To ask for your tips and hints on how to afford abroad (school) holidays?

[ErikaReadsTheDailyMail]

Hi all,

Our oldest son started school in September and we've entered a new world a world of being incredibly boundaried by our holiday availability.

Before this we managed to do it fairly frugally least once a year- we'd usually manage a d.i.y break- skyscanner cheap flights and an air bnb sort of thing. We'd keep costs down by shopping in supermarkets there, doing free stuff and staying in of an evening (no worries with two under 5's).

We'd occasionally go on holiday in the U.K instead but to be honest it never worked out cheaper and was usually a lot more expensive. Last year after swearing I never would, we had our first ever all-inclusive resort holiday (and it was absolutely fantastic with the free booze and the kids club and i had to swallow my words!)

We're on a pretty low income and I just physically cannot afford to pay well over 50% more for a holiday due to having to be so limited by school terms.

I'm hoping I just don't have to suck up the next 15 years of not having an annual week away to look forward to but I fear that might be the case.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom? Do people take the kids out and pay the fines? Cheap companies who offer it all-in? Camping in Wales forever more? I'm struggling to see how to do it.

Thanks for your help 😃

I don’t know if it would work but could you try somewhere off the beaten track? For example, Eastern Europe, smaller airport with a budget airline, a nice place but not a typical holiday resort? Would need research but also could be an adventure.

Book mid week unsociable flights as far ahead as you can. Check the hotel
you want on as many websites as you can, they vary so much. Look at trimming a night off or in some cases adding a night on as this can bring down the price. Late August is cheaper than early August. Look at school dates and see if there’s a insert day near a half term and if so fly out then.

Does it have to be a whole week/fortnight and does it have to be in the summer?

Unsociable hours flights, also consider ferries across to France if you drive.

Never been fined for taking children out of school incl a 2 week holiday.
That being said I wouldn't take it for granted that they won't refer us when we do it.

I wouldn't do it if my children were having issues at school or had any specific learning they'd be missing.

So we try and go in the holidays but book it either at the end of term or the cheapest date half way through and miss a few days rather than whole weeks.

Or go in the holidays, book in advance and pay monthly or we have done some really nice euro camp/canvas holidays in "lodges" , essentially static caravans but they have lovely family facilities in good locations.

Lots of people have mentioned Eurocamp and the campsites are brilliant and you don't actually have to camp. There are caravans and similar
The only thing I'd say and people may disagree is that when you go on the Eurocamp website it comes across as the campsites being owned by Eurocamp
We haven't obviously been to all of them but we've been to several in France and Spain and there have always been several different companies with accommodation within the parks. We've always found that the Eurocamp accommodation is more expensive and in my opinion a bit run down. So we use the Eurocamp website to find a place and then book it through someone different. Roan are a Dutch company and very good as are Canvas and Lux camp. We have also booked directly with the campsite too and we've had lovely accommodation
The campsites are ideal we choose one on or close to the beach and one with a water park on site. We then do a mix between restaurants, bbqs and eating out in local town etc but we do drive which makes this easier.
We've been to a fabulous campsite not far from Girona airport in Spain for years you can only book directly and they have lovely bungalows and a water park and it's on the most beautiful beach
Barcelona Airport is a but further away but flights are more frequent and cheaper and from Birmingham so you could also fly to there and then rent a car

Hubby is a teacher and we moved back to the uk four years ago, I've refused to go abroad since as I won't pay the extortionate prices (plus had DD and covid).. now we are maybe looking to go abroad again we have found the most reasonable place is a eurocamp site at peschiera del garda in Italy lake Garda..flights to Milan bergamo are cheap enough if you book ahead and outside the Italian school holidays (June-August) we could get a two bed place for about £430 for the week.
I blood refuse to pay over £2K for a week away just cos it's the school hols and we will be bound by DH job forever!
We moved back from Italy tho 🤦🏼‍♀️

It is already happening ( due to the academy system) and is a nightmare.

Academy trusts based across various counties all have trust holidays, not necessarily local holidays.
There is no guarantee that local primary and secondary schools are in the same trust, leaving families with only some of their children on holiday at the same time.
Really difficult for school staff too. A huge chance that their children are also educated at schools outside of the trust.

This means that families are not able to book a holiday together or have to risk a fine by taking some of their children out of school during term time.

House swap. 11 years of free accommodation. We have a nice house in a city that appeals to overseas tourists though

Yes move to Scotland but then you’ll find out how much extra we have the privilege of having to pay for flying from Scotland. I can fly from Manchester for £600 less than from Glasgow for identical holidays.

My Local authority only fines after 10days missed in a 10week period. I take them out of school holidays/during term time most year. Not for every holiday of course but usually once. I have no intention of being a martyr to the UK education system.

Don't you mean 10 sessions ie 5 days (2 sessions = 1 day)?

No, the rule here is 10 days ie 20 sessions, in a 10 week period. In any event we only go for 5-6 days at the moment in the academic year.

Oh OK. That sounds quite generous to me!

Honestly, we haven’t been abroad since before we had kids (the eldest is 12). Camping in Wales is our standard summer holiday, it’s what we can afford but we’ve still had great holidays. We will probably save and go abroad in a couple of years when both kids are old enough to really appreciate it… it will probably still be camping!

We do holidays like yours - flight and airBnb. Book flights the moment the fares are released would be my top tip. For summer holidays, the end of August is often slightly cheaper.

We alternate a cheaper UK holiday (such as camping) with a bigger overseas holiday on alternate years, to let us save.

Half term can be cheaper than the summer or Easter.

How close to Scotland do you live. Flying from Glasgow or Edinburgh at the end of August is cheaper than in England as our schools are back mid August here.

For us flying from Newcastle or Manchester is cheaper early July before your schools breakup.

Some great tips here thanks everyone.

Unfortunately we're a fair way from Scotland but sounds like those a bit closer would do well with it.

Definitely feeling better about taking him out for a few days at the end of a term- going to sit down and look at dates of his insets etc.

I wouldn't phone and lie- my little chatterbox would dob me in straightaway and also I agree it insults the intelligence of the staff supporting him at school. (We can fill in an online form saying he's absent though and don't need to give any details which feels less naughty!)

LOOK at flying from East Midlands!
we’ve sometimes saved 10% in august by going from East Midlands and VERY OFTEN the Birmingham flights come up cheaper as an alternative than actually searching for Birmingham flight. (Clear the cookies on your browser or use a different one!).

also if you do fly from EM we’ve found we’re on the m42 driving past bham within 90 minutes of landing ….. could still be waiting for bags a bham then !! ….. obvs depends where you are.

Also. They do attendance reports to about 1st July for school reports. Anything after that is pretty fair game !!

This is a good point. If you are paying for childcare in the summer.

By the way, saving £20 a week towards holidays gives you £1040 extra a year to play with.

I would do term time breaks like a shot if I were not a teacher. Leaving aside ks4, there really isn't an issue with taking off a few days at the end of a term as long as you don't expect the teacher to catch the child up afterwards.

One of the (very many) reasons I am trying to find a job outside of teaching is that i've never been able to afford a holiday abroad with the kids or been able to visit my dad abroad at Xmas.

Go a couple of days before the end of term when prices are still lower. You will not get fined, it will probably go down as an unauthorised absence. Do it while he's young and in primary school - the older he gets, the more it matters. I took my son on a school term time holiday in June at 8 and the school was supportive as he had otherwise excellent attendance.

I wouldn’t take them out of school. At my DC’s school the end of term was generally when they did things they’d been working towards all term (such as the school play) and it would be rotten for them to miss it. We just did cheaper holidays and didn’t go abroad much.