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Original poster

Is it unreasonable to take a child out of reception for birthday trip?

116 replies

SlippersNToast · 05/06/2023 14:14

Me and my DH are having big disagreements about this. Our daughter is in reception, currently 4 and turning 5 over summer. My partner would like to take her out to a theme park around her birthday during term time (for one day) to avoid the queues but I don’t feel comfortable with it. She has 100% attendance so far and is comfortably meeting her targets and so my partner feels she would get more benefit from a day out. I’m worried about setting a precedent and being frowned upon. Would it cause many problems to the school and/or teacher? And would it make any difference if we did this while she was still 4? I can’t work out if this is an obvious no no or as a one off treat if it would be fine! TIA

OP posts:
shortandpaleandoldandugly · 06/06/2023 20:02

Schools shut down for a year over covid and that was fine so a single day is nothing in the grand scheme of things

A) no one thought it was "fine". Children are still recovering now and there were huge educational gaps as a result

B) schools didn't "close". They were expected to provide remote learning for students and were always open to vulnerable students.

C) I appreciate that OPs child wouldn't have been at school during Covid so it is irrelevant to this thread but as a general comment to other PPs, a huge amount of lost learning due to Covid is a good reason NOT to have unnecessary holidays, not to take more.

cadburyegg · 06/06/2023 20:11

One day is fine. I took my 2 out just before Christmas for 1 day so we could go away for a long weekend. I'd do it again. I wouldn't take them out for a whole week but the odd day is OK, particularly if their attendance is good. In July they often do moving up days / mornings so they can meet their new teacher, so just try and avoid important things like that

DarkForces · 06/06/2023 20:15

A) online learning wasn't provided for the first lockdown and was absolutely rubbish when it started. An hour a day for 4 days a week is not education

B) They we're shut to my child

C) Education either is important or it's not. Even during a pandemic children should be prioritised.

So no. I really don't give much of a damn about the odd day missed anymore

Koalasparkles · 06/06/2023 20:22

No offence, but 100% attendance means f all at reception, plus she will barely miss anything. She doesn't even legally have to be at school until she's 5 anyway. Go have some fun

LlynTegid · 06/06/2023 20:37

Not for a theme park, you can do that at any age.

TheseThree · 07/06/2023 04:06

I say go. I’d probably even set the precedent - if you’re doing well in your coursework then you can take off your birthday for something more fun each year. (Obviously define well as she gets older)

NatalieH2220 · 07/06/2023 06:26

I would. It's one day and they could easily be off sick for one day so I don't see the issue. I'm planning to do this for my Y1 child so definitely would if he was in reception.

StartleburpFearsneer · 07/06/2023 08:31

Fretting over losing a 100% attendance record is so strange to me. I was a sickly child and missed out on a lot of school. You didn't receive much help back then either. What's the big deal? Made absolutely no difference. It takes a lot to kick a child out of school and they aren't prevented from graduating or anything either. I wouldn't hesitate to pull my child out for a nice trip.

rileynexttime · 07/06/2023 08:39

Teachers have a hard enough job without trying to fill in the gaps because kids have been off for xyz reason and missed lessons. If children miss school for birthdays, holidays, family weddings plus sickness it can be a nightmare for teachers to juggle. There's also zero chance that your child will keep schtum about where you went.

Plus you set a precedent, are you going to take her out of school on her birthday every year?

Very sadly(because everything is so structured ) this ^.
Unless it's one of those end of term days when it's all clearing up .

Luckyduc · 07/06/2023 11:34

She doesn't legally have to attend school until age 5, so the school have no say.
I used to teach reception, and they only count up to 10 and learn to spell words like cat and dog and their name. Most of the afternoon is play based so your partner is right. Your daughter isn't missing anything.

Luckyduc · 07/06/2023 11:48

*just to add to what I previously said, I don't teach now but I take my kid out of school 6 weeks of the year .....all for holidays and days out and he's still ahead of the class, but I do alot of home schooling with him. He still needs to read everyday even throughout the holidays, I give him spellings each week and maths and expect him to do at least 30min of learning each day most of the year. Our days out are also fun but educational mostly but some things like his birthday we are taking him a week off school for Lapland and in December a week to centre parcs.

shortandpaleandoldandugly · 08/06/2023 01:57

I would. It's one day and they could easily be off sick for one day so I don't see the issue

They still could be off sick, in addition to the unnecessary absence, and then that one becomes two or more.

And to the PP taking their child out for 6 weeks, I'm wondering why you don't just home school and be done with it.

weirdas · 08/06/2023 04:55

Definitely do it. It gets a lot harder when they turn 5

coronation2023 · 08/06/2023 09:01

One of my fondest childhood memories is when we had a sneaky day off and went to chessington world of adventures

cadburyegg · 08/06/2023 09:37

ChimChimeny · 05/06/2023 16:24

Don't go expecting it to be dead though, we went to a few before DD started school.and they were still rammed! Mix.of pre-schoolers and school trips

I'd rather go on a random week day in September

Yes this is true. I took my kids to Alton towers last year on a teacher training day in June, thinking that it would be dead quiet. It was still pretty busy!!

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