we have just been discussing the implications of unatuhorised abscence at our meeting

[poisson]

adn our holiday thing is really gettign serious
its 94% - it shoudl be 98%

if it gets too low we can be identified as a failing shcool ON THAT ALONE.
aslo we can inform the edication welfaree officer.
bet some parents woudl find htat MORE shameful than a court summons

and STILl parents take theri kids way in sats week
if you agree witht ehm or not its hardly supporitve of the school

pyshed of course meaning pushed

Just out of interest (and not stiring)... but if your child is 'signed up' for a place in a school, aren't you obliged to ensure your child attends ? (ie. by law IYSWIM) Hence the 'offence' of truanting, hence the enforcment hoo ha last year etc.

Oh, not the old 'holidays are education too', line! They may be for you, but I assure you that as far as the denizons of the Inferiority Complex are concerned (I think I can speak on behalf of DP and the Inferiorettes are concerned) holidays involve Dossing About In Nice Surroundings, punctuated by Siestas and Something Nice To Drink.

I actually do see the point of six week absences to spend time with relatives in another country and culture. FWIW my own childhood was punctuated with years off in India (where my mother comes from) and Malaysia (during all of which I felt miserably homesick, but I suppose were a good thing and made me the Well Rounded Person I am today). But I also have no problem with my child's school setting some rules to which I sign up. Am clearly a sheep. Baaaa.

"But in secondary it is to an extent unavoidable."

how come, Gill?

A well-rounded sheep, mi.

yes once registered then you are obliged to ensure your child attends school

you can deregister and make alternative provision for education

or you can never register in the first place

oh I should parp this.....
but will just say that cod's point is interesting about this making the school a failing one.
Most people I know who take kids out of school do so with the school's permission - ie only 10 days per year and they write in etc.
What gets my goat is when people seem to think they have a god-given right to a lavish holiday abroad so they must take it in June as that's a bit cheaper. Newsflash - we go on a cottage hol in the UK and it costs us about £600 (Yes I know that some people would find that beyond their budget).
I also wonder what people who WOTH do about the actual hols if they take hols in term time. A pal of mine is having the last 6 days off - but I know for a fact she is dong a massive juggling act to cover the days she has to work during school hols - so why make it even harder on herself?

Thanks for clarifying, z.

oh reading the thread I see shopping scret puts it well for me.
Mears, you claerly have a valid reason. But let's face it; most parents who holiday in term-time do not have this sort of problem with 5-yr holiday rosters (what a nightmare that sounds....)

I personally think holidays are often a huge learning experience for kids, especially younger ones, and normally they learn more than they miss by not being at school.

When it comes close to exam times, then it is a different matter.

I agree - a lot of the problem seems to be the statistics for government puropses - and surely the problem is more when kids goes for months at a time back to their "home" country - sometimes year after year.

When we asked if it was ok to take DS1 (reception) for the week before half term to the Outer Hebrides - the headteacher said - yes - great idea - can I come too ?

I love this discussion!

It is like the living dead, always come back for one more go

Re holidays being 'educational', Yes they might be, but not half as usful as the school lessons would be just before you take your GCSEs.

You might learn some French on the beach in France but is going to do cack all for your understanding of science, unelss you take a teacher with you.

Parents who ask for 'work'.....I'm not going to go there as I will get upset. Let's just say that the sixthformer who bunked off my lesson to go to a gig and then asked me to give up my lunch hour to help him catch up, rather wished he hadn't [evil grin]

Your kids, your choice, your responsibility. Just don't complain to me when your kid doesn get the grade they need.

Re the cost of summer holidays.....tell me about it. I have to go in the peak season because I am a teacher. I also know how hard it can be for dhs to get leave, mine is in the RAF.

Top tip, get a tent. I'm having 6 days in the summer holidays with a mate (dh can't get the leave) for £66 for me and the two kids. I bought a tent for a mate yesterday £20. What do you say? You don't want to camp.....life is tough sometimes.

ps don't do what some idiot family did to their kid in my class last summer.

Took a weeks holiday in the first week of term. Kid was in y7! FFS!

I wish it were as easy as going off for a lovely hotel holiday in the South of France.

More and more of us have family abroad - or far away. Family which may not be able to make the visit to us.

Should I just tell my father 'Sorry, Papa, life's rough! Can't see your granddaughters b/c the head says no'?

Hmm. No, I don't think so.

clary my DS goes to the CM in the holidays. She allows me to take up to 4 weeks hols at half price. So for the two weeks we are going to France I will be paying her £78 (3 days a week at £26/day then halved) instead of £156. So that is another £78 towards the holiday fund - although I am sure that does not cover the cost variation in going in the hols. I would however encounter no logistical problems with going in term time.

I have to do things like this atm because I also have a 2yo in day nursery. Once DD goes to school I am hoping to change my hours and cut down on childminder days. So then will have some holiday sorting to do.

No,there is a very real difference in family circumstances that you are talking about expat, and the kids I teach who are going on a cruise 2 weeks before GCSE exams, because it is cheaper then.

Well fuck me with a fish fork, if they can afford a cruise at any time, they can afford another holiday in the school break!

yeah bozza that's what I mean. Our youngest is at a CM, and dd could go there at a pinch, but the CM is not set up to deal with a 7yo boy.
My pal with the hols runaround has one ds in nursery and an older dd at school - I know that she is doing sports club/sharing with pals/etc to cover her working but she's just making it harder IMHO by having a week of her leave when DD could be at school!
MB lol at yr last post

I'm of the skool is skool variety.

Someone in dd's year took their children off on holiday for the week of end-of-year exams.

For the oldest, a boy, the mother said that he doesn't need an education as we've got loads of money, he'll always be alright

For the other child, a daughter in my dd's year, the mother said, with her looks she doesn't need an education

Guess what, the school (private) made them sit the exams when they got back.