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

[Afternooninthepark]

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?

I don't usually keep them off for a holiday, maybe a day or two early but not weeks. In the last 12 years we've only done a few uk holidays apart from about 6 years ago when we went to Disneyland Paris for 4 days.

However we have a term time holiday booked for the end of January as I'm desperate for a break and a bit of sun and it's I'll I could afford. I will be fined but still a lot cheaper than during school holidays.

I honestly don't know how people I know can afford holidays abroad in the summer as well as all the designer clothes the whole family wears with jobs that aren't paid that well in our region (not having digs at the people or their jobs btw just curious how they afford it)

In Scotland so no fine, we go every year in February because you can’t really take a skiing holiday in the summer. There are three days holiday in our area and we take about another 5 round that to make 8-10 days with weekends. Other Scottish authorities have a whole week for half term so I think it’s fine. My DS has great attendance otherwise.

No, my kids had a total of 10 days off in their whole schooling (both at university) most of those were to attend music related activities etc choir tour leaving on last day of term because their school finished later, but once we went to a wedding and missed 2 days. There's creative ways to have affordable family hols in holidays, eg driving

We’ve done it once for a long weekend for my dad’s 70th (my parents live abroad) - didn’t get fined as it was only 2 days. We’re planning on doing it again next May to go away 3 days before half term starts, which will save us about £1k!

Lots of parents at DD’s school do it, and DD has had a 100% attendance record for the last couple of years so I don’t feel too bad about it tbh.

We're taking the DC out of Y4 and Y1 for a few days before May half term. Saved us literally hundreds on the flight and basically made the holiday achievable financially. They had 100% attendance last year. I did take DS out in reception year for the same period of time, and we weren't fined then so hoping we won't be this time either.

It's not something I do every year, but I don't think missing a few days every few years is enough of a negative to cancel out the benefits of visiting a different country and experiencing a different culture, language etc.

Twice- both authorised as DH is in the Army (and Military children can be taken out of school when parents have leave- an exception that should be a lot wider in my opinion!).

They were 7&5. Spending a few days with their father was just as important, if not more important, than school at that particular moment.

the first time we took the boys out for 2 weeks . They were year 3&1. My dh is military so we meet him in one of the ports he was going to be in for two weeks. Even then he had to work 9 off the 14 days we were there but it was great to be a family for 2 weeks.
We live aboard and took a week before a 2 week holiday, so we could have a 3 week visit to the uk , visiting family we hadn’t seen for 7 years.
No fines and the school supported our decision

No, we don't. I think we've maybe overlapped by a day or two once or twice, and one year we were stuck in Florida when the Iceland volcanic ash grounded planes, so couldn't get back and DD missed 2 weeks of school.

The way I get around it is to be super-organised - we do tend to go to the US every Easter, so book flights as soon as they're released, and make use of any airmiles if we've got them (unusual), fly indirect if cheaper, go self-catered. In the summer, we do a group holiday, so again, book flights as soon as they're released, a large house is cheaper than booking individual family accommodation.

It does mean we almost always know what we're doing a year in advance, which takes away some of the fun, but it also means we can just about afford 2 family holidays a year. When people ask how much we've spent, they're amazed - it tends to be about 50% of what they think the cost would be.

What if you just lied and said the child was ill?

WTF with all the finger pointing at various immigrant communities?! I'm from an Irish family and we NEVER got taken out of school for holidays, only for funerals. It never happened when I taught in a very high end school in China, and it never happened when I taught in Bradford to classes who were mostly first/second generation immigrants from Pakistan, either. Although, in Bradford, the children would sometimes have to fly to Pakistan for family reasons, this isn't exactly the same as a holiday and can't usually be helped. This would be maybe 1 or 2 kids a term out of the 150 I taught.
By far the worst offenders are people of any background who can't afford to go during holidays and for whom a holiday is viewed as "essential". For example one boy I taught missed his GCSE exams because his mum got a cheap holiday to Egypt.

