Unauthorised school absences

When I was 11 my stepdad got a job in Trinidad as an oil engineer with Texaco. I was at grammar school even though I failed my eleven plus. The head teacher at my primary said I failed because I thought outside the box so she sent me to grammar. Thank you kind lady. I was given homework in Trinidad which I followed religiously and finished by midday. We lived away from the tourists and I learned so much from Anita our helper. How to dance Caribbean style, how to make plaited raffia table mats and velvet cushions. Dad taught me how to dive from the top board of the pool at the Texaco club. Dad chose to bring us home on a cruise ship where I danced with the Second Officer and learned how to socialise. Back at grammar school I became number one girl in the school exams beaten by only Neville Sharp and Robert Evans. They were brain boxes and my friends. My opinion is too much pressure is put on children to do well at school. Richard Branson and Alan Sugar did okay.
As for our one and only son we emigrated to Spain when he was about 12. We couldn’t afford a private English school in the beginning and I cried my eyes out after dropping him at the local village school. His results were terrible but after two years when we could afford private English school his Spanish was excellent. So I no longer regret throwing him in at the deep end and wherever he travels in Mexico or Madrid they often mistake him for a local. We offered him university and flying school after he flew a plane over our house but he chose to go his own way not wishing to bankrupt us and has a stressful but well paid job. School is very important and I will always be grateful for the teachers but exams? Doctors, vets, lawyers, necessary. Otherwise?
Sorry to have gone on so much.

Totally disagree Grandmarderby if every one lived by those guidelines dozens could be away from school every week What message is it giving kids …”there are rules but it’s ok if we break them” no wonder kids today dont like living by rules what lessons are they being taught by their parents ….schools are not important, rules are made to be broken, you/ we are entitled to a holiday

I listened to a rather arrogant lady on the news saying of course she needed the family holiday in term time as otherwise they wouldn’t be able to afford one !! Entitlement eh

My kids only had one foreign holiday each and that was the school skiing holiday which I saved up for so each of them could go once

It seems to me that the relationship (such as it ever was) between school and parent began to errode around the mid 1980s under the Tory government. The Covid lockdown may have hastened it.
Both parents feeling they have to work full time to achieve the aspirational “lifestyle” espoused by a bunch of ( at best) delusional toffs with their if-we-can-do-it so ought you/pull our collective socks up etc etc ad nauseum bilge and at worst money grubbing crooks of which the Conservative Party is largely comprised.

Thus it began with mostly mothers who had probably been working part time any way who felt obliged to seek full time employment - with all the attendant problems that threw up, then all those long and drawn out teachers disputes in the same decades…
This has all resulted in schooling being almost reduced to child minding in effect to facilitate parents working life, which is why there are so many after school clubs now. Not a bad thing in themselves but shouldn’t children be spending at least some time at home with a parent, some family life before bedtime?

So society has moved on and with it the deference that parents may have felt for schools.
This is why some parents choose now to take their children on holiday in term time despite fines.
They know by and large that in a few years time it won’t matter a jot that they missed school for a couple of weeks a year, but they will have the memories and the photos long long afterwards.

With our older children we has a couple of foreign holidays, but mostly British. With the younger ones, we did go abroad more often, but always went into the first week of September when prices dropped considerably.
It would not have occurred to us to take even an extra day.
But we had a lot of respect for the schools and the teachers, and I think that’s no longer the case, but I don’t think a fortnight in the sun is an essential and a lot of families think they are entitled to several holidays a year.

It was a private school. They didn’t seem particularly bothered

I assume your parents were paying fees to the school?

If so, I can understand them not being bothered, still raking in the cash and not so much work teaching the little darlings!

Granmarderby, I mostly agree with you, I think any respect for the state education system has long gone, and from what I see with my grandchildren, I’m not surprised.
I also think covid taught us that a break from learning doesn’t make that much difference.
But I think having children off at various times throughout the year must be disruptive to the class as a whole, and although I can see why parents do it, I don’t think it’s right.

