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Unauthorised school absences

(144 Posts)
kittylester Thu 05-Sept-24 18:43:42

I have just watched a piece on BBC News about this and was slightly horrified to hear parents say that they can save money by going during termtime and they might not be able to go on such nice holidays during the school holidays.

What happened to doing what you can afford during the holidays?

Out children asked every year if we could go somewhere hot and sunny instead of trailing round Europe camping. As there were 7 of us we couldn't afford hot and sunny and always ended up in a tent somewhere in Europe.

I bet lots of us were like that.

Why can't people do similarly now?

MissAdventure Thu 05-Sept-24 18:50:04

No comment from me, having once asked if people thought two days off school was a bad idea, so my boy could go away with his family.

The thread grew legs and made me sound much more exciting than I am, getting drunk around the pool, and so on.

Never mind the fact that I wasn't going. grin

GrannyGravy13 Thu 05-Sept-24 18:51:27

We had little to no choice when we went on holiday, own business, biggest customers worked in schools when they were closed.

We had understanding head teachers, as do our AC who now manage the business day to day.

Also I think closing schools during the pandemic has detrimentally changed the relationship between parents and schools.

GrannyGravy13 Thu 05-Sept-24 18:53:24

MissA 🤣🤣🤣

MissInterpreted Thu 05-Sept-24 18:55:38

Was there not a fairly long-running thread about this just recently?

MissAdventure Thu 05-Sept-24 18:57:58

That was about taking food to eat at lunch time from the morning food, wasn't it?
I expect I did that too, in between being pi**ed as a fart, in imagination land.

rosie1959 Thu 05-Sept-24 18:59:16

Can't say I blame them rates in school holidays goes through the roof. We did it when ours were at primary school but then you didn't get fined you were allowed two weeks out of any school year. Ours certainly didnt struggle with their academic achievements because of this and they had various educational experiences whilst we were on holiday. We never did it once they were in secondary school apart from the odd long weekend.

Smileless2012 Thu 05-Sept-24 19:00:24

Are you saying you didn't get drunk around the pool MissA? grin.

MissAdventure Thu 05-Sept-24 19:00:47

Nobody did it themselves, "apart from..."

Just as nobody took food from breakfast - just fruit. smile

GrannyGravy13 Thu 05-Sept-24 19:00:49

MissAdventure

That was about taking food to eat at lunch time from the morning food, wasn't it?
I expect I did that too, in between being pi**ed as a fart, in imagination land.

I was probably with you 🤣🥂🍻🤦‍♀️

MissAdventure Thu 05-Sept-24 19:01:59

grin

Sara1954 Thu 05-Sept-24 19:02:31

I wouldn’t have done it, and I don’t really approve of it, but my daughter took hers out a few days early with the consent of the school,

GrannyGravy13 Thu 05-Sept-24 19:02:39

Smileless2012

Are you saying you didn't get drunk around the pool MissA? grin.

I definitely have once and three of my now AC (17, 11 & 4 at the time) frequently remind me 🥂🥂🥂

Smileless2012 Thu 05-Sept-24 19:04:20

We did as well rosie added a week to a half term break on two occasions when they were at primary school. We were allowed 10 days in any school year and neither of them suffered academically.

It's the holiday companies IMO who should be criticised for pushing prices up during school holidays.

Sara1954 Thu 05-Sept-24 19:04:30

Oh yes, don’t they all love to remind us.

Shelflife Thu 05-Sept-24 19:07:12

I understand why parents feel this way , however......school is school and our children are fortunate to be given free education. Going on holiday in term time is not acceptable , I know it's expensive - so what !? They should go away in term time and if this means having a modest holiday in this country then so be it! I have no sympathy what so ever. We are privileged to have a sound education system and if parents can't appreciate that they don't deserve it ! No patience at all , if children are taken out of school for foreign holidays then a heavy financial penalty should be the ' price' they pay. They don't recognize how fortunate they are !!!!!!!

GrannyGravy13 Thu 05-Sept-24 19:10:25

Shelflife there are 20 years between our eldest & youngest.

Are you really saying we should not have had any holidays for over 20 years, because we were a SME which supplied and supported school maintenance???

MissInterpreted Thu 05-Sept-24 19:13:16

This is the thread I was talking about - ran to 9 pages:
www.gransnet.com/forums/aibu/1335196-Children-holidaying-during-term-time

fancythat Thu 05-Sept-24 19:14:57

Times have changed op.
People have changed.
School rules have changed.
etc

More people Home School now, due to lots of things, including this subject.

Also, apparently, because of covid, parents attitude to having your child in school did a seismic shift.
The genie came out of the bottle.

Grandma70s Thu 05-Sept-24 19:17:51

I wouldn't have dreamed of taking my children out of school to have a holiday. School came first.

There was one girl in my form in senior school who had permission to go on holiday during term. I presume her parents had no choice of dates. If this had been the case for my parents I have a feeling there would have been no holidays!

MissAdventure Thu 05-Sept-24 19:22:15

I wouldn't have allowed my daughter so much as a day off, but things, times, schools, are very different now.
,

LOUISA1523 Thu 05-Sept-24 19:26:48

Shelflife

I understand why parents feel this way , however......school is school and our children are fortunate to be given free education. Going on holiday in term time is not acceptable , I know it's expensive - so what !? They should go away in term time and if this means having a modest holiday in this country then so be it! I have no sympathy what so ever. We are privileged to have a sound education system and if parents can't appreciate that they don't deserve it ! No patience at all , if children are taken out of school for foreign holidays then a heavy financial penalty should be the ' price' they pay. They don't recognize how fortunate they are !!!!!!!

Thing is no one is asking is asking for yours ( or anyone elses) sympathy or approval.....parents will continue to to this.....for some it the difference between going on holiday and not going.... for others its the opportunity to have a better or longer holiday ....so they will do it anyway .....the jncreased fine won't deter people ....my DD took 2 of my GDs to Australia for a close family wedding at Christmas....so 2 weeks school holiday....then an extra 4 weeks ....they visited so many places and had so many experiences alongside their aussie cousins....the head just said I can't authorise but have a great time .....my DD certainly wasn't bothered what others thought ....and even at 80 quid it wouldn't make made any difference to her decision.

LOUISA1523 Thu 05-Sept-24 19:27:30

Grandma70s

I wouldn't have dreamed of taking my children out of school to have a holiday. School came first.

There was one girl in my form in senior school who had permission to go on holiday during term. I presume her parents had no choice of dates. If this had been the case for my parents I have a feeling there would have been no holidays!

Times change

Jaxjacky Thu 05-Sept-24 19:30:23

Spare a thought then for those who work in schools, they have to toe the line, or should they be allowed to go too? I don’t think so.

Willow11 Thu 05-Sept-24 19:33:58

The difference for our DD taking her 3 children away in August and September was over £2k. This was to Majorca for 10 days.