Holiday help? Schools on strike so want last min holiday

[lifetheuniverseandeverything42]

Our kids schools are on strike. We have never taken our kids abroad and thought we could be opportunistic and sneak a cheap holiday in. I have no idea where to go or what to do. Kids are 10 and 12. Probably looking like either of the first two weeks in Feb. Would be nice to have some warmer weather. We’ve just spent £180k on our house extension so would preferably keep the cost to a minimum, we would usually go to Cornwall so could easily spend 2.5k on accommodation there in the summer so guess that would be a reasonable budget but we could probably stretch to more as we won’t get a similar opportunity till kids are grown.

i haven’t been abroad since our honeymoon (15 years ago) and really don’t have much idea about what to do.

amazingly we do all have passports.

please hit me with your ideas.

Canaries?

Erm just to warn you, strikes can get called off.

Needs to be canaries at this time of year for the best chance of warm weather really.

The west coast of Tenerife often gets the best of weather there

Are they local or national strikes? I haven’t heard anything about this.

Get on jet 2 or easyJet holidays and see whats
on offer from your local airport! If you want sunshine I’d head to the canaries.

TUI’s last minute section has hols in the first two weeks of Feb

Wow… You lot are quick. Strikes are local. 24 schools in Birmingham and surrounding areas are affected. Teachers are striking in our trust over potential redundancies and mismanagement of central services provided by the trust. It is in local press but very much a local issue. I wouldn't book anything till the dates have been confirmed but negotiations don’t look good at the moment and additional strike days have been added. Each week they confirm the strike days so I’d happily book after they’ve been confirmed the date. I won’t mention anything to the kids beforehand. We could just go to centreparcs to play it a bit safer incase strikes got cancelled but honestly we won’t get this opportunity again and quite frankly I’m feeling pretty pee’d off about it all and the disruption it is causing. I’m very worried about the impact on our autistic daughter. It is so hard getting her to school already and this will make everything worse. The idea of taking her away while places are quieter is really appealing. Whilst getting her to school is a nightmare and she’s often late (<15mins) her overall attendance is actually very good and she hasn’t missed a day so far this year.

I’ll have a look at the canaries. Thanks for the suggestion.

Strikes can get called off the day before or they can be called off the day after they start when they were due to run for 5 days, etc. Plus your school's SLT might find a way to keep classes open - strike doesn't mean no school. Doesn't mean don't go, you know the dispute better, but it's risky.

I saw that on the news today @lifetheuniverseandeverything42 Apparently they are striking for 18 days - which seems an awful lot to me. I’m surprised that there hasn’t been much mention of it before (and I live in the West Midlands for context). What on earth are parents expected to do? It’s not like having to take the odd day off if your child is unwell or for a teacher day etc.

@ABeerInTheSunshineMakesMeHappy it is a complete pain for so many families. I honestly don’t know how some are managing. We are quite lucky in that I’ve worked from home for years and our kids are 10 and 12 so don’t need constant attention. But they are watching so much more tv and screen time/on line games with friends than I would like. It will be difficult getting them back in the routine of going to school.

i really feel for the kids in exam years. It’s not like covid where everyone is in the same situation, they will be at a disadvantage to their peers when it come to results.

I would be amazed if the strikes last 2 weeks. You will need to get passports ASAP and don’t book anything until they arrive.

They do have passports