Children holidaying during term time.

Any reasons why my grandson being off school wasn't considered disruptive?

I suppose NanaTuesday - those of us who were serious about home-education were always educating- not just during "term time".

We had no "term time" so basically, wherever we were, every day was a learning opportunity.

And yes, there would be no holiday accommodation if owners had to charge the same all year round!

Agree. I think it's selfish and thoughtless Teaching is tough enough without these complications.

Holiday expectations seem so high these days. We never went abroad in the 80/90’s when the children were at school. A second hand caravan or sharing the cost of a rental property with friends was all we could afford. Children never missed school. I came from a family who valued education and we were taught that we were very privileged to be able to access education after aged 14. Both my mum and dad had had to start work at 14. How time change.

I value education as do my AC and GC.

Education does not stop at the school gate.

Every family dynamic is different, not all parents are fortunate enough to be able to have their holidays during school holiday weeks.

All of our GC even those who will be starting reception in September have to have access to a computer (tablet or phone) which is compatible with their school IT system in order to complete homework, spellings, times tables along with course work for the senior school attendees. Lesson plans, and work are also available online. There is no need for any school age child to get behind or miss out on lessons wherever in the world they are in the 21st century.

Rules are rules and I think it sends the wrong message to children that rules can be broken if you don't want to follow them.. If it is deemed absolutely necessary the child should understand its a privilege not an entitlement. Sadly it does have an impact on children not only the child holidaying but their classmates too.
My adult children remember spending time with us during school holidays (We both worked.) For me it was almost impossible to have more than a week off during school holidays but we had day trips out. Camped in the garden. Did treasure hunts. Nature walks. Picnics in the park. Film nights etc Even sleep overs at Grandma and Grampy's were a treat. Hholiday memories made don't have to be during term time to be happy ones.

I took my daughter out of school for 7 weeks. E had the chance of a lifetime. We went with the Head mistress' blessing, plus an exercise book for my daughter to write a diary and English & Maths workbooks to do a lesson every day. On return, my daughter gave a talk to her class about her experiences. Once in a lifetime opportunity.

M0nica

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 didn’t you stop moving? I’ve been living in this area for 40years, so I have quite a few friends now that I’ve know for ages.
I still keep on touch with old friends too, we were lucky, we were friends with others who had the same sort of life so we became like families. Still have contact with some.

Please can someone explain why taking children out of school is "teaching* them that rules don't matter? Surely the adults will explain why they are doing this.

If they can understand that school/ education is a privilege then surely they can understand that being able to have time off is also a privilege?

I am basically against taking them out but do think that services families should be able to have occasional dispensation as they have no choice when they get leave. I also think there should be some leeway for headteachers to allow children time for important family events.

PamelaJ1 I stopped the constant moves when my father retired from the army. I was 21. Since I married I have lived in, broadly, the same area for over 50 years and I know a lot of people purely superficially.

I belong to several organisations, where I have been a member for 30 years or more and I have friends through that, but they are what I call 'organisation friends'. Once we move on, as we hope to this year, I am not sure that those friendships will turn into personal friendships.

I do have a few good personal friends. My dearest and closest dates from school days and will bcoming to stay for the weekend later this morning, but apart from that, one from university, a couple from from when my children were young, one from work, but, sadly, several of these have died as we move in to old age.

Interestingly, I have recently made two good friends through GN.

I also think there should be some leeway for headteachers to allow children time for important family events.
A very sensible suggestion NotSpaghetti, though I don't think Headteachers are allowed to apply discretion in the state sector? Private shools have greater flexibility on this issue. Although most private schools discourage holidays during term time, there are often circumstances where an understanding Headteacher will authorise a holiday or leave of absence. As mentioned upthread, parents can have jobs which take them away for long periods, so should they wish it, family time together is granted on their return.

Notspaghetti It is not just service families who have leave dictated or restricted. DH's work involved the movement of large floating items at sea. This happens in the summer weather window(April-September), and is dependent on tides, weather and other factors.

Back in the heyday of the Offshore UK industry, when our DC were at primary school, he was away from home almost continually in that period. One year we had our 'summer' family holiday during the early March half term (Easter was late that year). Twice we took the children out of school in late September. Neither did we then have expensive overseas holidays. We spent the March half term in a boat on the Broads, probably the only hire boat out that early, otherwise we went to the Lake District. Most holidays happened with only a few days notice when DH would say.' I am OK for leave next week, find somewhere', and I would.

We would never have taken the children out of school, for any reason, other than the one we did and always said we would not do it once they reached secondary age, but by that time the industry had changed, fewer loads and bigger and we were able toholidayduring the school holidays.

Yes, Joseann - some years ago the state school headteachers could do this. I arranged with a headteacher for a child I worked with to have 4 days off once.

My father was also working offshore for an American company back in 60s and 70s. I was always allowed time off from my state schools to spend with him, though I rudely told him I'd rather be back in the classroom!

As a former secondary teacher, I am not in favour of children being taken out of school for holidays. I have rarely found that it didn't impact in some way upon their exam results to go just before the exams. Parents would occasionally ask for exam practice material but it was rarely completed. At that point in the term, we often went over practice papers in class, self marking, partner marking and I would mark some too. Pupils would identify the types of questions they struggled with and I would arrange individual sessions in class and after school to support them. You can't do that if they're on holiday. My cousin never understood this and took her children on holiday in April every year. Both did worse than expected because they didn't revise on holiday nor did they have any teacher input.
I fully understand that some parents have no choice in when to take holidays. As a teacher, I certainly didn't. However there are only a few years when going away will impact on the outcome of your child's education. Maybe do something else? It shouldn't be up to the teacher to ensure that your child catches up on work missed because you wanted a holiday in Marbella. They have a curriculum to follow, lessons organised for the year and enough marking to do without having to revisit something. And yes, they will probably try to help your child catch up because that is what we do. However your child is the one who is falling behind. I'm talking about secondary pupils mainly here.

Well, the answer must be to pretend to have cancer, because I can assure you that schools couldn't care less then.

If I sound bitter, it's because I bloody am.
"As long as he's not truanting" at 7 years old!!

asked for the work they missed to be given to them when they returned

As a teacher, I used to find this annoying actually. Much of the learning in school happens during the lessons - questioning, discussion, group collaboration etc. and any written work follows on from that. It’s not as simple as ‘giving them the work when they return’. For it to be in any way meaningful to the child it would need to be individually discussed with them. I was more than happy to work individually with a child who required individual learning but for a child who’s been taken out of school to get a cheap holiday - sorry, no!

LizzieDrip and others - I think it is totally wrong to expect anything or even anytime extra from the school in my opinion if a child is taken out. It may be reasonable to ask what they will be missing so you can (as a responsible parent) make sure they do the work whilst off!

By "make sure they do the work" I mean that you work with them on a one to one basis to make sure they understand the subject and are going to be able to slot back in.

We never took the children out of school for a holidays. Irresponsible.

You’d be surprised at the number of times I was asked by parents, taking their children out of school for holidays, for me to do the following:

Print ‘worksheets’ for them to take.
Put together a ‘work pack’.
Give them ideas of activities.
Go over any work missed with the child on return.

That’s just a few examples! When I said this wasn’t possible, stating the reasons I posted above, many parents thought I was just being awkward! If parents want bespoke teaching & learning for their children, I suggest they pay a private tutor … maybe using some of the money they’re saved on the holiday

Bloody cheek.

Yep🤷‍♀️

Absolutely agree, Lizzie Drip and others.