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 😅

Prices are high because it's a simple case of supply and demand. As soon as there is greater demand all year round prices will rise too.

In your ideal scenario would school staff be allowed to choose two weeks off for a cheaper holiday too?

The Guardian article identifies the problems as poverty, infrastructure, recruitment, SEN, mental health.

No mention of lack of holidays, unsurprisingly!

I live in a relatively well off part of London. A local charity, that I support had to provide 240 beds for children round here last year, because their families couldn't afford them. They have spent over £200k on this in 5 years. It's not even their main initiative.

I want the government to focus on those children, not mine.

The guardian article states that 88% of exclusions are from 10% of schools. It also states that the major factor for absenteeism is poverty. In which case I’d like to know how fines actually help the situation. I think one of the posters mentioned that the government is trying to crack on those said 10% by introducing a blanket policy. Because it doesn’t matter if you p*ss off the rest conscientious law abiding citizens as long as you deal with those 10%. However there could be a better way of doing it. There’s plenty of examples in EU and non-EU countries that it absolutely can be done without causing travel market crash and school system breakdown

get real
teachers dont have enough time to provide out of school learning
what kid/ parent is going to do schoolwork when on holiday

@Cocothecoconut well I never suggested teachers should provide out of school learning obvs! 🙄 also, responsible parents would 👍

This is not a very logical discussion.

Most absence is not for term time holidays.

If you're poor enough that an attendance fine is an issue, you probably can't afford a holiday either.

To clarify a few points again

will you be ok with teachers taking time off during term time? Idk depends on provision. Teachers can start their own petition to demand whatever they want from their workplace.

it will be chaos with everyone taking time off. Well no one says it should be two consecutive weeks. No one says that absolutely everyone would take their children on holiday because as we established through the majority of MN posters here no one wants to do it even if they could. It’s not a recommendation to take your children out it’s a suggestion to cut some slack for those families where a week or two term time would be more beneficial than school. I’m talking about seeing a relative, spending quality time together, learn from new experiences and cultures, experience warm sun or learning a new skill, trying different foods, speaking with different people, making new friends.

teachers will have to teach those all over again. Well then provisions should be made that they don’t have to! Firstly, it’s already happening and there’s no support in learning for these families as they have to hide that they went on holiday. Secondly, the most disadvantaged pupils are falling through the net as is so it’s hypocritical to punish responsible parents with the fine. The fine that the richest can pay anyway because they go on holiday when it suits them.

We’re talking about opening a conversation around treating parents as responsible people who can make their own decisions on what’s best for their family. Each family has different circumstances. You can see that the government is putting a blanket rule in a situation where there should be some room for discretion.

@Phineyj well exactly that! Why crack down on holidays when there are bigger problems causing absenteeism.

Signed. Although I don't need their permission, we already go on holidays whenever we want. Fuck their 'attendance rules', fuck the whiny teachers and fuck the school. My children - my rules. I'll be dead before I'd let some irrelevant nobodies dictate how I should parent.

I'm not in agreement with you, OP.

Someone said it upthread: the government can't have one rule for some types of families and one for others.

I taught in an independent school for a while and absence was high. Mostly for, well, holidays (and other lifestyle things). It was their own money they were wasting, though!

Yeah, I won't be signing. Foreign holidays are not a necessity in life. You don't need to go away to spend quality time with family.

Moronic.

Aaaaaand there it is, right there ... 😂

Edgy.

My childfree friends keep telling me that in the last couple of years. the resorts have been full of British kids during term time. It drives them mad as having a generally adult-ish environment on holiday was the only benefit of only getting the leftover scraps of annual leave from their workplaces (who give priority to parents).

I’ve seen a shift with my parent colleagues, too, with far more of them going on holiday during term time.

I strongly feel like the horse has bolted now and if anything the government may have to start prosecuting parents rather than just fining them.

@fitzwilliamdarcy My childfree friends keep telling me that in the last couple of years the resorts have been full of British kids during term time ... was the only benefit of only getting the leftover scraps of annual leave from their workplaces

This, exactly. So, not only will people without children have even fewer rights than they already have, but parents will push the prices up for others.

When we were growing up in the 70s - and, yes, holidays were proportion to income more expensive then - we would never have been allowed to bunk off.

We were a poor, working class family. My parents saw the value of education and we'd have to be on our last legs not to attend school.

@ViaMargutta My children - my rules.

How about 'Your children - your bills', so that you pay for their schooling and refuse child benefit, decline free prescriptions and reject the numerous other discounts made available to you by taxpayers simply because you have kids.

Don’t send the kids to school then
leave us whining nobodies to teach the ones that are interested in schooling

A two week holiday every year (even with the discounted rates of term time) is something a lot of families simply couldn’t afford. They couldn’t manage the annual leave from work. If 10 working days is a family holiday, how do you fill the school holidays with annual leave?!
Additionally, some ‘less involved’ parents will seek this at the green light to keep their kids off school for no reason. It’s breathtakingly naive to not consider the impact upon these children.

You know it’s not the “whiny teachers” who set the rules?! 😂 perhaps you would benefit from being at school!

To be fair, if childfree people want an adult only holiday, they need to go to an adult only resort.

@fitzwilliamdarcy prosecute parents for what exactly? Noisy children on holiday?. I think its mainly to do with what type of holiday you select if you go to a hotel with a waterpark then there obviously with be lots of kids! I read this on reviews all the time and I can't understand how people don't lower their expectations. It's so entitled.

The government have many things to be sorting out and I don't think it should start with kids missing 5 days at school. Even then the majority can't even afford a holiday abroad term time so I thinks it's a lot of exaggeration here.

Oh bless. You sound utterly vile, hun.

If ever there was an advert for why there should be a test before having children, this is it!

Honestly just take the fine and benefit from the much cheaper prices. As long as its not Sep when the new year starts, 2 weeks out of the whole school year is nothing.

@Somethingneedstobedone "@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."

What does that even mean? We come from two absolutely different backgrounds; how could you possibly know that from what I said? Your reply to me makes you sound like a pompous arse to be quite frank, which makes me glad that we obviously don't have a lot in common.