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

[LilyBolero]

Discuss

[TheMonster]

I'd like Gove to stick a lot his ideas up his bum, but I am afraid this isn't one of them.
If holiday companies charged the same in school holiday time this wouldn't be an issue.

[LilacWaltz]

How are the fines issued? Via court? That's how the EWO does them here.

So, you will get your name in the paper and a fine. Criminal record??

Dont think they ate aiming for a slap on the wrist and a fine of £20!

[TheMonster]

Yes, ihatethecold, but you chose to have children and it's your duty to ensure they get a decent education. That means being in school.

[COCKadoodledooo]

Ihatethecold some teachers are parents too. Who'd like to holiday with their family at affordable prices.

[ScorpionQueen]

I would take my children out in term time if I could. It's me that can't have time off. August is a crap month to go abroad. Too hot, too expensive, hurricanes, monsoons, you name it. I'd love to holiday in May/June and save a fortune to boot.

It isn't the teachers setting the rules, it never is, but just keep on blaming them for everything...

[vnmum]

This won't stop the parents who regularly let their DC play truant from continually doing so. Ok it is not ideal to take holidays in term time but the price of the holidays during school holidays is ridiculous and most people can't afford them so their children miss out on out of school learning and experiences.

And what about the forces children who have a parent deployed in afghan. Their deployed parent can't always choose when they will get R&R and that 2 weeks is a valuable time for the children to spend with a parent they have not seen for months before they go away again for more months. This is the only time I would want to take my DC out of school during term time and at the moment most heads a more understanding with forces families wanting to do this. If this ban comes in I would just tell them the DC were ill. I feel it is very important for them to spend time with their father.
I can actually see that if this ban comes in the number of children absent due to illness will suddenly go up as people look for ways around the ban but it still won't have any effect on the persistent truanters.

It is also not just forces families that have no choice of when they take leave, there are many other professions where this is the case so children whose parents are in those professions will suffer too.

The Government go on about the state of society and how important to society the family structure is etc then they go and impose restrictions on families that may well prevent them from spending quality time together when both parents are working full time

[cornsilkteamdixon]

I'm more worried about the effects on parents of children who struggle to attend school.

[swanker]

Yes- teachers chose to teach, but police officers chose their profession too (upthread) and others who say 'oh DH can't get time off in holidays'. We all make choices.
It isn't about 'being told what to do' it is about respecting there are set times when education is provided, and children should be there, taking full advantage of their opportunities.

[MrsHeffley]

School age kids aren't in nursery.Our school holiday club would cost me £60 a day through the holidays for 3 kids if I worked.Kids aren't in nursery for ever and once they start school teachers will save on holiday childcare(one if the reasons I'd consider returning to teaching for).

As I said I know part time teachers/assistants who have taken their kids out on the days they don't work.

Also the new fines are going to be steep(ie steeper than the fines already in place) so putting up with a fine isn't going to be an option.They're obviously going to make it so expensive there will be no financial benefit.

[TheMonster]

Well said ScorpionQueen and Swanker.

[MrsHeffley]

And yes the truanters will carry on truanting.

[2old2beamum]

If we are compelled to take a holiday outside school holidays PLEASE can someone please show me a self-catering holiday with hoists, wheelchair accessable for 2 people who are siblings no they do not want to share a double bed. Fortunately school and LEA understand our diffulties but all said and done there are very few any time of year.

[Sparklingbrook]

If I was a teacher and I had been working on a particular subject and children were to disappear for two weeks on a holiday (without any special circumstances) I would feel a bit 'why do I bother'. TBH

[TheMonster]

Teachers still pay for childcare. My DS is 5 and I pay for childcare before school (from 7am) and after school (until 6pm).

[ledkr]

Our headteacher has just had paternity leave during term time. I agree he should have it but although far more crucial than a holiday does illustrate how often its a case of "needs must"
body I chose ot to become a teacher based quite heavily upon the lack of holiday flexibility. In my chosen profession i am far busier during the schol holidays and have to compete with other parents to book leave for those days,swings and roundabouts really.

[TheMonster]

Exactly, Sparklingbrook.

[TheMonster]

Indeed, ladkr, swings and roundabouts.

[LilacWaltz]

But the fines are £ 250+... is this per child? And if you get a conditional discharge, then how many times a year will you be able to keep them off??

[MandyT68]

As a teacher, I would like lot put an alternative pint of view. This will not apply to me as not in England. However, there is constant pressure on results, even among very young children. Parents often take children out for a week or more for a beach in Tenerife or to go skiing. These are luxuries and not affordable to many. The very parents doing this are the ones who want the most from the school. I am not talking about a family wedding overseas or about this happening occasionally but about pupils missing every year for two weeks, sometimes tacked onto an existing
2 week holiday. These are not the parents of the poor who do a week in a caravan or have no holiday. These are middle class parents who have "saved" by opting for a state education and are spending the surplus on holidays. They want University places and A grades and salve their consciences by asking for work to take away with them, meaning more work for the teacher in setting, planning and marking the work. In my school we provide work for those absent for genuine reasons, including family ones, but not for those who are off on a jolly. It is made clear to them that we cannot be held entirely responsible if their children do not get high grades. Skiing and Tenerife are great fun but I would not think of them as a substitute for two weeks in the classroom. I do not feel long, cheap overseas holidays are a "right". Children with a good education will be able to afford far more holidays and travel than those without. Ducks head and waits to be shouted at!!!

[EdithWeston]

"And what about the forces children who have a parent deployed in afghan. Their deployed parent can't always choose when they will get R&R and that 2 weeks is a valuable time for the children to spend with a parent they have not seen for months before they go away again for more month".

There is a separate recommendation already for Forces children; if applied as intended, they should be unaffected by this. (I'm not ruling out the possibility of extreme incompetence by bringing in incompatible measures though! But I do think this one has been worked around satisfactorily.

And it's not to key to the overall position which is that children enrolled in school should be there for the entire time, unless ill or bereaved. I suppose those who are not happy with the state laying down how state education is provided will have to HE or turn to the private sector.

Or perhaps free schools and academies will be able to exercise more individual discretion? Or perhaps as they come directly under SofS, they will actually have rather less?

[ledkr]

This wont work,if i need to do it ill just keep quiet and keep the kids of sick.meh!

[TheMonster]

Oh yes, Mandy! I have had many requests from parents for work to take on holiday, and when I have gone to the effort of setting work, it has never once been completed or returned.

[Astronaut79]

Instead of the annual kick off over kids out in term time, why don't we all direct our ire at the holiday companies who force people into it?

I'm a teacher and it really fucks me off that I have to pay a fortune to have one bloody week away. Especially now I have 2 dcs.

[Feenie]

Teachers also pay childcare for training days - an extra £50 for me this month, on top of wraparound care.

[ivykaty44]

Will this increase the amount of parents that HE for a few years rather than go down the school route?

It crossed my mind if my dd's where little it would be easier to HE them until after infants - aged 7 and not be tied up about school holidays and term time as we would be free to do as we like and educate when we like during the year.

If you don't send your dc to school then you don't have to abide by the rules set down by Gore and his government.

With school places becoming scares in some areas would this start people doing things differently and keeping their children home and sending them to school ater when they reach junior or senior school?