MMD: Should you take the kids out of school for a holiday?

maytaurus · 27 August 2008 at 4:58AM

With all the horror in the world today and the terrible things people do and receive no punishment
There's something wrong with a system that fines someone for taking their children on a family holiday, provided no major exams etc are missed!
There are many reasons for not being able to travel during school holidays
& children learn from travelling & seeing & experiencing different places & cultures,holidays should be valuable life experiences

tallgirld · 27 August 2008 at 7:09AM

No I wouldn't take them out of school. I would book the holiday and go on my own!!!!

jacky_horn · 27 August 2008 at 7:34AM

My daughter is now 25. Every year in the infants and juniors only, we went on hol in the term time to save money. The school was fine with this and I used to take school work with me that she loved doing in quiet times. She ended up top of her school and her pic in the local paper for top marks in GCSE's in the town. We weren't neglectful just broke and still wanted great experiences.

paulwellerfan · 27 August 2008 at 7:43AM

i will be taking my daughter out of school during oct for a week-
i am a single parent
i will probably get fined the £50.00, however its still cheaper than paying the full cost of the same holiday in the half term.

nibs · 27 August 2008 at 7:48AM

I am taking my ds out for 4 days next year for a holiday to Florida and its his GCSE exam year.
The school have told me they will fine me £50 per parent per week.
Thats fine as the saving I am making by taking him out of school is about £1100. ( there are five in my family) The other two schools have been fine about it.
His attendance at school has always been about 98% and he always works hard.
Please do not tell me that his education will suffer as a result of my decision.
He loses more days a year due to snow day closures and training days.Then there is the dissruption caused by the amount of days some teachers take off sick.
I agree that we have to teach our children that rules are made and we have to abide by them - but its also important for them to realise that sometimes things aren't always black and white and that we sometimes have to make a decision based on the individual case and not just because the rule book says so.

Dorrie · 27 August 2008 at 7:51AM

I was under the impression that it was now illegal to take children out of school during term time - especially for a fortnight! Many authorities do fine you. There are 13 weeks of school holiday a year (14 if you include all the non-pupil/teacher training days), ample time for a family holiday. As others have said, it doesn't have to be abroad - take a week in Britain somewhere. If you live in England, go to Scotland, Wales or Ireland, etc.

Have never seen the attraction of going to places like Majorca anyway - hardly a 'cultural' holiday is it?

andysuth · 27 August 2008 at 8:24AM

Unless you count the hoards of brits thorwing up over each others naked bodies in Sh!g-a-luf there's no real culture to be gleened.

Take them to China or India or something.

Consider time of year as well, it'd be really disruptive to go during the first month back at school.

I would and will take my kids somewhere during school time, but not Majorca.

-Andy.

andysuth · 27 August 2008 at 8:26AM

£50 per parent per week, surely that's descriminatory against children with three bi-parents?

mushypeaman · 27 August 2008 at 8:29AM

fudgecat wrote: »

Two weeks out of school in the Autumn term is enough to miss an entire scheme of work of a specific genre in, say, English. . . . . . but do not convince yourself it will make no difference to your child`s education - it will. . . . . .
As you can guess - I am a teacher!

They've got the rest of their lives to go on holiday.

rag31 · 27 August 2008 at 8:33AM

How ignorant.

Majorca is not just a resort with drunk Brits throwing up. It is a huge and beautiful island with plenty to see and do for anyone wanting to provide wonderful and educational experiences for their children.

Everyone who hears this 'dilemma' (and yes, it pops up every 5 minutes) assumes the parents are louts who are going to some nasty resort to drink and smoke and ignore their kids for 14 days. Stop being so damn ignorant fgs.

Yes, maybe some are (as in all sections of society) but there are a lot who are on low incomes but still want to provide their children with experiences of other cultures and countries and feel they have no choice.

I have in the past taken my children out of school to go on holiday and don't think for one second they have missed out (their continued progress without a blip has proven this). We are diligent parents who provide lots of opportunities for learning outside school, we are interested in their learning and active in their education. We don't assume that we have dumped them in school so can tick off the 'education' box and denounce all responsibility.

We are now even too broke however for holidaying abroad, so are going to continue camping and staying with relatives in various bits of the Uk for a while (just got back from a rainy week in Wales!) which is good because we are exploring new places and doing things we haven't done before.

But, I would still take them out in the future if the opportunity presented itself and we felt it was unavoidable. Anyone who thinks that my children will get to 20 and really have missed out that week when they were 9 is probably slightly crazy!!

Beck

MMD: Should you take the kids out of school for a holiday?

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