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.

@neverbeenskiing - it’s not nothing, but going away isn’t not learning anything either. The school should just publish the curriculum and then parents would know it the 5x tables for example they need to teach child.

We would read for example more during a 3 week trip than a normal 3 week at home. Ds speaks a different language on trip than he would at school.

Feel free to take them out of school for a couple of weeks. 10 days out of 12 years of school is not going the destroy their education 😂, but why does everyone say 'holiday of a lifetime' when they want to keep their kids off school?

You're just going on a holiday and want to keep your kids off school. By saying it's a once in a lifetime thing, doesn't making it anymore justifiable than if you were going 2 weeks in the Costa del sol 😂

That's a real shame but I'd say that's a minority rather than a majority. It's very possible to take the exams seriously (and important to do so given their effect on the child) whilst also teaching a full and varied curriculum. We certainly do and we are one of the highest performing schools in the country in terms of both attainment and progress.

I wouldn’t for two weeks and my DCs would’ve stressed about time missed.
There’s years ahead for holidays.
unless for family reasons Ie, wedding, imminent death of close family member.

@Isthisrealorjustfantasy - we have had family death, weddings, new baby all
overseas the last 5+ years. Already have two overseas weddings for 2024. So it’s hardly one off occasions. Obviously you won’t necessarily go to all, and some in school holidays, but people bound to miss a few days here and there

@Iamnotthe1 your school sounds amazing. I love to think most primary schools are like yours. I hope so.

My dd’s “outstanding” primary (well, that was the rating ten years earlier) basically abandoned the curriculum in Y6 in a desperate bid not to lose ground on SATs. Obsessed is the right word. My dd did NO technology at all in Y6. Barely any French or humanities. A little bit of science in the summer. It wasn’t measured; it didn’t matter. My dd knew enough to easily pass the SATs without being crammed and crammed and crammed. She was bored utterly witless . Started refusing to do homework (I let her stop).

Luckily her secondary school has been stimulating and she is thriving there now. They are only setted for maths in Y7 at her school and they did their own tests. Then re-setted in Y8 so all that SATs cramming wasn’t even needed!

id actually be far more worried about the Y3 missing school than the Y6

Initially I had thought that 1 week ok, but 2 weeks feels too long, till I read this, it does sound like it’s an absolutely once in a lifetime, amd at this part of the year.

Do it-tomorrow isn’t promised

We are lucky. Our headteacher will approve up to 10 days holiday per school year. They understand that holidays are not feasible for everyone only in school holiday times. It's too expensive and sometimes work commitments make it impossible.

We have taken DD7 out for at least a week and a half every October so far. We go in October for personal reasons but next year it will be closer to 2 and a half weeks as it's a once in a lifetime style holiday.

We always ask teachers what we can do to keep her up to speed, what she might miss etc and get workbooks and take reading with us. We bought her a kindle for this very reason. She is yet to suffer and if anything, as long as we keep up with her work, she gets so much from it. They experience other cultures and see things that may not be otherwise possible.

Of course children learn things constantly outside of school from lived experiences but that's not what is being discussed. They can have outside experiences AND still go to school. The attitudes on here are so dismissive of all the hard work that primary teachers do. It's not the same as 'missing school due to covid' because everyone was in the same boat then. People just think about their situation and not the bigger picture. I had 20 children out of a class of 25 take term time holidays last year and it was extremely disruptive and had a huge impact on the running of the class.

Tbh mine did sod all in year 6 other than learn how to pass those God awful SATs.

I would disagree with posters who say year 6 is the wrong time to do it because it will be a lot harder once they're in secondary.

2 weeks in a whole school career is nothing, I'd do it.

It’s about trade-offs isn’t it? I wouldn’t take my DC out of school for a trip I could easily do in the school holidays.

Equally I can understand the position of parents who want their children to experience a foreign holiday and the only way they can afford it is to go in term time.

I’d do it so long as it didn’t coincide with SATS. I assume they’re at the end of the school year though??

