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Original poster

taking children out of school for holidays is ILLEGAL

588 replies

zippitippitoes · 08/03/2006 10:03

interesting news report here \link{http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2075270,00.html\ High Court Ruling}

so will anybody still be taking those unauthorised breaks and days off?

Will schools get tougher

and does your school say no at the moment?

OP posts:
Blandmum · 09/03/2006 14:53

I am going to say this and then parp myself

(note that is part myself....no-one else)

Parents have an absolute right to do what they want with their kids re holidays

They also have an absolute responsibility to take the consequences of what they have chosen to do.

You can kid yourselves that your kids will learn more in their two weeks holiday than they will at school, but you are kidding yourself in the vast majority of cases.

Children's performance in exams is linked to how often they are in school. Take them out, they will miss work and their grades drop. You also send the message that school isn't that important.

TBH, it is totaly up to you what you do with your kids, just don't moan when Flossy gets grade Ds instead of Cs and Eric can't get into medical school because his GCSE grades are crap.

And don't ask me to give up my time to help your kids catch up, your choice, your responsibility.

I am still reminded of the A level student who wanted me to give up my lunch hour to help hi catch up with the work he missed to go away for the weekend to see a gig. Tough sed I. Wonder where he got the idea from that I should give up my time to make up for him skiving?

Blandmum · 09/03/2006 14:54

And now I'm going back into work on my afternoon off to do a parents evening. I wonder how many of them will show up?

hunkermunker · 09/03/2006 14:55

I was being sarcastic, btw.

iota · 09/03/2006 14:55

You need a term-time holiday MB Smile

donnie · 09/03/2006 15:05

hear hear martianbishop. I also give such people very short shrift where I teach. I once had a boy suddenly disappear for 6 weeks!!!! to go to Florida where his dad was getting re-married.We had one day's notice from his mother and a request for approx 6 weeks' work ( he was in yr 9 at the time). He got no work at all. Now whose fault was that I wonder? whaddya think mumsnetters?

Lucycat · 09/03/2006 15:10

standing round of applause for mb!

You say it so eloquently, no holidays for you in term time I bet Wink

Kathy1972 · 09/03/2006 15:44

Martianbishop's post=brilliant.

Was having my hair cut a couple of years ago and the hairdresser was telling me all about how she was taking her son to Florida for the first fortnight of the new school year and the school were being a bit arsey about it, so she'd said to her son, 'Oh, it's just the green eyed monster - they're jealous because they can't afford to go to Florida themselves.'
She simply couldn't understand why the school might think it was bad for his education, because if he missed important lessons, surely the teachers could go over it with him in the lunch hour?
Angry
It's the lack of respect for, and understanding of, education that got to me.
I do think, though, that family time is so precious and limited these days that I have a lot of sympathy with people who do it just to have some time together, whether in Benidorm or Peru. It's when they blithely expect the school to pick up the pieces that it makes me cross.

niceglasses · 09/03/2006 16:16

I'm not sure if the last few posts are aimed at my post a few below....probably not, don't know. I have to say in my defence that I wouldn't take the decision so lightly if they were further up the school. I think reception is probably the last time I can do this for this length of time. I agree with all the comments MB makes.

prettybird · 09/03/2006 17:01

FWIW I also agree with MB! Grin - even though I will continue to take ds out for 2 days in February while he is in primary school and the school does not object :)

spidermama · 09/03/2006 20:41

Oh No! I dreaded Martianbishop's entry onto this thread. Once again though MB you are coming at this from a secondary school perspective which is a whole different matter.

tigermoth · 09/03/2006 21:14

can I just ask a question to all those who feel very strongly that it is always wrong for parents to condone their children ever taking holiday in term time?

If you felt at the end of your tether and desperatly needed to throw a sickie from work/ or got a sudden invitation to something unmissable (and were fairly sure on the day/days you chose, you would not be missed much) how would you feel if your partner told you you 'must' go to work at all costs as you were not sick? Would you totally accept that they were right and you had a duty to go in? And then go in?

bigbaubleeyes · 09/03/2006 21:28

eeeek its never the badly behaved ones though...
they never bring sweets back to share (seondaryGrin)
they disrupt lessons by showing crappy photos and brag about the boozed they were allowed to drink whilst on hols and think they are cultured (in my exprience of teenagers at my school) Grin
they use their hols as an excuse not to do homework set before during and after and to complete tasks cos they wern't here.
....and the forms you have to sort out during tutor time

BUT MOST OF ALL...........................

