Do you take you kids out of school for family holidays?

[Hai1988]

Just wondered if anyone on here does.

DS is in reception and we will be taking him out of school for a week at the end of June

Are on a tight budget so couldnt afford the summer holiday prices, plus i h8 how busy these places are in school holidays.

We did in reception year. DS missed four days of school.

However, he picked up a bit of french, learned about camping and the outdoors.

I have read this thread with interest. My eldest DD has just had her first year at school so not sure whether my views will change over the years. I would prefer she didn't take time out of school because I feel it is showing her that school is not so important. However I think for extremely important family event then I would prob take her out for a couple of days at most.

One thing - have other people thought about the impact on the rest of the class? My DD can't understand why some of the children have been away for a week in the mid of term and asked - "can I have a holiday instead of going to school!" AAAGh - I just tell her we will have a holiday when there is no school which of course she thinks is not very fair.

Yes, I take dd out of school most years for 4-5 days.
We have personal circumstances which dd's headteacher is aware of and he is quite happy to sanction these days as authorised absenses.

MissPB, I agree about disruption to rest of class - it does depend on when in the term it is, and how old the children are, to some extent, but dd's class works best when all the children are there and getting on with it. There's just a bonded, team-working-together feeling that somehow gets messed up a bit when kids are away for whatever reason....

Have just reported to mnhq cos this is a thread bumped by a journalist and I am not sure that is allowed.

I did once for a week ages ago and would have no hesitation in doing so again. I'm an ex teacher and know from experience what little negative impact or disruption it has on a child's education.In fact I'd say the benefits of travel would be far more significant.

Our school doesn't have an absence problem,it's "outstanding" already and the head from what I gather is very reasonable.I know several kids that have been taken out for 1 or 2 weeks no bother in all 3 classes.I'm presuming it's because as a school we don't have data goals to attain and nobody takes the piss.

I think many very reasonable parents are trapped in schools with absence problems or schools trying to obtain "outstanding" status.As a result they're penalised and refused requests(or fined),I think it's wrong and unfair.

I think all children should be treated the same and as individuals. Attendance figures should be monitored on an individual basis not as a whole school issue.In primary schools attendance is totally down to the parents not the child so I really don't get the cracking the nut with a hammer approach.What good does it do?The parents who take their kids out regularly will still do it and those that have good attendance are penalised unfairly.

I think in these cash strapped times this issue is going to need to be looked at otherwise soon it's going to be only the kids of the very rich(privately educated and with parents who can afford expensive prices) who experience anything more than 2 nights away from home.This I think is a complete utter shame as any type of travel has massive benefits for a child's development.

The only people who generally disagree with this view are jealous teachers who can't take holidays in term time,schools trying to raise attendance figures(which as a parent I'm not responsible for)and parents who can afford the expensive prices.

I work in a school so therefore our main holiday is always taken in the holidays. However as I only work part time and we have a caravan I often pick the kids up early on a friday afternoon so we can get away and beat the traffic or sometimes they have the whole of the friday off.
Both my DH and I are well educated and know how important education is ...however as someone said earlier they are MY children and I will do what I feel is right for us.
I spend a lot of time working with my children on work that supports their school learning and after 17 years of being in education I am confidently able to assess their abilities and know that the time they miss is not having a negative impact on their learning. We as a family however are having a FAB time with our caravan and are creating some fantastic and lasting family memories.

Oh and on another point as far as we are concerned going away to new places and having at least one holiday a year is very much a necessity in our house!

we have taken ours out and will take out DD in Yr R next year so she can have October half term with older 3 who are all at prep school. It is the only time in the next year that my DH can have time off. We do not necessarily agree with it but as he works away a lot and cannot always be home even at night time during the school holidays it is important to have family time when we can. When we lived abroad we took them out to go explore the country we lived in, they now ski, have a cultural understanding of other countries, have seen masterpieces in galleries, visited historical museums and monuments and can recant various facts about other countries and their history/culture. When we do take them out we visit at least 1 museum (sometimes hard when on a skiing holiday) and always take plenty of books to read and paper for drawing writing on. I also insist that they all write a diary when away so they can remember what they did and tell their classmates. Most of their schools have been really interested in where they have been and have asked them to do a little presentation on what they did. This will however have to stop as they get older and the prep school policy is stricter.

Hi, my son will start reception class in September. His school doesnt allow out of term absenc - I'm planning to take him 3 days earlier than the Xmas break - what punishment can I expect from the school?

I don't think they can do anything- there is no legal obligation to send your child to school until the term after their fifth birthday.

Difficult one- so far I never have and have played by the rules. DD1 has a 98% attendance record (only off for the odd cold and pukefest).
BUT I'm getting increasingly pissed off watching other parents around us take their kids out for unauthorised weeks (no authorisation for holidays in term time given unless very exceptional circs) and the fact that a chap at DHs work takes his daughter out (they're in the next county) with no problems at all.

Also our school carefully plans it so that term restarts on a Thursday and insisted that all kids be in school the Wed and Thurs before the Royal Wedding, so eliminates any chance of a cheaper week.
So next year we may go down the unauthorised week route.

BTW my mum was a dinner lady and regularly took a week off in November to go to Spain. She just phoned in with a bad back. Turned up back at work with an obvious suntan, no-one said a word....

I'd love to take my kids out of school and go on a cheap holiday - but I'm a teacher, so we don't go on holiday because we can't afford to in school holidays.