school holidays - time off work

Naughty_Sausage

hi

just wondering if you work and have LOs, how do you work the very generous holidays with your job?

My thinking is to have most of the half terms off with her and just send her to holiday club during the 6 week holiday. thereby keeping hol club fees to a minimum.

It is extremely difficuly to get ANY time off work in my office (due to my dragon of a boss).

what do you do / think?

pinkpig08

I like to have at least 1 week in the summer, if just for the nicer weather! Also to spread the cost of childcare so I don't have a full 6 weeks to pay for at once.

chivers1977

I am putting aside money via the childcare voucher scheme every month from Sept to cover the holiday club and afterschool club. I am lucky that my parents don't work any more so can have him some days. The plan from Sept when he starts is that I have booked Oct halfterm off. Prob one week at holiday club, hopefully can get Feb half term off, then one week holiday club at easter, one week parents etc etc. When he is bigger ie 7 the plan will be that we will go to my parents house on holiday for a week, leave him there for a week and then they will bring him back. Just trying to sort it all out. I have budgetted for a total of 6 wks holiday club which takes into account mine and my OH's annual leave and my parent's assistance!

strawberry_laces

I am fortuante enough to work part-time flexi hours, so I choose the days and choose the hours, this fits in with DP's hours, so there is always one parent at home.

I am also sat up til midnight when the summeruni london courses were released so I filled up the 6 weeks holiday with loads of free activities for the children, this includes a week of golf, odd days basketball, orienteering, football, swimming and other stuff. So there's plenty of free things they are doing.

I am off for 2 weeks of the summer hols, the first week and a week in august but because I can cram my contractual hours into 2 12 hours shifts I am at home for the other 5 days.

galvanizersbaby

I get about 6 weeks holiday each year and in the summer hols I take a couple of weeks and so does their dad - leaving only a couple of weeks at holiday club to pay.

I think it would be a shame if they spent all the 6 weeks at holiday club (for me really as they like the club so they probably wouldn't mind )

I am lucky in that the same people that run their after school club run the holiday clubs and they run one every school holiday (half terms/inset days etc) so I am able to spread my annual leave out a bit

Will your boss really not grant you any annual leave over the summer hols? - she does sound like a dragon and a pretty unreasonable one!

Naughty_Sausage

by boss is a strange one. she is a mom herself but she puts the job etc first. so, people can only have holiday when she sees fit to grant it. One colleague has had to FIGHT to get time off for his sisters wedding. its awful.

When I have to book holiday I get really stressed about it and dread it.

Spendless

I've been thinking about this recently as I'm about to start job-hunting. My thoughts are to book off the weeks that the BH fall in (eg Easter, May half term, last week of summer hols -aug BH) reducing the amount of AL you need to use up and making your holiday entitlement stretch further.

Feb and oct 1/2 terms I hate anyway for keeping the kids entertained at home cos the weather's often dreadful, so happy to put kids in childcare those weeks.:p

i find xmas often doesn't have anything running between xmas and new year so you need to take that into account if you have a job where you are expected to work those days.

ceebeeby

Spread it out with OH / Friends / Family and paid child-care.

Set it out early with able and willing grandparents - after many years, mine now ask me which weeks they're having kids for over summer hols!

If your kids are in paid child-care, see if you can spread the cost over the year to cover hols (i.e. arrange a monthly fee which includes a bit towards hols costs).

If you've friends in a similar position, arrange to have her kids for a week, and she have yours the following week, so you basically only have to take a week off.

If you've an OH, and are able to take 2 weeks each you take week 1 and 2, he takes week 2 and 3, so you have 3 wks covered, still get a week together ... not ideal, but remember you'll have him all to yourself when the kids grow up.

Good luck

mirrorimage0

im lucky i work in a school so am able to have all the school holidays off with my little ones

BeenieCat

You shouldn't be made to feel stressed or fearful about applying for your annual leave, you're entitled to it and you earn it. Some people are really on a power trip, makes me so mad :mad: