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?

Doesn't alter the fact that the children missed five valuable days out of their school year, including children sitting GCSEs etc this year. As teachers are overworked and have an overflowing curriculum to deal with, how can they possibly make up for those five missed days?

I suppose I should be grateful that the dispute was sorted when it was, as the next step was for the school to be closed for a complete week - we had a letter on the Friday informing us of this - but were advised to listen to local news to find out whether or not the strike would go ahead!

So there wasn't that much planning - we had one day's notice for another one of the strikes.

Or don't we, as parents, need to know too far in advance?

the fact is i dont think it can be policed really by any other way than how many days you have off in a year.

im glad iv shown my side but i do also understand that it can be disrupting to the childs education and i would do everything in my power to remedy that if the situation were to arise!!

After reading this thread, and feeling much guilt, DH and I have decided to take DD out of school for a holiday this year. (the week after the Whitsun half-term)

She is only 5, in Reception and doing very well. She has only missed two days of school this year (due to ear infection) and only missed two days in the nursery last year. We have never been on holiday as a family, the last holiday DH and I went on was our honeymoon (seven years ago). As an ex-teacher, I have never been able to take advantage of 'cheap' holidays before, so I'm making the most of it this year.

I would never dream of taking DD out of school when she is further on in her education. At the moment, all she is doing is a bit of reading, a bit of writing and maths, and playing for the rest of the time. She's not going to miss a huge amount in 5 days. As far as DH and I are concerned this is the only time we are going to take her out of school for this purpose.

I also agree with an earlier poster that there is a huge amount of difference between someone who is 'switched on' and supports their child in every aspect of school life and those who couldn't care less, are constantly late for school, take days off here and there and take their 10 days whenever they feel like it, regardless of SATS, beginning of school year etc.

And it's not as if we're swanning off to Tenerife, or Benidorm - we are going somewhere in this country the difference in price between the Whitsun week and the week after being £382.

My dd missed a full term of reception (Moyenne Section over here) because we were living in a caravan on various campsites in France and struggled to get her accepted without us having a permanent address. We finally got her in a school after we found a house to rent in November, she started school after the winter holidays.

You could say that we were on an extended holiday at the time, camping. Although I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone. The caravan was much better than staying in a tent, the days when the Heavens opened I really felt for those poor people getting battered in their tents. Plus the whole campsite was then sodden and muddy and horrible. Most campsites have showers - no baths, so it was a nightmare every night trying to give a toddler and a baby a shower. And believe me, even staying on council campsites wasn't cheap. You have to pay for your pitch, then extra for electricity, then extra for 'people tax'. So it's not the cheap holiday everyone envisages. Plus in my experience, it's not a particularly nice holiday either. Not when you have very young children.

I don't see why parents should be told to go camping during the summer holidays rather than rent a cottage during term time. Like Custy says, if it makes the difference between a shit holiday and an enjoyable one then I'd go for the enjoyable one.

Are you really telling me that people here would rather have a week on a bog standard campsite during the summer hols, then a French gite in the Alps in April?

I must be an anarchist because I hate people telling me what I can and can't do and I hate it when I'm told what is best for my kids. As far as I'm concerned, children get a great deal out of holidays, school is stressful for many kids, time out away from all of that is beneficial for them. They also learn about travel, making new friends, exploring new things. Children learn all the time, every day, what makes you think that they learn more in a stuffy classroom where they daydream the hours away, than swinging about in some adventure playground?

I say stop penalising parents! It's not our fault that the teachers are stressed and poorly paid, that children are suffering from stress and depression at a younger age because of exams, etc. It's all very well for the government to throw further blame at the parents, but who picks up the pieces of the families who fall apart because they cannot cope?

