To ask teachers if you just accept the inflated holiday prices?

[justoneofthoseyearsagain]

Is there any other way to bring costs down? Looking at a UK break at Christmas and it’s £1600 - the following week it is £600. Obviously not much you can do but does sting a bit!

I've only skim read the thread, so maybe this has been mentioned already.
But, my sister lives in Scotland and is a teacher. It's cheaper for her to fly from an English airport in early July for a holiday.

Similarly, I live in England, and we generally fly from Glasgow or Edinburgh in the middle of August.

Yes. Nothing else to do. A few years to retirement and then I will never holiday outside term time again...

We don't 'buy holidays'. We usually drive somewhere and rent an Airbnb for part of the time and camp for part. We're in an Airbnb in Germany at the moment, heading to a campsite in Switzerland for five nights then four nights in a cabin in France. Eurotunnel each way at ungodly hours.

I'm a teacher and yes, the higher holiday costs are just part of the job! Means we don't go abroad much but we still have lovely UK holidays

My friend who is a teacher says that she ignores term time prices because they're irrelevant. She couldn't go then if it was free!

It isn't only the cost. Everywhere is so busy in August. Yet if I wait until October half term it isn't warm enough without a 4 hour flight.

June half term can be extortionate too and no chance of two weeks away because the holiday is only one.

I am on holiday now and the next hot holiday will be the same time next year. I'd like freedom to travel at other times.

No, you're not.

Unpaid parental leave. You can still go on holiday in term time (as long as you’ve got kids).

I'm in Scotland so earlier summer hols, have sometimes found cheaper deals flying from Newcastle/Manchester at the start of July. Same applies to holiday cottages in England before schools there break up. Obviously depends where you are based, but you could look at flights from Glasgow/Edinburgh mid August?

I've never known anyone working in a school to do this.

I think support staff should be allowed 2 weeks during term time each year covered by a rota system so classes aren't left short but because there are never enough TAs/support staff (thanks 13 years of cuts) it wouldn't work at present.
They get paid so little for what they do and many cannot afford school holiday prices. As a teacher I just accept the inflated costs but couldn't do that on the pittance they pay support staff.

I'm an ex teacher and I'd def take DD out of school, unfortunately DH is still a teacher so I silently simmer with rage at the ridiculous price differences and accept it by acknowledging that his pension is amazing and no childcare costs for the school hols. Tho we have paid £35k nursery fees the past four years and had zero hols asides staying with family in the uk.
The amount of people that tell me to try going on an inset to get the costs down when DH fucking works the inset!
We have now starting going abroad now nursery costs behind us and I spend a lot of time scanning for cheapest flight's possible.
We met working abroad both teaching and there was no huge school holiday premium like on the uk, it was quite the shock when we came back.

We some times have disaggregated PD days meaning the end of half term/term is a day early than most and I try and fly out on those. It means it’s manic getting ready to go but can save a few hundred quid.

I'm a teacher..

Went to Sorrento in May half term, 5 days half board.. £987 for myself and DH (his birthday treat).

I've got a caravan booked in Northumberland for £199 for 4 nights (2 adults. 2 kids)

Easter I've 7 days in a lodge in Scotland for £500 including hot tub. (2 adults, 2 kids).

Need august ive booked a week all inclusive in Tunisia for £1600 for myself and both children, (DH can't get the time off).

If you research properly you can get affordable holidays!

The further you go, the cheaper it is.

As others have said it's the same for all working parents - admittedly we can stagger over holidays and take a few days either side to get a slightly cheaper deal but it doesn't make much difference.

I only get 5 weeks holidays to cover 13 weeks of school hols so if I use a week on a term time holiday it's even harder to cover the holidays.
Childcare for my 2 is £100 a day so any savings are soon swallowed up.

And to top it off my one and only chance of a decent term time holiday when my eldest was 3 was scuppered by covid lockdowns.

I’ve done it. I don’t think my head was impressed but I work part time which may have softened the blow.

It probably won’t go down particularly well in most schools but it’s always an option.

You can take 4 weeks parental leave per year per child, up to age 18, but it is unpaid.

I don't understand why you think it's 'inflated' Surely that's standard full price in the school holidays, and off peak is the discount rate?

I think they should spread the cost of holidays more evenly throughout the year, or at least spread the costs more evenly throughout May-September.

All my friends who are not Teachers take their children out of school to have such lovely holidays, and they’re always saying that they just could not afford to do so if they had to go away during the school holidays. I always tell them, we have no choice in my family as we are Teachers and this is why we haven’t been able to afford a holiday for 2 years.

I tend to go away at Easter to save money.
Some part time staff I know will swap days with their job share to go away during the term.

I don’t know. I was looking at holidays and the website I was on showed the prices for the week before and the week after - and ouch. So it did seem somewhat inflated.

Oh fully in the suck it up category!

Pre my son, we did a mix of abroad and camping. Now it’s mainly camping but have saved for Center Parcs in October. Currently saving for Lapland next year.

I’ve always been a teacher so it’s just part of the job. I think I’m lucky really! I get to do a job I absolutely love and get all the holidays with my son!

If I totted up how much we spend each year on childcare for school holidays it would more than cover the difference between a term time and school holiday, holiday. Also now DS is at school we can't take him on holiday in term time , fines now increasing plus threat of prosecution if you do it more then once in a three year period, so we pay the premium (or don't go away) AND pay for school holiday childcare.

Given I no longer have kids in school, I see the prices as vastly cut in term time. Great discounts to be had. Just as pre-kids, I never went in the holidays, only when the offers were on in term time.

In Ireland you have to be granted it within 6 weeks of the date you requested .