To take daughter on holiday in term time?

[ELW12]

Exactly what the title says basically.
We were looking at going on holiday during the May half term, but the prices are just so out of reach for us. Daughter is in Reception so this has been the first year of having the issue of school holiday prices, and the problem we face is having to decide on either not going on holiday at all, or taking her out for the week before May half term.
I obviously appreciate education is very important, but surely it is important to make memories as a family as well? If we could afford to take her in half term then of course we would. Is it THAT bad for us to do it during school? I was thinking of asking her teacher if we could take some work with us so she doesn’t massively miss out.
Also, is it best to be honest with the school and just accept the fine? I feel like daughter will be far to excited to not let it slip, and also don’t like the idea of asking her to lie so we can pretend she is ill!

This is a rather dramatic way to justify taking your child out of school for a holiday, since memories can obviously be made during school holidays, too. If you want to do it, do it, but the "life is short" thing is unnecessary. Unless you're doing a once in lifetime extensive tour of Europe, or something...?

@sugarloafislander thats absolutely fine, that’s why I said I was only thinking about it as I didn’t know if it was the ‘done’ thing or not, now I know not too! Will take some of our own books and workbooks from home.

Life is short OP! Go on holiday and enjoy yourself!

I hope you are going somewhere warm and sunny 🌞

We aren’t but I considered it, DD also in reception. Most of the school was wiped out by chicken pox which rumbled on for about two months last autumn and DD missed a week with it, her education didn’t suffer for that so I wouldn’t stress about a week. One of her classmates had 10 days away on holiday recently and the teacher got her to tell the others about it all and didn’t seem annoyed.

Yes take her out. I was taken out a few times a couple of days before the end of term.

Tbh what i remember most about my childhood was my holidays, not day-to-day school life. Memories and experiencing other cultures is important.

Don’t ask the teachers to set any work though. And I wouldn’t expect homework in reception anyway.

Just print off some free printables from twinkle - the teachers tend to do this often. A couple of colouring pages and some reading is all that's needed at this age surely. Far too much fuss being made about the teacher getting extra work 🙄 it's a child in reception not a GCSE student!

Pre-covid I would never have countenanced taking mine out of school for a holiday. Now, if they were primary age and otherwise had excellent attendance I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Just take her, but don’t ask her to lie because it’s a terrible example to set to your daughter and she won’t remember anyway. Also, teachers are wise to students being conveniently ill just before and after school holidays or half terms. Definitely don’t ask the teacher for extra work, teachers have quite enough to do without having to drag out lesson plans and prepare worksheets etc in advance for individual children choosing not to attend their class.

Also, just to be honest with yourself, you’re taking her on holiday because you want to - all this business about making memories is ridiculous, she’s five and if I asked my now grown-up children where they went on holiday when they were five or six or even seven, they wouldn’t remember! They will have a mishmash of memories of sunshine and beaches and apartments and car journeys but absolutely wouldn’t have a clue what time of year it was or whether it was in the UK or anywhere else.

Do it. I have and would again. Make your memories. It's nit like it's all the time

Making the most of the time in the present is more important than ‘making memories’.

Go, do some reading with her each day, the book she is on, have a great time.

But think ahead and plan. If you do this every year she will miss 13 weeks of school.

We did a term time holiday in reception year- they don't get fined until they are in year 1, as reception is seen as voluntary education. Most the class went on holiday in reception year at some point because of this - just be honest with the school. There is a good experience to learning ratio for this age from the trip, I don't think the school even minded to be honest.

Unless it's the term after she turns 5 then you won't get fined.
I'd do it as the last time

YANBU at all, just tell the school and take the fine.

I live in NI where we don't have the fines, I told her teacher she wouldn't be in the next week as we were going away and she just said that was lovely and she couldn't wait to hear all about it.

If schools here can handle it here I'm sure schools in England can too!

And we certainly didn't bring any schoolwork with us!

Our living situation has changed quite dramatically since having our daughter due to my partner now having a heart condition, having to have a pacemaker and change jobs. So as a result we do not have the same income we did when she was born, we just can’t afford to go away during holiday time right now. Further more with the example of you don’t know what is around the corner, my partners health is worrying for the future. I just think, what is a 4 year old more likely to remember - a holiday abroad, going on a plane with her dad etc - or a trip to the local animal park? Life is too short to JUST worry about education. It IS important, very important, but my daughter isn’t behind in school, her attendance is very good. Back in the days when you could go out of school during term time, I’m pretty sure there are doctors and lawyers out there whose parents took them out on holiday during term time and they’ve ended up absolutely fine.

Deduct the cost of a week’s childcare, or do you have annual leave to cover a week for half term and a week for the holidays?

Sorry it is a hard no from me. The disruption this causes to teachers if even 25% of parents do this is ridiculous. You are creating more work for the teaches to recap work that has been missed with your child. I also think it sets a precedent for saying holidays are more important than school.
We have never taken DD out of school for a holiday and yes holidays are more expensive in school holidays so you compromise and accept that while they are at school you have fewer holidays.

You would be suprised! I had a family go away for 3 weeks once. They expected me to film and upload lessons / quizzes to Google classroom and went to the head when I said no. Luckily the head gave the mum a proper bollocking but some people are so astonishingly entitled.

Just do it. We have taken our DC out since reception or extended half term holidays to save money. They are doing academically super well and have massively profited from new experiences abroad. I never asked for extra work and I never lied to the school. Once took them out Friday before Feb half term, a day they finished school early anyway and mostly played games and saved £600 in flights. Not every day at school they do super crucial learning!!

I don't agree with it. Going to visit elderly relatives who live a distance away, or once for a cultural event that is on a fixed date each year, perhaps.

Consider later in the year, less than a full week, or some other option in school holiday time.

The thing is op, everyone would prefer to do this because it's cheaper but then everyone else does respect school and teaching time. I know you're looked down on if you do this when everyone else sticks to the rules. Anyway I guess you could just do it because she's young but going forward it won't be so ok.

@TMIteen she is still 4, 5 end of May! So I know technically we can’t be fined? But I still just wanted to know if it would be an awful thing for me to do!

You can’t be fined or stopped before she is 5. My DS was 5 in June and I took him out before without issues. Just don’t lie to the school, the child will tell them anyway.

Nah, sets the tone for not regarding education as important to me. We don’t do it, we just have shorter holidays.

I would (and I do). Life is about so much more than school. I feel like we are so institutionalised in this country. Life happens one time. It's important to me to experience as much of it as I possibly can.

Have to agree with this. And parents who do it should really just be honest - they still want to go the same holidays abroad they did before kids got to school age and aren't willing to compromise on the type of holiday they have. I get that some parents are restricted by way of their jobs on when they can take annual leave, but the majority of parents can "make memories" with their kids during the (roughly) three months kids get off school every year. There's nothing to stop those memories being made somewhere that IS affordable to the family during school holidays. I was never taken on a foreign holiday as a child, we couldn't afford it, even during term time. So our holidays were always UK based. No we didn't always get the good weather, but we have wonderful memories to talk about, lots of photos to fondly look at and I'm grateful for what my hard working single mum did to give me that as a child.

If parents are going on holiday during term time it's a choice being made, no one is forced to do it. My eyes roll right into the back of my head every time I see parents moaning that they're forced into taking kids out of school for holidays - no, you're not forced, you're making a choice.