Take children out for a week?

[Holieholiebobs]

We really would love to have a family holiday. The prices in school holidays are just so expensive. Its either save for 3 years or have a weekend away in the UK each year. My mum thinks we should just take the kids out of school for a week. They will be in year 3 and reception.

I'm concerned about the amount of school they'll miss.

What are other people's experiences? Has a week out of school affected your children? Can they catch up? Or am I stressing about it for no need?

At those ages yes I'd take them out.

I wouldn't in secondary though.

Prepare for a fine though, nothing in comparison to the holiday price increase in holiday time!

If they otherwise have good attendance I would take them out for a week. You would be fined £80 per parent, per child for them but it is still cheaper than in holiday time.

Sounds fine to me if that's really the situation. Reception I wouldn't even give it a second thought. Year 3 the work seems to ramp up a gear but still fine. I would maybe speak to the teacher if you've got flexibility in timing to make sure you don't miss something critical.

For me it depends on how your children are doing at school.

You can leave early at half term or similar and often get cheaper holidays - eg we are leaving early this half term and 30% cheaper.

it’s worth factoring in the fine for any child above compulsory school age, plus the cost of holiday childcare if you pay for this. Between these two it can seem more reasonable especially if you go in the last week of the summer holiday to mainland Europe, which is often when everyone else has gone back to school.

As a one off I would. Can you link it into the last few days of term?

If they have otherwise good attendance just take them out. I wont make a difference. Enjoy precious family time.

We took ours out once, the week before Christmas, in y2 and y4. Haven’t done it since and they’re now big teens (though we are lucky and have been able to afford holidays).

Timing is pretty important. I wouldn’t do it yearly - feels like too much. Also definitely not near the start of term (I spoke to someone once who was planning a family holiday for the first two weeks of her son’s first term at secondary school 😮).

Maybe the last week of the summer term? If they don’t miss too many big events? Or if you go further, the last week of Xmas term as long as you aren’t missing Xmas plays.

Schools are extra twitchy in SATS years (y2 and y6).

I usually add 2 or 3 days to the end of the May half term to get a cheaper deal. 2 or 3 days is also not long enough to get a fine.

I add the days after rather than before the half term as they often do fun things at school at the end of a term/half term that they dnlont want to miss.

I do understand how frustrating the price difference can be. I can't afford to take my family abroad during the school holidays and, as a teacher, I obviously can't take advantage of cheeper term time prices even if I wanted to (I wouldn't). I would consider any holiday a holiday though, it doesn't have to he abroad. We never went abroad when I was younger and I never felt like I was missing out. We have some amazing coastlines in this country to explore.

As others have advised, I would look to see how much you can save if you took them out 3 days before a half term or Easter break. You can still save a great deal but you won't incur a fine and they won't miss as much.

Ultimately they will miss a lot by having a whole week or more off school, it can be whole units in some subjects. You have to weigh it up as a family though to decide what matters most to you. If you miss 5 consecutive school days or more you will definitely incur a fine for your compulsory school age children (it depends when your Reception child turns 5 as to whether you'll receive a fine for them or not). The system is also changing to be cumulative, so the fine will increase with each term time holiday you have over a set number of years.

I would have if I wasn't married to a teacher, can't really take him out of school! I wouldn't for secondary though.

I don't understand that logic as the start of a term is when new topics are launched (and can often be launched in a really fun way which would also be a real shame to miss). I don't think there is a better time to miss in terms of not missing out as they'll always miss out on something whenever you go away, whether it's frivolous fun or important accademic things (often it's both).

Ultimately it's up to parents to individually decide whether they're happy for their child to miss school for a family holiday, but there's never a best time to go in terms of what they'd miss.

Start of term is the worst time though as it’s setting routines and starting new topics.

Just check the new rules regarding fines, I skimmed it the other day and I'm sure it was something like £160 per parent per child reduced to £80 if you pay quickly but then if there was a second fine with a 3 year period it was fixed at the £160 per parent with no reduction.

So if it was something you'd want to do every year or every couple of years you'd need to factor that in.

Thank you so much.

My eldest is doing really well in school. She's a little above average or at age level accordingto her class reacher and her end of year report. She's attended quite well so far. The odd moment of childhood illness but nothing to raise concern.

I think if we do take them out, we'll do it 2 days before the holidays. That seems like a compromise.

Really informative answers on here, thank you, it helps.

I guess it depends on the kid. My DD isn't very confident socially but has always been 'above the expected level' academically plus the school always let's us know what they will be covering in each subject area so it's easy to keep up. She hated it when we added days before a half term and she missed a disco though!