Parents taking children on holiday in term time.

Marmite1953

As a grandparent I am disgusted at the situation of schools striking and not considering the impact on parents having to find childcare or use their annual leave or unpaid leave ,there are long school holidays and teachers training days that need cover, yet if parents try to take their children on holiday(obviously not on a regular basis)on dates when the holiday companies don’t increase the prices they fine the parents !

Couldn’t agree more 👏

No, it is not time to ditch the fines!

Just you try teaching a class where children are taken out of school whenever their parents please! You always have some child who wasn't there when something important was taught, so you have to try to reach that child whatever it was while teaching the remainder of the class interestingly as well.

Parents MUST be made to realise that their children's schooling is of paramount importance if the same children are to have a chance of a decent further education and a good job.

We all know that travelling is more expensive during the school holidays then outwith them, but that is no excuse.

No-one says you have to go away on an expensive holiday - use your imagination and have a cheaper holiday.

Or if you really feel everyone should have holidays abroad, badger the airlines and travel agents to provide these at the same price all year round.

Don't jepordise children's futures by making it harder for them to get proper schooling.

Norah

We took ours out of school, our children take theirs out of school. Normal to me, not everyone can holiday at certain times, for various excellent reasons. Holidays as a family are precious.

I totally agree Norah

We took ours out of school, our children take theirs out of school. Normal to me, not everyone can holiday at certain times, for various excellent reasons. Holidays as a family are precious.

As the daughter of ex pats I missed a lot of school, every 3 years we came to the U.K. for 6months. We stayed with our grandparents and went to school where ever they were.
On one leave my dad bought a caravan ( mum refused to stay with G&G for the whole leave) we toured the U.K. for 3 months.
Our teachers never helped us catch up. They couldn’t possibly with the ever changing children in their classes.
I missed the autumn term of my first year of GCEs, the school I went to in Lancashire had a completely different curriculum.

Somehow we all managed, 2 of us got degrees, 2 got HND’s and we all had useful and reasonably successful careers.
You can guess that I don’t think that missing a couple of weeks is disastrous.

I’m afraid we did this, but only when ours were little. With the type of holidays we had though and the places we took them to while we were away, they were learning although possibly they were unaware of just how much was sinking in!
We never had a ‘laying around a hotel pool’ type of holiday as we would have been bored stiff, never mind the children.

Once they were older though we only went away during the school holidays, but by then we were lucky enough to have bought our holiday home in the West Country.

Parents need to retain some freedom to make their own decisions about what is best for their children. We took ours out of school for 2 weeks every year and took them to France, where, in our view, they learned more and gained important experiences. The saw a different way of life, learned some basic French, tasted new cuisine etc.

This was in the days before fines and the stranglehold of the national curriculum. No-one at school batted an eyelid. The children returned to school with scrapbooks and diaries of what they had done and French souvenirs which benefited all the children in the class.

When mine were little and in primary school, I took them out for a week to go on holiday. Doesn't appear to have done them any harm. And one of my neighbours has just taken their 2 daughters out of school to go on holiday in Turkey for a fortnight. With the cost of the same holiday being almost double if they'd gone in the school holidays, I can understand why they've done it. Both kids are bright, they'll catch up.

Neither do I Wheniwasyourage.

Katek

Certainly in Scotland schools are not marking time or doing very little at the end of summer term. Secondary pupils move into their next academic year in June after exams are finished and start work on their new timetable.

This.

Schools in Glasgow finished last week and in other parts of Scotland will finish over the next week or so, and so it is possible that some children are now on holiday and is is being assumed, wrongly, that they are missing school.

We had to take ours out until the elder reached secondary school as DH was working silly hours as a GP and not all the partners could go away in school holiday weeks. They were always given work to do and always had it finished by the time they went back. I do not regret it at all.

We always made sure that our children were not taken out during any exam period including internal assessments.

Sport’s tournaments, sports days and drama productions were also avoided.

I would never condone taking children out of school just to save money on a holiday
However it gave me food for thought when D commented the other day that, I think, last week or the one before was the first full 5 day week the children had put in since Easter with Inset Days, bank Holidays extra Bank Holidays and strike days.
Hmm

I never took my son out of school for holidays. He had a couple of odd days off for special family events but that was all.
I always felt it was wrong to interrupt his education - and that was in the days before fines.

Perhaps the 10 day allowance should be reinstated.

MaizieD I agree that if the parents are to be fined then that should definitely go to the school.

Holiday companies have parents over the proverbial barrel regarding prices.

As for cheaper alternatives why should those on a lesser income settle for camping in the U.K. in school holidays as opposed to a foreign affordable holiday in term time?

Speaking as an ex Infants teacher, children being absent for the SATS which at the time were formal was a nuisance.
I can't speak for teachers of older children.
In today's economic climate, teachers' strikes, and the aftermath of Covid I personally would holiday with children when I wanted to if it helped the family's finances and well-being. Especially if the fine does not make much difference to the finances.
I would check with the school to see when the SATS and formal exams were taking place and avoid them.
My own DDs often ask the school's permission to take the children out on a Friday to visit us as we live at opposite ends of the country. The school uses their discretion and usually sends them with some work. maybe they would fine them if it was for ten days or a fortnight.

As a grandparent I am disgusted at the situation of schools striking and not considering the impact on parents having to find childcare or use their annual leave or unpaid leave ,there are long school holidays and teachers training days that need cover, yet if parents try to take their children on holiday(obviously not on a regular basis)on dates when the holiday companies don’t increase the prices they fine the parents !

Certainly in Scotland schools are not marking time or doing very little at the end of summer term. Secondary pupils move into their next academic year in June after exams are finished and start work on their new timetable.

My GC went to live in Japan for 3 months when they were all in primary school. The teacher commented that they would learn much more in that3 months than they ever did in school. She was very wise. They don’t fine people here for their children missing school - in certain areas there is a big problem with this but the parents wouldn’t pay anyone anything and are not expected to.

We did that too rosie when the boys were at primary school and there was a 10 day allowance each academic year. Two years running, two weeks in Florida and one was the half term week.

So who is going to get these children back up to speed when they return? They have missed possibly 2/3 weeks tuition leaving a knowledge gap - whether big or small. Teachers then have to spend extra time/divert their attention from the other 99% of their class to assist the holidaymaker in catching up. So is it fair/reasonable for teachers to have extra work or hassle to accommodate other people's holiday plans? (This is assuming there is only one child missing , could be more, ergo more work) Perhaps the parents could be tasked with teaching the missed work at home! As Grammaretto and dogsmother have said there are cheaper, more affordable options.

I took mine out of school a couple of times when they were young primary school age just for either a Friday or on one occasion for a week it was allowed then you could take them out for 10 days a year,didn't do them any harm.
When it's near the end of the school year and if they are young or have finished exams can't see a problem with it.

P.S I do appreciate that in a workplace there may be more staff wanting/needing to take time off during school holidays than there is time available to be taken off. Though there is the option of temporary holiday cover available to employers.

Sorry - mis posted. The parents taking term time holidays will nevertheless expect any missed learning to be provided, though perhaps at the end of the summer term the children are more likely to miss shared experience like sports day, leavers’ concert, trips out etc. It doesn’t give children the view that school matters, does it?

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.