To want more people to sign the petition?

[Somethingneedstobedone]

Allow students to be taken out of school for two weeks a year without penalty? I know each school is different but resent government’s directive to toughen up on attendance really grating on my nerves. Now, my children have 98% attendance, bar a few days for illness and docs appt I’ve always taken them on holiday during the break. However a lot of families simply cannot afford even a caravan break. A week in Cornwall in a caravan for £2000?!? Really?! A lot of places in the world do not have such strict guidelines and I, for one, has always been an A+ student even though we were travelling a lot. So I find the argument that 100% attendance is the main factor for children to succeed in their education pretty silly. Parental involvement is by far the most important factor. But teaching people how to be involved in their children’s life whilst working the said people to the ground is too tough. Rant over, thank you for reading 😅

The real =the responsibility

I completely agree and this is what it used to be like before the penalties were introduced. What sort of catching up do people think children need if they've been off for a couple of weeks, especially at primary age? Fair enough don't have time off in the exam years, but most work at a younger age is endlessly repeated so the children are bored stiff.

Daft and unworkable. It’s a contract with the school. You get a free education for 12 years but you have to attend for the 30 weeks. This is what about selfish parents want and not what is good for their children. There are plenty of holidays. Do cheap stuff.

I didn't say give them away..
They shouldn't be much higher than at another time of the year.

It's taking the mick when prices can practically double during the school holidays.

This is exactly what I am talking about.
The mere suggestion of foregoing on holiday causes a reaction akin to being enslaved.
It is really not.

They shouldn't be much higher than at another time of the year.

Great answer. Why didn't anyone think of that...

🙄

I’ve signed it.

schools don’t own our children

You don't "own" your children either

I think people believe that if kids were allowed to enjoy holidays at any time of year then everyone would be able to go on the cheap out of term holidays that exist now. These cheap deals mostly only exist because demand is low and the rates charged are being subsidised by the more expensive summer holiday months. Busineses can't survive charging the lower prices all year round.

In reality, most people want to go on a UK holiday in the summer months, school or no school, so it would simply extend the 'peak' season. This might lead to a decrease in the price of the summer holiday weeks but a rise in the other summer months as there would be a lot more demand outside the summer holidays. You could easily end up in a situation where family's aren't necessarily much better off financially and the kids end up missing two weeks of school too.

What about teachers? Do they get to have holidays in the middle of term time too?

There’s an interesting read https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/flights-children-school-holidays-fines-b2504506.html

@Bumpitybumper what you’re talking about is a scenario for the government capping the prices. If you allow the system to self regulate as in supply-demand yes some prices might go up but generally it won’t be 16 times the price and therefore the perceived unfairness will be erased

Aaaand education is a right not a contract according to UNESCO

Families need to prioritise happy, healthy, well educated, well rounded kids.

I've taken my son out of school so we can can go on a long weekend UK trip to visit family. They would be his only chance to visit immediate family that year. He has food attendance generally.

If our school system can't cope with the odd kid being out for a few days, the system is buggered. Kids aren't fodder for the factory. The education system is there to benefit children, not the other way around.

What I'm saying is it's unlikely that businesses will accept a reduction in revenue as a result of this change so it's likely that the spike you see currently in the summer holidays will reduce but also widen, especially for UK holidays where people really do prefer the summer months. So June - October will be more expensive than it is now but end of July - August will be less. That's how I think the change in supply-demand will impact prices.

I think there is a significant proportion of people that would also factor in the costs of difficulties of using leave outside of the school holidays to facilitate a term time holiday. This could mean that they have less time off during the holidays and may have to use expensive holiday clubs that some kids don't like. A lot of my friends are in this situation and would pay quite a premium to avoid this.

If you want your child to be educated by the state, send them to school and abide by that contract.
If you don't want to abide by that contract, home educate or privately educate.

Don't use a school for your personal convenience. I'm sure you would be incensed if your child was taken off roll due to unauthorised absence. Their place would likely be given to a child on the waiting list whose parents would send them in during term time, as expected. And you would deserve to lose that place.

Schools are held accountable for every child's progress. Taking your child out of school will impact that, no matter how good a job you might think you would do during their absence. What about the time wasted re-explaining things during class time because your child was absent? The waste of other students' learning time?

Selfishness doesn't begin to cover it.

@Somethingneedstobedone private schools do not do 'far more trips away'. My kids went to private school and any trips were to support the curriculum (over night stay in Natural History Museum, a trip to France - which didn't happen in the end due to Covid). The one skiing trip was during half term. They have longer holiday because they spend. longer hours in school.
I do not think taking kids out of school for a holiday is a good idea. You may have good intentions and have your children do catch up work during the trip, but the vast majority will not.

Secondary. teachers are even worse off - responsible for between 140 -150 pupils. There's no way that could be managed if they were all in and out of school when Mums decided that attending school is not essential to their children's education.

I don't think holidays are a necessity the way that a lot of people do. Maybe it's because I didn't go on holiday a lot as a child. I don't understand the mentality around it being absolutely essential to have a holiday every single year. Yes it's nice but if you can't afford it then you just don't go? Taking kids out of school to do it is unreasonable.

@ThreeImaginaryBoys access to education is your child’s human right. There’s no contract. I’m not sure if your’re referring to North Korea or…?
secondly, let’s not pretend that parents don’t take their children out of school already. That’s happening anyway weather you like it or you don’t. If there’s a system in place to support learning there’s no impact on other pupils or teachers time. Each person should be reasonable enough to be responsible for their kids education.

….If you’re in the same camp as others here thinking that the majority of parents are idiots then what makes you think that people can be trusted with their children’s health? Why do we get to choose what to feed our kids? Give them vaccinations? Why give people any responsibility at all? Because then we’ll arrive to Soviet Union ideology. That’s why

@Pleasestopkickingme and your post my dear is the main reason why I’d want my children to travel and experience different things. Let’s just agree to disagree because we come from two absolutely different backgrounds. I can however see your point but you won’t be able to see mine.

That pesky autocorrect again.
Does it also remove apostrophes?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/ami_being_unreasonable/4985682-government-attendance-campaign

its funny how similar issue raised from a different standpoint yields completely opposite results.

@Mookie81 yes, it is. Did it make you feel better though? To point it out? Smarter than me? If so I’m pleased because I’d never want anyone to walk away from having a conversation with me and think “wow, she too self absorbed to see my point”.

Just to clarify it again, English is not my first language. Not even my third.

Personally I believe it should be down to the discretion of the school. Blanket policies rarely work for situations that often require discretion and schools know their families better than anyone. They know the families that allow their children to regularly miss school for unexplained reasons. They know the families who are repeatedly late, despite support. They also know the families who support their children's education and have good attendance, barring genuine medical issues. They know the family who needs to travel for a funeral/cannot take time off at will, such as parents in the forces/have experienced a family trauma and need to bond etc etc etc. There are so many mitigating factors that a one size fits all cannot possibly work.

To caveat, our school did just that for us. We live in a tiny town and suffered an huge trauma as a family. It was the talk of the entire town and school, which was so distressing for our DC. It died down and life went back to normal until the trial, when the gossip restarted. The school allowed us to take the children away for a week following the verdict to spare them going through that distress again. It was exactly what we needed as a family and I'm so grateful to the school for their flexibility and discretion. Had these new rules been in place, it would have added another layer of stress at an already difficult time.