To take DC out of school for two weeks for a holiday?

[CroccyWoccy]

Thinking about taking the family on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday next year, but having looked into it, we would have to take the DC out of school for a fortnight to make it work.

They have good attendance record - I have never taken them out for any reason before and they are rarely sick.

I was hoping we could do the holiday only taking them out for 5 days, but it isn’t feasible, to make it work they would need to miss two weeks (though one day is an inset day, so 9 days in total).

Is this too long? Either in terms of lost education or the amount of trouble we’d be in? DC will be Y6 and Y3, holiday would be tacked onto October half term.

Apologies - I had a life outside of Mumsnet to attend to.

School is compulsory, taxes are compulsory, one we spend time on, the other money. I would love to spend my tax money on holidays, I would love to spend school days on holidays. But in both cases I can't, as both are a legal compulsion, neither can be opted in or out of no matter how much I might want to prioritise a jolly.

Tell me how I'm obscuring the point

Exactly this.

SATS .. what a waste of time, I wish I’d taken my child out and she missed them all. They are there to measure the ability of the school to teach a set curriculum , not the success (and future) of your child.
The high school DD went too, didn’t even use the SAT results, they did separate testing in Y7.
Does anyone ever ask about the SATs results after Y6 ?
Waste of time, go on your holidays

Yes I know it’s different. I’m saying there’s so much uncertainty around time missed with illness etc, taking or not taking a term time holiday isn’t the biggest variable in absence. The average primary school child has 13 absence days per year - some far less, some far more. My youngest has more sickness days last half term than they did in the whole of the previous school year, it’s pot luck.

And there’s no more likelihood of getting ill on a plane compared to a busy cinema or tube train.

I think teachers should have more flexibility to have time off in term time.

Who will teach their classes ?- There is a shortage of teachers and schools have no budgets for supply staff

I also think teachers should be paid more, schools should have bigger budgets, there should be substantial reduction in pressures on teachers so that we don’t lose so many talented people from the profession and it’s more attractive to as a career option.

Totally agree but the Tory government doesn’t.

I just can’t be bothered, Op was speaking about school, not other legal obligations.

Do it. I've always taken them in term time. I'd say it saved us thousands, but it was actually the difference between having good holidays or not having them.

I'm sure you would be happy if your child's year 6 teacher decided to take their children out during term time.

I'm sure you would be happy if your child's year 6 teacher decided to take their children out during term time

It's managed in Australia perfectly well.

How do they do it?

We are not in Australia surprisingly. 🙄

Yes. I know.

The point I was trying to make was that teachers taking term-time leave in Australia has been going on for years without dramas. same for parents taking children out for holidays so no reason at all for it not to work in the UK.

I'm a teacher (secondary) and I'd say go for it!

It's 2 weeks and a lifetime of memories.

I'm assuming this isn't just some sit on a beach all day holiday and is a little more cultural?

My aunt and uncle took my cousins out of school in Y5/Y6 for 3 weeks and they went backpacking in India! The boys kept a diary and the teacher gave them some maths to do. They did a presentation to their classes when they got back.

It's like comparing us to the US or something daft like that.

What works in one country doesn't work in another.

How does it work?
How can they find a teacher to teach the class if Mrs Smith decides to take her children out for 2 weeks in February, then again in May...

So just because it's not a sit on the beach holiday it's ok? But if that family wanted to go to Benidorm for a week and sit by the pool, is that not ok in your eyes?

It's two weeks, not one.

If a holiday for such a period of time off school has educational merit then I don't see why not.

You didn't answer my question.

1 week, then the child could be poorly and have a further week off school... 2 full weeks missed.

No, it isn't daft. A poster wrote: I'm sure you would be happy if your child's year 6 teacher decided to take their children out during term time.

My response was that in other countries this wouldn't be a big deal and by implication, could be done in the UK. The poster was being hypothetical anyway, making the assumption that the OP wouldn't be fair-minded.

The way it works in Australia is that staff accrue hours of long service leave (LSL) after seven years, and continue to do so each year. In any institution, staff can put in for LSL and might/might not be granted it. In my school, which was typical, all bids had to be put into at least two full terms before the LSL they wanted. The submission dates were very strictly adhered to.
The HT's advisory committee would look at each one and yes or no it. Minutes of the meeting are seen by all in the school. The running of the school was paramount and there was always the proviso that LSL could be pulled at the last minute, though I never heard of this happening.
Big LSL requests meant that a teacher could not teach a year 12 subject (the exam year). An eye would be kept on how often such requests had been granted to individuals so as to be fair. Mostly staff tacked on weeks before or after a holiday to extend it.

It worked well because it was open, fair and transparent and properly planned. I never heard of an LSL not being staffed in time, though nowadays, recruitment for supply is very much stretched.

I should say LSL is a feature of a range of workplaces, both private and state and it's wonderful, very civilised. I cannot imagine why it hasn't been attacked as a bludge.

I should say parents can, and do take their children out for holidays, and in government schools, staff must supply work.

I'm fine with that. DD's teacher has taken a term time holiday before, though only once that I can remember in the 3 and a bit years he's been her teacher but I'd have zero problem with him taking a holiday again. Of course there needs to be enough supply teachers for this to be possible, so teaching has to be a wanted job and that's an issue in the UK.

@echt The LSL system in Australia sounds really good. We have job alternation leave in Finland but you have to have been working 20 years before you're eligible, and the company has to hire an unemployed person during the time you're on leave.

I also don’t think school should be a child’s primary source of education. Yes they teach a %, but really parents and home life should be teaching the majority.

Children are only at school 5hrs a day (25hrs a week here). There’s 168hrs in a week. So 25hrs is a really short amount of time, and it’s in group teaching of 20-30 children.
A child away with parents who are taking them for 3 weeks to local attractions, historical, culture, reading to them, etc for two week with 1-1 (or 2) attention is 100% going to still learn.

Without wanting to sound snobby about it, there's clearly difference in the trade off depending on how educational the holiday is.

Not to say there aren't other extenuating circumstances which could justify a term-time holiday, which could include that it's the only way a family is ever going to afford a sunshine holiday abroad.