Parents need to stop lying about term time holidays

[Ljcrow]

If parents want to take their kids out of school for a term time holiday because it's cheaper, I wish they wouldn't give the bullshit that it's an "educational experience". There's an article about this on the BBC today, but working in a school I've heard it all before. Can we not pretend that an all-inclusive to Lanzarote or similar is a rich cultural and educational experience?! If you want to take your kids our because it's cheaper that's up to you but don't try claim the moral high ground, no one's falling for it. (Fwiw I think holiday companies shouldn't be allowed to hike their prices up in school holidays, it's disgraceful, and as a parent myself I have no choice but to pay those inflated prices. It sucks.)

Never took my children out of school for a holiday.

Which means that they have never been overseas with me. Couldn't afford the price hikes in school hols.

I do feel that they have missed out on what it's like to fly, what it's like to be in another country, what it's like to hear another language being spoken around you, eating different foods, sampling the culture.

No. I'm entitled to express my opinion here just as much as you are thanks. You're welcome to not comment.

YABVU

Does it matter where the destination is? It’s valuable family time together and it shouldn’t matter whether it’s Benidorm or Machu Picchu. The school or government don’t own our children. Your views are very snobby and small minded

I work in a school, and I don't judge parents in the slightest! If there is an issue of general attendance then it's a bit concerning that they are missing more education.

But otherwise I hope they enjoy themselves and enjoy spending time away as a family. Some families it's the difference between going or not, and I believe all children should have the chance to experience different cultures and family time.

I'll always wave them off tell them to have an amazing time and ask them how their holiday was when they return. If I could do it, I absolutely would!!

Thats the bit I struggle to understand.
Our girls are off for 14 weeks a year. DH and I each get about 6 weeks AL. We take a week together at Christmas and a week in the summer, then each do 4 weeks school holidays, that covers 10 weeks, and we have to pay for 4 weeks playschemes at £50 per day per child, so £500 a week for 2 children. If we take them out for 1 week during termtime, thats 2 weeks more childcare we have to pay for at 1k. That with the fine on top doesn't make a termtime holiday much cheaper.

I never went abroad as a child. It never did me any harm.

I've made it for it since.

Family time, you can do that in the 13 weeks of the year they're off. Plus weekends, evenings.

Yes. I did. That was my answer. Read the room 🫣

Agreed with this.

op sounds very judgy and doesn’t like to be told to not be 🤷🏼‍♀️

I wasn't referring to the apparent almost drowning. I was referring to the eating nuggets and not leaving the complex.

My husband (along with many others!) CAN'T take time off in ANY holidays, whether that's Easter, summer, half term or any...we, along with thousands of other parents, live in a tourist area so ironically, he can't go on holiday during the school holidays because the business is there serving people on holiday in the summer.

Really the government is at fault. They need to sort it out so the holidays are spread out more around the country. And there should be an allowed amount of term time days off. Also any school that is an academy can make their own school timetable yet they still choose the same holiday dates! I mean their staff and the children could all go on holiday - yet the academy choose not too. If the OP works at an academy their employer is actually costing them a lot of money in holiday costs.

I have taken my children out of school twice for holidays.

I know some people who do it regularly. One mom books next holiday before she returns.
Not one of the other parents have been fined.

I was fined both times! Really don’t understand how the system works

Aw, good for you. Such a refreshing attitude.

I’ve never read so much bullshit in my entire life

That makes zero sense but whatever. You crack on.

The last week of autumn term our school mostly seem to watch films and other year groups nativity plays. Instead we went on a term time holiday. My kids did cookery classes learning a techniques from an Asian cuisine, kayaked in and around caves, snorkelled with wild dolphins, visited various temples and religious buildings and learnt about beliefs far removed from those mainstream in the UK. They went to museums and important historical sites and read about the exhibits they saw brought to life. They used foreign currency and worked out exchange rates and different costs of living. They played with other kids learning to communicate without a shared language, observed wildlife in their natural environment seeing with their own eyes the importance of environmental preservation and generally learned about the world in a hands-on immersive way that will stay with them far longer than anything they could listen to at school. So yes a term time holiday provided more valuable education than they would have received in school. Anyone who believes a good education can only be delivered within the narrow confines of a clsssroom has clearly not had one.

