[Closed] Taking little guy out of school for hols - advice needed please

come clean, we did, the head said that we could do it as there were no exams, etc, but also said that we could only do it it once every three years. Went to Barbados !!!

Could never afford that in school time. IMO the kids learned more life skills in those two weeks than they would have at school.

My daughters school now treat it as unauthorised absence and call the child catcher.

Depends on the school and the circumstances - suggest you have a chat with the head and see how the land lies.

As an aside, my wife is a teacher and has decided the kids don't learn much in the last 2 weeks of term so we're going on holiday early too 😉

Make something up. Just remember to tell junior what lies to stick to. It'll do him the world of good to know that daddy tells lies and it'll get him an early start in doing so too.

+1 for come clean. We took both kids out of school for 2 weeks to visit family in NZ. School were fine. I also see other side of it now as a school Governor and in primary school as long as you are prepared to be a little flexible ( i.e. not the week of the national tests ) there should be no problem.

why not tell them you had a highly localised snowfall

Tell the truth, as it's been said kids tend to learn more about the world when they are out there in it, lots of new experiences for them.

He is only 6 not sitting any crucial exmas, seems sensible to me.

TBH we've only ever gone in the school hols - how much do you actually save doing it - seeing as how the Scotish kids (plus private school) are already on holiday anyway?

Have you looked at the last couple of weeks in the summer hols, it often gets cheaper then.

Start a trend hopefully the teachers will take a week off every so often. Just for a holiday mind.

Go on holiday for one week during the actual holiday period?

You should have no probs, we take ours out every year to go skiing and the form says that a 2 week hol is permitted each year and I always stress the educational benefits of sport that the school doesn't offer and the language they learn. Never been an issue in primary school.

The unauthorised absence is just so the school can pass it on to the LEA { local education authority] and not get blamed. Nothing will happen ever even if you do this every year - you think education welfare officers are so underworked that they are going to go round to the house of people whose children miss school to go on holiday?
Tell them anything you want.

[i] we are happy to take work away for the summer so we can home coach to catch up.[/i]

Absolute bollox!
Like you are going to!! I've given numerous parents work to do on holiday, which is never done.

What are you scared of?
Just take your kid out of school and say it is family holiday.
I would SO love to do this as we can't afford an overseas family holiday in school holiday times...BUT, blow me, I'm the teacher...no choice. 😉

Actually Angela, i am perfectly prepared to invest the time in my little guy to make sure his education is not impaired by the fact that we cannot afford a holiday in term time this year.
If i balance the benefits of spending some close time with him (which i struggle to do during the normal week due to work commitments)against the slowing down of serious work he is doing running up to the holidays its a no brainer.
😀

lie, also try claiming benefits you aren't entitled to and other such things to to set a bad influence!

Guess the simple solution is to come clean and be honest, most schools wont mind at that age but later on they will and it will become more obvious that as you now have kids you will have to change your lifestyle. Perhaps take holidays and stay at home better for the environment aswell as your bank balance.

As an aside how does this differ from not sending your kid to school as a bad parent? Can you just fill a form in for that too?

I have changed my lifestyle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Downgraded bike to an Intense, have dropped the fortnightly skiing holidays and traded the Veyron in for a Range Rover.
Environment - pah, don't get me started. When the Chines start giving a stuff then mavbe..............
Re the bad parent bit, i cant drink or smoke enough to go down that route i'm afraid and my Sky is broken.

mudpup -
Have to take jnr out of school for last 2 weeks of summer term

getting a bit mixed up with your haves and wants there!

Crack on - I'm sure junior will thank you for picking the expensive foreign holiday (rather than a cheaper option) over his education in the long run. Yes - that'll be the best for him and no doubt.

You are doing it for him,I mean you, no him. I don't know what I mean

mudpup junior after all those summer holidays during term time - they stood him in good stead for adult life

[img] [/img]

I'm quite proud of the fact that both my kids have a 100% attendance record for the last two years (8 & 6), even take them to the dentist during half-term.

