Term-time holidays to be banned, with fines.....

[LilyBolero]

Discuss

I cannot see why.
If somebody is MAD enough to pay fees and not make use of the school, serves em right

all they are trying to do is get kids to go to school....

if it is not all right to take time off to doss around the shopping centre why is it all right to take time off to doss around somewhere else....

In the grand scheme of what the tories are doing ie forcing ill people to work and cutting benefits for the disabled I think this is small fry really and we should swallow it! A lot of people won't be able to holiday this year or for teh foreseeable future so if you can afford any of your income to go on a holiday you are fortunate and probably in a minority atm

Mirage: independent schools are exactly that, independent. The state has can apply this only to state schools.

LilacWaltz - travel companies already know about independent school term times. The prices go up the week before the state school holidays generally - for summer, Christmas and Easter ime. I know - I've looked to try and benefit!

We took dd out of school for a few days last year to visit her grandmother and other extended family. It's very important for us that she can get to know her dad's side of the family, learn about her heritage and use her second language.

For various reasons, it simply isn't possible for us to go in any of the longer school holidays - I can't get the time off over Christmas, and there are serious health risks associated with going at easter or in the summer holiday. So Feb/Oct half terms are the only option. It takes 3 days to travel there and another 3 days to travel back. That leaves three days for us to spend there in total - not feasible for the cost and amount of travel required.

So yes, we do take her out of school once every couple of years and we shall continue to do so, even if we have to pay a hefty fine for the privilege. The school has been very supportive of this, and acknowledge the importance of children learning about their cultural heritage and building relationships with overseas family. We don't make the decision to take dd out of school lightly, but we do it in the knowledge that she will learn at least as much while she is away than she would if she stayed in school.

As I understand it, head teachers currently have the discretion to authorise or not authorise up to ten days during term time. I cannot understand why the government cannot trust head teachers to exercise this discretion wisely.

at our school its a £50 fine per child- worth it I'd say if you can get a cheap holiday!! tongue firmly in cheek becuase education is so important look at all the holidays we have- half term full term......bloody ridiculous no wonder kids can't spell or read!!! However if it is for a special occassion such as my borther getting married in Ozzie next year then I write a wee letter to the head teacher and get her permission- or we all get a terrible case of measles....
Perhaps a staggered holiday system should take place or change the school year completely! Less holidays all round- we only get 4 weeks each off a year and its crippling in childcare! then could possibly afford a holiday away altogether!

No holidays for us anymore then with dsD.... She lives in another county and has different holidays to us. Last year we took our 3 DCs out of school for 5 days to be able to take dsD on holiday with us and this year DSD is along 5 days out of school to be able to come with us on our half term. So as a family we are penalised and DSD gets no holidays with her dad we would never be able to afford June to sept holiday. Currently we spend between £100-250 for a week in October.

What about "holidays" if a parent has a job interview in a different area? What about a chance to see a museum exhibition if it coincides with a parent travelling to a city for work? Personally I think DS would learn a whole lot more in many cases like that than if he was in school. Is there an age category where this applies? It should be up to the school, none of the Government's business IMO.

TalkinPeace - sad isn't it? Maybe your first example will do OK if they have other input, from hospital school for example. The others; doubtful. You can compensate for persistent absence but obviously have to have the inclination and wherewithall to do it. I've been doing it myself for some years.

I'm a teacher. Taking a child out of school for a happy family holiday only ever enhances his or her childhood. For goodness sake let them live a little until the exam years hit!

We work in the tourism industry so we are fucked.

I also could not give a flying fig about the effect on the school's performance. I think the Government, and schools, forget who is working on behalf of whom.

Kids here take time off for holidays often, and so do teachers. What I do with my child is my decision as a parent.

When my grandparents used to visit us, my mother would take us out of school to go sledding with them, etc. I remember my teacher (I was about ten) saying that that was a good thing as family was important.

Imagine the time you'd have in prison when you told them you were in for taking a holiday,you'd be their beeeatch for sure

They've got to catch us first!

Not trying to get kids to school trying to take away any chance of a holiday for the average person ! It is wrong and they need to cap the holiday companies ALL of them..why should they be allowed to charge 3x times the rate for the same holiday during the 6 week break ! No reason whatsoever....

they are businesses
it is less that they ramp the prices up, than that they have to reduce them to keep the turnover in the quiet months....

last week of the Christmas term off

The irony is that my dc have never been taught in the last week before christmas , they dress up and do plays, have a whole afternoon for a tea party and another whole afternoon for a fair. How can this be different from disney?

Cheerful Yank thanks for saying that, I'm from the US and remember it being no big deal to take holidays during school months, but wasn't sure if I was remembering correctly...

My mum took me out of school one day so we could go to the first showing of 'The Empire Strikes Back' when it came out.

I've taken my kids out on a couple of occasions, briefly. Once because I had to work overseas and their dad was away at the time - we all had no choice in this and we don't have anyone to look after the kids overnight in the UK, so it was either all go or I lose my job. Another time I took them to a family event in Germany (their school holidays don't overlap with ours very reliably as they stagger them over there). Gove simply doesn't have the imagination to deal with multi-national families properly, or parental work commitments that don't fit a tidy 9-5 model, and until he does, I suggest he leaves it up to head teachers as I suggested before.

Basically we are talking about a term time holiday tax - it's not a fine if it's enforced everywhere it's a tax. So you choose to pay the tax and take the holiday or not.

We pay taxes on airline tickets etc. This is just another one. And as long as it's enforced fairly I can't morally object to it. But it has to be enforced fairly and that's going to be very tough on those with lower incomes.

And if they're as steep as they say they're going to be totally impossible for the vast majority to pay so only rich kids will get to experience time away from home.

mmm like it was when I was a child.... don't know when this "We have to go away" business came in - our first "holiday" was to the Lake District in my auntie's mobile caravan when I was 14.... sorry, just reminiscing.....

I don't think you necessarily have to go away on holiday to spend quality time with your children either :)