I will say I don’t take my kids out in term time. But I still get annoyed at the cost what ever you say. i.e term time break £530 next day in half term £2630 IMO that’s c**t culture. What sort of place would it be if all businesses adopted that attitude.
Hey there you go bike shop owners, quadruple the price at weekends supply and demand and all that.

JulianA I don’t think it’s totalitarian to ensure your children are at school during term time. If you want to go on holiday, do it in the holidays. Christ knows they have plenty of time off already.

What if they have a week off on holiday, are off sick for 2 weeks of the year, there are days like today when they cannot attend, because buses and trains aren’t running? All these days add up.

My view is we go where we can afford to in the school holidays. If I can’t afford a trip to Florida, we’ll go somewhere in Europe. If we can’t afford that we’ll go somewhere over here.

twosheds why do you feel that it’s okay for your child to miss a week of school. I know a lot of teachers and to them there is nothing more irritating than parents who think the rules don’t apply to them. It’s not just about what your child misses, it’s about the fact that they have missed lessons so have dropped behind, the teacher than has to give them special attention to make sure they catch up.

Is behaving the way you want, and **** everyone else, the best way to bring up a child? Pretty selfish way to behave if you ask me.

we’ve always taken holidays with our other children as close to the school holidays as possible. You are having a laugh aren’t you? Note the phrase ‘school holiday’.

We did something similar at Easter when ours were little. Youngest had just started nursery, middle lad just started school and our eldest was in top infants. We had to apply to have the two weeks off either side of the Easter holidays – we planned to drive across USA coast to coast (Baltimore to LA) and the headmaster gave us his blessing on the condition that our eldest would compile a diary of the holiday. We still have the book which Lucas made (it was on display in the school for some time) – a fantastic reminder of the holiday of a lifetime (we had told the boys we were going to Disneyland and had four weeks of ‘Are we there yet?’) 😉

Have a fantastic time!

When I was a kid my folks took my sister and me out of school, generally for a week but on occasions two, for holidays. Mainly due to my Dad’s work but also because it was better value. Whilst we were away the two of us had to do daily scrap books, exercise books basically, which we had to fill with pictures and comments about our days. Good fun but also educational. We actually spent a couple of holidays in FL and, barring the themeparks (which I loved at the time), had some fantastic learning opportunities:

Everglades – loads of amazing boardwalks, alligators, birds etc – biological wonderland

Keys Bridge – amazing civil engineering

Keys themselves – more eco stuff and geography

Miami – historic buildings etc

Great place Florida, shame it’s being ruined! Pick up a couple of Carl Hiassen books to read by the pool – he’s done a kids book too:

Mrs. Starch – fearsome biology teacher – never returned from a field trip to Black Vine Swamp.

The principal says she was called away on a “family emergency,” but Nick and Marta don’t buy it. They think Smoke, the class delinquent, has something to do with her disappearance.

And he does! But not in the way that they think. There’s a lot more going on in Black Vine Swamp than any one player in this twisted tale can see. And Nick and Marta will have to reckon with an eccentric eco-avenger, a stuffed rat named Chelsea, a wannabe Texas oilman, a singing substitute teacher, and a ticked-off Florida panther before they’ll really begin to see the big picture.

That’s life in the swamp, kids.

Only problem with the policy is that it breaks when the parent has rostered holidays. (I was that parent, one year in 5 my holidays coincided with the school breaks). I pointed out that like a teacher I could only take holiday when I was allowed. Collapse of argument, always ensured that we had school work to catch up and never in the run-up to SATS.

Just take the holiday. Since school league tables etc they have to cover their backs. An un-authorised absence doesn’t affect the school’s figures so negatively so they have to advise against holidays in term time.

Stitting in a room being told what to learn? Or travelling?

Tricky…

Stitting in a room being told what to learn? Or travelling lol, they’re going on a tacky holiday to florida ffs, they’re not going on a track through some amazing country, meeting amazing people and seeing amazing things.

Wow strong opinions or what?

Taking a 12 y.o out of school once probably not a problem repeating it yea a problem. Make sure that there are no tests etc that you’d expect them to do and that they catch up on the work without addinng load to the teacher’s (3 pupils can add a massive load if work is to be caught up).

Obviously in exam years taking kids out of class is irresponsible.

Authorized v’s unauthorized just means that the school is not condoning the absence but makes no real difference. To slate all teachers for what is standard operating procedures is infantile.

sorry Gary_M but Florida is an amazing part of a fantastic country with some interesting people, you just need to know where to look.

