lets start a campaign! parents rights to take kids on hoilday

[jayne222]

just want to rant a bit how unfair that schools no longer permit family holidays, the authorised absence thing is ridiculous for infant and junior children, the letter following and "unauthorised absence is threatening and rude, the fines are insulting and I feel mad about it!! I want to take a a short family holiday when it suits my family, I want to be concientious and make sure my child doesnt miss out on schooling, but this no longer feels like a free country!!

Bollocks to it I think, I would take my holidays in term time, they should be forbidden from raising the prices so much in holiday time, must effect the teachers too.

When I was in sixth form the teacher actually moved a whole A-Level assessment because I was on Holiday at the time , I was expecting to have to do it alone, but she moved the whole date of it, blimey.

If we were ever fortunate enough to be able to afford going on holiday again it would be in term time. If you do it every year you are a twat, if you do it because it is the only time you could afford a holiday hell yes, specially after many years of no holidays.

If your husband can't take holiday in school holidays, then that is a good reason and you won't be fined if you provide proof of this.

I think its entirely up to parents when they take their children out of school - they are then responsible for that child keeping up on the material and taking school work with them to complete. Its not the schools place to ask for a detailed written reason IMO - I think that is outrageous.

Travel is a unique and valuable addition to a childs education. There are no words to describe how pissed I'd be if told I couldn't take my own child on vacation nevermind being threatened with a fine. I would use my writing skills to write letters of complaint not a written application to vacation thats for sure. I've never heard of such a thing where I live.

"Travel is a unique and valuable addition to a childs education."

Absolutely. 2 weeks in a kid's club on the Costa del Sol is so much more educational than 2 weeks at school!

Our school has taken it to a whole new level by denying kids to do thinhgs like take part in performances or on one instance represent his country in a sport.

That's more than extreme IMO and interestingly whsilt ds1's new High School comes with a formidable attendance rep (snow days result in the loss of INSET days if tehre are more than 2 a year, likely here in Wales) they are happy to authorise a day for when ds1 takes part in the carnivals back home.... whereas last eyar his TA just said to call in sick.

Balance is needed.

To an extent stoppping price hikes is doomed isn;t it? For instance we camp; frankly most campers do not want to cmp in quieter (colder) times so there will always be pricing based on demand. Different if we went abroad.

PEachy - how could a school deny a child represent his/her country in sport!

Mind boggling.

I think that a couple of weeks a year won't hurt anyone and what do you do if your close family - grandparents, cousins live in another part of the world or half way around the world?

I think the price of holidays for people in school holidays is outrageous. However if you take you child out of school for 2 weeks every year whilst in primary school then they miss 350 hours of teaching and learning time over those years. I think that's a lot to miss.

Personally I would rather campaign to travel companies and/or your dh's employers rather than an educational campaign which means your dc miss school. Seems odd set of priorities.
But then I am a teacher, cant get holidays in term time yet go on holiday all the time ie camping. I guess you do what suits your budget.

ds3 i can take out not sure what new head will say but his teacher is all for family holidays .

DD will if good cause but do not very often

Ds2 be year 10 well he can not go on te school holiday due to diet reasons .So i asked school what they are covering and said I will take him myself same dates as others are going .

but they refused permission as apparently only offical school trips can happen in term time .I can not take him on the same dates and for half the price!!!

oh and just to point out .Ds2 i would not normally pull out at high school and especially y10 and y11 .But on this occasion I really thought they would authorise it

It's ofsted that drives this. Schools are penalised heavily for these sorts of absences and schools don't want to miss out on a good or outstanding rating

We've taken DSS2 out of school at the end of the summer term for two years in a row in order to send him to England to a boarding school for five weeks (this only involves missing one or two weeks of his French school programme as the term dates are different). Both times this has required all sorts of negotiations with the head as French children are not allowed any sort of absence during term time unless for illness.

It drives me mad that the French Ministry for Education is constantly investing large sums of money to teach children English in schools and yet when parents try to fork out for what really works (ie total immersion programmes) it is not allowed. DSS2 only got to go in the end because he is such a good pupil that there really were no academic arguments against him missing a few days of school at the end of term.

Bella

but in ds2 case if he went with the school he would be out of school anyway .At least 3/4 of his history group will be absent .but apparently thats ok and authorised but I do same trip same time .