I absolutely agree with you that he probably got more out of those 2 days with you than in school. But if you felt it was the right thing for him then just say that to the school, I doubt there would have been 'hysteria' about 2 days unauthorised absence if attendance was otherwise excellent and its not exactly a hassle to write an email saying 'little fox won't be in school the next 2 days as we are away'.

Edit: this was meant to be a response to a specific post on the previous page by @TENSsion I don't know how to make it a response to that now.

So if the one thing repeatedly is the same all-inclusive holiday to the same resort every single year, always in term time, is that still "rich and experienced"? Why can't people simply be honest and say they want a cheaper holiday? It's fuck all to do with rich, educational experiences.

OP posts

What, you mean you aren't traumatised for life, you poor thing, you had to spend time with your family in [horrified gasp] the UK. You must set up a gofundme to pay for therapy to recover from not having these fabulous educational experiences abroad as a child, they are a human right after all. You have my heartfelt sympathies 😉

that pretty clear actually 🫣

But I guess that to pretend “to not understand” is your thing.

You do understand why people do what you are trying to call out. You are just judging them and try to validate by bringing others to judge them too 🤯 You sound very jealous too…coz you couldn’t do it so others shouldn’t.

Do that elsewhere. This is not a website to bring parents down for sport. Instead…Take a nice cup of tea. Think of your next holidays instead being jaleous of others.

Good luck with yourself 🌺

I think describing walking as education might be clutching at straws as well!

Op is saying exactly the opposite. That she shouldn’t have to hear that it is for the enrichment of the kid but just that it is cheaper.

I agree with you. Travel is important and parents shouldn’t have to worry about offensing the person they tell it to. What is your job op in the school?

This post has really surprised me. I work in a school and all the staff are against fines for parents. We work in a very deprived area so I wonder if that's the cause of the different viewpoints. I'm particularly surprised that a Labour government is so in favour of it because it ultimately creates a two tier situation where wealthier children get the nice holidays abroad and poorer children don't.

IMO they should be targeting the holiday companies so there isn't such a discrepancy between prices in and out of term time.

Personally I don't care that 7 days in an all inclusive in Alicante isn't a rich cultural experience. It's enjoyable and the child of a dinner lady and factory worker deserves that experience as much as the child of a doctor and a dentist.

As someone who has worked in schools, I understand where you’re coming from to some degree.

Ultimately, I think that life is short. These experiences matter and if it means that children who otherwise wouldn’t get the experience of going on holiday abroad with their family get to do so at some point, then they should. I think holidays are an educational experience as a child experiencing another country that could be really different to their own. There are so many learning opportunities, like potentially learning some basics to another language, not to mention developing social skills and confidence in a new place. So I think YABU.

Don’t get me wrong, I think that if the same family was doing this twice or three times a year during term time then that would be royally taking the piss but a couple of times during primary school? Christ, there are bigger things to worry about.

Why should they worry about offending the person they tell, if they tell them by email they don't even need to see their reaction.

Some trips are really important, probably nowhere near as many as people claim are, but some definitely. We took our girls out of school to attend a wedding abroad, to see their extended family, one of whom had a terminal illness and if they didn't meet them then, they probably never would. I definitely won't be making a habit of termtime holidays but occasionally things happen in life which are unpredictable and which are more important than a few days of school. But I think it's important to be honest.

As it should be. Education doesn’t stop at the school gate. Whether it’s a week in lanzarote or a cultural trip of all the museums in Europe they are each educational. Catching a train/plane/bus is educational. Being exposed to another culture/language is educational, experiencing different weather is educational, the list goes on. Kids don’t all need to learn the same things to simply pass tests and exams. They need the opportunity of experience in many different forms. What my child may miss in the classroom in a week is more than made up for in the experiences they will get outside of it on holiday - even if only the opportunity to spend time with family/friends. If the teacher doesn’t repeat work missed, so be it, I’m sure it won’t limit their prospects when they otherwise have 100% attendance - maybe focus on those that miss days every other week or are late everyday who strangely rarely get fined despite the impact being so much greater
I will make no apologies for taking my child out for holidays as every experience is an education