What sort of place would it be if all businesses adopted that attitude.

They do. It’s called supply and demand. All businesses operate that way.

Imagin eth ereponse if your kids teacher decided to go on hols during term time. After all it’s cheaper.

If a child stays in education until they’re 18 that’s probably about 2600 (200 days a year * 13 years at school) days at school. Is 5 days such a big deal?

I took my 10 year old out of school for the last two weeks of term before Christmas. The school refused to allow the time off as authorised and told me if my son missed more than eight consecutive days then our details would be passed to the Local Authority who then had the power to issue me an on the spot fine of £50. As I still haven’t heard anything from the LA, I’m guessing they’re not going to persue it.

If my son had attended school for those two weeks, he would have spent most of the time learning Christmas carrols for a concert he never attends, and also playing games rather than any “proper” lessons. The experience he had on holiday (scuba diving, submarine trip, helicopter flights, learning to sail etc) compared to those two weeks in school were imho, far more benficial to his development.

“Is 5 days such a big deal?”

Yes, because it starts to set a bad precedent both for parents and kids

what is the 3rd week going to do that the first 2 didn’t.

Anyway how would the discussion go if the kid was bunking off for a week?

1 week in florida or 1 week hanging round McD’s in town?

All kids should attend school every day, including weekends, then when they finish school there should be a direct tunnel they walk down and exit straight into a factory.

Until this happens the farming process is flawed.

Go on the holiday, have a great time, beats parents who have never taken their kid out of their home town. What are they going to miss anyway in the first week of term? Other kids talkin about how many eggs they got? Go give them a first hand experience of other culture, show him the things he would see in the geography video he is missing and stand in the places where the historical events happened.

If my son had attended school for those two weeks, he would have spent most of the time learning Christmas carrols for a concert he never attends, and also playing games rather than any “proper” lessons. The experience he had on holiday (scuba diving, submarine trip, helicopter flights, learning to sail etc) compared to those two weeks in school were imho, far more benficial to his development.

Then perhaps you should look at sending your child to a better school. My 11 year old son does school work up until the morning of the day they finish for holidays. Mind you if you’re happy to take your kid out of school for 2 weeks during term time then you’re probably not that bothered about the standard of education your child is receiving.

It amazes me how so many of you are so lackadaisical when it comes to your kids education. It’s not just about missing a few days of school; it’s that fact that you are letting your child know that education isn’t of any great importance to you.
Don’t you want them to be successful, educated people? I’m also amazed that any of you are surprised by the fact that the school refuses to sanction unofficial holidays – why on earth would they do that?

And yes of course travelling is a great cultural education to children, but they get plenty official holidays don’t they.

And why can’t that be accomplished in 2 weeks mike_check?

christ allmighty schools really cannot do right by people no matter what they do. If you want to take your kid out of school fair enough, but dont expect the school to think its a good idea… stop **** winging and live your life and let others do their job

not to say again it’s florida ffs

Im not saying it couldn’t be, however a three week trip to florida is a once in a lifetime thing for a young kid. This will be something they will look back on with great memories for most of their life afterwards. Maybe something that will inspire them to succeed in life so they can offer this to their kids later in life. Maybe walking around Disneyland as an amazed 12 year old will inspire this kids towards taking an interest in animation for example, maybe this trip will shape their futures more than another week at school could ever do. Of course education is important, but so is having a purpose for that learning, and that is likely to come from outside of the school.

Gary_M

You rumbled me, I couldn’t care less about my sons education!! The shool he attends is the best performing school in the area and he is so far ahead of his peers that he has almost completed Year 6 curriculum half way through this year even though he is a Year 5 pupil. If you think him missing two weeks of school at age 10 is going to have a negative impact on his development and result in him being less successful or less educated, then I think you’re even more deluded than you posting suggest.

I’m constantly amazed at how black and white people think the world is 🙂

mike_check why is a 3 wek trip to Florida any better for a child than a 2 week trip?

salad_dodger your sons school sounds fantastic, they don’t do any work for 2 weeks prior to a holiday. wow, that really does sound amazing. If thats the best school in the area you should move.

Although I do of course realsie that I’m in a deluded state and all the best schools now do this.

