£350 for 1 week in July term time- family of 7 - or £1100 in school holidays??

[devonvalley]

Yep that old term time holiday chestnut-
We are a family of 7 we can only afford to go on a Uk term time holiday, or have no holiday at all!(yes I know some do not holiday at all !)
Why is it seemed the, one holiday a year family, like us, have to be penalised , and berated?
It appears to my friends and I, that in our experiences, the people who can afford there £3000-£4000 a year on their peak season holiday, have little regard for families such as ourselves and our friends predicament, because money appears to not be an issue for them.
Travel, new experiences, and valuable family time are great educators , are they not? so when those of you who resent , parents who take our children out for 5 days once a year, spare us a thought, its most probably the only time we can afford to go.(and avoid fines by ......!)
Also when school residential trips seem to cost £270 upwards- £350 for 7 of us to go away, not just one of us seems to be preferable!

My parents took me out of school for holidays in the UK many years ago. It fitted with my dad's job and they weren't well off either. One week at a time, once a year. It did me no harm- I went on to be a teacher.

FWIW I think a lot of teachers are very envious of families who do/did take their children out of school.
I have taken mine out ( my school terms were sometimes different to my kids') usually around the last week of term.

I think there is a lot of crap talked about the damage it does to kids' education. A responsible parent won't take children on holiday in the run up to SATs, public exams and key dates in the school year.

But if you spend a week going to museums, galleries, doing educational stuff on hols as we did, keeping up the reading and writing ( holiday diary etc) and not just sitting on a beach, they learn more than they would during the week in school.

I'm afraid I think these rules are just nanny state gone mad.

But it is not the case that if you take a term time holiday you don't value education!

It is perfectly possible for people to value BOTH education and time away as a family.

The amount of stresses over the odd term time holiday is quite frankly ridiculous!

Seriously - never seen an issues with any child from them hving a 1-2 week term time holiday at primary school. Not in all my time in education. Not one issue.

As said before, any issues from time off school is rarely, if ever, from a child having a normal 1-2 week's holiday ime.

Oh - and I value education. Yet, I still cannot get het up about the odd term time holiday here and there. I became a teacher. I still work in education, working many hours over and beyond what I am paid to do. Believe me - I value education a lot!

Oh no, Lazysummerdays and Hulababy, don't you know the number of school days in a year is calculated precisely so as to ensure that any child who is ill, takes time out to visit the dentist, take a music exam, participate in a sporting event, attend a wedding or funeral, take part in a religious ceremony, go on a holiday, or otherwise not be in the classroom, misses out on vital work and will never, ever catch up?....

Oh no, sorry, I mean this is only the case for time out deemed to be "holiday." It doesn't matter whether a short trip to Rome is actually as educational as a grade 1 violin exam for a child who never wants to be a musician and would like to give up as soon as his mummy lets him. All holidays are actually sinful and, unlike violin exams or other peoples' weddings and funerals, can take place in school "holiday" time - even when they can't.

thanks rabbitstew I knew there must be a good reason why some children in my class have gaps in their knowledge and are lagging behind their peers

Well that's it, mrz - they've taken too many violin exams.

Yes add sporting fixtures,G&T courses(apparently only the G&T kids deserve to be enriched),dance exams,drama events,religious trips at our church school for a few etc

Devon have you actually checked that you can't.I suspect I'm near you and kids from our school our allowed to go without fines.Thinks are just as they always have been.It's down to authority.Some kids have had some fab holidays this year.Our head gives kids his blessing,valuing the experiences so I've heard.We've not done it ourselves.

Our school has just had an Ofsted and got good so absence even though some take their kids out clearly isn't an issue.

It takes a lot of violin exams to have less than 70% attendance rabbitstew

It takes a lot of holiday, too, mrz.

yes 2 weeks per term and long week ends most weeks when they go to granny's caravan

sorry that should read the child has had a lot of stomach bugs

But most don't take the piss like that.

For many 1 week a year would be enough and clearly when families do take a week out in a school year it doesn't have an impact on absence levels.If my dc took 1 week out their absence level would still be fine.

It's a sledgehammer to crack a nut,a nanny state and ridiculous.Why exactly should all kids be penalised for a few?

Because it's easier and cheaper (or potentially even more profitable...) to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut than to deal with the real causes of the perceived problem?

Which is why my head gave permission for a family holiday but they seem to see it as an open license now

on the plus side I get a stick of rock every time the child returns from a stomach upset

I hear sticks of rock are a fail-safe way of curing an upset stomach.

Perhaps if she's eaten them instead of giving them away she wouldn't have had so many reoccurances.

I don't agree with taking holidays in term time. It is disruptive to the rest of the class, puts an extra burden on the teacher and the pupils themselves. It also shows a disrespect for the school.
A bit like lateness, having a slipshod attitude to school term times shows a disregard.

Well then I'd like all sporting fixtures,G&T courses,religious trips for a few,music lessons,music exams ..... banned too.

Just how exactly does it disrupt children, make it harder for the teacher and burden the pupil?
Having taught for years I've never thought this- more a case of 'phew, glad to have a smaller class this week' ( used to have up to 35 when I started teaching.)

It's a lot of sanctimonious clap trap that children fall behind etc after a week's holiday- does everyone bleat if they are away ill? Does that disrupt the class? I have yet to be truly convinced that missing a week or possibly two weeks in a year has this devastating effect on learning. When we took our children out for 1 week a year I ensured I knew what they were missing - not a lot at the fag end of the summer term- and made it up myself.

As for parents taking 2 weeks out every term and long weekends to boot- never ever come across that. If they do, then this calls for 1:1 intervention by the head and could well be covered by laws already in place- truancy perhaps?

It always strikes me as ironic that the law does not say your child must attend school: the law says they have to be educated. So on the one hand you can HE, but on the other if you are part of the state system then you are not allowed to take your child out for what may well be an 'educational' week away at a time which suits you, your partner and your pocket.

Oh best add monitor duties too.One of mine does 2 which must add up to an hour a week.

What age group did you teach Lazysummerdays?

In reception (which many people seem to think doesn't matter because they are only little) children are taught new sounds every day so - one week away means they've missed 5 sounds - how to read and write these. They may also have missed 5 numbers and a whole topic that won't be repeated in 8 weeks time. Even with older children many schools don't revisit topics every term, even schools that previously followed the framework (it was scrapped when the present government came into power) have had to rethink in line with the new curriculum.

Lazysummer - your children wouldn't have fallen behind because they have the good fortune to be blessed with a parent who is a teacher and ensured that the learning for that week was covered at home / at holiday destination. Most people who go away during term time expect the teachers to cover the missed work when their children get back or they expect the teacher to provide worksheets etc to take with them. Where do teachers find the extra time to sort out worksheets etc for one child who is going on their jollies?

Maybe the answer would be to allow every school aged child one week holiday within term time in the school year. Permission granted on receipt of proof.

Parents can then choose when they want this. Schools can add an embargo on exam dates etc.