school holidays prices shocking

[princesscupcakemummyb]

ive been sat here looking into our family holiday for 2014 now usually we wouldnt be restricted by dates month etc but now the oldest dd goes school full time we only have half terms and 6 week holidays i cant belive how much these holiday parks charge for these times of the year its oer double any other time of the year i was wondering how does everyone else do it with school children ? do you just bite the bullet and pay the stupid excess or do you just not go on holiday at all? any replies appreciated thanks all

What kinds of places are you looking at?

Somewhere like centerparcs really does ramp the prices up massively, because people with children are their whole market. Out of season they are relatively cheap compared to other places.

We find that for the price you would pay for CP, or often less, you can stay in a really nice hotel with great facilities and half board included.

Bite the bullet or change expectations.

We changed expectations. We can only now afford to go camping in the UK, and even campsites rack up fees over the summer holidays. Haven't been abroad, stayed in a hotel or holiday cottage since DS1 started school. Youth hostel twice but never again.

Have you tried sun vouchers

good suggestions their all thank you i shall have a good look around we only ever holiday in the uk due to no passports

Yes I'd recommend the sun vouchers too.

We only went for parks with free clubhouse passes and gas/electricity.

With sheets etc for 4 of us it ended up at about £60 for mon-fri.
We saved all our coppers for the penny pushers, and took food for breakfasts.
Only slept in the caravans really.

I did another thread on chat about this. on average this year in particular because of changes to school holiday laws prices are up around 30%. more families chasing the same number of hols because they cannot pull kids out a day or two or more earlier and take term time hols. either change where you go, or take the hit in fines.

I have been looking at holiday parks in the UK this year and am shocked by the prices as it's our first year having to go in the school holidays. I have been finding that private caravan hire on the sites is often much less expensive than the companies. www.directholidayhomes.co.uk/uklets.html
www.ukcaravans4hire.com/
www.caravans4let.co.uk/

It's only considerably more expensive for package holidays really.

We have always organised our own holiday and if you buy early flights and apartment rental or book a hotel last minute prices are fine. Plenty of hotels have kids clubs etc - you don't have to go with Mark Warner or Club med. Also look at last minute sites and cheap cruise sites. I usually do a couple of city break type things with my son in the year (UK as well as abroad) and just see what we fancy doing for the summer early June time.

Some places such as Rome are cheaper anyway in August due to heat/holidays etc.

It's no coincidence that we bought our tent the year my DS started school!

We used to just accept that our annual holiday in August would cost about £4k and until last year that is what we spent.

Money is tighter now and we have had to adjust our expectations of when and where we can go on holiday. Summer holidays will be camping only from now on and we try to do our main holiday at Easter , Whitsun or during October half term as we have found these times to be cheaper.

Next year we are doing a Eurocamp holiday ( mobile home not a tent,) during the Whitsun half term. We have managed to make it a 9 day holiday because of a non pupil day and it has cost £1200 for four of us. Compared to the £4k we used to spend on our main holiday it's a bargain.

One positive to come out of it is that we have noticed that we seem to be more relaxed on the cheaper , camping type holidays than on the more expensive holidays which involve queuing at airports, baggage allowances ( or lack of) and bun fights over sunbeds!

We are going Whitsun plus 4 days unauthorised absence from school. Did this last year but school authorised 5 days absent.

Sometimes the last week of August is a bit cheaper than the beginning of the six week holiday.

Does it have to be a holiday park? We tend to stay at smaller family owned sites or farms. They are a lot cheaper, fewer facilities but we only use the accommodation as a base.

Since dc1 started school, we have chosen to take our main holiday at Whitsun half term or easter and buy flights way in advance if possible.

You can take four days unauthorised absence without being fined. Fines are only for five or more days per term.

Anecdotes on MN suggest otherwise, Soon2b6.

Maybe it's just our local authority then

Soon2be6 sorry but you are wrong. the law has changed. There is no 5 day or 10 rule any more. thanks to Mr Gove heads have been told that only absence under exceptional circumstances can be granted and this does NOT include family holidays unless for service personnel on leave. some head teachers are using their discretion to allow 4,5 or whatever days but they are going to be jumped upon by Ofsted because the law is very very clear now. if you take even one day it is £60 per child per parent so £120 for 1, £240 for 2 and so on. in some areas it is £60 per leave but in others £60 per day. this isn't an anecdote lljkk this is now the law. unfortunately parents haven't woken up to it yet but holiday companies have and lots are hiking prices in school holidays to cover for the lack of family bookings in term time. there is no discretion not to fine and refer to the LEA unless the head authorises the absence and the heads have been told by gove by law that they must not. this is all really going to hit the fan in January when most holiday bookings take place and families start to realise this.

No, I realise that the holidays are not authorised however in my local authority at least fines only kick in at five days or more per term. Any less they count as unauthorised absence but with no fines.

there is no discretion not to fine

That is incorrect. The law has only changed in as far as holidays in term time should not be authorised. The fine is also increased but there is no obligation to fine parents. It is still at the descrection of the head'deputy and/or LEA

Soontobesix
Our local authority has also indicated they won't be fining till five days. We are taking 4 days joined onto whit, plus these is an inset day.

Mummymeist local authorities are not compelled to fine

I will let you all know whether we get fined for your four days or not, cut not expecting to be

OP, in general once your kids are in school you have to cut your cloth / adjust your expectations about holidays. That's just the way it is, and you are taking your hols alongside every other family that has school age children.

Even people who have taken kids out once or twice would tend not to do it every year and once you are in the swing of having your kids in school you get used to it.

Surely you knew this? But it does come as a shock once the lack of flexibility becomes a reality .

Could I ask - do you get fined if your child is poorly? Or would you have to get a doctors note?
My daughter starts nursery next September so I don't know about fines etc.
Does anybody know if the fines apply to nursery age or is it when they legally have to be at school?
Thanks so much.

Katelo no you don't need a doctors note and fines only apply once dc are school age not nursery .

givemeaclue and notthefirst. I have been trawling the Ofsted websites and they have been told to take a very tough line with schools not adhering to the letter and spirit of the new laws. They have a new inspection framework and this is identified as a key issue. as this law only came in this summer it hasn't as yet filtered through. However, inspections will start looking at absences and how they are coded by the school and interrogating the head when they see absences of 5 or whatever days which have not been forward on to the attendance officers at the LEA. Your school or LEA might well have adopted its own policy but until the Ofsted inspections get to grips with this they might get away with it. however, what gove wants gove gets and he wants to stop term time holidays. It might take a year or so for this to all shakedown as he wants but I cannot see those schools or LEA's who are allowing 5 or whatever days with no fines at the moment continuing to be allowed to do so.