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?

That's it in a nutshell really.

Not to be pedantic, but to PP's mentioning covid in the past tense, we are still in covid times. There are twice as many children with long covid this year, than last year (up to March '24). We've just had another large wave.

WHO sorted the air in their headquarters pronto, so did Parliament, DfE, Ministry of Defence. The government could have used that time after the first lockdown to make schools safer by investing in air cleaners, but they didn't and still haven't. That would have helped schools and reduced onward community transmission. Meanwhile, government go on about school absence (teacher absence has also increased) and the numbers of people now unable to work, without acknowledging impacts of covid infections.

If all the posters with uninformed opinions on this were to use the time they are doom scrolling on MN to do a few hours a term as a school governor or volunteer, the education system would be in a dramatically better situation!

As another poster has written you can't compare the social damage done to young people with lock downs and school closures. To a child have potentially 5 days off out if the whole school year. It's not comparable. This nonsense has come about because of the decision making during this time and the long lasting effects.

Not the odd parent taking their child out for a few days.

"As another poster has written you can't compare"

You absolutely can.

The scale is different, but if you take the view (widely expressed by the past and current government ) that every day matters to a child future that principle applies now just as it did then

It's just now it's less convenient and costs people money.....

But then I was attending school in a system where the responsibility was on the child to learn and prep for exams, not on teachers to carry children every time they fell slightly behind. There was no bad reflection on teachers if students failed

I think we can blame ofsted for that @Commonsense22

I think the new rules are great. They make it clear you can take a week holiday now without any fines! If you want a two week holiday well you’re just being greedy

That just isn’t true. As a single working parent I cannot afford a simple holiday in Norfolk in the summer holidays.

That’s isn’t right. A weeks holiday will result in a fine. 4.5 days won’t. 5 days will

Honestly I think the only reason someone should get a criminal record for their kid being off school is if they’ve literally chained them to a radiator or locked them in a cellar, you know, actual criminal acts.

If a kids off school for reasons of neglect or similar then it needs to be pursued through social services appropriately, not through this ridiculous system which solves nothing.

@Lollipop81 It's alright you can just go on an Inset day which are usually Fridays

Oh no that won't work either, bastards 😆

@Peakpeakpeak You’ve put it much more articulately than me and nailed it. I think the stance on schooling as ultimately ranking as a lower priority for society really affected the way I look at attendance when I am now weighing up whether attendance at school or another opportunity like a holiday is more important. If I’m honest I think I have quite a lot of anger from that time particularly when things happened like taping off all of our local playgrounds - one of the few places of joy for many kids. It’s hard to care what a school thinks about the odd day off on holiday when we had months without any schoolwork even.

When children are off, it does take teaching time to catch them up. Despite what some may say.

For example, a child misses 5 lessons on multiplication. They arrive back in school to find everyone else on lesson 6 with their learning carefully scaffolded to that point.
The child is aware they have no clue about multiplication and requires 1:1 support to help them fill gaps and avoid distress.

I think some posters expect teachers to finish on the last day of term and start the next day with their classroom magically ready. Books labelled, classrooms moved, cupboards tidied, transitions completed. We already do much of this in our holidays. I reserve the right to watch one film a year with my class to make a start with these jobs.

Oh and anyone stating that a sports day is a doss for a teacher has clearly never run a sports day!!

Not majorly as we all know kids don’t do anything at the end if the school year. They watch films, spend days doing sports, crafts etc. The academic curriculum is done. Kids at this point would be far more enriched in their family environment enjoying a holiday.

The wrong demographic is being targeted here. They are targeting parents when they should be targeting the holiday companies which are clearly profiteering by hiking their prices for school holidays. Taking kids out of school early can save parents anywhere from £500-2k. I agree with fines for persistent absences during the school year but not close to holidays.

Schools didn't close playgrounds. Schools also didn't make the decisions about when to be open or not and who to accept when. It all came from government. Do people blame others who were on furlough for example?

Can't say I blame you really

All of this could be sorted by staggering holiday dates by a week or so, from one LEA to another. Some schools could do an 2-week half term in June for example and take a week off the long summer hol. They could also allow some sensible Lee-way e.g. up to a week away if child has otherwise excellent attendance.

Most parents have children educated in the same LEA although some who don’t would doubtless complain. But you can’t please everyone in this sort of thing so you just have to go with a system that would benefit most people & enable families to go on one affordable holiday a year.

I don't think staggering the holidays would make any difference, the holiday companies would just look at the dates and put up the prices over a wider block of the year.

All of this could be sorted by staggering holiday dates by a week or so, from one LEA to another. Some schools could do an 2-week half term in June for example

Secondary schools can't due to external exams.

Thankyou.
And don't forget the many sen children placed on authorised absence for years because there are no suitable placements.

memories are made

Yuck. If you can only make memories on a holiday, then you have bigger issues.

Like many others here, we had possibly 2 holidays during school age,(not in school time) and we turned out fine.

Some schools could do an 2-week half term in June for example

@vinoinveritas Primary schools could do that, and used to. GCSEs take place either side of half term though so secondary schools can't do this.

@Sherrystrull Schools aren’t determining whether to fine either. But that’s irrelevant.

I’m explaining why I’ve changed my stance on occasionally missing days of school. Education during Covid was seen as a lower priority than other things. In fact even giving our kids playgrounds to play in was seen as a lower priority. I think someone was right when they said the social contract has been broken. School used to be seen as a non negotiable essential by many. That was undermined during Covid. And to be honest I don’t think the attitude shift was helped by numerous strike days (even though I absolutely understand and support the underlying reasons). I think parents have felt that education for kids is dispensable when it suits the needs of others.

I get the feeling if it gets to court, then SS will be involved?