To ask if you agree with term time holidays to please sign this petition...

[TermTimeHolidays]

here

It needs 100,000 signatures before it can be discussed in parliament.

I don't travel abroad but is there someone on this thread who went away this year perhaps on a package so knows what it cost for their family who can then compare it to the 2014 cost. this would be interesting for the thread

YABU, termtime holidays should not be allowed.

YABU, termtime holidays should not be allowed.

To all those saying that they don't care about the rules and that their child will get more educational benefit from the holiday than sitting in a classroom, well that's very nice, but what abut the rest of the class who have their education disrupted when your little darling comes back all suntanned and hasn't a clue what the teacher is going on about as they have missed a chunk of work and then disrupt the education of everyone else in the class by consuming the teachers time by needing constant explanations?
I think it's quite simple - the LEA should fine the parent £100 for each day missed due to holidays taken during term time. So if you have two kids and swan off for a fortnight in the costas during term time then you get charged £1000 for each of your children on your return.
Problem solved - the parent hasn't saved any money and might think twice before going away in term time again which means that my child's education isn't disrupted by suntanned holiday child needing the teacher to explain all the missed work.

Jenai I can categorically tell you families who have suffered trauma will not be allowed the 2 weeks, because the LEA and SS don't want to admit there is need as it has other budgetary repercussions for them.

Runningchick, you sound jealous of something but I cannot fathom what it is.

I don't claim that I take my child out of school for an educational holiday, either. I claim to take him out to have some quality time, where his parents can devote all of their attention to him and each other, instead of being frazzled and too tired to do anything.

We are constantly nagged at about the importance of family time but apparently, it has to be government/LEA approved family time. Well, they can piss off AFAIAC. I do not live in a dictatorship and if my holiday leave next year falls into term time, I will be off. I absolutely have a problem with the government telling me how to run my affairs. It has nothing to do with any child's educational well-being and if you think that it is, you're being very naive.

Perhaps there should be compulsory after school clubs and holiday clubs too. Perhaps we should all just be told what to do all the time, have no discretion or choice at all. Clearly we can't cope without the state tellling us what's right and wrong all the time.

Maybe that's the right option for some of you, not for me though. I'm quite clear what's good for my family and I'm capable of deciding whether to take them out of school now and then. I'm also capable of educating them in ways other than in a classroom.

Where does this end?

Perhaps we should be thinking what education is, what the purpose of it is. This legislation is there to ensure that the league tables and results look good. Be clear, they are not thinking about your child's education in a holistic sense. Exam success does not necessarily mean that your child is well educated in a holistic sense. Wake up folks.

and for those who think they can escape by home edding, they are trying to close that through the back door anyway

So runningchick you and your partner work in an industry where you can take holidays in school holiday time so that's alright for you. why should I pay £1000 or whatever to take my kids on holiday when I have absolutely no discretion with my employment as to when I take holidays. as I said upthread I work with the school to minimise disruption. I go when they say it is least disruptive and my kids don't come back suntanned not if its a week in the UK in November!!

As far as I'm concerned I support the idea. If people still want to take their children out of school that is absolutely their choice, just factor in the cost of the fine to your holiday costs.

I could take DD1 out of school for 10 days for term time holiday easily, on the grounds that she doesn't cope with the busy environment caused by peak time travel (SN). However, I'd struggle to get DDs 2&3 authorised (MS).

A fine for making a choice for your child which is of educational value. Yeah great.

...and what is the real problem here? a "one size fits all" approach to everything when clearly it doesn't. head teachers are intelligent. they know their pupils, their families, their circumstances. they get paid a good wage because they are good at their jobs. so why not let them have the discretion back. let them work with pupils and their families not create division. this is going to cause hell up in some schools because the religious exemption (which I don't really understand) and the people with money who will do it and not give a damn about the fine.

runningchick my dd has never disrupted a lesson sounding slightly hysterical ....

mummy same here, well do has his leave restricted by his employers, also holiday in the UK and work with the school to ensure minimal disruption, a week in Whitby this year, hardly extravagant! Its about spending time together as a family which is massively restricted by DPs job, long hours, shift work and only one weekend off a month etc.

mummy correct.

Although its just another divide for rich versus poor in this country.

Acer...no name calling from me!
I holiday in the uk because there are some wonderful places to go and its cheaper than abroad.
I also find holidays abroad quite stressful with young dc.
I am quite happy to wait til they can both amuse themselves on a long haul flight and actually remember the holiday we will spend ££££ on.

my employer wants me - by the 30th September, to block book ALL my leave, until March 2015.

DH is not allowed to book next years holiday, until next year, then they have a free for all.

Holiday planning in school holiday is impossible.

Not signing.

I don't give a shiny shit how it benefits the child, it disadvantages the rest of the class. Only exceptional circumstances, as provided for under current law, could even possibly justify that disruption.

The petition muddles up "time spent together as a family" with "time spent away from home". If a parent can only take leave in termtime, they can still spend quality time with the child before 9 and after 3, or at the weekend, or maybe even by helping in the classroom during that week of leave.

See I find abroad cheaper, because we do not do "expensive" things, because of the good weather, here, you have to plan what to do when it rains, there is only so much wet weather stuff yonu can actally enjoy.

Signed.

but only because we are going away for 10days next week and I didn't think of the dates

Quite frankly if Gove institutes a plan like that Running I would prefer to take mine out of school completely.

I had 4 weeks out as a child and travelled the length and breadth of the U.S. I was 12 years old and I am now 40, I remember very much about that experience and I am very glad my parents were not cap doffing monkeys. Given enough money I would chose travel over the UK state school system, I'm quite certain I want my children to be questioning and critical not bored senseless automatons who follow the rules.

The economy of the UK is in decline, we live in a post industrial country. If we are to move forward we need critical minds, we need analytical thinkers and people who challenge what they find, not sheep. The skills required at work are much more than just following the rules and clocking on at the right time. But there lies the contradiction, employers need creative thinking dynamos but they also want desperately to have docile workers who make few demands.

In fact it may be that the whole system is out of date for the challenges of the future. There are far more creative ways of meeting the educational needs both of children and of society, clinging to dogma and rules makes people look as though they are quite unable to think for themselves.

[grin]@Marmalade

I'd much, much rather see a shift to a 4-term system and abolish half terms. The fact that there are all these one- and two-week breaks means that demand for holidays tends to be more concentrated on these very small gaps, and going away for more than 10 days or so is very hard except in summer, which is shit for longhaul, especially to the Southern Hemisphere.

When you're trying to visit family a long way away, it's very limiting.

I'd like to see four longer terms with four lots of decent length holidays that give kids time to unwind properly, don't focus the family holiday market on one- and two-week blocks, and enable families more flexibility around how and when they take their holidays.

Well an awful lot of people agree with the petition. over 60,000

Have signed.

For those of you that have to work through the school holidays, this makes you no more entitled than anyone else. If you have a class of 30 children, what happens if 25 of them request to take the same week in June, you will have 5 left in the class. Does the teacher put the brakes on the cirriculum until everyone returns?
I didn't go on a foreign holiday until I was 13. It certainly hasn't left me psychologically impoverished. As an adult I have saved and travelled extensively and appreciated every moment of it, as I have had to work for every penny I spent.
We went on holiday in the UK and I have some very fond memories.