Expensive holidays during school breaks. What do we think.

Grand-kids and their parents go camping to East French coast or our Jura mountaint in their own tent and totally self-catering (due to severe allergies- so restaurants are out) every year- they just love it. They book ferry early and it is not more expensive than going to Southern uk.

There is a thing in schools called "authorised" and "unauthorised" absences and for the last few years schools have had to count both.
Attendance can be really bad. I remember saying to the head "if when these children go into the workforce they are absent more than 10% of the time, then they won't keep their jobs very long".
Eventually we governors made a really stiff target in terms of percentage increase, and made it part of the head's performance objectives, and they hit it.

Quite a while ago then, but only seems to have had publicity recently.

DH says the programme was You and Yours and we think the date was 2011, but we were sorting cables for cameras etc to take on holiday at the time and only listening with one ear (well two really - one each)

I wonder when the clause was removed, and I don't think it was widely publicised until there were a few cases in the paper very recently. So parents may not have been aware of this new ruling before they booked.

I caught a bit on Radio Four today which I think said the relevant law said that 10 days could be taken in term time for a family holiday, but this clause has been removed - in an effort to clarify the situation for head teachers. It seems to have complicated it instead.

The French system of zoning was also mentioned.

What is wrong with camping? Tents are not expensive. DF had an old very small caravan we all squeezed into.

Oh they are absolutely denied such delights Absent . The travel companies inflate the prices two fold (sometimes three) during the school holidays, making it impossible for the average working family to afford even the shortest trip abroad, or indeed in this country either. Such a shame in my opinion .

My DC used to like camping in France, met lots of different nationalities there.

Absent If modern children experienced what you experienced when you travelled overseas on holiday as a child, it really would be educational but the vast majority do as I described in my email above and JessM referred to.

I was such a lucky child. From the age of five my family holidays were taken abroad, mainly in Spain or Italy, and we got there by driving from Boulogne – so we visited France, Switzerland, Germany and a number of other countries on the way there and on the way back. In the 1950s it was quite rare to encounter other English holidaymakers and if we saw a car with a GB badge, we all tooted and waved wildly. I learned to play complicated card games with Continental packs with bunches of children from several different countries when few or none of us actually shared a language, I ate dinner – seafood paella for example – at ten o-clock at night before going for a stroll down the main street prior to bedtime. I drank a glass of diluted wine with my dinner too. I climbed the leaning tower of Pisa, marvelled at Chartres Cathedral, paddled in a lake at the top of St Gothard's Pass, rampaged through Carcasonne and haggled for trinkets with pesteas, lira and New Francs (anyone remember those?) in town and village markets. I did a fair amount of lying on hot sandy beaches and swimming in warm seas too. I am sorry if young people who can travel so much more easily and cheaply these days are denied such educational delights.

I had a boss once. He went somewhere in the med (Majorca?) with his wife and daughter for 2 weeks. I asked him what he had done. Stayed by the pool for 2 weeks, did not emerge from hotel. Highly educational.

My first holiday, at the age of about 10, was in a rickety old caravan at a site in Walton-on-Naze. It rained most of the week but I quite enjoyed it because it was something different. I can't say the same for my parents though - my mum cooking a Goblin meat pudding with Smash instant potatoes as the rain pounded on the roof and the windows steamed up.

I'm sure if we'd been able to afford a holiday in the sun, I would have enjoyed it a good deal more, and my parents certainly would have done.

I think holidays can be educational, but on most overseas holidays most holiday makers have very little contact with local food, language or custom. they are holed up in a holiday complex, eating the same food as at home. surrounded by locals who speak English and their only trips out are like visits to a safari park, stuck in coaches and then coming out to view the locals as if they were exotic animals.