Growing up, all our family holidays were taken during the school holidays. Even trips to the coast to see extended family were taken at the weekends and we had to be home on Sunday 'for school on Monday'.

I think WW11 disrupting our parents secondary school education so much made them all the more determined that the only days we ever missed school were due to illness.

In the world of work, other than teaching, holidays are staggered. A catch up process is in place for those that are absent through holidays or sickness. It's accepted as the norm.
It's my understanding that lessons are planned and much work is set out on computers. Is it such a disruption to provide a sheet/ worksheets showing what has been missed?
I understand the first few days of a new school year is when the terms work is set out. I also understand that the last few days of the school year is often covered by days out, class parties watching television especially when children are changing schools or have done sats.
School was much more formal and rigid when I attended and I didn't take my children away in term time.
However, times have changed with the increasing technology. Is it time for teaching practises in terms of missed classes to change?
I await being shot down in flames by those who are or who have been in the teaching profession.

It isn’t just holidays abroad that are cheaper in term-time.

All holiday destinations and accommodation in the UK rise in price sometimes doubled or tripled in the school holidays.

Gymstagran
Why would you be shot down in flames?

Parents always take their own work on holiday with them, to do whilst they’re away, so why not children?

Of course there could be worksheets with work missed.
Children would obviously read them carefully and retain any information contained therein.

They wouldn’t need the clarification that was given in the lesson. Parents could easily assist with their newer maths concepts or Google any grammatical points they needed explaining.
Children wouldn’t need to see the audio/video demonstrations that had accompanied the lesson. Although, if they packed their laptops, or iPads they could even access those whilst away enjoying the break.

They would delightedly complete written tasks rather than use the pool, the beach or the features of the theme park where they are staying.
I’m sure you’d agree that teachers ought to happily mark work from children’s week’s or fortnight’s holiday, but I’m not sure where the time to address any errors or misconceptions displayed in there would come from in the teaching day.

The best idea would be for children who had missed work to be given assessments on the work provided whilst they had been away.
They could do those at break or lunchtimes and teachers could mark them in with the rest of the marking.

Parents wishing to make a point will obviously focus hard on the learning whilst. they and the children are away on holiday, so that their children will appear not to have suffered from the break when assessed.

I fear it would either spoil the holiday for both parents and children or, as most parents do now, they would declare that it never hurt their children to miss time at school and I’m sure they’ll soon catch up.

Perhaps an additional fine for wasted resources could be applied where worksheets have not been completed, could provide extra funds for cash strapped schools, who receive none of the money raised from their absentee pupils.

I used to take my children on holiday in term time with the school's agreement as my DH could not get time off work in the summer holidays. We did not go abroad, only a week to the south coast.
I wonder what would happen now to parents with inflexible holidays? Are they now just told they cannot have any family holiday?

I had to laugh at one of my colleagues defending his daughter’s decision to take her children out of school.
He said it was a cultural thing, and they would learn a lot about another culture.
Two weeks in Benidorm, really??

It's one of the reasons used on here, though.
If the kids are going skiing It's OK, but anywhere cheaper is terrible, apparently.

Oh the work set to do in holidays to cover work missed! Frequently demanded , never completed, rarely started, plus very occasionally being presented with two weeks work to mark all in one go, plus explaining why they have misunderstood it.
It has been shown by the Sats that many concepts, particularly in maths, are never fully understood, and repeatedly they have been tracked back to the times missed by holiday absence.
And all the helpful suggestions about printing out extra work, photocopying supplementary information then just adding two weeks work on to the 'ordinary' marking. It is not just one child; the last class I taught, of 34 pupils 17 had more than 3 days holiday absence, most had one week, several had two weeks and one child had three and a half, which
t disorientated him for the remainder of the term. One child went to Gambia and did not even know he had been in Africa, as they never left the hotel compound, but his parent demanded all the SEN support he had missed was made up.
Finally , taking children on holiday in term-time really does unsettle them.

