taking children out of school for holidays is ILLEGAL

[zippitippitoes]

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?

Tell my mother and fil that. They are over 80 and don't get a holiday unless we take them. At least they don't have time constraints though!!!

I do love camping btw, nothing against it at all, it used to be an option and still would be if it wasn't for the oldies.

MA2cra must be from my area. At 3 local schools teachers were refused the performance related pay points that they were entitled to. It caused quite a furore locally. A friends dd was affected and it was in the lead up to her mocks.

Zipputy.....you are so right about camping.

We have 6 days booked in Whitsun....the cost, a stagering £72

And also 6 days at the start of the schools summer holiday....that one a whopping £66

We are having a 'blow out' holiday in France later in the summer, complete with two days in Disney. For the 4 of us £808....and £200 of that is the tickets to disney

I smiled when I read that an extra £200 can make a huge difference to some families. £200 is around my budget for a self catering holiday. Imight stretch to £300+ for half board.

Dh teaches so we can only go awayin school holidys and luckily we are able to go away in my oparent's caravan quite cheaply, though site fees are much higher in holiday times.

There was a big thing over school holidays when I was at school. Just as I went into 6th form the LEA abolished the old 2 week holiday fortnight in June. This affected lots of families as all the factories closed down for those 2 weeks plus 1 week at the end of August. Apart from those weeks workers could only take Christmas & a few days at Easter off.

The first year this came in schools reported huge absences. At 6th form we were told if we took this time off we would be thrown out so some students were left at home whilst the rest of their families went away.

So this is not a totally new issue.

Julie.....get a tent! It slashes your costs. We also have to go in the school holidays since I teach. We are in a smashing campsite in Wales for 6 days....£66! The kit will pay for itself in the fisrt year, and you can takes loads of stuff from home ...bedding and cooking stuff etc

And the kids love it

spot the difference;my daughter has been off school for 5 weeks now and will not be at school for quite a while yet,probably not until whitsun,scholl is not at all worried about this?

At my daughter's school, they spend whole days rehearsing for Birthday Services, Awards Evenings, Carol Services and the like. And they get no real work done the last week before they break up for summer and Christmas hols etc. I can't see how they could justify refusing parents time off for holidays, regardless of whether they're educational or not.

However, I don't think the teachers should be burdened with making sure the kids are up to date with their work - that should be the parents' responsibility and if they are willing to accept this, then what's all the fuss about?

Sorry, I don't get Inset days, isn't this just another paper-pushing exercise? They don't have inset days in France and the teachers get along perfectly well without them. They do have rather a lot of strikes however, but at least they don't kick up a fuss if you take your child out of school during term-time.

Yes it is also about time. These days people have to work harder and longer hours to afford ANYTHING. I didn't get holidays in term time either, but then my mum didn't work and we could afford an annual trip to Barmouth in Wales with my grandma and grandad in tow to stay in a cramped caravan. I bet if I looked up that same campsite now for a holiday out of term time, it would cost a fortune! Back in the 'good' old days, most mothers didn't work and you could afford to go somewhere just on one wage. Now to get a decent holiday requires both parents working and saving for one. And as everyone wants time off during the school holidays, there are always those parents who are refused time off, such as my sister who works for an emergency call centre and her husband who's a nurse. They have 4 kids to take on holiday and every year it costs them a small fortune. Not to mention the planning that's involved to make sure that they both get the same week off work.

And I'm one of these people who doesn't have a credit card, I never have had. Our holidays have to be paid for up front.

So just imagine if you will, the single mum with 4 kids (as many Mumsnetters on here are), whose ex pays next to nothing towards the upkeep of the kids, and the mum is on income support. When does she take her holidays? How is she able to afford her holidays?

There are things the government can do. As already mentioned by Custy MP, they can stagger holidays from area to area, so there isn't this rush of bookings for the same bloody week. They can put a cap on certain holiday companies so that the price never goes above a certain amount. Some companies charge triple the going rate in the summer holidays, and they get away with it!

Next thing you know, the government will be saying that unless we all bake a cake at least once a week for our children, the SS will be involved!

"So just imagine if you will, the single mum with 4 kids (as many Mumsnetters on here are), whose ex pays next to nothing towards the upkeep of the kids, and the mum is on income support. When does she take her holidays? How is she able to afford her holidays?"

