Can I take my kids out of school to go to study in Japan?

[yukayuka]

Hi,

I am Japanese and my husband is English. My kids are 5 and 5 (boy/girl twins), and they are in year 1 at a UK primary school. English is their mother tongue but I speak to them in Japanese all the time and they can understand everything I say. Their speaking in Japanese is poor, but this is mostly because they have no need to speak Japanese in the UK.

I want to take them out of school to visit Japan for a month. The goal of the trip is to have them attend Japanese kindergarten*, and immerse them in Japanese culture/language so that a) they understand more about my/their culture/background, b) they come back fluent in Japanese.

• Japanese children attend 'kindergarten' until age 6. It is state sponsored, compulsory, and runs everyday from 9am-3pm.

Does anyone have any experience or ideas about how should I request/explain/justify this trip to the UK primary school? This isn't a holiday so I am very keen to avoid the fine!!

Thanks,

Yuka

I don't need to convince myself of the educational value of our holidays thanks

You're criticising my holiday saying go somewhere better, so let's hear where you go?

I couldn't care less where you go, I just found it funny that you think there's no more educational value in Japan than there is in Disney.

'exactly why you go to Disney and not somewhere better' you said. So let's hear you recommendations as to better places.

One recommendation I would make for an educational, and fun, holiday is new York. My 8 year olds absolutely loved it and combined with a week in the Caribbean after it makes a great city break and beach combination.

@Grottobags it's a real shame if your kids go such amazing places that they're better than Disneyworld but you won't tell Anyone🤣

2014, don't worry, I understand what you mean perfectly. Grotto is just being deliberately rude.

I don't think that you should be forcing your dc to speak Japanese.
You have a Japanese language meet up and speak to them a lot in Japanese but they still don't want to do it.
You should encourage it I agree as it wouid be great for them to be bilingual but by pushing it too much you risk putting them off completely
As for missing a month of school it's not necessary, as other people have said you can go in summer or at Easter but you prefer to pay less and get better weather conditions

I personally would love to visit Japan during the cherry blossom season

It wouldn’t be ‘educated off site’ as in these cases, the school have to visit the off site provision every term to make sure they are satisfied that all is well.

At my school, we allow one extended trip back to a home country (or that of a parent) over their school career. After that, we have to fine (£240 as 2 children and 2 parents in the family).

Pupils that are present at a supervised educational activity that is off-site and approved by the school. Schools should ensure that they have in place arrangements whereby the provider of the alternative activity notifies the school of any absences by individual pupils. The school should record the pupil’s absence using the relevant absence code.

According to the DfE

@Grottobags is unfortunately jealous and therefore feels the need to criticise others choices. Could be part of a general inferiority complex or could just be mean!

I can assure you I'm not jealous of spending a fortune to spend hours on a plane, going to oppressive heat, to spend hours stood in queues to go on rides and meet Mickey Mouse when I could have several European holidays for the same price.

Each to their own though, just don't pretend that there's much cultural value in it.

@Grottobags it's incredibly rude to tell someone they should take their children on a 'better holiday than Disneyworld' . You don't fancy it, fine. But my children are lucky enough to go on European breaks as well. They do not forfeit a European holiday to go to Disneyworld. You've clearly never been so it's best to show a bit of dignity and not be quite so mouthy to those who kids enjoy a theme park. It's not mutually exclusive to do theme parks and culture, most families can enjoy both without thinking they're culturally superior to others.
But yes you do need to spend hours in a plane if you want to see the world and we aren't going back to Australia for a while!

I get why you’re doing it but I’m not sure it will have long term benefits. It might be more beneficial to insist that they speak to you in Japanese all the time. I know it’s hard though.

@2014 can I just remind you though that it was you who brought up Disney in the first place, on a thread about an educational trip to Japan, and said that it was equally worthy. Which is complete rubbish and arguably also quite rude.

Oh and I'm fully aware that you need to spend hours on a plane if you want to "see the world". I just wouldn't put Florida theme parks in that category.

@grottobags, Nope, a pp mentioned Disney I was replying. I didn't bring it up someone else did .
Still waiting for you to share your holiday recommendations, benidorm your fave or salou?

And it's still rude to comment find a better holiday! Disgustingly so!
You've derailed the thread with your obnoxious remarks I have reported you.

Can't abide trolls who sit behind their keyboards looking for opportunities to make nasty comments!

Still waiting for you to share your holiday recommendations, benidorm your fave or salou?

Pretty desperate for me to post details so you can make fun, aren't you? Sorry to disappoint but no it doesn't include the places you obviously see as inferior. You're such a hypocrite!

Lol at the holiday mumupmanship

I think it's a great idea. To those saying they can just learn Japanese while in the UK, the full immersion is not just for linguistic purposes but also cultural. Japanese, both language and culture, is part of the mother's heritage and identity, so why should she "not bother"? Is she a lesser person than the father?
Those saying it's pointless insisting with Japanese, how many languages do you speak? The benefits of bilingualism go beyond the purely linguistic plane and the positive effects touch every aspect of learning.

Yukayuka, definitely ask the headteacher about having the children do schooling abroad for a month. Those few weeks will likely make a huge difference in their language ability.

My youngest at age 2 completely lost our minority language when we were away from his dad, the speaker, for six weeks visiting family. He started speaking again afterwards but mixed in lots of English. After three week visit to husband's home country at age 3, he was fully fluent and never reverted back to speaking English with his dad.

Kudos as well to you for not giving up the language. I know lots of adults whose parents didn't succeed in teaching them the minority language as children and all of them wish it had gone differently (one I met in a language class for adults, learning his mother's native language in his 20's).

We know many mixed couples, and success rates vary with exposure and time in the home country. In our house, my husband only responds to the minority language. Outside the house, even around non-speakers, he speaks only that language with the kids. It makes a big difference if you do that once the kids are properly fluent.

Hi all,
Just as an update:
We contacted the school and I went in for a meeting with the deputy head.
The school is very supportive of the trip and as long as we can provide some written proof that the children will attend kindergarten in Japan during their stay, has authorized the absence. i.e. no fine.

The school were very happy that we engaged with them and asked permission. "Most parents just book their trip and tell us they are going whether the school likes it or not", I was told.

Thanks again,

Fantastic! Hope you have a good time.