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!!

Yes. I do the family life all the hours other than 8.50 to 3.15, and the wide range of experiences in the holdidays. Seems to work ok.

What does a limiting judgement mean basingstoke?

Family life with your dp there all day though. Difficult to experience a foreign country on a day trip.

It means the whole outcome of the inspection can test on it. You could have 1s across the board but your attendance is too low, you cannot be outstanding. Attainment is limiting now.

Basingstoke, my daughter got poor attendance because i, unlike other parents, kept her off for the 48 hours after having a stomach bug, and time off with a broken bone. She didn't have any time off for term time holiday this year. The current system of penalizing for genuine sickness is ludicrous, not to mention possibly discriminatory on disability grounds.

Ah that explains why dd's school has suddenly become manic about this. Now saying they won't authorise any extra curricular activities, routine medical appointments as well as family holidays. It drives me bonkers. I work in an education related profession and personally I've never heard of a school being able to fine parents for a family holiday (up to 10 days) unless the child has very low attendance already. Its actually very difficult to win a court case on this (a school I've worked with tried).

Complain to Ofsted. Seriously. The schools are between a rock and a hard place.

What NerfHerder said.

One of the Heads I work with wrote and complained about Ofsted's last framework review. Got precisely nowhere. So I very much doubt anything I have to say will sway them! I do wonder if their days are numbered under this government but that may be wishful thinking ...

So what do you do if your family live half way around the world???

Irrelevant.

I have family half-way round the world. It cost about 350 quid per child to fly over there last time, other holiday costs easily another 350-500/child again. Will probably total around 1000 quid/child next time we go (expected 2014). And that will be in term time. An extra 100 quid per child is peanuts compared to all the other costs incurred to go see family that far away.

Like others said, a holiday is not a human right. Otherwise, just budget for a 100 quid fine per child, it isn't much compared to the other costs you'll have.

See, I don't have scattered family but do think visiting family around the world is a wonderful compliment to formal education; however my own education was rather biased in subject towards relevant subjects I guess.

I am slightly that we have now been infomred that we need authorised absences for ds4 from preschool (everyone here gets a aplce at a school based one half time). Whilst I am good about keeping to terms with the school aged boys, absences will simply be obtained by sick note here for such banal things as 'tired toddler'.

I do think the system needs a careful looking at; on a wider note I am aware of several aprents threatened with action becuase their child ahs had too much time off even when child has been hospitalised, or at appointments, or in one case child has a recognised ASD and agorahobia. basic common sense should not disappear at first sign of a low attendance rate.

Oh and yes ds2 missed out on 100% attendane awards year before last becuase a health and safety failure (being amde to dance in a hall where the floor varnish had melted in the ehat, barefoot, didn't 'move as fast as instructed', stepped and aeft part of the sole of his foot glued behind on the floor...) now that annoyed me enormously!

hang on so ds2 can go on school trip to Berlin ,so missing school .

But when i asked for teh same days of to do the same trip with him as do not have great faith in them to mange his diet .no pasta is not suitable when you can not eat gluten/dairy or soya .They refused permission and said I would be fined

What does that say about the school and holiday time , shows that when it suits them they are more than happy to allow term time holidays

Yellow

I have it in writing from the school .That they will not authorise the time of and that If i take him they will mark as unauthorised and I will be fined .

in end I am taking him in Feb half term.But the days the others ar eon the trip they will have supply teacher for the lessons .

Ds3 attendence is pants he has only had 2 days of for being ill .But the rest is down to appointments .Infact from September he will be of one day a week for 12 weeks to attend hydrotheraphy .and there is other appoinments as well on top of .

Like to see them try to fine me get Ewo involved

Perhaps they are more confident of the educational value of there trip than yours?

they are covering it in 3 days 4 nights and that includes travelling overnight to Krakow day in Krakow andd ten travel back overnight.

I asked the teacher for which museums they are covering .So I could make sure that we covered them as well and becuase we will not be tied by coach/group we would have more time .But nope still not got permisson

Sirzy thing is since ds2 wont be going with school on their trip .He be in a class so educationally he will learn/see nothing about the places if i was not taking him in half term

Ds2 loves museums and grumbles on day trips at school .that when people mess around or when time is short he can not actually look at what he wants

TheHumanCatapult I admire you for even considerating replicating the trip. I know exactly what schools do in Berlin and Krakow having organised the school trip. It's hectic but not impossible. If my DC coudn't go on a trip for medical reasons I would like to do what you're suggesting and I'd be very disappointed at what looks like a narrow stand on their part.

But I suppose the school has decided that it doesn't to set a precedent for sanctioning parents opting out of official trips and having time off in lieu to go it alone. I assume it's now too late (though only July and this is a February trip?) to ask to be a parent volunteer which means your DS can go on the trip and you can take care of his food. If you paid your own costs and got a CRB, wouldn't that work?

considerating?

I don't understand why people don't just phone the school and say the child is sick. They can't fine you if your child us ill.

They can ask for a doctors note ...

I cannot believe what I have read here ( or maybe I only too well can).
It beggars belief though

Asa child I was regularly taken out of school for holidays with my parents . My father was a Civil Servant and he did not have any option of taking his holidays in the school ones. No one batted an eye lid and I enjoyed my time with my family and especially my father who was present by his absence many times, working long hours to keep his family.

I believe family is far more important that school. Schools need to be real
(and maybe so do governments and Ofsted and some teachers!)

I work in the independent system where we have no rules or fines regarding pupils being out of school for holidays - and our terms are even shorter and holidays longer. It never seems to make any difference to our results or the education of our pupils and many pupils will still take time off in term time for family needs to holiday. They just catch up.

What does annoy the hell out of me is school "jollies" (a phrase not of my making but it seems appropriate). Too often I have had lessons disrupted for these - half days, days and weeks sometimes taken for " field trips" . They are disruptive. They do destroy my continuity in teaching and I do not think the pupils gain from them anywhere near what is lost in teaching time for other subjects. They are also disruptive across the school as teachers go out and other classes are left with teachers such as myself taking cover
(babysitting) Such activities should be confined to the end of school term where they and " art days" and "drama festivals" together with the school fete are best suited - after exams in the lazy summer days before the long holiday.

But never , ever has it been an issue for me that a child takes a holiday in school term time ( as long as it misses public examination time - which most parents are sensible about).

I think your school may be an exception jabed because our local independent schools have very strict rules about non attendance (or maybe they are the exception?)

Maybe yours is the exception mrz. Parents pay, parents call the tune.

Independent schools are precisely that - independent. They do not have to conform to anything or any rule.
Whilst my school does not "encourage" pupils to be taken out in school term time if parents write in and say they are taking their children off for two weeks , then that is that. No one moans, whinges - and certainly there are no "fines" ( unless of course you consider the school school fees not being reduced to take account of time off to be a fine?)

We also have many early exeats at holiday time to allow for flights home or trains etc. or just to accommodate parents collecting pupils. I have never felt any real detriment to my teaching from any of this.

As I said perhaps the four or five Independent schools nearby are an exception jabed but they are stricter than the state schools with regard to absence.

iMemoo if HumanCatapult now claimed her DS was ill and then she and he bumped into the school party at Checkpoint Charlie or in Auschwitz it wouldn't be great.

I ask for leave when it's needed because I'd rather be open. Saves complications most of the time.