School declined holidays and branded the kids truants

noapron

I do get the sympathy with you, but the prob is so many parents do this, and would no doubt complain if the schools suddenly shut down for a week or two because support staff or teachers wanted a cheaper hol. I don't think the schools are the villains here - you may have had excellent attendance, but any rule cannot take that into account. To my mind, the rocketing of hol prices in school hols should be the target.

It reminds of my sister and her dh who used to think it perfectly ok to let their kids skip school when they were busy during harvest. Farmers thought that was fine but would no doubt have moaned if on any particular day their kids were turned away from school because there wasn't room that day or the school had just decided to close for the day.

I'm sorry I just think that whereas say ten years ago, parents rarely took their children out of school to get a cheaper hol, now they think it's the obvious thing to do, and that is why this fining system came into being

robin_banks

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

The children are not the problem here as the father isn't allowed the time off.

I would think it seriously unwise to book any holiday anywhere before having annual leave approved for all working adults.

Tbh without sounding a meanie I'd go as far to say it's downright stupid.

I refused an employee who applied for 4 weeks leave 6 months plus in advance. Operational reasons.

Anonymousa

In my opinion, it's wrong to take kids out of school for holidays and teaches kids the wrong attitude to school/ working life.

However, I understand the difference in price between holiday and term-time holidays makes the consequences, of students' education and financially, pale into insignificance.

Labour, when they got in, promised to do something about those travel operators who priced so differently, but I'm not sure what they could have done (and they didn't anyway!)

No solution I'm afraid, but if I was you I'd book a cheaper holiday in holiday time somewhere else.

robin_banks

JVRMac wrote: »

Hi all

I've just booked a holiday to Florida for next year. We couldn't afford to go in the school holidays so we decided to book it around Whitweek so the kids and hubby would only be off for 1 week out of the term (my husband is a caretaker in a school). So I handed the holiday forms in and have been advised that as from Sept the law has changed and no holidays are allowed in term time. My kids will be in Yr 4 and Yr 2 at Primary School both of them have had 100% attendance since they started and now I am being advised that there absence will be classed as truancy and we will be taken to court and fined £100 per child.
This is the holiday of a lifetime for us, it's costing us £3K just for flights and room only, to book the same hol in the Easter or 6 wk hols the cost rose to just under £5K.
And to top everything else off my husband has told me that he won't have the holidays authorised either.
I can't believe I'm having these problems when we are giving everyone a year's notice, has anyone got any suggestions on what we can do or what our rights are, if we have any?
Many Thanks

£5k on a holiday without checking if you could get the time off ?

whiteangel_2

I too have recently had the same problem with my local school. Took my 8 year old out of school for two days and was told by the school that I would be reported to the Local Authority and would be fined £50 as an 'unauthorised absence'!! My son has had a 100% attendance record for the past five years. He learnt more in his two days of absence, visiting Pompeii, Mount Vasuvius and Sicilily, than he would have learnt at school in those two days. Why are children allowed on school organised holidays during term time? My eldest son went on a school organised visit to Disneyland in Paris and he didn't find that particularly educational! If travel companies were fair, holidays wouldn't cost more during school holidays and we could all book time off on the school designated holidays!

easy

I'm a school governor, and this is the first I have heard about a change in the law from September..

Lets look at your husband's situation first. Has he been allowed holidays in term-time before? Our caretaker is school caretaker 52 weeks a year, whether school is open or not (school also used for holiday clubs etc), and our caretaker is allowed holidays any time of year. It could be argued that the caretaker is more valuable during school closure anyway, checking daily for damage/vandalism/leaks etc.
If he has previously been allowed holidays in term-time, then they can't suddenly change his conditions without consultation. He needs to talk to the union rep about this.

As far as the kids are concerned, TBH it shouldn't be seen as a huge problem, if they have good attendence record so far, that they miss 10 days schooling at primary school age. The real problem is those kids who miss 2 or 3 days week-in week-out, and the original guidlines were set out to handle this. Unfortunately, tho, it is easier to target those parents who have the temerity to ask politely for a few days off, than to chase and fine the !!!!less, and this is the way it goes. Some local authorities are more zealous about this than others, and the same with head-teachers.

Our head teacher will USUALLY authorise a holiday like this, as her view is that if she wants co-operation from parents (about reading at home, homework, nit checks, fund raising etc etc etc) then she has to offer co-operation with parents. However, she would suggest that holidays shouldn't be taken in term-time by children who REALLY struggle academically, and she would refuse to authorise holidays for more than one request a year, for those who take loads of time off for other reasons/no reason, and requests for holidays during SATS time (our school tend to test all children so they can monitor individual progress.

In your shoes, I would sort out your husbands situation first, and if HE can go, then go and have a quiet, calm chat with the head teacher.

JVRMac

Thanks easy.... my DH has worked for the school for 8 years and has never requested time off whilst outside of term time before, like you mentioned he is a caretaker for 52 weeks of the year, it's a large school so there are another 2 who all do similar roles, so it's not as if there is no-one to look after the school.

Also he has to pre-book his whole years holidays in March to run from April to March which is why he hadn't asked about them yet. I've rang him at work and told him to ask now, so fingers crossed.

In response to Robin Banks the holiday would have been £5k if we booked the holiday at Easter or in the 6 weeks holidays, that is not what we are paying.

Also just to set the record straight this isn't a holiday on a whim thing, this is our family holiday of a lifetime, we got married in Florida and next year would be our 15th wedding aniversary as well as being my 40th, this is also the 1st holiday abroad the kids have had. I waited until the kids would be at an age to both enjoy and remember the experience and before the oldest gets to secondary school where it would have more of an impact on his education.

OK rant over, I do concede that this is not the Schools fault but the holiday operators who are holding us all to ransom.

Many thanks for the replies.

Incapuppy

JVRMac wrote: »

OK rant over, I do concede that this is not the Schools fault but the holiday operators who are holding us all to ransom.

I'm sorry but I have to say that I think it is your fault for disregarding the terms of your OH's employment contract and booking the holiday without having had prior approval for his leave.

Having said that I do hope you can go and given your situation I would probably take the kids out of school and risk a fine too.

easy

Incapuppy wrote: »

I'm sorry but I have to say that I think it is your fault for disregarding the terms of your OH's employment contract and booking the holiday without having had prior approval for his leave.

Having said that I do hope you can go and given your situation I would probably take the kids out of school and risk a fine too.

The OP doesn't say she has disregarded the terms of her OH's employment contract. She apparently had no inkling at all that term-time holidays would be a problem for her DH (surely, unless it is a change of policy, that would have been made clear from the outset of the job).

And I would assume a holiday booking MORE than a year ahead wouldn't present a problem, in any ordinary job. Indeed, we did exactly the same thing, booking a holiday to celebrate my 50th birthday one weekend, my hubby went into work on the monday and said "can I book my leave, for 17 months ahead?". His manager was fine about it, and it simply means his collagues have to work round his booked dates (for a change !).

wallbash

but the holiday operators who are holding us all to ransom.

Rubbish , the tour operators are in it to make money , Why shouldn't they .If I owned a holiday home , peak demand means peak prices. Law of supply and demand.

And before anybody starts , I am a husband of a teacher , so holidays are always taken at peak times , this will be for 40 ?? years not just the years your own child is in education.