Term time holiday - teacher opinion

[gooddayhey]

Hi, I was just having a convo with one of my colleagues about how when my kids are old enough I might take them out of school during term time for a holiday. Obviously I have no idea if I ever would, it's a play by ear situ, I'll decide what's best at the time. Anyway, my colleague has very strong opinions about this, arguing that it's disrespectful when many people children do not even get the opportunity to attend school etc. And said I was treating school as a joke, amongst other things. One of the points she made is how disruptive it is for teachers and if she were teacher she would hate it. So I'm just looking for a teacher's opinion on this. I already know arguments for and against term time holidays from a parent point of view are mixed. I'm not strongly for or against either way but lean more towards parents being able to make sure the assessment themselves at the time. But do teachers find it annoying and do they notice children struggling when they come back one to week later for example?

I still see quite a mix of interesting points. Some of you saying it's a pain in the ass having to help kids catch up, others saying they don't miss much missing a few hours of each class in a year (this was my experience from a pupil point of view). I don't think everyone needs a term time holiday. But I do think there are a lot of situations where it may be more beneficial to the family. And I think with the teachers blessing it's not disrespectful. In the workplace we can often choose when to take holidays. In school they are just set, and it's not that simple to think that throughout the whole of a child's school life, they will always fit into these set weeks of the year. That's just my opinion, and I remind, i haven't had got kids of school age yet so I may still change my mind in future.

Take your children away with my blessing.

Teachers don’t authorise term-time absences - head teachers do.

Attendance is bollocks.

Strange comment from a teacher. And I’ve never worked in a school that penalised children for being sick or disabled. What on earth kind of school is yours?

Agree with blessyourcottonsocks and Icantcopeanymore. I also agree that holidays are enriching experiences.

In school they are just set, and it's not that simple to think that throughout the whole of a child's school life, they will always fit into these set weeks of the year.

That’s what you sign up to when you send your children to school. If you need more flexibility than that, you have the option of home-schooling.

One of the reasons that parents take kids out during term time is because of work constraints so I imagine that also means they wouldn't have time to homeschool 🤷🏻‍♀️ or feel qualified enough to. Homeschooling is not an option for most.

No one is saying holidays aren’t enriching or that people shouldn’t go on holiday. That’s why schools have 13 weeks’ holiday time every year.

No, in my experience of managing attendance in a primary school for ten years most people take term tine holidays because they’re cheaper.

If we have a family who cannot take holidays in school holidays, for example seasonal workers, we would authorise that absence.

After May half term it gets interesting - usually half the (primary) kids are absent at some point over the last 7 weeks or so - BUT NOT ALL AT THE SAME TIME - so there are ALWAYS 2 or 3 playing catch up, sometimes more. As a pp said, taking off the first 2 or 3 days of the week is the most painful teaching wise - the little blank faces on a Thursday when you are building a theme and the TA is doing important group work is heartbreaking.

I wish parents would realise it is not just them and their family. There are 30 kids involved.

On the catch up, it will depend where we are in a topic (secondary persepctive here)

E.g. taking a week at the back end of half term means missing the assessment prep and the assessment so when a child comes back they are hugely behind, tend to do poorly on their assessment. As far as I'm concerned, borrow a peer's book, copy up notes and just accept being out of school has consequences. (Aka parents don't call me up demanding to give 1-1 to your child because you chose to take a holiday)

If it's in the first few weeks and they miss the start of a topic then copying up notes from a peer is probably enough to catch up and by the time we've used that information in class then you'd not really notice.

For GCSE, it's more crucial they are in because they'll miss the nuances of content and if I'm covering a set text in 5 weeks then a week is a significant amount of content.

Some work is easier to catch up than others. If people choose to take a term time holiday then they should accept that's the risk they take.

It's an odd job that never lets you take holidays in school hols. Summer? Maybe. So go at Easter. That's what I do. It's much cheaper.

And I’ve never worked in a school that penalised children for being sick or disabled. What on earth kind of school is yours?

You've never worked in a school with attendance awards? For individual pupils and classes? Your school doesn't have to submit attendance? You've never done "Walk to School Week" or Walking buses?

DS's school send a newsletter every week publishing the attendance percentages. He's disabled so has a lot of time off and a high proportion of his class is SEN. They've never won the coveted class attendance prize. He can't walk to school, he's disabled and we live miles away. He doesn't get tokens for the class pot for that, either. He doesn't get the extra tokens when a parent walks too, as I can't walk, I'm in a wheelchair and our adapted bungalow means we have to drive there.

Most schools reward attendance. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

We do reward attendance - but children are never penalised for frequent/long term absences such as diabetes, etc.

“It's an odd job that never lets you take holidays in school hols. Summer? Maybe. So go at Easter. That's what I do. It's much cheaper.”
The holiday and tourist trade is the economic bedrock in many areas. It functions seasonally with everyone at full stretch during holiday periods, including Easter!

Same here as feenie.

Of course we report attendance. What a strange comment.

I'm not a parent but do see some very low income families. Question for teachers - would it be ok for a child with good attendance to have term time week with a parent who work during school holidays and wants to spend more than a weekend. Can't afford transport for cultural activities so not enriching.

Suburban - it isn't a strange comment in the slightest. It was in response to you, claiming my school is odd for rewarding attendance, when it's the done thing.

Patronise away, though!

Bagadverts - I wouldn't have a problem with that and neither would my current head. He's very understanding of family situations and is fantastic at being aware of the needs of young children. Unfortunately, I'm sure there will be plenty of heads and teachers who would be horrified at such a prospect. Most of them are on Mumsnet

We do reward attendance - but children are never penalised for frequent/long term absences such as diabetes, etc.

But they'll never get a 100% attendance certificate of reward will they? There's no chance for them to.

Yes, they do - they participate in the 100% attendance treat in those circumstances (usually strawberries and ice-cream on the field, or somesuch).

I believe that children of primary age should be given a sort of two week "annual leave" like in a job, to be taken as and when, reducing the summer hols by two weeks.

Would teachers also get two weeks leave to be taken 'as and when', or would they be expected to work an extra two weeks, reducing their summer holidays by two weeks? Where would the money come from to pay teachers for those two extra weeks, and all the other costs of having schools open for longer?

Most teachers work through the summer holidays anyway. I know I do.

I've no idea I don't make the rules. I just think it would work better than the current holidays.

That or ensuring holiday companies, airlines etc aren't allowed to hike prices.

It was in response to you, claiming my school is odd for rewarding attendance, when it's the done thing.

No, I said I think your school is odd for penalising sick and disabled children.

All schools that reward individual attendance penalise sick and disabled children.

All schools that reward children for walking to school and similar, are penalising sick and disabled children.

HTH.

Schools don’t randomly decide not to authorise term time holidays for fun - the directives come form the DfE via the LA. We do have discretion about authorising some absences and we are well placed to do that because we know the families - some of our teachers taught the parents!

But it’s pointless asking teachers what they would do because they are not the ones who authorise term time absences.

All schools that reward individual attendance penalise sick and disabled children.

They don't - see above.