Students to be taken out of school for holidays

[Spinachandcheese1]

To clarify, I am mum of two young kids - not yet primary school age!

I am a bit puzzled on this hot topic on whether students should be allowed to be taken out of school for holidays mid-term...

Surely, holidays are less expensive mid-term, but how can a kid miss whatever is taught at school/miss homework/miss new topics that they will learn, just to go on holidays?

How will this kid be examined at at school test in this "lost" knowledge at a later day? For example, if they learn about the rivers of the UK or about decimals in maths or a historic event and then the kids will have to somehow know all these things that they would have learnt in this "missed week", how would that happen?

Please forgive if I am worried unnecessarily, as I said I don't have school aged kids to know what's happening but this is something that concerned me.

AIBU - Kids won't learn anything important in a week that will have an impact

AINBU - Kids will struggle to catch up academically on their return

I feel strongly that this needs to be an individual decision about what's best for each child.

We have children who flexi school, if they miss something the days they are not in, they miss it. Fine, no harm done.

They apply to flexi school, I do it for a Friday which is a pointless waste of time. A half day of nonsense, in my view. Usually a walk, break, then tidy up for lunch.

We have children out for lambing, pony club, agricultural shows. To visit family on the other side of the world.

It goes here as unauthorised absence, but that's it. Scotland.

In my experience if the family is engaged with the school, the children are doing well, nobody ever raises a question.

If there are issues, the child is late, disheveled, social work involved, concerns about energy, etc then school would be more likely to ask for more information re the plan for the time out.

I took mine out in Primary - usually half way through the last week in May so we got all of Whit - year 6/secondary I wouldn't do more than an odd day - this year DD3 will be missing the last day of summer term - yr 10 - next year we will go post GCSE - education is important. Year 11 is vital and I'd say any time out is a no-no

DD is Y4 and I've taken her out for 4 days for a trip when she was in Y2. She is a bright kid with otherwise perfect attendance so it hasn't affected her a bit. I wouldn't do it at key times and I would try tag onto a school holiday. I know quite a few of her classmates are taking extra days off in the May half term, parents accept they will likely be fined and are happy to accept that.
I don't get those that do it and then bitch all over social media that they're being fined and it isn't fair, if you're doing it just accept the fine as the rules are clear!

If it’s important for you personally that they attend all their schooling, don’t take them out.
if it’s not, do.
my DD missed her whole year 1 as we were traveling together. We took them out for a few days most years until high school.
she has a 1st in business and politics from a very good uni so I think she caught up enough…

My child had a week off school, they aren't now massively behind their peers, failing at life and destined for a life of servitude. I imagine it's the same for those who spend a week on a sunny beach as a hospital bed.

A child who is bright, is in early primary, in a good school with involved parents won't be any worse off for having a week of school to go on holiday.

A child who struggles, in year 6, at a rubbish school, with parents who allow children to stay off school frequently, will obviously be affected.

I think this argument might have held up until the pandemic when children had such wildly varying education depending on age, their willingness/ability, parental input and even school input that taking a few days off one year for a family holiday pales into insignificance.

When we go on holiday my kids get a chance to experience stuff that’s not taught at school. Beyond that:
a few years ago I took my son away for a week to Haven during school time.
In that time frame the teachers told us the kids had done; insects and bugs, money and counting coins to 50p, the pyramids of Giza and the Egyptians, yoga, story writing and a science experiment involving baking soda volcanoes.
What did we do that week?
went on a bug hunt, built bug houses and learnt all about different types of ladybirds and beetles with ranger Paul, exchanged money and counted it to £1 and beyond in the arcade, how to budget the pennies and what coins added to different amounts. An entire evening was dedicated to the Egyptians and we all made a pyramid and learnt how to spell our names in hieroglyphs. We did early morning yoga with Rory and anxious every morning, wrote a story about Bradley bear the superhero and made baking soda potions in a magical mixes class.
we did everything the school planned and more, as a family, whilst spending quality time together and relaxing.
Thats why I don’t buy the BS that schools spout about it being so vital to attend.
Every year since then, I have taken both my kids out for a long weekend to a holiday place with their great grandparents and our entire extended family. One day those great grandparents will be gone, but my children will have the memories of watching uncle Joe pour tiny drops of water into a jug, being tucked into bed by grandpops or stealing some of Nannas ice cream. Those are equally as important to their personal growth as school can be. It’s all about balance and I don’t see what’s wrong with a week or two to just spend time with your family and creating lifetime memories!

