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.)

Whereas the families in my DC school who tend to take term time holidays are the ones who are usually most invested in their education, having them tutored and tend to ask for work in advance of the holiday to ensure they do not miss a thing.

This is what I see of other families because we have not taken a term time holiday. Those who care less about education have sporadic attendance all year round in my experience

We went to Lanzarote (in school holidays) and did a lot of the things you did - it was like nowhere we’d ever been and it was educational. There’s a lot of snobbery about Lanzarote but we found it a fascinating place. There’s probably educational value in most places if you look. Not sure exactly what point I’m making here, maybe just rein it in holiday snobs!

I don’t lie. I tell them taking dd out. I pay the fine. She rarely /never ill and even having 5 days off in the sun means she has less time off than some children who have days off throughout the year for colds - bugs - sickness etx

its not fair to make your child lie either. Esp when come back with an obvious tan 😂

It's interesting that people slagging off term time holidays invariably go for all inclusives in Spain to make their point rather than, say, villas in Tuscany.

👏👏

School miss for someone who regularly turns up to school shouldn't be an issue. However the price of of holidays during school holidays is shocking. A holiday is great benefit for.
At least its not Germany, If you take your child out for unauthorised absence, schools can liase with the police and the police can be waiting for you at the airport. Schools are divided by districts and each district has set standard holidays different from the other districts

When I was a child and teenager there were no fines. It was quite acceptable to go away for a term time holiday and most of us did. My parents had work related reasons to go away either quite early or late.
The sky didn’t fall in, it didn’t affect our education one little bit. In due course we all went to university or teacher or nurse training and did well for ourselves. Of course in those days you accepted responsibility for your own actions and had to nominate a friend to help you catch up and complete the missing work, no teacher involvement in that. It was a much better system.

...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

Wow, you’ve just cured autism! ‘Just made them do the things they find distressing’ 🙄

When I did take my child on a term time holiday, they were ahead, bright and had amazing attendance. I'm not one of the parents you're judging sorry I mean talking about. But yeah I'd never have done it if my child wasn't doing really well at school. And I have never done it since the rules of only having x amount of time off were introduced. However, if I wanted to I would have and I'd have not cared if the school judged me for that.

Yep. As another parent of an ND child, the ignorance is depressing. It's ok to simply not give an opinion.

I’m in Scotland so we don’t need to lie. My kids dad is taking them skiing. Feb half term is just three days so taking an extra two days to make the week. It’ll go down as unauthorised but really won’t be an issue. Overall attendance is good. All meeting/ exceedingly expectations.

will need to do extra music practice after to catch up and eldest is in high school so lots of info goes up online. Slides etc so will work through everything.

No its not the system. Where could you go abroad on holiday for 1 day?

HAHAHA

Only when schools stop acting as though missing a single week of the year is going to render a child incapable of fulfilling their potential whilst also single handedly destroying the entire education system and bankrupting the country! Schools are far more dramatic of the consequences of missing a week than parents are of the consequences of not going on family holidays.

No I’m afraid I disagree entirely OP.
Going on an aeroplane, navigating the airport, traveling internationally, the process of using passport, exchanging foreign money and being around others who speak different languages it is actually ‘life skills’ and whilst it’s absolutely not an enriching experience for us parents who no doubt do just want a cheap week in the sun that does not detract from the important building block these experiences play in creating a functional well rounded human being. Not to mention those with a disabled child like myself for whom holidays during term time are simply impossible. Should I be going without his siblings? Sorry kids just taking your severely disabled brother to Italy for a week so he can actually manage it…no family time for you guys! ‘Oh but that’s different’ I hear you cry… no it’s not! Either a week off school is going to destroy my non disabled child’s chances in life or it’s not. They are not going to be less impacted than any other child by taking a week out to go on holiday simply because they have a disabled sibling.

My DH went on term time holidays and he’s an intensive care doctor now so … yeah

Yes, that's exactly the same thing of course. Dedicated family time, life experience, visiting somewhere new even if it's purely to spend time round a pool is the same as a child dossing about the house being ignored by a neglectful parent.

I have taken my kids on holiday in term time and will continue to do so as it’s all we can afford. Travel, all inclusive to Lanzarote or not, is educational! It’s amazing the difference you can witness in your child’s development after visiting another country, experiencing different cultures and climates, practicing little bits of new languages, swimming everyday, learning how airports/trains etc work.

Interestingly, my DC are at a school that isn’t concerned about students missing classes. I know this because they regularly send children to a “reset” room (and this can be for fairly minor rule infringements, such as being caught wearing make up a few times, or wearing the wrong style of black shoes).

They don’t complete the lessons they are missing, and no catch up is provided. Some are in there for a few days every week, some continually for weeks at a time. You’d imagine that this would affect teaching.. but all the schools in the trust take this approach so clearly they aren’t worried about the effects.

But, of course, if parents take DC for a term time holiday (including DC with excellent attendance and behaviour) then that will be unacceptable. Why? Because attending lessons is so important, apparently 🙄

The Scottish and Northern Irish systems are so much more advanced than the English one on this issue.

It's not schools fault as it's government policy .

But I agree parents should be able to take children on holiday. Seeing other countries having fun experiences with family has value too it should not be something that is only available to people with money.

Yep and don’t complain if your child misses something crucial which then comes up on the exam. As long as you dont expect the teachers to have to fill in the gaps or recap anything and as long as your child continues to behave when they inevitably struggle with the follow on work then fine

Re: educational or not, wasn't it fairly recently that there was a controversy about reference to ski holidays in SATs disadvantaging children without the cultural capital of experiencing one?

Also just to note most schools follow the ten sessions missed rule.

So you can usually take your child out for 8 sessions (4 days ) without a fine.

As I generally find I’m plugging the gaps of things that haven’t been taught at school, this isn’t something I’m overly worried about.

If children missing a week of school doesn't matter and doesn't cause any problems, then nobody should mind teachers going on holiday during term time.

They and their children are 'entitled' to family time and have fun experiences abroad at a lower cost just as much as everyone else, aren't they?

I believe strongly that trips away and new experiences are hugely important for children. I also think that for some families, doign this in normal holiday time is very very difficult or even impossible and I'm therefore sympathetic to them taking their children out of school.

But i do also think that children missing school on a regular basis for holiday is not a good thing because of their own education and becuase of how it can disrupt the rest of the class. And somewhat superstitiously, I also worry that that one week for a holiday is no big deal... but what if yo do that, and then you HAVE to take them out for illness or a family emergency a month later and suddenly it's 3 weeks or whatever.

It does rather feel like a no win really. Either way, I don't believe it's worth lying about it. I took DD out for a half day, on a friday, in year 2 so that we coud catch a 4pm flight for a weekend away when Monday was an inset day. I was completely honest with the school, accepted they weren't happy about it (not least probably because someone had to bring her down when I turned up to collect her) and carried on anyway. I fyou genuinely think it's okay, then have the courage of your convictions and own it.

I think your idea of what education is is very narrow.