I went to one of the top 20 schools in the country (then and now) and we didn’t do much in the last week…

Kids also went off on holidays during term time sometimes (not the norm but it did happen). I don’t recall any correlation between the kids that did that and their exam results or more importantly their lives now 🙂

Well, a 2 week trip gives them 2 weeks expeience and opportunity, a 3 week trip gives them…

You seem to have made your mind up, and you seem to know (read; you assume) that the topic starter is just going to point his kid towards Mickey Mouse then feed him MacDonalds 3 times a day, if you had any idea how vast the world is you would know that while you could do a 2 week trip to Florida, if you were looking for things to experience you could also do a 3 month trip.

I’m constantly suprised (and despair at the fact) that so many people genuinely believe some blanket policy, thought up by sheltered idiots completely detatched from how things really work for the majority of the population, is deffinitely for the best in their individual childs life.

I actually couldn’t care less, I don’t know any teachers, have no thoughts on whether it’s a good or bad thing to take your kids out of school but I knew it would wind a few of you up. Sorry I was a bit bored.

Yes, because it starts to set a bad precedent both for parents and kids

Depends on the type of parents and their own values. If you have a parent that doesn’t care about their child’s schooling and persistently takes them out of school for holidays then that’s a problem. If you have someone that wants to take the child out of school prior to a school holiday to save costs etc then I don’t see the harm in that.

If the tour operators were willing not to cash in on school holidays then I suspect none of us would be having this discussion!

“If you have someone that wants to take the child out of school prior to a school holiday to save costs etc then I don’t see the harm in that”

The trouble is that if it happens once it is likely to happen again. I get sick of talking to supposedly supportive parents who “have the best possible intentions for their kids” but as soon as the see the pound signs pull them out of lessons for an “educational trip”, sometimes weeks before their exams.

Five days out of twelve years, you’d better book his cardboard box under the arches now.

Can someone on here define “education”?

And really an unauthorised weeks holiday in term time is’nt really that different to the jolly sorry school ski trip my 12 year old will be going on in April.

Molgrips come on, it would’nt be that bad if it was expensive all year round but to go up and down so much around school terms is really a major p***er. especialy when you can see it laid down for the year in black and white.

The trouble is that if it happens once it is likely to happen again

at the end of the day it really doesn’t matter what you and i think! if someone wants to take their kid out for a week for one reason or another and it doesn’t have a long term effect on their kids education i really dont see what the issue is.

midlifecrashes – Member

It won’t even show up in the school stats anyway. It’s a little advertised fact that school attendance figures collected for the census and publication only actually count the autumn and spring terms.

What absolute rubbish, as an Assistant head of year i KNOW for a fact that ALL attendance counts

Just say he’s ill.

As a parent who has a child who has acheived a massive amount I see teachers here saying don,t blame me for your childs education if you keep them off school,I am having to pay for private tutors so that my child can get the quality of teaching she needs,yes spending the money is worth it I believe in investing in her future but if she is not recieving this at school,who would you say is to blame,and should us taxpayers be paying the teachers if they are not producing the goods,seems they are not long in blaming us if we keep the kids of a whole week

Molgrips come on, it would’nt be that bad if it was expensive all year round but to go up and down so much around school terms is really a major p***er. especialy when you can see it laid down for the year in black and white.

So how else are they supposed to manage supply and demand when all the demand is in the school holidays? As I said before, it’s simply that you pay full price in school holidays – the rest of the year is discounted to get people in (as if they charged the same all year they’d be half empty some weeks).

You seem to have a total misunderstanding of the way the holiday market works. If they charged out-of-school-holiday prices all year they’d go bust as those prices don’t give them much profit to cover their overheads. If they charged in-school-holiday prices all year round (whilst it seems it would make you happy if everybody had to pay lots) they’d go bust as they wouldn’t get low season bookings and they have to pay for the accommodation for a full season.

Asked for permission to take our 13 year old out of school on the last day of term and it was refused. Put back the trip away for a day and meanwhile the kids actually did nothing on the day.I think this had been our only request in maybe 2 years.
A few months later I was going to race at Spa in Belgium and he wanted to come. So a drive through France and Belgium then 2 days in the paddock at the most famous race circuit in the world I figure was an experience he shouldn’t miss. Know it’s going to be refused so he is called in sick.
So I set a bad example yet there was no way that the trip and it’s merits could have been debated.
Rules-yes and some rational limits on time off but carte blanche refusal is not intelligent policy

MikeWW – Member

Know it’s going to be refused so he is called in sick.
So I set a bad example yet there was no way that the trip and it’s merits could have been debated.
Rules-yes and some rational limits on time off but carte blanche refusal is not intelligent policy

Good lesson right there. It’s OK to lie.