Would you take your 6 year old out of school for 7 days

[KirstyJ2025]

Hi all, we really want to do a once in a lifetime holiday to Disney Florida. We plan on booking 11 nights, some of the days go in to a half term break. We do however have to take our little one out of school for 7 days. She’s in year 1. We know we will go over the unauthorised 10 occasions and will be charge £80 per parent, but we will save over £1,500.00. We have been told to ring in sick for a few days to avoid the fine, but I don’t think schools a silly and they will just work it out haha, so we are thinking honestly is the best policy? Would you agree?

Only thing I’m worried about it that if you have any other unauthorised absences within a 3 year period, I believe we can be prosecuted. Tbh, we aren’t planning on doing it again. We also don’t want our school giving us a hard time over it. It’s actually our honeymoon trip too.

just wondering what others have done in this situation.

:-)

Still never heard of it. I guess I haven’t had my kid off sick for 3+ days in a row. Who comes? Headteacher? What a tedious thing to do!

That’s when we were off, a week and 2 days before half term. I’m going to look in to the lightning lane thing hehe x

The only time my child has been off sick for that long, he was actually in hospital. A home visit was never mentioned which was good considering the fact he wasn't in our local hospital so I couldn't exactly just nip home.

It isn’t cheap! Free fast passes left with Covid!

remember as well jet lag for going back as well

Some DC don't recover completely. What they miss in history won't matter but they need to build on the math and chances are greater that the child will not be following and understanding subsequent topics as well. At that age, there's also a greater chance that the child develops a mindset that they're rubbish at math and just stops trying. You might be lucky and your child might be more resilient, or you might have a teacher who's willing to spend the extra one-on-one to catch them up. Or you might not be.

Just do it.

i missed 5 days of my a level year and i got AAB. Its not the end of the world.

Yes I’ve thought of jet lag. We come back in half term so she will have 5 days to recover x

So you can afford to pay for lightning lanes but not go when it’s cheaper and quieter in August?! Ok then.

I also don’t understand why you’d go with such a young kid if you can only afford to go once in a lifetime. Why not wait until she’s old enough to properly enjoy all of it and will remember it all? If you saved up and waited until she’s old enough you could have a full Florida holiday rather than just over a week

So why not go during half term then?

First of all, I never said I was purchasing a lightning lane pass, I said I would look in to them! Secondly August/sep is hurricane season and finally if I want to take my 6 year old now, that’s up to me and my husband, we know she will remember a lot

£2K more plus we’d still need to take some days off school for the time we want to be there.

The last two weeks in August are one of the best times to go to Orlando. Flights are cheaper and queues are shorter so to say you must go in term time doesn't make much sense.

God, there are some in joyless people on this thread. Your holiday sounds amazing, life is short and it's for living, and I'm sure the OP knows how to make sure her own kids stay caught up in school. Go and have a brilliant time, OP, the world has gone mad with ridiculous rules.

I remember going to Disney when I was two.
we also should do nice things for our kids to enjoy right now, to bond with them, and for memories for ourselves, not just when they’re old enough to remember things into adult hood.
saying all that, I’m not planning to take my child out of school for holidays like this, I will take him before he starts school when he is four

🤣🤣 you took the words right out of my mouth

I’ve just had another look. £1.2k more than May for the last 2 weeks of Aug

Looked where? Im guessing you are booking through TUI or similar? Book yourself and save a fortune. Put a little time in to it and you can go in the holidays for the price you have been quoted for May. Far too soon to get the best prices for August. Your ticket costs don’t vary hugely nor does the accommodation depending on when you go with the exception of Christmas and Easter.

Agree with @Lovestotravel79 where are you looking?

Disney tickets are for 2 adults and 1 child £400 cheaper for a start August rather than May

by all means go in May but Disney really is the place to go more book yourself and not TUI (whose airport is annoying!)

gives you far more options including DVC rentals for staying onsite

Yes I’m looking with TUI. Do you just book tickets, flights and hotel separately then? I’m happy to look in to that

Oh, so she’s a trained teacher? People who say things like this never spoke in any detail to any teacher who has the thankless task of trying to catch up children who have missed school - bad enough when illness rampages thru a class but made way worse by parents who think they're entitled to term time holidays. Then usually have a dig about how progress in school isn’t good enough. Teachers playing catch up with missing kids impacts progress of the whole class.

But fine, you only live once. You keep considering your own needs and not anyone else’s.

Slightly off-topic, but I believe you when you say it will be once-in-a-lifetime because after a few days at Disney you may say "never again!"

Bad & expensive food, long queues, big crowds ... I, personally, would rather poke out my own eyes with pins than spend a week at Disney!

My only advice would therefore be: give yourself a nice Plan B: make your plans in such a way that IF you find yourself not loving the Disney experience, you can change tack and do something else instead for at least part of your holiday.

@ButterPiesAreGreat No, that's not true. I have a lot of sympathy for teachers. My two closest friends are primary/secondary school teachers and it sounds horrendous. I think their hands are tied by the current way our education system works, and the pressure is huge. It's very unfair on teachers.

However, that isn't the OP's fault and I don't think people should be missing out massively on living because of the rules and targets and aims of schools. I think people should be questioning what really causes problems, what the "problems" might be and who they are a problem for. I think we should be allowed to take responsibility for making these decisions about our own children, with the presumption that most parents will want to and be able to support their kids to catch up.

Don’t be silly. There’s no reason not to go in August at all. Do you think Florida is deserted in August? It’s a fantastic time to visit.

Booking a package with TUI is going to cost you but money is clearly an issue so just shop around and book separately. Look at airports in Scotland after their schools go back. Consider Aer Lingus and Tap Portugal as well as Delta.

And yes, you can take her whenever you like but you’re the one saying it’s once in a lifetime. In that short trip you can’t scratch the surface of it with a child as young as 6.

Yes thats right, i keep an eye on Skyscanner until i find a price within my budget then book. Depending on where you want to stay? Are you just doing Disney? Are you wanting to stay onsite or have say a Villa or Apartment offsite? Trivago is good for comparing hotels, Travel Republic is a usually a bit cheaper for Disney/Universal hotels.

Agree with other posters. Shop around. Go in August and take 2 full weeks.