Should parents be allowed to take kids out of school for a holiday?

Oakdene · 21 January 2014 at 1:22PM

I have no choice in the matter seeing as I have two children and my other half is a teacher. WHat I do find very annoying is that we have booked a cottage in Brittany and the nearest Airport is Rennes which in the first week of July costs £32pp each way, however when I look for our selected dates in August it jumps to £165pp each way!!

Galaxy68 · 21 January 2014 at 1:24PM

Holidays during term time should be avoided at all cost, disrupting a child's education is a bad idea. I have children and have never taken them out of school for a holiday, they're now at top universities, would they have got the same results had I disrupted their education every year to take them away? Maybe but maybe not. A child's education should be the most important thing, it sets the path for the rest of their future.

seven-day-weekend · 21 January 2014 at 1:24PM

charliebrown wrote: »

My wife and i both work and i struggle to get time off during the set school holidays. We wanted to take them to Florida but the difference between the last two weeks of the holidays and the first week of term is over £1000.
We took them to Cyprus two years ago where we toured a local Roman ruin. Back in school our daughters class were learning about Romans and she was the only child to have seen some of the things in real life. They have also been up a volcano, another thing discussed in school.
It is important to do well in school, but it is also important to have strong bonds with your family, and holidays help create memories.

Whilst I'm sure that Charliebrown's child's experience was indeed educational, how many parents use 'but it's educational' as an excuse to bake on a beach in Benidorm?

My own feelings are that IF you can get your holidays no other time then it should be allowed for one or two weeks, as long as it is the parent who makes sure their child catches up on any work they have missed.

If you CAN go in school holidays then you should. We had thirty years of school holidays because my husband was a teacher

kkgree1 · 21 January 2014 at 1:27PM

I work in a school but am not a teacher. I voted that children should be able to have holidays in term time but up to a strict maximum and not at a crucial time. I think the key point is "crucial time" as I know there are times in the year, normally the last week of term when they are likely to miss very little but normally missing the start of term makes it much harder to catch up. I also think that years 10 - 13 are key and therefore holidays in term time impact far more on students' results. The case in the press recently involved a year 10/11 girl who had missed a lot of schooling already and I was sympathetic with the authorities who had taken the family to court.

seven-day-weekend · 21 January 2014 at 1:29PM

catmonkey85 wrote: »

I've just read the comments on Facebook and a lot of people seem to be saying that the travel industry should stop ripping people off. While I agree that it is very frustrating, this will never happen. The travel companies - for example Thomas Cook, Thomson, Co-Op Travel, or anyone who is ATOL Protected - don't own all of the hotels, or all of the planes. They have to make a profit based on what they can buy the holidays for. So what you're asking is for all of the hotels, and all of the airports, and all of the flight companies and everyone in the tourist industry in the whole entire world to agree to charge a flat rate that is not variable on peak and off peak times. Clearly this is never going to happen.

Teachers have many targets and their careers rely on exam results. So it would be unfair to allow children to be off school at critical times or for extended periods.

However, holidays can be educational and I agree that children should be allowed to go on a 2 week holiday with their families during term time. As long as the teachers agree in advance that it is not during a critical point, and maybe give some extra work, or ask for a written holiday report in return, there should be no problem with this.

I'm not a teacher, parent, or employee of the tourist industry.

But that means the teachers have extra work that they have to mark just so that someone can go on holiday.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't go, just that it should be the parents' responsibility to make sure that the children catch up with missed work.

catmonkey85 · 21 January 2014 at 1:33PM

Fair enough seven-day-weekend - although I meant more a 5 minute show & tell to the class rather than something that would need official marking, or worksheets that the parents could be given the sheets of answers to. Of course, this depends on how responsible the parents are!

seven-day-weekend · 21 January 2014 at 1:46PM

catmonkey85 wrote: »

Fair enough seven-day-weekend - although I meant more a 5 minute show & tell to the class rather than something that would need official marking, or worksheets that the parents could be given the sheets of answers to. Of course, this depends on how responsible the parents are!

I was thinking more of secondary school....I think they've got a bit past show-and-tell by then!!:rotfl:

Chickabiddybex · 21 January 2014 at 1:47PM

I never had this problem because we couldn't afford to go on holiday when I was a kid.

Cry me a river!!!

mrssalvator · 21 January 2014 at 1:50PM

Hopefully in the future local authories will have more control over when the school holidays are and in turn each area will have different times off.

Prothet_of_Doom · 21 January 2014 at 1:59PM

Parents should be able to take kids out of school if the holiday itinerary and project work handed in could be deemed to be educational.

So a trip to Paris could include a history of art project, some engineering learning (how does the tower stay up), some RE, (there's enough churches), some French History, and the joourney back to Calais might include a detour to war graves.

A trip to germany might include a trip to concentration camps,

A trip to a beach, would include The Biology of Sea Creatures, Rock Formation, and arcitechure (sand castles).

A camping trip would include an extreme home ecomonics (sorry food tech) module.

All these things my parents did with me, and quite frankly i learnt more in our 2 week summer holiday than in a 36 week school year.

If all they do is go and sit next to a pool, then no. quite frankly it's pointless.

Should parents be allowed to take kids out of school for a holiday?

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