In response to Mollygo
I wasn't suggesting that children should take work away with them.
However, it is a fact that some parents do have to continue working on holiday and cope by fitting it in with their holiday activities. Not ideal I agree but life isn't always ideal.
I was thinking that new concepts would not only be approached in one week but would be ongoing in future lessons. What about differentiation where pupils within a class are working at different levels or doesn't this happen now. Couldn't this accommodate catch up?
I was hoping for ideas on how absences could be accommodated rather than how they cannot.
In my experience parents/ grandparents do already help their children with homework when understanding is lacking or new concepts are being introduced.

MissAdventure

It's one of the reasons used on here, though.
If the kids are going skiing It's OK, but anywhere cheaper is terrible, apparently.

Not from me MissA

In this busy and stressful world, a family holiday is beneficial for parents and children, wherever it is and whatever they do.

Banning those who can only afford to go away in term time from doing so is just penalising those in society who have less disposable income than others.

Another stick to beat the poor and just about managing who scrimp and save for a week away with family!

I so agree GrannyGravy

Banning those who can only afford to go away in term time from doing so is just penalising those in society who have less disposable income than others. Another stick to beat the poor and just about managing who scrimp and save for a week away with family!

Sorry, disagree, there are lots of ways of having a holiday without spending much money. We had one where we stayed home but planned a week of activities, some free, others costing a bit of money. No housework, no washing, ironing or gardening and food either bought in and quick to assemble with a couple of meals out. We had a very happy week.

Holiday expenditure was always fairly low on our priority list, but it never stopped us having enjoyable holdays. If a family can have a better holiday if they go in term time, then they can have a really enjoyable hliday elsewhere and in different ways in school holidays.

I will be honest and say term time holiday in terms of absence is the least of my worries, we currently work with children with 20- 30 % attendance, I would much rather resources were targeted at that group.

Am I alone in thinking that a holiday taken at the end of term is probably more educational than what is usually a winding down time in most schools?

M0nica

^Banning those who can only afford to go away in term time from doing so is just penalising those in society who have less disposable income than others. Another stick to beat the poor and just about managing who scrimp and save for a week away with family!^

Sorry, disagree, there are lots of ways of having a holiday without spending much money. We had one where we stayed home but planned a week of activities, some free, others costing a bit of money. No housework, no washing, ironing or gardening and food either bought in and quick to assemble with a couple of meals out. We had a very happy week.

Holiday expenditure was always fairly low on our priority list, but it never stopped us having enjoyable holdays. If a family can have a better holiday if they go in term time, then they can have a really enjoyable hliday elsewhere and in different ways in school holidays.

Ah so the poor are limited to an occasional cheap day out, along with home activities and wow best of all no cooking or cleaning for a week.

Really M0nica that would just add to the othering of the poorer children in the classroom and amongst their peers.

Galaxy

I will be honest and say term time holiday in terms of absence is the least of my worries, we currently work with children with 20- 30 % attendance, I would much rather resources were targeted at that group.

I just had a quick Google and their upwards of 100,000 lost children not in education since the Covid school closures.

Definitely need to prioritise these over and above a family wanting a holiday.

And it is absolutely the usual approach of looking at a problem, in this case attendance, (a real significant problem) and looking for a really easy solution that will have no impact on the actual problem.

3 DC teach in senior school, 2 heads of department and 1 depute head teacher. They all have children. They have no option other that to take holidays in holiday time and have to budget for any additional costs. My son finished school on the Friday and Saturday morning they drove to Wales for a 2 week holiday. Foreign holidays have sometimes been taken at half term but are usually at a Eurocamp site or similar. I think it's called cutting your cloth to suit.

One of my sons is a deputy commissioner in the fire service and one is an A&E consultant. No holidays in term time ever - camping holidays in Great Yarmouth for us. Just saying!