educating while on extended holiday

[geelong]

we are considering taking our 2 children aged 4 and 7 off school for a couple of months during term time next year.
has anybody got any advise as to whether this is allowed and if so how to educate them and will they still have a place at the same school on returning.

Your legal obligation is to provide your children with an education appropriate to their age and ability and bearing in mind any learning needs they may have, so yes of course you can do it if you are prepared to home educate, but if your school is popular/oversubscribed there is a very real risk that you won't get your kids back into the same school.

I don't know how long the school can legally hold the places for - a friend of mine did manage to take her two kids to Australia for just under a year without losing their places (they had to be physically present on "headcount day" in January and back before the same date the following year), but neither of the classes were full. If somebody else wanted the space(s) I don't see how any school these days could hold a place for someone on an extended holiday. The older the kids get the harder it is to consider taking them on an adventure so I would say go for it while you can. We travelled for a couple of months en route to Australia when we emigrated and my memories of our three kids playing together on beaches in Thailand are priceless. They all got so much from the experience I can't see how they would have learnt more in school! Good luck

Where I work (south east) the longest leave that is granted with the school place guaranteed on return is 6 weeks. After that the place will go to the person at the top of the waiting list if the school is over-subscribed. If the classes are not full you take your chance. Bear in mind, that in July 2008 one class in a school I worked in stood at 23 children By September that had gone up to 27 and by Christmas was full! Remember KS1 classes cannot legally go above 30.

People I know who've done it had the same experience as infin, the school has to keep the place open for 6 weeks (of termtime I think, so if you go over summer holidays as well that would give you 12 weeks). But it can sometimes keep it open for longer, if the school isn't oversubscribed for that class. Some schools manage to keep places open for longer.

We are thinking of doing it, perhaps when dd1 and dd2 are at the top end of primary, and dd3 would be still in KS1 then. I wouldn't particularly bother with educating while away for that length of time, just keep up with the reading maybe. But you can find out what the curriculum will cover when you're away and cover that if you want to.