I think you’re right that it’ll be easy to miss 2 weeks in primary than in secondary. Only thing that would stop me is if my children were struggling academically and 2 weeks would knock them significantly. However my kids are both doing well and in your shoes i would do the holiday but ask what will be covered in those 2 weeks and vaguely get some related work.

my kids recently missed 4 days of school.

Do it! Kids get assessed when they go to high school anyway. Go on the holiday.

This is a good point I missed too. If my daughter was struggling academically or behind in anyway k would not take her out. Time out to one child could be alot more detrimental than another depending on how they are doing in general at school.

If this really a one off then maybe, just don’t do it regularly - statistically 17 days absence per year for 5 years adds up to one GCSE grade dropped in all subjects (yes, there are always exceptions to the rule before anyone jumps on this) As a one off, bear in mind that you’re talking about a busy time of year academically (the ‘biggest’ topics and the most intense teaching occurs from September to the end of November in all year groups). Could you maybe consider a quieter time of year? If you are ok with potential gaps in learning and don’t intend to blame the teacher for this further down the line then go and enjoy your holiday!

Honestly two weeks is nothing in the scheme of things . Absolutely I would cover off the bits of curriculum that they missed yourself with them when you are back.

I definitely wouldn't be avoiding if for reasons like the 'school play'

Some kids get bad bugs like chicken pox and are out for two weeks and no one panics about the gaps in learning on that.

I'd absolutely do it!

@YikYok
It sounds like that school is just ridiculous. A full curriculum should (and really must) be taught for Y6. There's just too much content to do otherwise and narrowing the curriculum would be heavily criticised by any moderating body (Ofsted, SIAMS, etc.) that noticed that. It's a real shame that this was your child's experience because, actually, Y6 can be really enjoyable and a very fun year group to teach too.

I will say, however, that the impact that SATs have is not on secondary setting. It's also not a pass or fail system. The scaled scores a child gets in their exams determine their GCSE targets and flight path. These are the grades the secondary must get the child to in order for them to not contribute a negative progress score to the school's progress 8 measure. This can affect setting but it also affects things like intervention, support programmes, teacher allocation, level of challenge within learning, access to foundation or higher content and exams, etc.

Do it ! The fine if you get one is worth it. Memories and experiences with your children are not as important as a one off holiday in term time

Hmm…I was mainly looking at October as we have a two week half term. But if I had to take them out for a fortnight, I could look at taking them out for two weeks at the start of June (tacked onto May half term) which would be post-SATs. Arguably it’s a better time to travel to that destination anyway as it’s coming out of rather than heading into winter. Or do it this year when they in Y5 and Y2.

Or I could compromise the itinerary so we could take a 3 week trip including both weeks of the October half term.

Which is the least-bad from a school perspective:
-2 weeks in June Y2/Y5
-1 week in October Y3/Y6
-2 weeks in June Y3/Y6

SATS results don’t dictate a school outcome. A 10 year old doing SATS is likely to change dramatically over the next few days and most decent schools will apply their own tests and pupils can move up and down set groups.
Teachers should be checking throughout a pupils schooling whether they need access to additional support or challenges.
SATS wouldn’t be a reason to not go on a special holiday. Other pupils will also miss SATS due to holidays and illness. It’s not the end of the world.

Why can't you go in the summer holidays?

Far too hot!

November to April the mountains are too cold, roads closed due to snow etc. July-August other areas are far too hot, up to 40C during the day.

so Sep/Oct and May/Jun are only times I would consider.

@Parker231
SATS results don’t dictate a school outcome

Dictate, no. But they do affect a child's experience as they progress through secondary, more so than parents or even normal class-based teachers realise. It's one of the reasons why, for example, ill pupils who miss their exams are isolated from their peers and sit them on their return (as long as it's within the two week window).

OP would your kids mind coming back and being ‘behind’ and struggling with work? Or are they quite robust? My kids were the anxious type who would have hated this, but yours might be better at handling change. I think a lot depends on your kids’ personalities.

I wouldn’t have taken term-time hols for many reasons. Not least of all, work as I needed to save my precious leave for the long hols! But I think the kids’ views matter too.