That said, I reckon, for a once in a lifetime experience, I might consider it, would have to be something incredible though and right now I'm not sure what that means.

we cannot afford a holiday in term time this year.

You don't say where you are going, your sure you don't mean you can't afford the holday you want?

[i]Have to take jnr (aged 6 year 1 at primary school) out of school for last 2 weeks of summer term so we can afford to go on holiday.[/i]

Cheaper holidays are available...

Your son will be marked as unauthorized absent which WILL directly effect the Ofsted grade of the school when it gets inspected (so don't complain when it's not good enough for you). It's not unreasonable for schools to expect children to be there in term time, after all, there's lots of holidays.

What right does a school have to tell us whether or not we can take our child out for two weeks? I mean, at the age of 6, it is probably that a trip to Barbados is going to be FAR MORE blo**dy educational than sitting around watching Disney-Pixar films for the last two weeks of school!

Unauthorized absence and Ofsted be d*mned. Of course we must teach our children within a system, but neither they, nor we, need to be slaves to it. 👿

I know shocking isn't it? That schools expect kids to turn up to school during a term, I mean all those easter/Xmas/summer holidays all those half term weeks off, it's just not enough is it? I mean why shouldn't teachers spend their time reteaching your kid what every-one else has already learned a couple of weeks ago?

Do you have a right to cheaper holidays at the expense of your child's education? It's one to think about, no?

nickc, if I thought for a minute that two weeks at the tend of a term would make a difference, I might be convinced by the need to keep my child in school. You will be hard-pressed to convince me, however, that a six year old is going to miss much at the end of a year - even if the curriculum [i]wasn't[/i] inherently vacuous.

We've taken our lad out of school a number of times to go on holiday in term time. We've always been open with the school and they've always said yes.

Loving the self-rightious indignant rants coming out though. Are you all that uptight with your kids? Relaxing a bit will do them far more good than making sure they attend every single day at school you know.

I doubt it is going to have any impact on his education, however tell the school your taking him out, your adults ffs, if they get arsie about it then just take it on the chin and have a nice holiday.

SaxonRider, sorry school terms are crammed start to finish these days. Pressure from LEAs, pressure from Parents for results, pressure from DoE, there just isn't the slack anymore in the system for 2 weeks sitting around watching Pixar films and the end of the year. Every week is important.

Yet if a natural phenomenon like snow stops your kids teachers getting to school, you are there with a pitchfork and 20 feet of rope.

Your kids would have as much fun in a caravan near Skegness as they would on your expensive trip out of the designated holidays.

We got it from the horses mouth a few weeks ago that a short while off school won't cause any harm to your kids education
That was snow time off though, so it may be different 😉

We decided not to send ours to school at all- that way our holidays won't be compromised.

Tootall all our teachers made it in over the snowy period and our school was open ( one day it was the only school open in south nothants) some children who lived across the road didn't come in... However what really bites is the fact that by being open will harm our attendance figures because that's how ofsted will judge it, they disregard the snow and just look at the figures they'll see that x children weren't there. Had we shut our attendance would have been 100%.

I've only once taken one of ours out in school term
It was the last day of the summer term & we asked for the day off

We were refused permission on the grounds that his education could be severely affected - at the same time we also received a letter informing us that as no formal lessons would take place on the last day of term, the kids could bring in games etc 😀

This is a very middle class problem - have you thought about writing to the Guardian Dilemnas Column ??

last comment. From the parent perspective I can understand. Holidays ARE expensive, it's just a week or two weeks surely it can't be that bad? If it was just one child once in a term it wouldn't make a difference, but it's not just you and your child, the closer you get to Easter or Summer holidays, the more children disappear from the classroom, as many as 5-6 at a time sometimes, which means that planning whole class topics becomes a nightmare for the school, and the teachers.

