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Petitions and activism
Do you want to be able to take 1 week holiday a year during term time?
ioana12 · 20/11/2018 11:24
Please help us get the numbers up on this petition
*Allow parents to take children out of school for 1 week a year during term time**
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/231928?fbclid=IwAR0kETxR0gw_mL8ikPjmBG2xSdlBsINbfmDvdXfJdpgfCR-RFMH2MJlIZiE
Branleuse · 20/11/2018 11:33
this is basically what it used to be like until a couple of years ago. Discretionary for the heads to offer up to 10 days without penalty if good reason. My childrens headmaster disagreed with the changes to stop allowing this. It worked very well, and allowed low income families to occasionally benefit from the same things as more wealthy families. Ive signed, although not convinced it will do anything
SnugglySnerd · 20/11/2018 19:38
It depends - I'm a teacher. Will I be allowed a week off too? No of course not. That would be massively disruptive and cost schools a fortune in supply cover.
I get very annoyed when parents take their kids on holiday in term time and expect us to set work to take with them and mark it so they "keep up". If you are that botheref about them keeping up then don't take them out of school. I imagine this would happen a lot more if a week's holiday a year became a "thing".
fruitpastille · 20/11/2018 21:51
It's not that disruptive at least at primary anyway. As pp said, until recently heads could allow up to ten days a year. Not everyone took all of them - they were useful for things like family weddings etc etc. If attendance is generally good I don't see the problem.
LadyGAgain · 20/11/2018 22:05
I feel sad that some families are unable to take their children to experience other cultures and food and history as it is so expensive during the holiday periods. There's a lot to be said for a family spending this time together away from home and educational value as well. That said, I can see the challenge for teachers and other pupils. No easy answer I fear.
brisklady · 20/11/2018 22:26
Also, in my experience (maybe not typical), it's not the poorer families who take term time holidays and would rejoice at this, it's the well off ones who are having a skiing trip in addition to their 'main' holiday, or the ones who can't quite afford Orlando in the holidays, or the ones taking three weeks at Easter because it's just not worth going for two. Families in that situation wanting one of these extra weeks can bugger off, frankly - they can either trim back their holiday destinations a bit, or drop a star or two off their accommodation - in other words, take holidays they can actually afford and that fit into school holidays, like the rest of us do. In our school, the poorer families generally don't go on holiday at all, or they take a dirt-cheap UK break in a caravan or camping every couple of years. Having an extra week would make very little difference to those costs, and could in fact lead to additional childcare costs.
pointythings · 21/11/2018 21:21
I'd just like to see discretion brought back so that heads didn't have to be afraid to be compassionate or generous with regards to family events like weddings and funerals. I can suck up the holidays, it's only for a couple of decades between my two kids, but having to worry about whether or not you'll get authorised time off for family events is just not acceptable. And I don't blame heads at all - they are as much under the cosh as the rest of us.
carltonscroop · 21/11/2018 21:47
Heads still can authorise absences, if they are persuaded the reason is exceptional (such as weddings, funerals, end-of-tour leave with parent returning from Afghanistan, but not 'it's £300 pp cheaper)
It was changed without a murmur from the normally vociferous teaching unions, and with positive support from HT union. Because 190 days a year isn't really that much. Coping with medical and exceptional absences is part of the job. Adding holidays to that is pushing it - especially now that schools can afford only fewer TAs
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