To think the penalties for term time absence is ridiculous..

[JKbowling]

I got this in my email inbox today, sent to all parents and guardians.

"Failure to safeguard a child's education" appearing on your DBS, really?

As for term time holidays. If a family can't afford to pay for their one measly UK break per year to be had during the 6 weeks holidays (because the prices are hiked right up and become unaffordable) how does school suppose said family is going to pay the fine?

The assumption that anyone that wants to take their kid out for a term time holiday is desperate not to "educate" their child, to bunk off school or wants to laze on a beach all day is exceptionally narrow minded and lazy stereotype that ignores the different reasons and benefits that any holiday can bring to a low income family. Both to families that are high achieving at school and low achieving at school. School is not the be all and end all of life. Net value of holiday after the benefits of education are deducted is a decision taken by an adult. Labelling these parents as lazy "education dodgers" is a pretty daily mail attitude and completely missing the point, reasons and wider benefits of travel. Yes some people take the piss. But it reeks to me of labelling people into black and white boxes of "responsible" and "irresponsible" parents, when the reality is completely different and nuanced.

@noblegiraffe wasn't moaning about her holidays, nor has she ever moaned about her job
She has been consistent in raising general issues about education, not the minutiae of her own employment.

Obviously or I wouldn’t go would I? Were you trying to be a snob about ‘the type of holiday’? Because that doesn’t make you look like the decent person you think it does.

I find it ridiculous people can't differentiate a pandemic from normal life, and after having children miss out on so much school, parents don't care if they miss out on more

well said.

If you can afford that kind of holiday you can afford to go in the school holidays.

Oh, because people are saying 'but don't you understand how expensive it is in the holidays? How hot? How utterly marvellous it is to go abroad and how the children will absolutely miss out if they don't go on a cheap term time holiday?'

Well, yes I know how expensive and hot it is and I've done a lot of UK caravan holidays because of it. So people telling me how that would be utterly unbearable for their children aren't going to get that much sympathy.

She's never moaned about what now??!!

NG is the only MNetter who I could tell you instantly what they do for a living, purely because they've been moaning about it for years!

You must be thinking of someone else.

Not what I said. I said there was no evidence of a link between children taken out of school for holidays abroad or to celebrate religious holidays. The research has been done. Yes, there is a general link between poor attainment and children who don’t go to school very much. That’s because these are troubled kids who have other issues. Children taken out for a holiday in abroad for two week show no ill effects.

correlation is not causation.

Just because your miserable in your job and life it doesn't give you the right to bring everyone else down with you. To say I'm a teacher so don't get term time off so nobody else should makes you sound like a 2 year old. Like I said previously luckily my kids teachers are happy mature adults so wished us a good time when we went and my daughter did a little show and tell to the class when she got back to tell them all about it and what she'd seen and learnt.

No, but if your argument is that you have to take your kids out of school during the term time because it is too expensive to go in the holidays and actually what you mean is it would be too expensive to go on that type of holiday in the holidays, then an obvious solution would be to look at cheaper holidays where you might have to do a bit of cooking or cleaning.

She is a teacher, but she does not moan about her particular job but those aspects what affect all teachers.

Totally depends on the type of holiday you go on - yes there are expensive uk options but there are loads of cheap ways of holidaying as well, some of which don’t even require leaving your house if you are really on a budget! And if foreign holidays are so much cheaper…. Go on those during school holidays?

I haven't read all the thread. But when my children were at primary school in the late 90's early 2000's. The head teacher could authorise 2 weeks a year absence. I always took the kids out for one week. Seems to have made no diffence to them as adults now. They both have degrees and jobs.
I realise it's not ideal for the teachers but let's be honest if they leave primary school able to read, write, and do basic maths, that's all they need to able to learn for exams at secondary school.

You choose a teaching job though. None of the parents here chooses this draconian absence policy.

Honestly you do spend a lot of time complaining about your job. If it’s really so bad, other careers are available

The difference can be well over two grand. A PP said even though she saved for years she still couldn’t afford to go during school holidays.

Same we all know she's a teacher on here

@JKbowling The issue I have with term-time absence is that it instills a poor mentality and attitude into children. Children grow up to believe they can simply abandon responsibilities and go on holiday whenever they like. Too many teenagers today are like princesses (both genders!) with a "me-me-me" attitude.

I just can’t get worked up about it because I’ve never taken my kids out. Nor was I ever taken out of school when I was young.

Going on holiday is not that much of a cultural experience that they need to miss education to do it.

@noblegiraffe is complaining about the job in general, the one all teachers have, possibly withe reasonable hope that posters would be able to see this.

So in summary ‘I want a specific kind of holiday, but can only afford it by disrupting my children’s schooling. It’s unfair if I can’t get what I want for what I can afford!’

A holiday not leaving my house. Wtf 🤣🤣 I can't wait to go to the a la carte restaurant in my kitchen to have coco pops before washing the dishes sounds like bliss before I go for a swim in the bathtub

Is this because they went for a week -2 weeks on hols or because of what happens during the 52 weeks of a year?

There's absolutely evidence of a link between attendance and attainment.

Like posters have been saying before, there's a difference between consistent absence and a 2 week holiday from an otherwise educationally engaged family.