It'll always be a source of conflict

Mudpup, your child will be in the last 2 weeks of their time at Primary school and their education will not be affected by missing them so don't worry about that. Be honest with the school, you won't be alone in wanting to do this but they may have a wierd policy about only authorising so many kids out of school. At this late stage I wouldn't worry about attendance either, it will be included on the OFSTED report for the following inspection/year but who gives a damn what they think? It shouldn't be classed as an unauthorised absence anyway unless they say no and you go anyway...by saying yes, the absence is authorised (are we now saying that pre-arranged dental/doctors appointments are unauthorised?.
However, it is their last 2 weeks at that school...ever. Are they going to miss some important stuff that all their friends will do, celebration/awards stuff, residential or day trips, etc? These may be the things they remember about their time at the school.
Otherwise, go...have fun, teach your child about the world and let them teach you about theirs, spend time with them and enjoy their company and recognise that a major chapter in their life is ending - big school here we come.
PS. As a teacher it's always great to hear holiday stories from kids (no really I'm not being sarcastic), we chose our jobs and the limits it puts on when we take ours hols, they didn't chose to have to go to school.

aahhhhh....... The sweet sound of STW sanctimony!

Surfer...your mama!! 😀

PS. Just re-read your post Mudpup, "Have to take jnr (aged 6 year 1 at primary school)"

Not year 6, so not last 2 weeks at school... ever. The rest applies still though.

Think binmen get paid pretty well these days, especially if you drive the cart.

hels - Member
This is a very middle class problem - have you thought about writing to the Guardian Dilemnas Column ??

I would SO love to do this as we can't afford an overseas family holiday in school holiday times...BUT, blow me, I'm the teacher...no choice.

Wait until it snows again then....

Apparently shutting because a bit of cold rain falls is acceptable and doesn't affect education, so why would going away for a similar amount of time?

My wife is a teacher so not something we normally have to consider - although she is going to try to get a day off in May so that we can get to the Isle of Jura in time for me to do the Fell Race there 🙂

However, we are thinking of taking the kids (currently 5 and 6) out of school for a year to travel and I have to say I'm not much concerned about that having a -ve impact on their educations as we probably give them as much mental and physical exercise at home as they get at school anyway. I've read somewhere that kids learn about 85% of what they know outside of school.

If you're a good parent who reads and plays a lot with your kids and takes time to explain things to them, then 2 weeks off school is not going to make much difference, they will still be learning plenty.

If you're a crap parent who leaves the kids in front of the electric baby sitter all day and doesn't talk to them, then it's still not going to make much difference because you've already ruined their chances.

I would SO love to do this as we can't afford an overseas family holiday in school holiday times...BUT, blow me, I'm the teacher...no choice.

I'll trade my 2 weeks somewhere nice for your 6 weeks somewhere less nice....

My parents took me out of school like this for the first few years but that stopped when I went to a fee paying school.... I don't think it sends a great message to the kids but no idea if that really matters - parentally supported truancy? Also, we moved house to a different area a month before the end of term when I was 14 which meant I missed exams; obviously didn't mind at the time but these days I really think there's no reason good enough for what they did.

Realistically just weigh up the difference between the holidays you could do in term time and out and then workout if the difference is worth missing a couple of weeks of school...

I wouldn't hesitate taking them out of school to show them some of the world compared to a week in butlins in the school holidays.

Ask the school to let you know what they will miss out on during the absence and fill in the gaps in the holidays, at 6 years of age I can;t see it being an awful lot though

I'll trade my 2 weeks somewhere nice for your 6 weeks somewhere less nice

Who's stopping you?

My contract is quite clear on my holiday allowance.

If it's the best for your family, do it. I've done it before and I'll do it again. Not always on cost grounds but to match up with family holidays so we can go together and our children can spend time with cousins etc. Two weeks at the end of year one are going to be maybe fun stuff, but very likely nothing too academic which can't be caught up. The discretion to authorise the absence is usually with the head, and if you explain your circumstances to them it is often not a problem. If they do choose to authorise it, then none of the league table/pressure from LEA applies anyway, so paradoxically once you have convinced the head you are going anyway, it instantly becomes in their interest to authorise it. Don't try it in SATs week though.

