holidays in term time parents win a victory over the lea

[zippitippitoes]

.........\link{http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/23/nedu23.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/05/23/ixuknews.html\ story here}

"When they returned home to Park Farm, Peterborough, from the visit to Cape Town to see Mrs Donaldson's family last Christmas, the local education authority ordered them to pay a £50 fine for each child. The penalty doubled after the fine was not paid within 42 days.

When that was not paid, they were ordered to appear before Peterborough magistrates, charged with failure to ensure their children's regular attendance at school. However, the couple were given an unconditional discharge, with no fine and no costs."

didnt know there had been similar thread recently. thanks for post ng. Thought i was getting paraniod for a sec - stressed etc.

Think is the horrid head of superiority raising its head from the virtual depths of mn - beware the rolling eye

I do think its different seeing family than going on a holiday
havne't been up against this yet - dd starts school in Sept and we are going to my parents for christmas this year ( first time in 4 years) and plan to stay at least 3 weeks - she'll miss a few days. In reception, a few days, I really don't see a problem with that.

I bet if the teachers decided to take their holidays in term time in order to take advantage of the lower prices, I wonder how many of the parents supporting the magistrates decision would be happy with it, particularly if it affected their child?

From my point of view, one of the tasks that we parents have is to teach our children that we cannot always have what we want when we want it. Rules are there to protect everyone and to ensure equal treatment. When some parents decide to stick two fingers up to those rules, they are teaching their children to do the same. Consequently, is it any wonder that we have a society where some children have no respect for authority and who think that they can do what they like when they like because they know their parents will always support them.

When I was a child, my family never went on holiday because my parents could not afford it and my brothers and I never felt deprived. IMHO, I think it is a modern fallacy to believe that children are deprived if they don't have a holiday.

hana, it also rather depends on how often the family is visited and how long they visit for. Several years ago I taught a child who was on target for two C grades at GCSE. He parents took her to Hong Kong for several weeks and she missed 3 modulard examonations. Her whole attitude changed, she switched off. Now you might say that she would have done this anyway and you might be right. But her parents sent her a very firm message that school wasn't important. She went on to be very disruptive.

In year 11 they did the same bloody thing again!. She asked for work, I sorted some out for here. Did she do it? Did she hell. She got two e grades.

Parents have the total right to do what they want with their kids, and the total reponsibility to be the ones who sort out the extra work and pick up the pieces when the kids grades bomb.

And yes, you do learn things on holiday , but these seldom crop up on an exam paper. And exams are not everything, but you are stuffed trying to get into some jobs without them

I will now PARP myself

As I started a previous thread when the judgement was that you couldn't take your children out, in the interests of balance I thought as the reverse decision has now been taken I would post the reprise.

My entire family lives abroad. We cannot afford to travel to see them at term holiday prices. I don't think the government has any business telling me when I can take my kids to see their family.

But expat, the government has an obligation to ensure your child is educated. Unless you have chosen to take him/her out of the system altogether you have an obligation to ensure your child is able to accept and make use of the education provided. So in that sense the government (or rather the LEA) has the right to try to enforce children's attendance don't they?

Am seriously considering home educating, joe, for the reason that we consider establishing connections w/family and w/that side of their heritage incredibly important to their education.

Besides, if they're so worried about their obligation to make sure your child is educated, why the hell aren't they doing more to tackle bullying, the teacher shortage, the problem of recruiting and retaining headmasters/mistresses, prevent the sale of playing fields for flat development, the dire condition of many of the schools (at least here in Edinburgh), school security, etc.

mb - you're right, but my daughter will be in reception - hardly comparable to someone doing exams

I am a teacher myself so see firsthand the disruption that may be caused when students are absent for long periods of time.

think I will parp myself as well

why does everyone complain about the high cost of holidays in the summer - holidays are expensive that's why they are a luxury, not a right which everyone deserves every year. They only seem excessively expensive if you insist on comparing them with termtime breaks - which are subsidised as it's not a popular time to go away. I don't really see how travel companies can be expected to make summer holidays cheaper.

I should add that we are not wealthy and therefore are not having a holiday this year.

"Besides, if they're so worried about their obligation to make sure your child is educated, why the hell aren't they doing more to tackle bullying, the teacher shortage, the problem of recruiting and retaining headmasters/mistresses, prevent the sale of playing fields for flat development, the dire condition of many of the schools (at least here in Edinburgh), school security, etc. "

Hmmmm...a whole different argument although I see what you mean of course. I think they might argue that they are tackling those things...whether they're doing it fast or well enough remains to be seen.....

I think I must be spoilt as so far we've had a fairly good experience of state education. But there's still secondary school to come [biting fingers nails icon]

CAN i just say a conditional dishcagre is not s "LET OFF" like you may thignk. it places you in a limbp for a fixed term - say 6 months where you MUST not reoffend ect etc
they were found guilty but cos first time offenders etc woudl not have been pusnihed alto
so thery were [unished

iad have sentenced them to hard labour

I think not having any holiday is one of the criteria for being beneath the breadline isn't it? I DO think that everyone (those who either work or cannot for genuine reasons) deserves a yholiday, but there is the 10 day guideline- within this you can surely fit any normal holiday? And there are of course options like camping, which is what we do now.

We will take the boys out Thursday to start our holiday. The school is having a jacket potato day, with a football day tomorrow and school fair today so I suspect they're not being exactly overworked! However, I would not take them out for even as much as ten days let alone more as this would genuinely interrupt their schooling. It's a matter of balnce, sense (as in when are they likely to be not doing much) and sensible planning.

But cod, it says, "UNconditional discharge"- surely that is "let off"?

just to add into the fray, our one and only family holiday in Cornwall (a rented cottage) costs £370 more in school hols than if we took them out of school, say at the end of june. Some holidays cost what they cost - to cover your air fare, accomodation, food, childcare etc. but it does piss me off how parents with school age kids are penalised with huge price hikes. I'm not sure what the answer is, but while prices are hiked sooo much, this problem of parents removing their kids during term time is always going to be there.

we didn't have any term-time holidays as children because my mum was - guess what? - a teacher.

She didn't have the option of taking a couple of weeks off mid-term and we had trouble affording breaks abroad during the school holidays.

So some years we didn't go abroad .

Honestly, there's no god-given right to lie on a Mediterranean beach for 2 weeks every year. If you can't afford it, don't go.

but holidays are expensive in school holidays precisely because the demand is there, that's just the way it is! It's just the same as budget airlines whose seats get more expensive the more they sell, and house prices that go up when everyone wants to buy.

The holiday companies aren't running a public service, they're there to make money for their shareholders. And the prices are not just dictated by them, but by the airlines, hotel owners etc. I really don't agree that holidays are vital to the develpoment of a child- I grew up in another hard-up teacher's family. I think that the first holiday abroad that we had was when I was 12, and that was camping. I'm not emotionally scarred by it. BTW, a lot of our family lived abroad, and we saw them when we could afford it. I think that's one of the prices you pay for living away from your family.

yes, I agree about foereign holidays, but the point I was trying to make was even a crappy cottage in cornwall is nearly £400 more expensive in school hols.

"huge amount of money in pursuing a middle class family who paid for extra tuition, ffs, just to make some sort of crappy point. Which they failed to do. "

so working class families should get it in the neck?

cos they can afford SA its OK?

what about 2 weeks off visiting nan in Enfield?

PUNISH THEM!

LOLEnid

'oh they saw elephants'

ffs

must parp self

people really are unutterably spoilt these days

Enif, behave yourself.

Elephants are very big in the KS1 NC!