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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

When term time holiday is not authorised...

146 replies

Lukethe3 · 19/04/2013 16:29

....how do you politely tell the school you are going anyway? An email on the Monday morning or a letter? Or do I just tell the class teacher?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

HappyMummyOfOne · 19/04/2013 22:09

Our school rarely authorises holidays and certainly not those that just want cheaper prices.

There has to be a valid reason as to why it needs to be term time and cannot take place in the 13 weeks that children have off. So close fanily weddings and funerals as such where there is little control over dates.

thistlelicker · 19/04/2013 23:39

Some of the comments on this thread r far too snooty !!!!

thistlelicker · 19/04/2013 23:41

Why don't u make a holiday journal op which helps grammar an spelling and such like?

foryonisonly · 19/04/2013 23:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

5madthings · 19/04/2013 23:51

foryon they can't take away a child's school place for a weeks absence, there are rules on how long a child has to be absent before they lose a place.

And some parents have good reason to take kids on holiday in term time, my dp cannot get any leave in the school holidays, should we never go on holiday?!

foryonisonly · 20/04/2013 06:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Lizziegeorge · 20/04/2013 07:19

No one is seeing this from the child's point of view. I teach and children really don't like missing school; so much happens in a week it DOES make a difference and they seem very uncomfortable about it. The children know it is wrong.

FasterStronger · 20/04/2013 08:03

Stuffy that is really v different from the average holiday. That is exceptional circumstances.

FasterStronger · 20/04/2013 08:20

Attendance is one of the main indicators for a Childs performance. If you authorise holidays for the children doing well, and not for those not performing, the parents will see it as favouring one group over another. Same with attendance. Same with looking at the educational value of the holiday. You cannot favour mc parents offering a great educational holiday v a parent who comes up with something that sounds dubious.

A child from a family where education matters will do well in many different circumstances. But there are vast numbers of children where the parents have their own significant problems in life and involve their children in their problems.

school is place for these children to experience that same opprtunities as others. For this to happen, they need to be in school. So everyone needs to be in schoool, except when they are ill, or exceptional circumstances.

A school must be a place of fairness and not reenforce disadvantage.

And taking children out of school wastes resources, which are very needed. If you add up.all the time missed, it will add up to vast sums. Like the NHS wasting 800million pounds every year on missed appointments.

people dont value something it you give it to them for free.

SacreBlue · 20/04/2013 09:01

school is place for these children to experience that same opprtunities as others

This is how is should be however in many cases it is not. In many schools here it is free to go only on paper. In reality the costs of uniforms, trips, 'donations', deposits, subscriptions etc not to mention the expectations of what a child has access to at home may not prevent a child from getting a place but may well prevent them from keeping it due to the financial and peer pressure.

pumpkinsweetie · 20/04/2013 09:13

Hope you have a nice holiday op, if he is in reception he doesn't legally have to be in school until he's five anyway so i wouldn't worry.

There is always a heavy debate on both sides with a post like this, but my opinion is that a few days out of school when a child is this young is not a big deal and missing out on family time cant be missed, life is too short.

For those that aren't in agreement, i already think there are too many half-terms, maybe these should be cut to allow parents a chosen week off that doesn't tie in with sats and important exams etc. That way everyone wins.

Lucyellensmum95 · 20/04/2013 09:13

oh i'm sorry Faster, i didn't realise you were a teacher!

"people don't value something if you give it to them for free"

Why don't you formulate your own opinions?

PassTheTwiglets · 20/04/2013 09:40

I teach and children really don't like missing school

Mine do. My DD only attends part-time anyway and it's never inconvenienced either her or her teacher.

Original poster

Lukethe3 · 20/04/2013 11:57

Our reason for requesting term time holiday is because both DH and I work full time in professions that it is really difficult to take time off in the school holidays and often difficult to get time off together. DH is not British and we are trying to bring up our children to be bilingual.

Our reason for the holiday is we have managed to find a week off together with friends and family in the other country with lots of other children for my sons to talk to. Fantastic for them to be bilingual. I understand that for a school this is not an exceptional circumstance but for us it is.

Would some of you suggest that we should go as far as getting other jobs or becoming SAHP's just so we can get our holidays in the school holidays?

OP posts:

5madthings · 20/04/2013 12:00

One of the reasons accepted is if you cant get time off in school holidays, the school may ask for a letter from your employee to verify this.

Op sounds reasonable to me, have a lovely time.

Do the school know the issues re leave etc and they are still refusing it?

insancerre · 20/04/2013 12:09

Enjoy your holiday op

Jinsei · 20/04/2013 12:31

Being bilingual is a real asset and it's really important for children to have opportunities to use their other languages beyond their immediate family. It's also important for them to learn about the cultural contexts of their different languages. We are very lucky that our school sees the value in children learning about their cultural and linguistic heritage. Enjoy your trip, OP!

Fillyjonk75 · 20/04/2013 16:50

Equating taking unauthorised absence from school with not taking out motor insurance is quite bonkers, handcream.

ipadquietly · 20/04/2013 20:30

I couldn't give a toss if parents take children out for holidays - that's their choice.

However, if they do this, they must realise:
a) their children will miss come of the curriculum that will not be repeated for their benefit
b) they will not have any 'holiday work' prepared for them, because that would take a lot of preparation time
c) children do miss lessons, which means that they have not had access to the same learning opportunities as the rest of the class, and if they are off for an extended period, this could have an effect on their progress.

Parents' choice........nowt to do with me.

SacreBlue · 20/04/2013 21:20

I agree ipad and when June comes and school is winding down in NI not sure when other terms finish I am gutted if my DS has to miss out on watching dvds, doing word search, basically any old 'busy' work lessons vital to his education.

I do appreciate his excellent teachers' work. Not all of them/it though is excellent all of the time just like parents and parenting

lljkk · 21/04/2013 10:28

OP: your reasons look reasonable to me.
Is he actually 5 already and legally obliged to be in school?
I would politely tell the teacher as a decent human thing and otherwise just go.
Around here you wouldn't have trouble getting time off for that, anyway.

I think everyone has different ideas about what is reasonable to take time off for. Every 3-4 yrs I like to take DC out for 2 weeks to go visit family 8 time zones away. No trouble getting approval for that. I have my own reasons why summer travel wouldn't work, or why I can't fit all the time away during the Easter/Xmas breaks. I get blasted by MNers for my choices, too.

What I don't get is people who insist they must have an annual holiday and it must be a family holiday and they must have it in the sun and they can only afford to go during term time. It smacks a little of entitlement. Perhaps the same people who would blast my reasons(?).

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