Are you pulling your primary kids out of school to ski this year ?

[craftykits]

We are at a local state primary and are in a minority of 'ski-ing" families at school and in fact the only others have a French parent....

Anyway, I digress ! If you are ski- ing this year are you pulling your kids out ? We made the decision to book a week in March and take the DC's , 5 and 7 out - what have you decided to do ?

[morethanpotatoprints]

lottieandmia

No, but there's plenty of time

[craftykits]

no one says it is thearcticfunky....out of interest, are you a skier....? the ski season is pretty short and the only school holidays which fall for this are christmas, feb half term ( along with the many other european countries) and then easter which if weather is warm, then snow is crap. So, the only difference is timing....There are plenty of other school holiday weeks for a week in Skegness to choose from. That's not the case for ski-ing. Each to their own as to which holiday is preferred...

[winklewoman]

I've said this on other threads, so sorry if it is boring. For the previous two years we have taken our two DGCs, now 8 and 10, then obviously younger, out of school to ski. Our whole family goes, sons, big DGS, plus a couple of close friends. Our gang included a serving Head Teacher, one retired HT and a serving OFSTED inspector. What with this lot plus all day ski school for the children, we felt, and claimed to the kids' HT, that it could go in the statistics as " Education Off Site" which is an approved category. There was no come-back.
This year we felt unable to do this what with the tightening up of absence rules and as DGS has started at a new school, we did not want him to get a 'black mark'.
I was therefore somewhat peeved to read in the school's newsletter, that the school ski trip for years 7 and 8, had taken place from 14-21 December, i.e. in school time.
If skiing is sufficiently educational for it to be a school trip in school time, how is that different from our own provision?

[Rooble]

No, we went at Christmas. If there is still snow high up we may go at Easter, though don't break up till 11/4, so won't decide till v last minute.
I tend to agree that it's "education off-site", but am a school governor and really don't want to risk being tarnished with a "one rule for them, a different one for the rest of us" brush.

Christmas was a good week to go. Much quiter than new year, traffic less insane on the autoroute, cost not as bad as half term. We try to go to small resorts that don't appeal to the English as they often seem much quieter, cheaper and more family friendly.

[TheArticFunky]

Craftykits - I have been skiing but I'm not a skier. You mentioned Xmas, February half term and Easter as being the only times that you can realistically ski. It's no different from any other holiday. If you want a caravan holiday in Skegness you can only realistically go at Easter, May or the summer holidays unless you are hardcore and enjoy wet winter holidays when everything is closed.

I wouldn't take my children out during term time and I don't really have an opinion on those that do as it doesn't impact on me personally. What I don't want to see is skiing viewed by schools as being an acceptable reason for absence and a holiday in Skegness resulting in a fine for poor parents.

I don't know what the answer is. Staggering holidays might make it slightly less expensive or maybe not as travel companies would probably just hike the prices all year round.

[ElaClaw]

We live near one of the Scottish Ski resorts. If the conditions are amazingly good we take the children out of school to go skiing for the day. Happens a couple of times a season.

[IHeartKingThistle]

Brilliant. MN is usually adamant that term-time holidays are Not The Done Thing (because, you know, they aren't). Oh, except for skiiers. Bonkers.

[winklewoman]

TheArticFunky, of course I understand your point about poor families being treated differently, but to be fair to skiing families, the children are usually enrolled on a fairly challenging ski-school regime which schools seem happy enough to endorse providing they are arranging the trips.

Incidentally, since the only chance of some decent family time for the many deprived children at his school may well be a holiday in term time, DH HT never objects.

[clam]

"If you want a caravan holiday in Skegness you can only realistically go at Easter, May or the summer holidays"

Well, that gives you 9 weeks to choose from, whereas there is a more limited choice with skiing - even more so if you don't wish to miss Christmas at home.

But I don't think this should descend into a haves/have-nots debate. I've never seen any evidence (in 27 years of teaching and 12 of skiing) of families being granted permission to ski but not to go to Butlins.

[MrsYoungSalvoMontalbano]

Yes - in primary no prob - have done it, no qualms. Whatever they would miss in school does not amount to a hill of beans over what they gain by family skiing.

[MissWimpyDimple]

Yes. Ex is taking yr2 DC out for a week in March. I have mixed feelings. But to be honest, school have said we are unlikely to be fined as she has 100% otherwise this year.

They went last year too. Next year, maybe have to re-think it. I'd actually like to take her myself for once!

[ATacticalNameChange]

We would but DP a governor so we felt we couldn't. Half term unpackaged hol to tiny resort is the result. Can't wait :)

[winklewoman]

ATactical, my DH is a headteacher and, shock horror, we still took DGCs out of primary school to learn to ski.

[ATacticalNameChange]

Can heads get time off in term-time, then? Is it a maintained school?

[winklewoman]

Different counties, Atactic.

[CaurnieBred]

We have booked for Jan 2015 and will take DD out of school. And factor in the cost of the fine as part of the overall holiday cost.

[PortofinoRevisited]

Why on earth should skiing be seen as more educational than any other holiday?

[winklewoman]

portofino, generally children taken on a ski holiday are enrolled in a ski school which tends to be strictly organised, probably rather more so than in the sort of child centred learning environment we are used to in the UK. I am not saying this is better than the set up kids experience in their primary schools, but it is arguably more educational than a week in Benidorm, hanging around the pool.
Schools seem perfectly happy to take children on ski trips in school time providing they organise them. To me it seems hypocritical to do this yet object to parents doing exactly the same.

[ATacticalNameChange]

What a load of old cobblers: sorry! Skiing is no more educational than a week on the Costa. And I say that as someone who loves skiing and has taken kids out of school for this very purpose. It's a holiday: no more, no less.

The problem is not scchools who plan ski holidays in term time. It's the idea of fining/ stigmatising parents for taking a week's holiday - bonkers.

[winklewoman]

If a week on the Costa Brava is as educational as a skiing holiday, why don't schools arrange trips to Benidorm in school time?

[PortofinoRevisited]

I would think a school trip anywhere brings out different things - building independance for example, or opportunities for those who don't normally get to do these things.

[winklewoman]

So why don't schools equate Benidorm with skiing then Portofino?

I wouldn't take DGCs out of school for a 'normal' holiday, but I believe a structured ski trip is totally different, which is obviously what schools think too.

[fanjolina]

Some schools do winklewoman! Maybe not Benidorm
itself, but many schools I know of organise watersports school trips to Spain.

[ATacticalNameChange]

My very bog standard comp in the 1990s took us to France for a week in early summer, and again for 4 days as part of GCSE French.

[winklewoman]

But a Watersports trip is like a school ski trip. Learning a skill. So if schools can arrange these in school time because they are deemed to be worthwhile, what's the problem with parents organising their own version?