My contract is quite clear on my holiday allowance.

I think the point was that if you were to quit your current job and retrain as a teacher then you'd be able to make that particular trade.

And if I was to become a pro-cyclist my life would be more to my liking too I'm sure.

my advice to you would be to have more kids.
you will find yourself to be a shadow of your former self and will value every day that those wonderfull folk called teachers take care of you kids far more than you do now.

The primary my kids go to say that you're allowed 10 days authorised absence, beyond that they have to refer it to the LEA.
We'll be taking ours out for a week in the summer term but this is probably the last time as it's our eldests' last primary year in 2011.

ours actually closes for a week in June and then extends its term by one week in the summer so you get a cheap weeks holiday anyway - so do the staff. Seems like a good idea to me - thankfully UK camping never gets expensive anyway!

My parents did this to me when I was in primary school and I turned out alright! Its only 2 weeks and its only primary school.

I learnt much more going to California for 2 weeks than at school 😉 Plus my teacher made me write a report (with photos) of it so I could gloat to the other kids when i got back...

My contract is quite clear on my holiday allowance.

As is the contract (law) relating to attendance at school.

look at it from another angle, nevermind the kids education, what about the miserable bastard who's getting his last quiet hoiliday in before the kids break up only to be woken early by some little f'cker kicking a ball against his campervan when said child should clearly be at school 👿

As is the contract (law) relating to attendance at school.

Is it? So a legal as well as a moral issue (well, only for some it seems)?

Don't try it in SATs week though.

Unless you're expecting Level Ws 🙂

We (sixth form college) get students missing a fortnight at key times of year; they never catch up. It starts at school...

(I went on holiday during term time pretty much every year that I was at school.)

As a non-parent - so I clearly have no idea what I'm talking about - tough.

1) you know when school holidays are when you choose to have children
2) holidays are a luxury. If you can't afford them in school holidays, either (a) don't have kids (b) don't have holidays or (c) have the holidays in school holidays and go somewhere that you can afford.

Do it, but be open with the HT 'cause jnr will tell all on return.

How much [s]school work[/s] playtime will jnr really miss? If they can close schools at the drop of a snow flake without a thought about how much education they will miss.

Not happy with forcing the price of holidays up for those of us without kids, you're now going to start doing the same out of the holidays.

If not for your kids then think of your fellow humans beings

If they can close schools at the drop of a snow flake without a thought about how much education they will miss.

Not the same though is it? The entire class is affected so they can plan the catch-up as necessary, plus we're talking about a couple of days, not a couple of weeks.

Either way it can't make teachers lives any easier, if the school closes for a couple of days because of snow I doubt any drop in standards would be accepted, and if kids are taken out here and there it must be equally difficult trying to ensure that they are all at the required standard potentially by spending extra time with the kids who go on holiday in term time, maybe as parent who doesn't take his kids out of school I should have a problem with that?

Your kids would have as much fun in a caravan near Skegness as they would on your expensive trip out of the designated holidays.

At 6, this is probably true. As they get older I am sure that the world will be a great place to learn. I'd have given anything for the chance to see foreign climes when I was a kid, instead of sit in a room doing pages of sums or painting stupid pictures of your house.

I took ours out on holiday a couple of times when my oldest was about that age. Not for more than a week though. And then there was the 3 days of every year for a few years to go to glastonbury, all authorised, so how middle class guardian reader is that then!

I think once or twice while at the school is OK depending on whats going on. I mean, mine spent months doing **** all once their SATs were done.

molgrips - I am sure that the world will be a great place to learn.

i'm sorry, we're talking family package tour here not expedition. it's car-airport-plane-airport-coach-hotel-pool then coach-airport-plane-airport-car-home!

the only thing learnt is that the sun burns and you learn that on day 1!