Yes. To enable us to do longer holidays rather than purely on cost grounds (e.g. we went to Oz and NZ around Easter holidays to visit family for a month, which was obviously a better time to go there than summer). We have taken the kids out for 2 weeks 3 times over their time at primary. All authorised up until a change of HT (and increasing pressure re attendance from the LA) last year. They have good attendance otherwise and good attainment levels.
Last year took them out for 1 week. Eldest now at secondary. Neither school authorised it but didn't fine us either. We'll do it less as they get older, but wouldn't rule it out altogether (and would consider the fine worth it in some circumstances).

yeah we do one week a year at Centreparcs. DD is 7. School always say no on the form and then when you hand it in say 'have a lovely time' which I think it a lovely attitude.

I did it for one day last year when DS and DD were in years 1 and 3. They had 100% attendance up til that point. I know it’s annoying for the teachers (come from a family of teachers) but I’d absolutely do it again if I thought it was the right thing for my family.

Never.

Yes, I have always taken my kids out for holidays...although I don't in the final two years for GCSEs. I have 4 kids, eldest is perfectly average but the youngest three are high achievers and it has not affected their attainments In any way at all. I happily pay the £60 fine as I am a proper bargain hunter . We have had a week in corfu self catering for £68 each , a week in Italy self catering for £89 each and loads of other bargains. My kids love traveling, love seeing the sites and trying new food etc.

The problem is if you're both working you end up with no holiday to cover the actual holidays. I would not worry about a day or two at the end of term but a whole week makes quite a dent in my holiday allowance! If I've then got to pay for holiday club I'm not convinced I'd make any saving.

I will look into latching a few days onto a half term, see if that makes any difference to the cost?
Our local authorities website says the penalty is £60 per child, per parent. But I read somewhere else that could also mean per day??

We did this some years ago in order to afford a break in Florida (overlapped Easter by around a week or so ) No probs then .However my Son recently told me ,he had had to stay in at lunchtimes/breaks in order to catch up ! Dont know what to say really .If its just a one off then probably no "biggie" Probably best if not a regular thing though!

I'm a teacher so not possible for me but I feel.really.sorry for the kids who turn up 3 weeks in to the new school year having missed out on settling, entire topics, getting to know their new teacher etc. They always seem a bit lost. Preferable to do it near half terms or Easter I think! Also think it's a bit sad when they miss the end of year fun but sure they also love their holiday!
We have some serial offenders who miss weeks every year which I do think unfair on the child and the teacher (!) and just suggests that education.is not very important to the family...
To the ppster who said they request weeks of work and homework FOR YOUR HOLIDAY!!! I would politely decline this
We do NOT have to provide work for you and guve ourselves extra to dk because you decided to go on holiday!!!

At least a week every year. Not because of money but because of crowds, usually. Rules are different in Wales so no court or fines etc unless there’s already a problem with absence.

I haven't, but I would and I might some time in the future. As pps have said, it would be less to do with cost and more to do with crowds and what leave DH can get.

We don't. Even when I was at school some 30 years ago my parents complained about the cost of holidays during school holiday period. We know it's expensive and either suck it up or don't go away. I personally don't think it's acceptable to take children out of school for a cheaper jolly.

We are in Scotland so don't get fined for holidays. My OH is in the emergency services so gets his leave allocated but thankfully has always been able to swap with colleagues to at least get a week off in the summer. We had our oldest miss 2 days of school when youngest was in hospital in another town and she wasn't coping well with being away from us for so long. Is was marked as Exceptional Domestic Circumstances- Authorised.

I used to be a teacher. I would definitely do it, assuming my child was resilient enough to catch up on missed concepts.

OP, yes, if you take a couple of days at the end of a term, the holiday is usually much cheaper, so say Thurs-Thurs, so they miss just 2 days of school, but it costs much less because you are away at different times to the main half term week.

Our schools usually finish mid week at the end of the school year, so a lot of kids are "sick" then whilst parents take advantage of cheap holidays.

I would never take DC out at the start of term though as I think it is important for them to settle in to the new school year. I wouldn't take them out at the end of the year either, if they were leaving a school as they miss out on so much of the leavers events.