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?

Ah yes, these families are not only making sure that they only take holidays during times when absolutely no learning is going on at school, but they also are making sure that they are getting a cultural experience and not spending their days in the pool with the swim-up bar. Definitely all families are doing that.

The main aspect for me is the government interfering so much with what you do with your own child. It's ridiculous to not be able to take your child away for the week. People should not be priced out of holidays due to this. Let's be honest, the UK is not a nice place right now, and people deserve a break.

As long as you're not taking them out at key points like exams, who cares?

1 child.
1st fine is £80 each parent.
2nd fine is £160 each parent
3rd fine is court + a fine 2.5k and your dbs records affected

the fines are per child.

Do you mean you saved enough money to cover private school fees just by booking a term-time holiday or have I misunderstood?
I'm a teacher so it's been over twenty years since I booked a holiday during term time - are the savings really that huge?

I know flight prices are much higher in the summer but if you factor in fines and then having to pay for childcare during two weeks of the summer would it really be that much of a saving?

Then save up for it and make it a priority - every other year if that is what it takes. term time + a fine that is a choice, I guess, and one that you are entitled to make, but don’t complain about fines.

sad for you that you can only connect with your family once a year by getting away, though.

Bloody hell the amount of special pleading going on.

The vast majority are taking their kid out of school to go on holiday because it's cheap and they don't value education enough to make sure they turn up to school every day.

People should just own it.

Ah right, so now you want multiple holidays.

What’s ridiculous is how much more expensive holidays are during school holidays, absolute piss take.

The thing that has been overlooked in all of this is the serious risk to some (mostly) women that fining separated couples could cause. If the RP takes a child away or a fine is otherwise generated, the NRP could get really arsey about it and then things could turn nasty. Not everyone is all nice and amicable. And it's not as simple as just don't go on holiday. My DS was classed as persistently absent last year because the sheer amount of illnesses he was unlucky enough to get took his attendance below 90%. You get unauthorised absence for things like doctors and dentists appointments as the rules say they have to be out of school time, even though that's not usually possible especially at hospital clinics. Attendance policies and sanctions are really ableist and i hate them. I will be writing to my new MP about all of this.

Unfortunately the approach to attendance has become a very blunt tool.
I taught in a very deprived area in the 90's, attendance was a huge problem. And it certainly wasn't due to going on holiday. A few examples from the many I could give.

• child who was absent every Monday. Turned out weekend was party central at their house and Monday was a massive comedown.
• children absent on giro day. All gone shopping.
• a large family where we realised a child was always off. Turned out mum was lonely in an evening and kept one child up with her, who then had the next day off.

Fines etc would have had no impact. Support from staff for children and parents did. I then worked in a more affluent area where holidays were a thing and probably the main reason for absence. We could authorise 10 days. The problem came when you had a child who had 2 weeks holiday with Mum, 2weeks with Dad and then 2 with Granny. All in term time. Fines made no difference because it still worked out cheaper.

That could be 95% or so the ones that have finished their GCSEs.

This exactly …

so many live in a dream world ..

lots of parents work in jobs unable to take holidays lesuire industries, armed forces

many children with Sn’s can’t manage when it’s busy .

but feel free to sit in your ivory tower ..

The problem with schools in England ( as I believe children in other parts of the uk seem to manage without these fines) is you keep throwing rules at parents expecting them to just submit ..

it isn’t about the absence it’s the reasons for the absence ..

my ds’s school loved when I was childminding would drop him at school for registration- then collect him after I dropped the kids off for an appointment . He did no learning that morning but he kept there figures up .. that taught him about playing the system which is what parents are doing

That is literally the opposite of what I said I said a beach/pool holiday absolutely can be educational for all the reasons I said you don't need to be going to museums and churches for a holiday to be educational everything in a new environment is educational for a child including swimming which is a very important life skill

So no ability to reflect on the merits of foreign travel vs. education? Just lean into the cues you are getting from your friends / social media?

I’m sorry, you reap what you sow. You cannot deem education to be of so little importance that you had kids out of the classroom for an irrationally long time during 2020 and 2021 and now all of a sudden it’s important again. That sent a massive message that actually it’s OK to be out of school.

To state my position- we have never taken a holiday outside of school holidays even before we had children as I am married to a teacher.

Well no, because their absence post-exams isn't unauthorised. These 450,000 absences were unauthorised.

We couldn't afford to go on holiday in August plus it's to hot for small children. I also strongly believe my children will learn more in a week on holiday then they do at school

My kids had several camping holidays between 2011 and 2019, do they not count either?

I live in a fairly wealthy area. Most people go abroad multiple times a year, mostly in school holidays but sometimes during termtime, because skiing or Disney works out cheaper that way.

Like I said, just own it if you don't think attendance at school is more important than a beach holiday.

If swimming is an important life skill, there are many ways to take a child swimming that isn't a week in an all-inclusive.

Depends on the school. Our college has a new headteacher who is quite dim and thinks Ofsted would be affected if she authorised such absences.

Attendance at study sessions at school were mandatory until the last day of term even if you’d already completed all your exams.

Editing to add she also did away with study leave. All of we parents are disgusted over this.

it’s in a period of 3 years If you get 3 fines those are the fines.

the poster I was replying to said If you can afford the holidays then you can afford the fines. The fines are changing so yes I can afford the holidays but I can’t afford a fine of 5k and my records being affected. I’m lucky to be in the position to be able to travel as much as I want(even at the hefty prices of holiday term). Not everyone will be able to afford holidays when their kids break. Also , not every child’s education will be affected because their parents decided to take them out of school for a week to go to an all inclusive or to go to another side of the world one year and did it again the year after.

Fantastic point.

I have owned it can't you read how many times do I have to write a child will learn more in a week out in the world then in a classroom.

YANBU. For some children the odd term time holiday will offer greater enrichment and wellbeing than those few days at school.

Everyone thinks 'oh it's ok for my child to do this because I'm special and it's not that important'. And hundreds of thousands of kids are missing school.
Thats millions of hours of lost education. Of course the government thinks it's important.