It will not be and I will be fined

My parents always took us for a 2 week holiday when we were young and I remember having time off school. Many parents can't afford peak holiday prices either. I don't remember going in secondary school but certainly in primary school.

Do you think this will affect Academies or is this something they now have sole authority over?

I don't agree with taking children out of school for holidays; it does not instil discipline and abiding by the rules which will be very important for them in later life. It also may have an impact on their learning. However, by the same token if parents comply with this I think it is also essential that schools ensure that learning is taking place during every week the children are scheduled to be at school. What my children have learnt during the week before christmas and the last couple of weeks before the summer holidays I think would fill the tip of my little finger. I have often thought, it would be more constructive to finish a couple of weeks earlier in each case.

But then people would complain about having to find childcare....

We can take kids out for a week or two at our school (Australia) without anyone blinking an eye, longer if it's a big overseas trip, as long as we fill in the correct form for their records. The school takes the view that a rounded education is more than just attending school and that travel and other experiences are invaluable in teaching kids all kinds of things. Just one of the reasons why I prefer the education system here.

i don't agree that a week in the sun is important enough to take kids out of school - but i do think that children should be allowed to travel to attend family events in other countries, take time off to celebrate cultural events (e.g. americans going home to the US for thanksgiving) and celebrate religious holidays that fall outside our (normally christian) holiday pattern.

also, extended time travelling or time together for families that live split up (forces, or diplomats or families where somebody works in the middle east for eg.)

but then 50 - 100 pounds is not a lot to be fined if it really is an event so special to your family.

t's something, even as an ex teacher and now a TA, that I can't get het up about in primary schools. A week or two off really isn't, for the vast majority, of children, going to make that much difference.

If done properly and approached sensibly with children it doesn't have to give them the message that education and school is optional.

I had a week or twos holiday every year in temr time when growing up. My dad had to have shut down holidays only and back in the 70s and 80s these were in term time only, none in school holidays. We didn;t do exepensive holidays, we never went abroad. But we spent two weeks together doing family stuff. Some educational maybe, lots not - just on the beach, being a family. It never harmed my education at all. I did this throughout first and middle school (so to what is now Y8) as did my brother, and then my sister.

Where I work we do authorise term time holidays generally, if they are limited and less than 10 days for the year. Otehrwise they go unauthorised but no fine. We have a big percentage of children with family overseas so we often have children missing for family "holidays." TBH at infant level it really isn't hard to work round this from a teacher's pov.

marriedinwhite; I have often thought, it would be more constructive to finish a couple of weeks earlier in each case.

But then school wind down would start a further week or so earlier again.

I'm torn here.

On the one hand I loath being told what to do. As a perfectly intelligent and responsible parent, I am capable of decding what is best for my child.

On the other hand I wouldn't interupt my DC's schooling unless I felt the benefit outweighed the absense educationally.

For example once school exams were finished this summer, the academic lessons almost came to a halt in favour of a wonderful round of sporting fixtures, language exchanges and cutltural trips. If I were to allow my DC to miss those oppportunities I would have to ask myself honsetly what was being gained.

"my husband job means he cannot get leave in term time"

Same with my husband. We accepted this when he took the job and still accept it. It doesn't count as a good reason for booking a holiday in termtime as far as I'm concerned.

There are parents here suggesting that they can decide whats best for their child etc. fair point.

But (correct me if I'm wrong) but in thus country (rightly or wrongly) there are laws which govern the ages from which childrn have to be in full time education etc. As a resident of this country you have to follow the laws of this country and as a consequence parents do not have the automatic right to decide that a termtime holiday is in the best interests for a child over being in school.

There are of course systems in place to negotiate holidays within the legal requirements - but they are discretionary.

So I'm afraid no-one has the right to remove their child from school and the school/lea have the right to fine those which disagree.

I've just applied for DD4 to miss the last day of term to go on holiday and was suprised to read about the fines and the hike in fine if the original isn't paid within a short period of time.

The Head just signed her off but then she hasn't missed a single day of school the whole year. That's one of the considerations the school has to take into account and the others are perfectly sensible. I doubt schools are going to refuse any leave unless the reason for going is simply to get a cheap holiday in any old resort with no compensating benefit for the child.

The school my older ones go to allows time off, depending on attendance and public exams etc., for 'cultural enrichment'. A couple of cheap weeks on a Costa would need to be pretty dressed up to pass that particular test.

The rules safeguard against idiotic parents and there must be at least some of those out there. The schools will know who they are.