Have you taken your kids out of school for holiday to save money

[NC2125]

Good morning everyone

Just need some perspective here please.

I’m looking at holidays for October and we can save £500-1000 if we leave 3 days before the half term starts. Is it acceptable to take a child in reception out for 3 days to save quite a lot of money, money which we need elsewhere. Is it something that people do or is it a no go? Thank you in advance.

To me, it is not acceptable, no. Education is top priority. But I know it is acceptable to many others.

I also wonder how the family covers the actual school holidays too, if the parents used all their annual leave outside school holidays?

Edit to correct typos

My children are still too young for school but yeah, I’d do it OP! Especially in reception. If my children were in year 10 or 11 then that would be different but missing a few days of reception to go on a lovely family holiday and save £1000 in the process is a no brainer for me.

Absolutely ok! It was fine for them to miss months of schooling during Covid 👀

Yes I've done it, zero impact on the kids - except they got a lovely holiday we couldn't have otherwise afforded.

I'm sure it's a pain for teachers, but I'd say (it should be considered) part of their job to manage this. I think teachers are under a lot of pressure to keep all the kids on track and prove where they are etc, and school's are under a lot of pressure around attendance, but one-off holidays are not the issue there. I think schools pass this pressure onto parents, and we feel guilty.

As PP said it's reception. It'll be fine.

Opinions are always divided on this. You are unlikely to be fined for 3 days but do check the small print at the time as rules change. If attendance is otherwise good and this is not a regular thing then there will be no lasting impact on your child at all. Schools won’t care because so many people are doing it. It’ll be unauthorised but be honest and not pretend it’s illness. Have a lovely time!

We skipped the last two days of the year last year (DS2 in Y4, DS1’s school had broken up) Not, as it happened, to make things cheaper, but because works commitments collided so it was the only way to get 2 weeks that year.

No impact at all. His attendance was 100% to that point. And he was cross because he was ‘missing film and popcorn day’.

This year his school have had the excellent sense to make the equivalent two days Inset days. I suspect we were not the only one missing last year!

Yeah completely fine especially in reception!

I'm a teacher. Please do take your kid on holiday. In the grand scheme of things, three days added onto a half term is nothing, especially in Reception. The teacher will probably be grateful for one less child to teach.
Obviously don't do this in Years 10 or 11 but Reception is fine.

No we wouldn’t
If we couldn’t afford it we would save up and have a holiday every other year instead.

Many times because I dont live in England and our schools have a totally different view on family trips and their importance. Of course education is important. But your child will be 4 or 5 years old. Missing 3 days of school. Won’t cost them their Oxford place. Have a brilliant holiday.

But it wasn't fine, was it?

I did it and my children are now adults with no long lasting effects from missing a few days. Obviously when they are older and have exams it’s different but reception age I wouldn’t worry about.

No and I wouldn't, for me education is more important than a holiday and I know how much the children now have to get done each day and how important it is socially to be there. Personally I'd just shorten the holiday to save the difference .

Yes on holiday now. We left on the last day of school which was a half day and kids were due to finish at 11am. If we went the following week it would have been an extra 200-300 per person. However I wouldn’t take them out any earlier and miss more school.

No I've never done it. I've never actually searched prices for the same holiday in term time, so no idea how much we'd save. But we only really considered holidays in school holiday periods and just would have ruled out certain types of holidays if they cost too much. There is always a cheaper option even if you restrict your search to school holidays. My dcs love going to school and would be sad to miss out being with their friends, and I wouldn't want to do the extra work in catching up with missed classwork.

It wasn't fine, but it was essential in order to keep everyone safe. A holiday in the sun is not essential and can be taken at another time.

Missing pizza and film days does not mean that you don't value education.

Pizza and film? Maybe for the very last day, they'll be learning for the rest of the time because the curriculum is pretty much impossible to fit in otherwise.

Compulsory education in the UK starts the term after turning 5. The OP will have a child in reception, so unless they deferred starting school, then their compulsory education age wouldn't start any earlier than January.

On valuing education - Did you know the muscles in a child's hand aren't developed sufficiently to manipulate a writing tool until about age 7 and yet we expect our 5 year olds to write and form their letters starting and finishing in the right place? Our current education model is Victorian. Is this what you are valuing when you made your comment?

I hate that the UK starts compulsory school age so young. I hate that teachers have to argue with leadership teams for allowing the children to learn through continuous provision aka play (there was a petition debated about continuous provision in eyfs and ks1 earlier this year).

Go on holiday. Spend time building your child's communication and interactions, their understanding of the world, their gross motor skills.

Have a great time.

With warmth, from an EYFS and KS1 teacher

I wouldn’t worry about it for reception. Your child is unlikely to be compulsory school age in October so it’s the last time you can do it without getting fined.

That said we didn’t take ours out because DH was very against it. Then he wondered by the flights were over 2k 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

Yes definitely acceptable. Especially in reception.

I'm a teacher. Yes take them out .. ridiculous rule.

Technically (in England) they only have to be in full time education the term after they turn 5 anyway, so even if your child was already 5 by the half term holidays, they wouldnt technically be "of school age" until after the Christmas holidays so the council would be unable to do anything/issue a fine.

As a former teacher, I have also taken my child out of school to go on holiday, and we generally do a lot of "educational" things when we are away anyway. My parents also took us on holiday in term time, including missing my GCSE Georgraphy coursework trip in y11. However on our return they took me to the same place over a weekend instead to gather the data and I got the highest score in the year despite not having gone on the trip.

You'll get a huge range of opinions on taking children our of school.Everyone's lines on what they will do is different

Personally for just a holiday, no we dont do it.
We have done it for a close family wedding abroad though.

Some say it had no impact on your child's education others do. Personally the fall out behaviour and school wise from a few days extra off around October half term for a family wedding......its not worth it. I'll 100% be avoiding it as much as possible in future

I haven’t done it before (child is in Year 4) but I’m
planning to next year.
We’re looking at either a £3,400 UK holiday during half term, or it goes down to £1,200 if we go the week before half term. We haven’t been on holiday this year (haven’t been abroad since 2016).
I check the school calendar and I won’t pick a week they have an event on (sports day etc.) and I’d avoid SATS/GCSE years.

The first fine is £80 per parent so even paying £160 you’d still be saving money and your children will have beautiful memories.