I wouldn't take them out during exam years, but kids could learn way more about the world by travelling and seeing other cultures. And really, do you remember much you learnt at school?

We took ours out for 6 weeks. 2 in primary and one just started high school

They learnt an awful lot whilst we were away, we did the homework which was set on line for the class (it's always set on line so wasn't just a special thing for us because we were away)

We knew what topics were being covered before we went so did bits of that whilst we were away but in the country we were in, eg they were doing rivers and we had dry riverbeds to walk over and other waterways etc (the scenarios which wouldn't have happened in the UK). They were also learning about other education systems abroad back in class and we went to the school of air for comparison

I don't regret a minute of it, it was an amazing experience and opportunity

Depends on the child and willingness of the parents to sit with them and cover what they missed
I don't feel it's fair on the teacher to have to go over old ground and delay other students because someone chose to take their kids out for a holiday.
But if the parent can get the course work and to a couple of hours an evening to catch it up then they should be fine.

I kind of get the whole learning new cultures thing but that only covers a small percent. Many holidays are not as cultural.

Mine are YR and Y2, they're missing a week at the end of June for a week's all inclusive in the Balearics.

They've got a 98% attendance record otherwise. It's not something I'll be losing sleep over!

They'll learn a lot on holiday - language, culture, currency, food, geography, nature. School isn't the only place where education takes place.

It’s an odd thing to be posting when your kids aren’t even in school.
One might even think it was goady.

Mine are finishing school now, and I've never taken then out for holidays. We've never done the 2 weeks in Spain thing, which is unaffordable during school holidays, we've always gone for a more affordable British holiday. Its too disruptive for the children. I remember my parents would always take us out of school for holidays, then I would be struggling to catch up having missed the entire start of a new topic. I was always middle set, so whilst the top set kids would probably be okay, a middle set child would certainly struggle. Missing the start of a new school year was worse; I was quiet, so hated that friends had already chosen who they were sitting with, and remember it feeling isolating.

Yes, it's crappy parenting to take your kids out of school for a holiday, though plenty on here will defend it.

Do you think if your child misses a week with the flu they'll never catch up again?

Obviously for older DC, they need to be in school. With younger DC it's fine. We have no fines here, we say they won't be in next week as we're going away and the teachers tell us to have a great time and that they can't wait to hear all about it. Zero drama.

I'm not hugely in favour of term time holidays but generally

• kids are taught stuff more than once during their whole time at school
• do you think that if a child has surgery, an illness, etc and misses school that they will never catch up from that either?

Not this again 🥱

how do children cope that get sick, have the flu etc?

As all our kids are bright, it's not a problem for them to miss the odd week of school for a cheaper holiday.

In my opinion taking children out of school for a holiday should be a rare event. Visiting an older or terminally ill relative, a cultural event which is only in term time, to give examples. Not just for a week in warmer weather.

How you encourage or enforce that I am not so sure. I don't think fines are the answer.

Do you think if your child misses a week with the flu they'll never catch up again?
Illness is unavoidable. The average kid probably needs 2/3 days an ac.year for illness, but add to that a 2 week avoidable holiday and you've got a significant chunck of time missed.

I took mine out in Primary KS1 but only when it was near the end of term so they didn’t miss much learning just some of the fun stuff . Maths and English topics are revisited multiple times .

It became apparent one of mine wasn’t particularly academic and had a hearing issue . I didn’t take them out after that as I thought he needed all the education he could get ! We just had more Cheaper UK holidays for a while

Nor should the teachers be expected to waste time helping them miss what their parents decided they could miss, it's the parents' responsibility. I once had a Year 11 go off to Australia at the start of December and return late January, his parents couldn't understand why I would not put the class on hold for him to catch up, nor would I spend time after school or in lunchtime for that purpose. I was tempted to quote tutoring rates for after school work.

I don’t normally but I am looking at it for September 2025. So year 5/9/12. My thinking is September is decent weather, get the first week or two in so they learn the new class but not so far in that they should miss anything that won’t be repeated or is urgently urgent.

Let’s face it one week off school.. so what chicken pox? D&v on a mon/Tuesday which wipes out a week pretty much anyway. Any number of things could wipe out 7 days in an entire year.

I couldn’t take them for two weeks solid though and I’ve so far only ever done a one Friday and Monday off to do a long weekend.

😂😂