years when Easter is early and not to go when it is late).
He also has motor difficulties and he enjoys skiing and has made progress when he has done it before - so it's good educationally for him though I think we'd struggle to get the school to see it that way.
We can't go in half term because of my job (annoyingly, though it's eye-wateringly expensive then, but DH will retire in the next few years but I'll still be unable to go in half term anyway). DS' previous school (which is DD's current school) gave us permission on those grounds; I think they would give permission for DD again.

EstebanTheMagnificent · 13/11/2019 12:50

I can't think of a family who hasn't at least once.

Really? I’m genuinely surprised by this.

StartingAgainID · 13/11/2019 12:51

Teacher here with four kids. I've never taken them away in term time (!) so we've never had a summer holiday. We manage a trip in Easter, but always by car, never flying somewhere fancy. I'm frustrated by parents who do this - but it's mostly jealousy. (Just don't expect me to help make up your three weeks of lost work when I'm already staying behind after school to help other children keep up).

Madieracake · 13/11/2019 12:51

No, but as we live in Scotland we book our holiday to fly from Manchester during English School term and even with the added cost of the drive we still save a fortune. Surely must work the other way but would mean taking holidays later during the school summer break when the Scottish kids are back at school.

TeuchterTraveller · 13/11/2019 12:52

Very common where I am (touristy area so most people are working during school holidays).

We're in Scotland, where local authorities don't fine.

Beesandcheese · 13/11/2019 12:52

Considering my children's school turned down a family funeral day off request, marking it as unauthorised, I very much doubt they wouldn't pursue a fine so we wouldn't be able to.

grandmasterstitch · 13/11/2019 12:54

If you live in the north and can hop over to Scotland to fly you can get them cheaper, they go back to school in August so it's not school holidays up there. So I hear anyway

LellyMcKelly · 13/11/2019 12:55

No, I wouldn’t do it. I remember being ill for a week and missing long division teaching at school. I struggled to catch up for ages and it was a horrible feeling.

Lipperfromchipper · 13/11/2019 12:55

I do but for other reasons

I don’t live in the U.K. and the schools here are not bothered

2.Im a teacher but part time so I can switch days with my job share so it is really handy

VardySheWrote · 13/11/2019 13:00

Are the fines the same all around the country?

Around here, it's only £60 per parent per child, so really not anything parents worry about.

My own problem is that I already have to occupy my kids for 13ish weeks a year, if I take holidays in term time on top of that, it's getting a bit much - and far too expensive.

bobsyourauntie · 13/11/2019 13:03

Our Academy chain now refuses any term time holiday and says that you will be fined. Our LEA fines you if a child misses more than 10 sessions, so 5 days. First offence should be a £60 fine per parent per child, any subsequent absence could go straight to court.

I took DC out in June for 5 days, I received a letter in November saying that I should have been fined, but because they never sent me a letter advising me that I could be fined, they aren't allowed to fine me........

Letter says that any subsequent absence could be a fine, £2500 penalty or court.

I did it for a holiday of a lifetime whilst DC in primary, so won't be doing it again. unless DC is sick for a couple of days at the end of term.....

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