My eldest started school in September.

My wife is wanting him to miss 3 days of school for no other reason than it’d be convenient to fit around her plans to visit friends in London.

My stance is that school is important & there’s no way my kids are missing it unless there’s a really good reason.

Am I being too black-and-white?
Should I relax and cut them some slack?

No – but then again its none of my business!!

Very bad precedent IMHO

this thread wont end well, will prob go wrong before the 3rd page…. it involves parenting, schools, children and the possibility of more than one opinion.

shame really as kids missing school is an interesting thing to discuss

The school are unlikely to authorise it and it’ll go down as unauthorised absence. Too many of those and this chap turns up at your door;

if my child misses 3 – 4 week schooling over their lifetime for family events /cheap holidays whatever at non critical schooling times then i am fine with this.

Your call as to whether this meets this criteria or whatever criteria you choose to measure by

Poor precedence as she is doing it for hrself rather than what the child gains
If i was going to london and going to the museums and galleries and such like then i would be ok with this. If it wa sjust easier for me then tbh WTF did she have kids?

Too many of those and this chap turns up at your door;

TJ?

TJ?

no, can’t you see the bodged up child catching device – it’s cynic-al, innit.

from what we understand dahhhn sarf, they’re the same person wwaswas.

ah, that explains why they sound like Gollum and Smeagol having a chat when I read their threads.

Very bad precedent IMHO

+1

The school are unlikely to authorise it and it’ll go down as unauthorised absence

The school are happy for kids to miss up to 5 (or 7?) days a year without good reason. I was pretty surprised when I heard this.

My son started school in September too – but the school ok up to 5 days per year if you need ’em. Not sure if I’m keen to take him out, as I think that it’s really important for them to be at school even at his age. His colouring in and papier mache skills have come on in leaps and bounds since he started…. But so have his letters and numbers!

Having worked with EWO the absence rate needs to be massive 50% + before they seriously act and have gone on for years. A few days and no one honestly cares though the school may tut at you

The school now has an obligation to tell the LA and mark it as unauthorised absence. Took my son out of school 3 days early to go on hols. Didn’t get arrested and put with ‘Bubba’ in the showers though.

Can’t see it doing any harm at their age, or being an extra burden on the teacher, which would be my main concern.

Just to stoke the fires a bit, haven’t sent ours (4 and6) to school at all yet 😆

well 5 is the school starting age and i assume you are “educating otherwise” or abroad

The reality is if it’s his first term all he’s going to miss is a bit of playing and maybe making xmas decorations. But it really doesn’t bode well for the future!

We have taken our 3 girls out of school for a total of about 2 weeks each in 6 years of primary school, all of which was requested/granted.

Eldest has now started her secondary education and before they started the headmaster sat all the new parents down and stated quite simply that ANY request for absence will be turned down unless it’s to attend a funeral. Seems harsh but missing a week of term would very likely result in not being able to catch up as the workload is pretty massive.

Could you not just make a polite request to all the public sector lot on here? Get them to organise a strike for the days you want off?

You’d get your London jaunt in, guilt free. And they get to express their rage at our fascist overlord oppressors. Its a win/win!

I think at this age the work the child would miss is pretty irrelevant.

In my mind this has two issues.

1. Your wife has started down a rocky road of keeping your kids off schoool on a whim.

2. Your children will take this onboard and will not respect or understand the importance of being in school.

Could you not just make a polite request to all the public sector lot on here? Get them to organise a strike for the days you want off?

You’d get your London jaunt in, guilt free. And they get to express their rage at our fascist overlord oppressors. Its a win/win!

It could be win/win/win if you could also bum a lift on their ‘protest bus’ to London

They don’t give a chuff when they close the school for days on end when a flake of snow hits the playground. What about the loss of education then?

I’d Keep him off.

My two are off next wednesday.

I’ve got to wait in for the new bathroom suite to be delivered though 🙁

They don’t give a chuff when they close the school for days on end when a flake of snow hits the playground. What about the loss of education then?

I’d Keep him off.I’d guess, everybody falls behind at the same rate there. so less of an issue than one kid falling behind on their own.

Personally, I don’t see a problem with it, just contact the school and keep your kid up to date with whatever they are going to miss.

My experience is they will refuse to “consent” but allow it. having said that, is he under 5? if so then he doesn’t have to be in school by law!, reception is all fun and games to a degree and its not the end of the world to take the out for a few days, dont forget some kids dont join the class until after xmas (easter in some cases) and schools accept this!.

gravitysucks – Member
I think at this age the work the child would miss is pretty irrelevant.

In my mind this has two issues.

1. Your wife has started down a rocky road of keeping your kids off schoool on a whim.

2. Your children will take this onboard and will not respect or understand the importance of being in school.

I agree with this.

They don’t give a chuff when they close the school for days on end when a flake of snow hits the playground. What about the loss of education then?

As an ex teacher I can tell you some of them give a whole lot of chuff.

The reality is if it’s his first term all he’s going to miss is a bit of playing and maybe making xmas decorations.

Did your children’s school not do reading and writing in the first term then? 😯

Your children will take this onboard and will not respect or understand the importance of being in school.