They get a bloody cheap holiday and I don't Envy especially if its skiing in Jan when I'm snowed under with examms and UCAS references. Aggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

But i like my job i think Wink

bigbaubleeyes · 09/03/2006 21:30

ooops yes imeant to say yes i do agree with you MARTIANBISHOP (skuttle off - errrr I'll just be good and go and do some fancy coloured ink using resource)

spidermama · 09/03/2006 22:19

I've been thinking about this .... I reckon many people on this thread don't really believe that term time breaks are massively harmful to every child's education at primary school level, nor that they're disruptive to the school as a whole.

No, the simple fact is that they're furious that some people are getting cheaper holidays than they are even though they're being good and sticking doggedly to the rules without questioning whether or not the rules are right and fair.

SenoraPostrophe · 09/03/2006 22:22

that's not fair spidermama. term time holidays are not "massively harmful", but they are harmful: they teach children that education isn't really that serious (and of course children miss possibly vital bits of a course - this particularly true for teenagers).

and of course it's disruptive in a school.

spidermama · 09/03/2006 22:43

Education doesn't stop at the school gate.

Original poster
zippitippitoes · 09/03/2006 22:48

but if a primary school has 300 pupils then they have 3000 days to use as they like p.a.

isn't that a teaching nightmare

OP posts:
soapbox · 09/03/2006 22:50

Spidermama - no it doesn't stop at the school gate - but perhaps it does start there!

I think it is a bit pathetic to say that people are envious and that is why they are so anti holidays in school time!

But if it gives you something to feel smug about...

spidermama · 09/03/2006 22:51

God are you still here zippi? Grin
It takes an addict to know one eh. [sink]

Night night. I'll be dreaming about this damn thread.

spidermama · 09/03/2006 22:52

Soapbox you're talking through the wrong part of your body sweetie.

Original poster
zippitippitoes · 09/03/2006 22:53

not still here.. back Grin

OP posts:
pebblemum · 09/03/2006 22:56

I dont think taking your child out of school to go on holiday is a bad thing as long as that child is able to catch up with any work they have missed when they return. Most of our holidays are taken either at the beginning/end of term. We go away in a large group and it is very hard finding a date when we are all available due to work commitments. Most times we go abroad and we find it very educational for DS1. He is fascinated with the different cultures/scenery etc and always comes away knowing a bit more about that country. He also makes an effort to learn the language, even if it just the basics. At school they havent started to learn any languages but DS1 already can speak a bit of french, spanish and italian. I defy anyone to tell me that ds1 would learn more at school, fair enough he would be learning maths, etc but by spending a certain amount of time abroad he is broadening his knowledge in other ways. My DS is an intelligent boy who has always done well at school, doesnt often have time off and is able to catch up quickly. I would never take him away during stats/exams and once he starts secondry school in 2.5yrs our holidays in term time will no longer be an option but until then Im not planning to stop them. So far his school have been great about giving permission and I hope they wont change, especially as we are going away to Holland soon!!

soapbox · 09/03/2006 23:15

Spidermama - shame you didn't pick up any manners at the school gate - oops you were on holiday when they covered social skills!

bigbaubleeyes · 10/03/2006 00:07

Not everyone goes on such holidays or is as fortunate as your DS to be and able child - you try teaching a 14 yr old that has a reading age of 9yrs old.

Joking aside it is very disruptive and to a class and school overall. There are statistics (that I do not have to hand) that directly correlate attendance and achievment, over the years this has a cummlative effect.

Even more able children can underachieve. It also devalues education. I don't know how anyone can ever complain about the amount of teacher holidays.

Blandmum · 10/03/2006 06:42

Spidermama

Why do you feel that I can't discuss the impact of term time holidays on secondary education? People take their kids on holiday during secondary school! lots of them. I had no idea you had set out rules for what could, and could not been discussed on this thread.

I am a 7th year form tutor and one girl helpfully missed the first week of the first term for a family holiday. By the time she came back the poor child felt like a fish out of water, the rest of the class having begun to settle.

I have lost count of the kids who have been taken out of school in the two weeks before GCSE modular exams, generaly to the detriment of their grades. Many have even been taken out over GCSE exams..

All of life can be an education, indeed it should be, but they don't tend to get examined other than on the stuff they do in school.

As I said, it is up to the parents what happens to their children, but don't kid yourself that it doesn't have an adverse effect, it does.

Oh and my DH is in the RAF so I know all about how difficult it is to get leave. He was away for a month last week, came home on a tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning he was on leave for a day, the kids and I all went to school.