Mien Got I thought this thread was dead man, dead. Rhubard, I'm totally with you girl. I understand what all the teachers have said - have lots of friends who teach and listen to lots of moans about what I accept is a tough job (but others have tough jobs too you know!!). Its not about who has the toughest job, but it is about parents having some choice without being made "illegal", its about the pressures of modern living meaning you have to make decisions based on what you think is right for your child. If a holiday in school time is right, then you have to be able to do that.

I agree with you niceglasses.

I've hesitated to post on this thread about why I took ds out of school for two days, as I got such a mauling about it on a previous thread for being elitist/snobbish.

But... I want ds to learn to ski while he is young as it is much easier to learn then. As we don't get a week in Scotland for half term (only 2 days plus an INSET day), the only way was to take him out of school for two days to make it up to a week. And it wasn't a case of "going when it was cheaper": in order to minimise the time out of school, we had to go during the MOST expensive week of the year.

Dh and I could have gone on our own during a cheaper week (and we have in pthe past, before he was old enough), but we want ds to learn as young as possible. TBH skiing during half term week with a kid is not my idea of fun - long queues, expensive and you don't even get to do much skiing as you need to be back to pick him up from classes - but it s short term pain we were prepared to go through.

Who knows - he might be the next Alain Baxter! :) But whatever happens, he is learning a skill which will give him pleasure over the years to come - and which will encourage him to keep fit, something many children of today are struggling with.

Fortunately, his primary school (yes, even in Scotland) were very supportive and sent us away with their blessing.

When education was first made compulsory by law, was not the thinking to ensure that children were in education rather than working to bring in family money or help an overworked under-resourced mother in the home? i.e primarily to ensure that poor and working class children were able to benefit from education?

This new proposed law will still work hardest against the people for whom the price difference for any kind of enjoyable hol is a deal breaker - or those who have little or no control over the timing of their hols (aka working class). The effect of education for all hasn't closed the wealth gap enough, has it???

I missed the last week of the summer term at the end of my infants school (yr2). as a result I missed the induction day at junior school. for reasons I can't now remember I really really minded this and whilst it didn't exactly ruin my summer holiday I was a very anxious 7 year old who was really worried about starting school again in September.

It was over 30 years ago and I still remember how I felt. I'm sure this says more about me than about the issue of taking children out of school but as a result I wouldn't if there was any way to avoid it.

I asked my mum about this as when we were at primary school, we used to leave early to go to a rented cottage on Tiree. She said they (my dad and her) never really thought about it - it was just all they could afford and it never seemed a big deal. This was 30-40 years ago!

Didn't do it once I was at secondary though - but then, my mum and I both started at the same school on the same day - me as a pupil and her as a new teacher!

stacey - I said a static caravan was 200 quid. I was guessing though - I was looking at an 8 berth one and wrongly guessed that the 4 berth would be half the price. I should have said 250. I also said late July/ early sep (not early aug - for some reason the first and last weeks of the hols are cheaper)

the trick is to look at smaller companies and private owners. \link{http://www.kingswayholidays.com/2006%20prices.htm\see here for eg} - I can't find the site I was originally looking at though!

i wasnt trying to get at you SP, jsut that when i look at holidays and things i see the prices and think we just cant afford it! will maybe look at smaller places for nexst year, we arent having a holiday this year as we are getting married instead, so dd will be staying with my parents and me and dp will be at our new house!

that is if we do have a holiday as we will be in our own place the need to get away will prob not be so strong!

I always take my kids out of school for holidays,their dad is always on tour and never seems to get a break at the same time as them so if he wants to spend quality time with them they go on holiday during school time.So far it hasnt affected them,the school supplies homework and they do it on the plane,or they get asked to research something to do with the location etc and write about it when they get back.Kids learn on holiday,holidays are also really expensive during school breaks,i think its just as important for a child to spend happy,relaxed times with family than it is to constantly prepare for yet more key stage tests at school

We charge the same regardless of whether it's the summer holidays or not, it really bugs me that large companies rip us off, we figure that we are offering exactly the same service whatever day it is!