Children holidaying during term time.

My husband was a fireman and holiday were taken whenever it fitted in with his shift pattern. We regularly took them out of school. We went to Canada for 6 weeks when they were in junior school and Australia for 6 weeks when 1 was in senior school. They all took school work with them to complete whilst away and completed scrapbook diaries of their trips. They saw and did wonderful things. Life experience is just as important as academic eduation. All four of them left school with good exam results and although they were all the youngest in there school years had good marks during each term. They are all well rounded adults with lovely families of their own.

Visgir1

Most schools now fine families who take children out of school?
If families find it a significant reduction in price even with the fine, I don't see it's a big problem unless they do it a more couple of times a year.

I’m not sure that your “
Most schools are fine” is accurate as parents get fined for removing students holidays .
Though I am not sure where that money goes (?)

Sago

AIBU?
We have just returned from a lovely week cruising the Fjords.
There were far more under 16’s onboard than we could have anticipated.
A lot of families didn’t leave the ship they just stayed and played bingo etc while the children were in the pool or the children’s clubs.
I couldn’t help but think of all the staff who come from countries where an education isn’t taken for granted.
One woman said the cruise cost her 2K out of term instead of 5K in the holidays.
This is why we had camping holidays in Scotland for so many years!

Some Parents take their children out of school for a round the world trip / road trip or a sail across the seven seas . Some as a friend of mine does “Home School “
It’s all educational & as long as it isn’t a crucial time or Sats / mocks /GCSE’s & isn’t a regular occurrence

Speaking as a former teacher, children, especially in primary, miss a lot of important learning if they're out of school for a fortnight or even for a week. It's especially bad at the start of term when new concepts or topics are being introduced.

PamelaJ1 Thats interesting. your experience taught you how to mke friends, my similar experience, taught me how to get on with people and make lots of acquaintances, but not to make friends because in 6 months time you will move on and in a period long before all electronic communication, parting from friends was painful. You would probably not see or hear from them again, so best not to have them.

Monica I don’t think that I said it was ideal did I? If I was nonchalant about my education it’s because it was as it was.
I think that I was trying to show that just missing a week of school isn’t going to ruin a life.
My sympathies are with the teaching staff who are expected to make up for whatever has been missed.
One positive of my interrupted education is that I had to develop resilience and the ability to make friends. Invaluable
skills even if they don’t come with a certificate.

I haven’t taken my daughter out for holidays, but I work in education also so it’s tricky. Her friend has 3-4 weeks out of school every year and academically she is behind, as is her sibling. Parents have been in school complaining about lack of progress, but don’t seem to want to actually help their children. I’m not particularly against term time holidays, but some people take the biscuit! And fwiw my pre-teen would love the fjord cruise!

That is truly shocking Joseann. A while ago, I read there were considerations about staggering the school year, shorter 4 week summer holiday, many parents feel six weeks are too long and longer half terms, which would maybe accommodate those who need to take holidays at other times in the year. Although I imagine that won't stop price hiking around any proposed changes, which are quite mercenary in some cases,

even the most basic camp site in U.K. hikes its prices in school holidays
I passed these average chalets on my walk this morning and stopped to check on prices. A reasonable £700 in term time, plenty of availability, but nearly £2k in school holidays and pretty much all booked.

GrannyGravy13

I think we all knew our own children when they were school age and their capabilities, as do our AC with our GC.

One size does not fit all, and if due to work commitments, family living abroad etc or even not being able to afford the prices in the school summer holidays (even the most basic camp site in U.K. hikes its prices in school holidays) it’s unfair ( in my opinion ) to demonise parents for taking a well earned break/visit relatives/family event (which could be birth, death, marriage etc.,)

Totally agree with you. Some people are very judgemental without knowing what any particular family's circumstances may be. At the end of the day, it's up to each set of parents to decide what's best for them.

I think we all knew our own children when they were school age and their capabilities, as do our AC with our GC.

One size does not fit all, and if due to work commitments, family living abroad etc or even not being able to afford the prices in the school summer holidays (even the most basic camp site in U.K. hikes its prices in school holidays) it’s unfair ( in my opinion ) to demonise parents for taking a well earned break/visit relatives/family event (which could be birth, death, marriage etc.,)

Hahaha when we were children it was one parent and one child at a time for a holiday which was a visit to relatives distance away by plane and train.
I had no qualms about taking mine out of school ( just once ) with permission for a family holiday. It was educational and entertaining and so much cheaper. I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you don’t like children book adult only.

Germanshepherdsmum

I had bad asthma as a child and was frequently away from school as a consequence - there weren’t the medicines then that we have now. I missed the first lessons in geometry and trigonometry and never caught up.

