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

Mohawk_3

I think it's a safe bet that the person who took their kids to Disney World for the bargain price of £4000 plus £500 fine earns more than the average teacher. I'm pretty sure they could find something for that price during the school holidays.

I know plenty of people who didn't have any kind of formal holiday every year, because their parents couldn't afford it. Day trips didn't do them any harm, and if it's quality time you want, you don't always have to do it at the expensive holiday parks. Many museums are free, and open during school holidays and likely to offer more culture than a trip to the beach.

If you want to take a sunshine trip, admit that is your priority. But there is no need to take your kids out of school simply for culture or quality family time.

But I emphasise, I still think there will be the odd good reason to take your child out of school for a very specific, and not regular event. The problem I have is that too many parents think it's their right to do this and treat their children's education and their schools with contempt.

babyharry5

LuLan wrote: »

I totally understand that parents can be tempted to take their children out of school due due to current financial climate, and the vast differences in prices. However, this will disrupt their childs education - this is a fact.

I also understand those opinions that place value on out-of-school education - I am also an advocator of this but I return to my previous point - this will affect your childs school education. Teachers plan projects and topics which consist of a process of objectives, inwhich learning is continuously built upon. Missing school means that children will miss elements of this process, subsequently hindering their overall understanding. The school day is already jam-packed, meaning that there isnt much time to go over previous learning so children may never get the opportunity to catch up on missed learning.

As you can guess, another teacher here!

complete tosh! - by taking my son, who is 7yrs old out of school for 5 days, will certainly not hinder his education. In fact he is one of the brightest children in his class ( having to go up to the next class for some of his lessons as the teacher cannot manage this in his own class!)

my son spends each wednesday am at swimming - he leaves at 9.15am and returns to school at 12pm ( 2 3/4hours) he actually spends 20 minutes in the water and the other time is sat on the coach or at the side of the pool waiting for the other swimming group. if you added up the number of hours wasted here ( and there are a lot more wasted hours!!) they would far outweigh his weeks vacation.

newsgroup_monkey

10 year old is doing their SATs surely?

I wouldn't be taking a 10 year old out for any time during this particular year.

Otherwise, I have no issue with doing it every now and then. Annually, no. Once or twice in a childs entire school career maybe (younger rather than older too)

JuliaPom

We took our children out of school for holidays because, as suggested, we could not afford to do otherwise. In no way did it affect their education, our daughter received 3 As and a B for Maths, Physics, Biology and Chemistry and is now a Senior Registrar Surgeon. And our son received 2 As a B and a C for Maths, English, Physics and Further Maths, he is now quite high up in IT, prior to which he had been a solicitor. So parents with young kids be encouraged, do NOT listen to the doom and gloom merchants, time spent concentrating on them and having fun together regardless of where you go is too important, also they will be learning all the time because they will be in a new environment regardless. I think punishing parents like this is ludicrous. Thank God we could do this freely with our two.

Nettie35

All 10 - 11 year olds take exams in year 6 juniors, it is mainly used to show that the school is teaching adequately. The results are passed onto their chosen senior school, but not used here as they then get them to sit CATS when they enter senior school. So their is no actual benefit to the child anyway!

newsgroup_monkey wrote: »

10 year old is doing their SATs surely?

I wouldn't be taking a 10 year old out for any time during this particular year.

Otherwise, I have no issue with doing it every now and then. Annually, no. Once or twice in a childs entire school career maybe (younger rather than older too)

ella2ethan1

Yes I would and yes I do take my children out of school for our holidays!

I think the price hike in the school holidays are absolutley ridiculous...how on earth they expect normal people to afford to take their family on holiday for even a week is beyond me.

We take them out for 6 days every year and next year will be 10 days as for the first time we are going away for 2 weeks. I do worry what they will miss out on but think the family time together is much more important.

x

ceejaydee23

Why do you say it like that? I could tell you what the name was, but off cuff id not beable to spell it! ( The big church in Barcelona) Sagria Familia, is how it sounds. I didnt say we went for culture, it was just the fact that we didnt sit on a beach all day, smoking and drinking, and not caring what she got up to. We also went to Camp Nou, as my partner is a football fanatic and went to a medieval banquet evening, yes all very common, but it is still something we wouldn't normally have got to do back at home. We had a weekend in blackpool, and it rained all weekend, but we still made the most of it.

I just want my daughter to have had something I didnt have growing up, a FAMILY holiday! and those i did have werent with my mum and dad, it was an aunt and uncle taking me and my sister away with my nan and grandad.

mumbleman

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. If that is the only possibility for the parent and children to take a holiday(,) then fine (comma) as the benefits to family life may well outway (out weigh) any formal education loss. If it is done purely for a cheap deal, then go ahead - but do not convince yourself it will make no (any) difference to your child`s education - it will. I am doubtful that a two week package break on one of the Costas will particularly broaden the experience of other cultures?
(Do you mean 'broaden the children's experience of other cultures'? CHECK YOUR WORK!
As you can guess - I am a teacher!

What exactly are you a teacher of?

aplegjnf

mumbleman wrote: »

What exactly are you a teacher of?

Aww, c'mon....that's not fair! Don't we all get excited and careless when posting about passionate issues! please don't go through and spell check mine:rolleyes:
:rotfl:
But we get your point:p

lararsmith

If you are thinking of taking your children out of school make sure you get the permission from the school otherwise you could end up being prosecuted for failing to secure your childs attendance at school.