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.)

Teachers’ unions made it clear that attendance wasn’t that important when they insisted on closing down schools during lockdown despite the very low risk.

It’s hard to argue now that an extra week off will be catastrophic.

They're not saying it to sound high and mighty, they'll get a fine. So the claim of 'educational experience" is to add a buffer between them and a school system that thinks it knows best for everyone

I've only ever done a few days not a whole week. And my DC are infant school age. I do think catch up is more of an issue in later years.

But I am totally honest with the school and I don't try and kid anyone it's an educational experience or some other bs. It would be equally as "educational" at any other time.

The system is fucked. The fines are to deter persistent offenders and encourage attendance. Parents tying themselves in knots about a well off probably aren't the ones who don't give a fig about attendance.

Not everything needs to be a cultural experience and if schools were only going to allow time off for an educational holiday i think it would be unfair to those that can only afford a week in a caravan site off peak and have no chance of pretending its anything other than a holiday.

The system is the problem. School have attendance targets which help place them in the ranks as a good school.

Ideally, either government would step in and interfere with holiday price market forces or every child would be eligible for a week of annual leave, subject to being up to speed in school in such a way that they won't fall behind and hold up class progress.

I think it’s as likely that they are offering discounts in the low seasons when no one wants to go.

Supply and demand.

The attendance officers should be going around shopping centres. I often see parents with school aged DC in school times, shopping. I know some of these children are home schooled etc. I bet majority of them attend school and their parents think its OK to take them shopping once in a while. There is no excuse to take children out shopping when these places close at 8pm - they have 4 hours, once you take into account the journey to the shops.

If the DC are ill, they should be at home making themselves better, rather than being dragged about in shops.

The point about kids learning bugger all at the ends of terms is very valid. We sat in hellish traffic at the start of half term last summer, because I didn't pull the kids out for a day, or even half a day, only to find our they'd both spent the day watching TV and playing games. More fool me.

I would also venture a guess that travel companies won't simply accept a drop in profit though, they will simply take the e.g. 20% annual loss and smooth it across all holidays, so everyone loses in the long term.

It’s not even just a day at our school, it’s the whole of the final week. So I have no guilt about taking mine out a couple of days early to fly abroad to see our family.

It is all another way for the government to deflect away from the real issues in the education system. Rather than trying to repair the trust that was broken with parents when they closed schools during covid, they have chosen to make the fines higher and be more aggressive when parents take children out. But when it suited them, education was not a priority. And when the recommendations were made for funding post Covid to repair the damage caused by closures, they offered a small fraction of the recommended amount.

None of this addresses the chronic issues with absence, school avoidance or those that are genuinely struggling with the education system. It simply makes them a little more money from parents who are already invested (but can only feasibly take a holiday if in term time) and do make sure their children catch up on missed work.

Yet another method to make sure we all fight amongst ourselves and avoid the real issues. By belittling others choices of holidays, we are playing right into their hands

Disruption - the child who is missing has to catch up on what's missed, taking time away from what the TA should be doing
The majority of families of children I teach who have term time holidays also tend not to care about reading, homework, PE kit etc.

On Mumsnet the parents who take their children on term time holidays always have children who are 'ahead', 'very bright' and have amazing attendance🤔

But if every other kid was doing it every other week then the teacher is never teaching to a full class and that just doesn't work. If one kid can take a week off then every kid can and that just wouldn't work.

For years and years we managed to get our kids into school for full terms I don't know why all of a sudden people think they're entitled to holidays whenever they want 🙄

You think term time holidays are a new thing? It was certainly happening 35 years ago.

My personal opinion is that there should be an allowance of a certain amount of days per year and then fines.

That is the system, isn't it? You don't get fined for 1 day of unauthorised absence.

I'm taking my kids out of school to go on an AI holiday to Spain this year. We live in a tourist area, and my partner is nor allowed time off during the holidays (busiest times of the year), so tough tit's if the school doesn't like it. Tbf, even if we could go in holidays, I wouldn't pay the jumped up prices and would still go out of holidays.

They're my children. My partner and I work hard all year,and my kids work hard at school, and are put under immense pressure there, so damn right we are going on a holiday. We get very little downtime as a whole family, and a week in the sunshine, with new people around, the experience of being somewhere new, swimming, having fun on the beach etc is more important than anything they'd learn in school that week.

I refuse to justify it by saying its a learning experience etc, because its none of anyone else's business and I shouldn't have to justify to anyone why I want to take MY children on holiday. However, I can see why people do it to avoid judgement.

And to the poster who says about thinking about the teacher and the rest of the class...no. That's not my problem. The UK education system is not fit for purpose (and I'm saying this as someone who was a teacher until a few years ago). I home educate one of my children because of this. The teachers and other kids didn't give a shit when my child was being bullied. Why should I give a shit about them?

Totally agree. Take them out if you want to but own your decision. Our holidays always include lots of educational trips, to historic sites and museums and generally about other local cultures.
Doesn't make the holiday itself an overall educational experience that's in any way comparable to a week of school.

It's valuable absolutely but claiming it's educational in itself as an excuse for missing school is ridiculous.

I mean, you can doubt it if you want but my daughter has just been offered 3 academic scholarships at 3 different highly selective secondary schools, and we occasionally go on term time holidays 🤷🏻‍♀️.

As a teacher myself I certainly don't waste my time or energy doing big recaps for a child who was on holiday. I also never prepare work for them to take away - even if the parents ask. I will support any child who has missed school due to sickness but never due to a holiday.

School can fuck off. It's an overstep to say school get to dictate when we go or not.

And maybe just maybe I could take them seriously when they don't leave SEN kids with no education for YEARS and they think that's just fine. Fuck off.

As an ex teacher in a sensible country that doesn't do the fines nonsense...this is bollocks.

You can take your kid out, no problem whatsoever, nobody cares. When they come back, nothing is recapped, nothing is changed, nothing is done. You missed something, tough, you work it out. It makes zero difference to the teacher or the rest of the class.

British people make such a palaver about everything.

Agree with this too. My youngest needs specialist provision and there is none available. His current school have made it clear that they are unable to accommodate his needs past the end of this academic year, the LA have basically said ‘tough, there’s nowhere else for him to go’.

I agree! That is the only benefit of a minor, struggling, day school, I found. The education there was sub-standard, but oh, boy, if you were a full-fee paying parents, you could take as many holidays as you wanted, and just tell them - we are off for 3 months, from June, without pretending the holiday to be culturally important. Sometimes we would not even tell them - pay the fees, turn up in September. As long as you paid the fees. We could also opt out of the filth they call 'sex ed'. They did not provide alternative lessons, but our dc were allowed to sit out this filth in the library.

No, as the mother of an autistic child that’s sometimes not the obvious choice at all.

Things are popular for a good reason usually. I don’t want my child to miss out on good experiences that would benefit him simply because he has a disability, especially not if we can go at a quieter time.

I homeschool anyway, so it doesn’t mean taking him out of school, but the ‘just don’t go if you can’t cope’ attitude annoys me. It’s really not that simple.

"Sarah's 10-year-old son, Tyler, has autism and ADHD, and struggles to cope with large groups of tourists during the school holidays."

...and he will never learn to cope with navigating the world with autism if he gets used to the idea that he doesn't have to do things he doesn't want to.

Holiday fines: 'I paid because my son can't deal with crowds' - BBC News