I often get emails or notes saying, "little jimmy is going on holiday and his parents would like a pack of work to take so he doesnt miss any of his important GCSE work" I usually reply "I bet they would".

Six years old though, he aint going to miss much is he.

I'll bet some of those objecting to this are ill-deserving overpaid pedantic rsoles for whom affording a decent family holiday is not a problem anyway...thought so.

Enjoy your hols.!!!

(Of course my deep seated anger is all down to the 2 weeks I missed from school back when I was a child...scarred me for life it did).

[i] ill-deserving overpaid pedantic rsoles for whom affording a decent family holiday is not a problem anyway.[/i]

not me. Ill-deserving - of what? Overpaid - nope, I get what the market will pay. pedantic - sometimes 😉

affording a decent..holiday - well, ok last year was a bit special, 2 weeks in Canada, but it [i]was[/i] for my sister's wedding. I won't be going anywhere this year, or next, nor the year after, most likely.

But I stand by what I said. If you choose to have children, you also choose not to be able to take holidays whenever you bloody well please

Well guys, thanks for all your contributions - its been a blast!
Will be applying for the time off tomorrow. My mind is eased by so many agreeing he won't be missing too much at this age/time of year. It was what i thought too. We probably won't do it again though as he will be getting deeper into his education.
Commercially we will be about £1k better off, Jnr will benefit by having more outings to museums etc and general life learning opportunities. We will try to get some extra homework out of the school so we can catch up.
I get 2 weeks in the playing in a pool in the sun with a happy family to recharge my batteries instead of a hanging around a soggy campsite trying to tear a bored kiddy of his Nintendo.
Its all good.

So which educational holiday destination are you taking your future binman to then?

Its always funny to hear parents explain that the fact they are taking their kids out of school is because they intend to educate them in a far off exotic land (like florida or benidorm). Yeah right.

Agree totally with john drummer on this one.

The question I have, if they're not missing much in those 2 weeks at the end of term, why don't the schools just finish term 2 weeks earlier, so everybody can have the extra time off?

because for those of you who are working parents, that's an extra 2 weeks childcare to sort out, unless you're planning on starting autumn term 2 weeks earlier as well.

Can't see that going down too well, going back to school for a week and then a bank holiday monday to deal with 😉

Southend

First come clean - it's way easier.

I'd say that at that age, if you keep up the home reading your are probably not going to have him left behind especially at that time of year - my folks used to do in the lower years of primary school and I never had a problem with school work.

However, always used to do the "project book" - like a diary of the holiday with photos and stuff afterwards, had to learn a few words of language and use them in restaurants etc.

When you get to exam time it's all sorts of different though.

because for those of you who are working parents, that's an extra 2 weeks childcare to sort out

not my problem 😉

seriously though; if a child's school is closed due to snow, what are the chances of the parent actually getting to work anyway?

it does though. Think about it. You work, you have 25 (give or take) days annual leave + statutary hols. You do your best to work around the school holidays, but there are still some days when you have to balance your 5 weeks annual leave against the cost of a child minder or other childcare arrangements for the (6+ at summer, 2-3 at Christmas, 2-3 weeks at Easter) weeks of school holiday.

Now throw in an extra 2 weeks when the child/children is/are off school

5 weeks into 10 doesn't go, does it? 5 weeks into 12 goes even less

but hey, not a parent. I can go on holiday whenever I like/can afford 😉

I'm just surprised at the number of people who go on package holidays. I've been on one once as it was an easy way to get to friends wedding. Are there really that many people who go on them?

We will try to get some extra homework out of the school so we can catch up.

Don't bother. You'll just be making unnecessary work for the teacher and saddling yourself with unnecessary guilt when it doesn't get done. 6 year olds don't need homework, but they do need to be read to and to practice their reading. If you spend 15 minutes a day of your hols doing 1 to 1 reading (including discussion about the book/s) then that will probably do.