AIBU? Taking child out of school

[MummaHud]

Am I being unreasonable for taking my child out of school in June, for a 10 night family holiday for our honeymoon.

she is in year 1 - the difference in a holiday which will be such a life experience for her is £3k for the sake of going 5 weeks later out side of school times.

my parents say ‘take the fine’
my partners parents are saying we are unreasonable and do a cheaper holiday somewhere cheaper in the school holidays.

has anyone else done this before that can give advice?

Rules tend to be now NOT to provide any work outside of the classroom. The teacher is likely not to be able to and if she did would get into trouble with the SLT

She may miss the phonics check, depending on when in June you’re going.

Personally I wouldn’t as I signed my children up for school and know the school dates and holiday time therefore I follow them.

However plenty of people take their children out of school for holidays as it’s much cheaper, the decision is yours really.

we are just back from holiday and flew home to Glasgow airport and there were many families from Newcastle and Manchester on the flight as flying from Glasgow was much cheaper as the Scottish schools have gone back and holidays are cheaper.

Yes you are being unreasonable because your kid should be in school.

Don't try to dress it up as a “life experience” for your 6 year old or pretend they will learn something more important by having a nice holiday.

If you want to go then go and just accept the kid will miss out on some schooling. Whether it will have an adverse impact on them is difficult to say.

Going to school at age 5/6 is life experience.

Why would you be taking your DC on your honeymoon???

We have done this every year up to exam years.

Scotland so no fines. It’s just not viewed the same here at all. Parents get to decide.

It's fine, but you don't need to pretend it's going to be a once in a lifetime experience for her. She probably won't remember the vast majority of it.

It’s not a honeymoon if your child is going with you. It’s a holiday. It’s also not a life experience 🙄.

My DD was rarely ill and had an excellent attendance. She missed months of school due to Covid then her teachers went on strike for 2 weeks in the term she took her GCSEs.

School is only important when it suits them, take her out.

Hallelujah! That's the real issue. If you do it, it has to be okay for everyone to do it. School's can't work like that

She’s in year 1, it’s literally fine. Our LA is unlikely to fine for that.

I wouldn’t do it, personally. A few days maybe. Ten? Not unless it was a hugely important family event such as a funeral. A honeymoon? No. It’s ultimately about saving money for your holiday and while I can understand how you have got to this point I think its a bad precedent.

Really. That happened did it.

Because there have only been national teacher strikes for single days in recent years. If your DDs school had a 2 week strike it could only have been approved for pretty serious safety concerns, so by striking the teachers were protecting student safety as well as their own. The national strikes have all been because teachers want to improve education for their students by using funding for the kids rather than for pay.

Some will say it’s fine, others disagree.

I fall firmly on the side of you do not take your children out of school during term time.

It must cause a headache for teachers having to set work/ensure work is covered the children miss.

The majority of schooling is FREE. I’m baffled more people don’t take it seriously.

Why would you let children miss this education? Why would you let children think it’s ok to check out of this for the whim of a holiday? A poor message to give to kids.

I love holidays. We go during school holidays.

But I think it’s one of those matters where you’re on one side of the fence or the other. And no argument will be persuasive to the other side.

It's your decision at the end of the day. Just don't go to the papers complaining about the fines with a sad face like the woman who took her family to egypt for the "culture" 🤣

I agree,especially year one .
As a pp said take some learning material with you and do a bit each day ,of course she will catch up , a bright child with parents who put the effort in will be fine ,they are sponges at that age,but i wouldn't ask or expect any material from teacher.
Feckless parents who keep kids off regularly or send in late are the main problem.
You won't get a straight answer here ,you have to go on your own instincts, my 3 have finished school now ,over the years we took them out of school , only for 1 school week ,no more than once in a year ,some years doing that was the difference between a holiday or not, all 3 are doing just fine.
They belong to us not the government ,childhood is short and if you can fill their life with lovely experiences ie a day on a sunny beach then go for it.
School is not the only place for a child to learn.

I’m a teacher, take them and pay the fine!

Though they may miss the phonics screening test - if that bothers you!

Everything in early primary can be caught up on, enjoy the holiday.

Don’t do this, it would be massive cheeky fuckery to ask the teacher for work.

June is the Year 1 phonics screen so depending on your child’s reading level they will likely miss something surrounding that, particularly if it’s early June but 3k saving is huge against the £320 fine.

Do it.

Why will your honeymoon be a “life experience “? It’s just a long holiday and only 10 days so not like you’re doing anything so out of the ordinary as to justify missing 2 weeks of school. Also, at her age she won’t remember anyway.

I get you want your honeymoon, fine but don’t jury to justify it.

As a one off I'd say go for it. DD missed 7 school days last year when she was in year 2 for a holiday to Mauritius. DH was speaking at a conference there so we didn't have control over the dates. I could have stayed home with the kids obviously but I'm glad we went. We didn't get fined and she didn't struggle to keep up at school. I wouldn't do it every year but family time is really important and kids do learn a lot from travelling.

I see a massive difference here as to what people think actually goes on in schools. The reality is, the outcome of this holiday is entirely dependent on the individual. If you've got a kid who finds school easy and a parent who is relatively competent at teaching concepts, then that situation will give rise to less consequences. If that kid already struggles and has a parent that isn't keen on teaching, it's more of an issue.

Interesting to note that whilst some are saying nothing would be missed, someone else was suggesting to pay a tutor to cover the gaps!

So many people saying at that age they'll miss nothing and it'll have no impact (and citing what university they got into or their GCSE/A-level results 🙄). June is not the end of term as many are saying (maybe they are in Scotland) and learning will very much still be going on. The reason it is a concern is that learning moves so quickly in primary school so missing large chunks is relatively easy. It might not impact the result years down the line but in the days and weeks after it will make the road more rocky - again, it depends on the child as to how they absorb that and what support the teacher has as to how they are able to address it. I had to laugh out loud at the one comment that basically suggested primary didn't mean anything and the only schooling of any worth was secondary.

Obviously every teacher is different but it would be nice to think that, if asked, they might let parents know what key concepts might be missed for them to further research. I certainly wouldn't feel pressured into supplying work at that point. I don't think there's any need to do a couple of hours schooling everyday but if parents want to talk about the school work with their child or find examples in their daily life then surely that's not a bad thing.