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?

Stuff like this always impacts low income families the most. It's vastly unfair.

I'd be telling them to fuck off.

If only there weren't 13 weeks of the year when kids weren't at school when they could do that. If you can't afford it and really think that it's important, then save up?

Within a 3 year period if you get fined 3 times you are sent to court and have a 2.5k fine for each parent

Maybe there should be a body that regulates hotels/airlines so that they can't hike their prices so much in school holidays.

let them eat cake eh

I don't think the government should be setting these blanket bans. As a PP said, some ND children really struggle in crowded places, do they not deserve a holiday, ever? For a lot of these DC life is already hard because of our government pushing them into totally unsuitable school places, surely they deserve some respite?

A lot of posters seem to think the only reason for an absence from school would be a sun holiday in Benidorm, if you have family living abroad in a different culture, this can be really beneficial for DC.

I think it's too draconian and it's really important for kids to be able to go on holiday with their family. Some families cannot do this in school holidays due to either: cost, autism/SEN so they can't cope with crowds, or parents with non-flexible jobs who can't take time off at that time. It's such a shame if those families can never go on holiday.

I think attendence/absence has to be looked at sensibly. It should focus on the kids with persistent absence and see what support can be put in place to improve things. Maybe a fine is appropriate in the small number of cases where the parents cannot be arsed. But generally it's support that's needed.

We don't need draconian measures for families who took a 1 week holiday, or those whose kids were ill (schools sometimes mark illness days as unauthorised absence even when the child was ill and the parent phoned in - and those bloody letters when your kid is unlucky enough to get 2 or 3 viruses in a row).

Ah yes because that's exactly what families like mine are thinking of 💤 😴

No wonder children are acting out nowadays, their parents seem to think foreign holidays are a basic human right!

I grew up in the 2000s/2010s with two parents out of work due to disability, we only ever went to Haven in Wales which was a massive deal for us, and a lot of years we didn't have any holidays. Am I scarred? No. I can travel as an adult.

If you want to take your kids on holiday, save up and book in the school holidays. Not during vital learning periods. If you can't, then go without and do something else instead. A child's not going to die from no foreign holiday.

We don't all make a teachers salary It took 3 years to save up for a term time holiday. If I had to go in the school holidays we wouldn't be able to go at all plus the heat in August is to much for small children

It’s not hypotheticals. These are some of the experiences of families I know. I have understanding and empathy for others. And the working patterns of struggling to get family time together at one time is my own.

And it is also my experience that while I enjoy time at home with my children, I work very hard when I’m at home keeping the house clean, ironing, meal planning, cooking etc and I don’t feel mentally rested in the same way.

To say I’m ’doing family time wrong’ and not connecting with my kids because I feel differently is so ignorant. I have yet to take my kids out at term time but if it gets to the point the only week we can all do is during term time I might consider it.

You can value education and value family time. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

And we're back to 'a foreign holiday is a basic right which is more important than education'.

2 years ago (my son was in reception)I got rejected to take my son out of school for a day so he could go to my sisters wedding. I could have called in sick as it’s only a day like many of my friends do to avoid being fined. But I didn’t want to lie. Going to the wedding with the family was an important event and losing a day of school would have had as much impact as if he had been ill.

You don't think it was essential learning. However maybe the teaching staff had worked hard to link the cirriculum / learning outcomes / whatever to what was hapening at the time. Olympic themed activities would have included maths, science, literacy. You might not have percieved it that way.

missing the point.

Yes, it must be terrible to have your holidays restricted to August when it is too hot. I wonder how teachers manage that.

A foreign holiday is education.why do people only think you can learn from books and not actual life experiences

Haven't RTFT, but we don't have the fines here in NI. We go on term time holidays and the teachers tell us to have a great time. Educational attainment is higher, and teachers are happier too it seems.

England really seems to be an outlier on this, and for zero benefit.

The combination of school rules and holiday pricing (dynamic pricing ) are discriminatory to

1. children of low income families
2. children and families with close family overseas (had a colleague whose dad was dying overseas, in ICU, school would not authorise leave)

those in independent school (and therefore not low income) can

1. take time out from school without challenge
2. take advantage of off peak air fares and holidays.

Not sure what the answer is. Can agree that for my DC, once term assessments or SATs etc are complete (usually several weeks before end of term), school becomes very relaxed. Homework tails off to nothing significant or none at all for some subjects this happens by middle of June. Lots of movies, outdoor classes, day trips. Which IMO are so important to children. My own DC moan about watching movies, all day sports events etc at end of term. I think they would prefer and would respond better to the structure and routine of learning right up to the end of term, every term. We hear much from teachers about how difficult it is to squish the ciriculum requirements into state school terms…….

I think that’s a big stretch in defining educational value from a typical beach holiday, but I still stand by the assertion that it is less valuable than a week of school - not just for the content covered in school that week, but because of the larger signal you give your child around the value and importance of education.

i never saw a beach or flew on a plane until I was 18 - I still had a lovely childhood, and that critical bit of missed learning (how to beach abroad) hasn’t really held me back. I have successfully beached abroad numerous times despite that seemingly large gap in my ‘education’

I think heads should be able to grant exemptions, and if you rely on charitable support for a holiday due to special needs, and the charity can confirm to the school that they cannot fund in school holidays.. then fair enough, you should get an exemption.

But for most people - no you can’t take your kids out of school for significant amounts of time like a week, because it disrupts their education. Obvs.

why do all those shunning term time holidays assume that everyone is going on a "beach" holiday to laze around. baffling.

And that not everyone goes to an all inclusive in Benidorm and Majorca or Disney on hols.

You chose that job, we all have these choices the same as I chose not to become a nurse as I didn't want to work night shift and Christmas. It's nothing new it hasn't changed since you became a teacher.