Parents taking children on holiday in term time.

I’ve only read the first two pages so far but wanted to thank Chardy for standing up for teaching staff. My daughter is a secondary English teacher (head of faculty it happens). She has not been on strike, not because she doesn’t believe in it but because there are children that needed looking after during the strike days. We do need people to support the teachers and help schools get the budgets needed. Having to fund everything (including huge energy costs) from the same budget simply means that staff have to do every more (most days my daughter does not even have a single break, all her “frees” which are for prep, management work, etc are taken up covering for teachers who are not there. Some support would be nice.

MaizieD

Of course, another solution would be for holiday prices to remain the same over the course of the year. But we couldn't do that, could we?

Children being taken out of school for holidays is a nuisance for the school and the children will miss work that may not be repeated. But it becomes even more of a problem when parents who are separated each insist on taking their children on holiday during term time.

I suppose it all boils down to judging which is most important, the school work or the holiday.

I don't see any problem with the fining apart from the fact that I think the money should go to the school, not into the general government coffers.

I also must confess that my liberal views don't extend to thinking that there is a god given right for everyone to take a holiday abroad every year.

Of course, another solution would be for holiday prices to remain the same over the course of the year. But we couldn't do that, could we?

It's Capitalism, innit - that's how the 'market' works!

Of course, parents could, en masse, refuse to purchase these over-priced holidays, then the market would be compelled to review its pricing structure...

But why does the fine-money not go into the school coffers? It's almost like the government has found another way to gouge money out of the less well off!

Complain to the travel companies not the school.Perhaps if people said right this year we stay here the travel companies would do something about their pricing. Of course it wont happen, but please do not blame the schools who have more than enough rules and regs to cope with set by the powers that be.
Schools have changed hugely since I was teaching, but I do know that in secondary at least the education programme keeps rolling , so comparing it with my time at school ,or even my daughter's is pointless.

Not long ago dd took the elder (primary age) Gdcs out of school for a week before half term - she was anxious to visit a very old friend a very long flight away, who’d recently had a diagnosis of cancer, with a very poor prognosis.
She did clear it with the head teacher first, who in the circs made no objection.
IIRC the Gdcs were encouraged to keep diaries of their nearly-fortnight away.

During my last year of teaching, 17 out of 32 children in my class had holidays during term time of one week or more; two children had three weeks and 8 children had two weeks. It is disruptive for the rest of the class, and class time has to be spent in covering essential work that has been missed, particularly in maths, English and science. Whether the families were fined I do not know.That was 11 years ago.

Now I am aware that more families are taking holidays in term time, building in the cost of the fines which is far less than the extra cost during school holidays. I don't approve; the curriculum is very tightly focused and there is little allowance for catch-up time. The idea that they don't do anything towards the end of term is wrong, they prepare for the next year's curriculum; other pupils give the holiday makers a hard time when they return, accusing them of skiving.
However, it is hard to argue the case when teachers have disrupted education deliberately during the past year.

I don’t approve either. It’s something I never did and I can’t condone loss of education/disruption of everyone else’s education and the teacher’s time for the sake of a cheaper holiday.

Please be clear that am in no way denigrating teachers or any other teaching staff.

If the fines are to be issued they should go to the school not the County Council

Nanatoone
Thank you, re support for the teachers, even though it’s a bit off track from the OP. The people who know most about the higher costs of holidays during school holiday times are school staff, whether they are cleaners, office staff, kitchen staff, lunchtime supervisors, TAs or teachers or heads.
If anyone in any of those groups want to take a holiday in term time, even if it was allowed, they would have to take it as unpaid leave and be fined for taking their children out of school and have it recorded on their attendance record, and have to listen to the endless comments on long school holidays (at the most expensive times of the year.

That seems sensible. It’s the staff and pupils of the school who have been affected by the unauthorised absence.

GSM and GG13 exactly.
One parent, well known locally for his achievements, took that to the newspapers. He was incensed that his fine wasn’t going to the school who would have to deal with the fall out from his actions.

We were in Salou two weeks ago and I know it was not school holidays but the place was overrun with school kids. It's is very expensive in term time and apparently its a lot to do with the airlines charging more. On the other hand some holiday companies offer free child places all year round.

People seem to think they have a god-given right to a nice holiday, and a cheap one at that. I have news for them. Children have a god-given right to an education.

I see education as a wonderful privilege and that is why I get really angry with the kids who don’t give a toss. Give their place to someone who would really appreciate it , especially those in some of the third world countries who would give their right arm for the chance.

Children from some third world countries ! Long way to travel every day

Or the girls the Taliban refuse to allow an education.

Many years ago my husband,a serving police officer, was on a drug dealing case, car crash took his life, our daughters were 5 and 7.

4 months later I took them out of school for our annual weeks holiday, big change from a detective sergeant’s salary to a widow’s pension .

God given right ? No.

I am amazed that the overall opinion seems to be only those who can afford a holiday in school holidays should have one.

One week or even two weeks missed is not the end of a child’s education. Maybe save your concerns for the 1,000’s of children who are lost from registers and schools since lockdown

How many weeks learning was lost during the teachers strikes

I used to say to my secondary pupils 'Imagine if everyone in the class did what you just did'. It might have been being very noisy, walking round the class when they were told to remain seated, shouting out etc.
So imagine if each of the 30 pupils in a class took 1 or 2 weeks holiday, and across the year, there was never a full class...

Annie teachers' strikes mean the whole class misses the lesson, so teacher adjusts subsequent lessons accordingly. That's totally different.

My objection is to the fines. I am not arguing for taking children out of school, but against making it even more difficult for poorer families than for the better off. It is that unfairness that I find objectionable.

That objection does not mean that I don’t ’support’ teachers either. As soon as people post anything remotely critical about a system (whether it is NHS GP appointments, the lack of dentists or something about schools) posters with children working in those areas take it personally and rush to tell us how hard those children work. Nobody is saying otherwise. It is perfectly possible to support teachers (which I do) and also oppose a system which exacerbates the fact that those with money can do things with their children that those without can’t.

Take a child out of school for a holiday is disruptive, so are teachers strike disruptive

Doodledog. 👏

Why is nobody content with a self catering holiday in the UK as we always had?

Are there no holiday lets in this country now ?