Best time to take a term time holiday

[CarolDanvers]

I know they're heavily frowned upon on MN but I have two children with autism and am a single parent. I'm going to do it no matter what but can I ask secondary school teachers the best time? It's a once in a life time holiday. Which year and which time of year would cause minimal issues? Many thanks.

It does really depend on the school OP as to when they have exams etc... you might be best having a look at the previous years letters for that year group to see when key things are.

Ie my DSS school is an academy. They do exams twice a year.... and then mocks after Christmas since year 7. Once in November once in June (end of ) this is diff to other schools and pnly the same in his academy chain.

Avoid all of year 10 and 11 for GCSEs

I’d avoid Yr 9 around SATs times, I’d and Year 11 as well..

I wouldn’t have a problem with taking DDs out of school for a week during the last half term before summer (so June-July). They are in primary school though. I probably wouldn’t take them out of school in secondary.

I’d avoid Yr 9 around SATs times

Weren’t year 9 SATs scrapped about ten years ago?!

Last week of summer term here is a fun week with different activities. Some go abroad others stay local.

Does your school have an online calendar?
If so then check whether they publish exam/assessment weeks for each year group and try to avoid them.

If it's a holiday of a lifetime are we talking 2 weeks? If you can get one week of it into a half term or holiday, I would do that and don't sweat the other week. Missing last week of a half term is easier than missing the first week back IMO because the first week tends to be introducing a new topic, but when we went to Florida we did Oct half term and the week after that away, because it was further from hurricane season and a bit cooler.

I don't think teachers will give you an answer.

You probably want to avoid options choosing time as well (there was a lot of information/support to help DC choose their GCSE options, which they would struggle to get another time if they were off then).
This varies a lot by schools (and as to whether it is in Y8 or Y9).

Are you DCs involved in school plays/concerts? If so, these generally have a regular calendar (though again, this may be school dependent) and you'll want to avoid the couple of weeks leading up to performances.

Last few weeks of the school year, say mid June onwards. By then the end of year and external exams are finished, teachers are de-mob happy looking forward to summer holidays, lots of lessons are just baby-sitting because the usual teachers are away on school trips, sports-day prep, etc. Of course, there will be "some" proper lessons that will be missed, but not as much as other times of the school year.

Not the last few weeks of the school year here! (which just goes to show, this really is school dependent). In Y8, 9 and 10 lesson time is used to work on GCSE content, there are also curriculum based trips that are important (e.g. geography field trip to view beaches - part of a case study) and this time is also used for DoE expeditions if your child is doing DoE. Plus the school schedules in a round of intervention sessions for children that need additional help (always timetabled after GCSE and A Level exams have finished so teachers are no longer focused on public exam students).

I would avoid September.

In secondary school there are often complete changes in classes/ teachers each year. September is the time new social groups establish and when pupils / teachers get to know each other.

September is an important time for social development.

Also avoid Year 11 completely. In Year 7 I would avoid all of the first term.

If you have to miss any school I would say the last week of Summer term.

No later than year 9

I would suggest making the autumn half term longer - it's a hell of a long term! And then there's all the rest of the year to catch them up (don't ask teachers for extra work - do have them find out what they have missed and work through it from textbook or friends' notes)

Depends on the school, depends on the year. As others have said, it varies lots.

In secondary school there are often complete changes in classes/ teachers each year. September is the time new social groups establish and when pupils / teachers get to know each other.

Not at our school. The new timetables all start here after the May half term.

OP, each school is different. Maybe try talking to some of the other parents of DC at your school, especially if they have older kids?