I too had a month off school due to illness, it was long division that I never caught up on!

I had bad asthma as a child and was frequently away from school as a consequence - there weren’t the medicines then that we have now. I missed the first lessons in geometry and trigonometry and never caught up.

When I retired from teaching, fines for parents taking children out of school for holidays were just beginning to be introduced. One issue, which I don’t think has been mentioned in this thread, is that of families where parents have split up but each wants to take the child on a term time holiday thus doubling the amount of schooling missed.

I disagree profoundly with PamelaJ1's nonchalance about children managing whether they missed school or not.

I, too, had a fractured education, 10 schools, plus several long periods in hospital. And, yes, I coped with it all and went to university. But then I was a clever child and quickly caught up with what I had missed, or taught myself.

Life was not so easy for those who learned more slowly. When the BBC started running literacy programmes on tv in the 1970s, On the Move and Your Move, I quickly noticed how many of those on these programmes, like me, had parents in the Services and had had a childhood like mine, of constant moves and school absences.

I also saw how the less academic of my friend's children struggled when their education was disrupted bjs chool changes and absences.

If you are clever and intelligent, then a fractured eductaion is a minor problem, but for less able children it can severely limit their opportunities in life.

Saving money is not the only reason children are taken out of school for family holidays.

When our DC were in primary school the nature of DH's work strictly limited the amount of leave he could take between April and September and in several years the only gap in work demands for a family holiday was late September.

I spoke to their head teacher, who was understandably reluctant to have children out of school, but understood our problem, but commented that the problem was, our 2 children were clever and were academically ahead of other children in their form and would quickly pick up anything they missed on their return, but that most requests - or absences without seeking consent were among families whose children were not so able, or whose parents were not as supportive of education and that they did go backwards educationally and did not easily catch up.

Whilst our son was growing up, we were never able to go on holiday as a family.
My husband is a Teacher.
And, obviously, he couldn’t take term time to away ( I wonder what would have happened if he did?) and too expensive for us to go away during the school holidays.
The first time our son had a holiday was at 17, when he went abroad with friends.

I can totally understand why teachers would be resentful of being expected having to put in extra work to help children catch up if they have missed something vital.
Why should they?
I do speak from experience. I went to 7 schools and must have missed at least a year of education. When I was at the beginning of my GCE years I had the first term at a school in England. It had a different examination board so I couldn’t do French, I missed more than one tense.
This was common, we all missed a lot, friends went on leave with their parents and returned 6months later. Quite honestly, now I look back, I’m amazed any of us are vaguely literate!

The difference between then and now is that our teachers took it all in their stride. They didn’t bother to catch us up, it was up to us. No OFSTEAD in those days. Sink or swim, most of us managed the doggy paddle.
It probably wasn’t ideal but, judging from others that I know in that position, we seem to have done reasonably with the skills we developed.
BTW the teachers were employed by the Government so they all got their leave too.

nanna8

Teachers get long times off minus the kids as it is. What would happen is they would get a supply teacher who would follow the work put down by the permanent one. Plenty of supply teachers around and some are extremely capable, they just don’t want to be tied to a permanent position. Same applies if they take extended sick leave.

Schools are struggling to find supply teachers currently.
Many parents and grandparents here seem to think it's acceptable to take children out of school because it's cheaper, so why shouldn't teachers take advantage too?
By the way, having done supply, it's completely different from being their regular teacher, because you don't know the pupils, no matter how capable you are.

For me as a teacher it created extra work when pupils went on holiday. Parents often expected that I should set work for their children so they could catch up. Teachers also of course have children. Would it be acceptable for them to remove their children and go on holiday in term time?

Curtaintwitcher with the abundance of adult only hotels it is extremely easy to avoid children if you wish.

What is the point of having rules if people don't stick to them? You can't have everyone just doing as they please.
Quite apart from the disruption to a child's education, many of us choose to take holidays during term time because we don't want to have to tolerate children.

Chardy

Just popped in to ask how some parents/grandparents would feel if little Charlie came home saying his teacher was off for 2 weeks taking his/her children away on holiday?

If parents were told that that was why the teacher was absent, there would be talk about whether they were being paid, or fined for the children’s absence and comments about the bad example being set by said teacher, or welcoming of his/her implied support for absence during term time.

Teachers get long times off minus the kids as it is. What would happen is they would get a supply teacher who would follow the work put down by the permanent one. Plenty of supply teachers around and some are extremely capable, they just don’t want to be tied to a permanent position. Same applies if they take extended sick leave.