But how do you draw the distiction between the mum or dad who takes their child out of school for birthday treats or to buy new trainers or because it is too much effort to get everyone up and ready that day? So holiday absence is OK? Why isn't a shopping absence OK?

What if my local soft play area charges less for a birthday party mid-week? Would it be OK to plan my dd's party for a Tuesday afternoon and ask 8 of her classmates to attend it? Every child deserves a birthday party.

And why can't I leave this thread alone and get a life?

Teachers don't like INSET days either as they had to give up so many of their holiday days a year to have INSET instead.

However teachers do have to do training updates at some time so they are necessary. Imagine if there were no training days for things like special needs requirement, updates on new curriculum requirements. As parents we would all soon be up in arms if our children's teacher's did not update their skills and knowledge at all from the day they trained until the day they retired.

Oh come on! Obviously taking your kid out to buy new trainers is shite, as it taking your kid out if it's their birthday! I'm talking about a family holiday, a once a year event. I'm not talking about those who take the piss, they will always take the piss no matter what you do, and no government ruling will stop them. But for the single mum on income support, yes a holiday for her and her children is important, as important as an education I would say! If the government is so into families, why are they making it damn hard for us to be one? "Encouraging mums back into the workplace" forcing them actually by cutting back benefits and making the benefits system more complicated. Rising mortgages mean higher payments for everyone, so longer hours at work. Rising costs everywhere means that only a two-income family are now relatively well-off, the rest of us struggle.

Birthday parties are hardly a fair comparison - for a start paying over the odds for a couple of hours is not going to break the bank like 7 days holiday.
And parties aren't the only way to celebrate a birthday. And it can be at home.
Yes and I must get a life too. And may be a holiday??

Coo Is this still going :)

I am now back from my lovely holiday IN TERM TIME :) To Eurodisney :)

I haven't read the whole thread - sorry, but suffic to say I am a selfish evil mother, who should be locked up, becasue I choose (note the word CHOOSE) to take a holiday in term time. I don't do it just to save money, as if I really wanted I could go in holiday time, I don't do it to be smug. I do it because I want to and I can, SO THERE :)

crunchie

this AND baby modelling

I should really not like you at all you know

crunchie

I don't teach in a 'posh' school....far from it.

All of the children that I have worked with who have taken time off school during term time have gone a forign holidays. Not one of them was to go on a much needed family holiday in the local seaside resourt.

Now I know that there are people who truely cannot afford a holiday out of term time. But the vast majority of people taking their kids out do so to get a better holiday.

Our last INSET days have covered Formative assessment, behaviour managment, first aid, the KS3 science stratgy...focusing on starters and plenaries, use of radioactivity for non physics specialists and only one was a paper work 'audit' day.

And these come out of teachers holiday time.

Hear, hear rhubarb!! [///////] - that's applause btw.

I'm a teacher and I don't get holiday time.

And if they take their kids out of lessons to go on holidays (here they go on exchanges) then that's good for me, less spotty kids to teach!

It's ok for the school to take kids off on school trips and weekends away during term-time but not for parents. Very fair that is!

Rhubarb and Quanglewangle - you know the difference between parents taking the piss and parents who take a one-off 'much-needed' (?) holiday. The ones taking the piss usually don't. If you want to spend your 10 days 'authorised' term-time leave in one consecutive stretch, lying on a beach in Greece, how would you explain to another family that they can't take their 10 days 'authorised' term-time leave in one day increments, a shopping trip here a bowling trip there?

Yes, birthday parties can be done at home. So can family time!

I have no idea what French employment law is like or what conditions French teachers work under.

But here in the UK all employees are entitled to holiday. Teachers work under a contract of employment which states they are contracted to work x amount of hours per year and are entitled to x amount of holiday.

When INSET days were "invented" for want of a better word their holiday entitlement was reduced sothe children were not off school for anymore time than they were previusly.

I find it hard to beleive that youare not entitled to any holidays at all Rhubarb. Working 365 days a year must be hard.

OK, so let's penalised the poor (again) and tell em to have their holidays at home shall we?

Do you not concede that the government can do things to help the situation other than making it illegal?

Also I hire a school premises on a Saturday. It is very common for me to see the teachers there on their supposed days off working.