Agree with this sentiment.

To my mind, letting my kids miss school for no good reason is as bad as me pulling a sickie from work.

Which I don’t do either, by the way 🙂

parents directing when/if their children go to school, seriously impacts the view of the school through the childs eyes with regard to respecting authority

IME its the same parents that take their kids out of school on any whim that also whinge and complain when the school is forced to shut due to strikes/weather/other unforeseen circumstance that leads to the necessary supervision levels not being met at school

EDIT: yeah and the same sort of people who happily pull a sickie. Lead by example, what sort of example are you going to set your children?

It sets a dangerous prescidence IMO. I wouldn’t be happy about it either tbh, but them im old fashioned about children going to school, not being taken out for a day here and there on a parents whim.

If you’re not prepared to make sacrifices to your lifestyle, then don’t have children. The London trip is not essential or unavoidable. Death in the family etc is.
Im guessing that you and your wife are seperated? Otherwise you’d be asking her rather than us?

Did your children’s school not do reading and writing in the first term then?

Not a lot in reception, no. Especially near xmas.

I remember when I was a kid, a couple of times a staff member coming into my class to ask for me, finding my parents outside needing to take me out of school for the day for ‘family problems’, getting into the car outside wondering what was going on, to be told ‘Were off to the pictures’
My parents worked long hours and when they had a bit of free time chose to do something nice for me rather than themselves and it meant a lot. And probably taught me more than a day in school.

Is your wife taking them to London with her?

If so a would a trip to the Natural History, Science museum etc not be worth more than a few extra days sat in a classroom?

I’m guessing that you and your wife are seperated? Otherwise you’d be asking her rather than us?

Heh! No, we’re happily married etc … When I said ‘my kids’ in my original post I really should’ve said ‘our kids’.

The London trip thing is more than just a whim as there are friends from Brazil visiting us & then going to stay with some other friends in London … but this still doesn’t necessitate the school absence.

This is our first child in school, and she’s from Brazil where the attitude to schooling seems extremely relaxed, so she doesn’t see any issue whatsoever with missing a few days ‘just because’

i.e. we both have totally opposing opinions

I was just wondering whether I was being too stubborn on the subject.
From the comments thus far I don’t think I’m being unreasonable.

Is your wife taking them to London with her?

He’s being taken to London on 30th Dec by some good friends of ours who live there. I want him to come home on 3rd ready for school on 4th. My wife says let him stay with them all week and she’ll travel down on 6th & bring him home that weekend.

I know he’ll have a great time etc, but the bottom line for me is it’s not a justifiable reason to miss the first 3 days of term.

If so a would a trip to the Natural History, Science museum etc not be worth more than a few extra days sat in a classroom?

If this were the case, yes it probably would. We’re taking him to Blue Planet Aquarium if his school’s closed on 30th for the strikes. 🙂

As an ex teacher I can tell you some of them give a whole lot of chuff.

That’s as mibbe but As a parent who asked why the school was closed it was due to H & S to save the teachers driving to school in the snow. On the days it was open they were all bunged into one class for a DVD fest as some still couldnt manage in. I have never missed a days work due to the weather, however I’m sure this subject will be revisited very soon.

Sometimes I get the impression if people had to pay for schooling they might actually realise how important it is, but because its free they seem to think it should fit around there social lives.

Schooling is free?

I’m probably having mine out for 5 days to go skiing. 😳 because it’s loads cheaper out of half term. I think they’ll be fine but I’m sure the head will be pissed off.

Oh well you’re only young once.

Here’s some interesting reading: http://resourcebank.sitc.co.uk/Resources/Priority3/Lourdes/Lou_T004Pupilattendance.pdf

As for what harm does it do, according to the study:

• Most LEAs and teachers said that absence led to underachievement.
• Primary school teachers thought this was because absence broke the
continuity of learning and pupils missed important work.
• No pattern of absence would not be damaging, but teachers were divided as
to which pattern of absence was the most damaging.
• Teachers could not always give truants the help they needed to make up
lost time.
• Secondary school teachers believed that academic underachievement would
damage children’s future job prospects.
• Secondary school teachers thought that truanting behaviour was difficult to
change because it is cyclical.
• Pupils who were often absent were said to have trouble making and
keeping friends. Poor attenders’ friendship groups shrank and eventually
closed, leading to further isolation.
• Primary school staff thought that on returning to school, poor attenders
suffered a loss of confidence due to the fact that they are unable to
understand the work.
• Secondary school staff thought that this loss of confidence led to attention
seeking and disruptive behaviour.
• Most of the teachers thought unacceptable absences had a negative effect
on peer relationships.
• Secondary school truants underplayed the effects of their absences, but a
few knew their work had suffered.
• Many LEAs and teachers believed regular attenders were affected when
truants returned through the diversion of teacher time and class disruption.

Personally I would be pissed off if my kid was being held back, because some other kids parents wanted a cheap skiing holiday.

Mind you someone has to take all those McDonalds jobs I suppose.

you someone has to take all those McDonalds jobs I suppose.

A Polish bloke with a degree, usually…