Holidays are a chance for parents and children to spend time together in a relaxed way. Good weather and warm seas are nice and can be found in the Mediterranean. You do not need to fly somewhere expensive on the other side of the world to get it and you can have very enjoyable holidays in Britain n even if it isn't sunny or warm. A 'rainy day in Penrith' became a stock event in all our family holidays long after we stopped visiting the Lake district. It meant staying in our accommodation initially on a wet miserable day with comics/magazines, sweets and a take away and was enjoyed so much we did it on one day of our holiday every year

This is no longer the case though FlicketyB . I agree a headteacher (although maybe not in my GC's case) should have the final say based on the individual childs attendance throughout the year, how well they are doing and how able they will be to catch up.

I don't agree that the talk of overseas holidays is over-rated. I think any holiday can be educational. The airport, the flight, the climate, the food, the language, local customs can all be very educational. Likewise a holiday at home visting the park, beach or museum with mummy and daddy (who virtually never get time off together) would thrill a lot of children to bits.

When DC were in primary school DH's work made it at times impossible to take a holiday during school holidays, especially summer holidays. We usually ended up grabbing a week away in late September.

I did however discuss this with the school well in advance, explain the circumstances so that when I did go and say, DH has leave next week, we want to go on holiday, the school was content. The Headmistress did say that it helped that both our children were in the top group in their class so that missing just a week of school at the start of the school year was less critical for them as they both caught up very quickly on anything they missed in that week.

Fortunately by the time our children got to secondary school we could have holidays in the school holidays, as we would not have taken them out of secondary school for family holidays.

I think all this talk of overseas holidays being educational or to the advantage of the child is over-rated. Parents and children go to these exotic destinations and spend all their time on the beach or on guided tours of honey pots. They rarely interact with local people at a meaningful level or see these countries other than part of a disneyland type of show for their benefit.

I live in a seaside town so there are quite a number of hotels and guesthouses. As a member of the local school's governing body we received requests every year for permission for a very small number of children to be allowed to go away on holiday in January when their parent's hotels etc. were shut for a couple of weeks. We always acceded to these requests on the basis that:
a) family life is important and should be supported.
b) the families agreed to ensure that children caught up with missed work.
c) the parent's circumstances made it impossible for them to go away as a family at any other time of the year.
I do think that regular attendance at school is very important, but I don't believe that schools should be inflexible.

It brings out the caveman in them!

I thought it was great that whole families were involved, but perhaps some of the older pupils would have liked to go without mum and/or Dad?

Dd and family have been on mass camping trips too. A lot of fun was had by all (particularly SoninLaw who just loves to stand at a barbecue grilling vast quantities of food)

No, just a few, some but not all were going on other trips. Yes, miffed when I realised just who the GPs were!

Interesting that even 4 year olds were taken on a school trip, DGS age 5 has just been on a school trip where they all took their parents - en masse camping trip! (In Australia).

Were all the children going on the trip that Stansgran helped a child go to, or just those who wanted their children to? If only some of the class went, then they ould not have been left behind alone.

And i think she was posting about being annoyed at the rich grandparents not dipping into their pockets, not about helping someone whose family could not afford it.

Why any losers? Each year they change the order of which zone has what- it works really well.

Granjura - That zoning system sounds good. I know there will always be losers but it would help to stop or at least spread this disparity in costs.

Stansgran, should children with financially challenged parents be punished (this has been discussed in many other threads). The whole school goes away, bar one or two, with the other children pointing the finger? Often the children of immigrants, who would particularly benefit from the experience (as their parents are unlikely to ski) to bond with others?

Of course there are occasions where you think - he they cut down on the fags and beer, they might be able to afford it, but generally, in my experience, the help is given discreetly exactly to those in need here.
I went as a helper with the primary school from the village to a Bird Park in nearby France last year. Camping overnight, with the WHOLE school, just one night, but with all the little 4 year olds - not a tear either. Entirely paid for by the Council and local Gvt and fund-raising- and everyone the same- wonderful.

Many years ago we all helped fundraise to send 2 sisters on a school trip. I could barely afford to pay for DD1, but these two had lost their daddy, so we all helped, particularly one of the mums who was brilliant.

Then I found out who the GPs were - large house, very well off and I felt a bit miffed.