School declined holidays and branded the kids truants

Murphy_The_Cat

easy wrote: »

Wow Murphy, that is FANTASTIC. Mind you, your school will get downgraded in an ofsted inspection for it.

You're right, it DOES get downgraded every OFSTED Inspection because of it and she gets 'taken to task' by the LEA because of her 'permitted abscence' figures being relatively high - but as she says ""I'm not going to be the one who stops a family having some holiday time together to keep the penpushers happy" .

She also told another parent that "she has never, ever denied a child a holiday with his/her parents and that she never would", as she considers quality family time to be that important.

:beer:

easy

cubegame wrote: »

I suppose you think everyone should pay the same for our holidays, with those of us without children subsidizing those who do. Oh hang on, we already do that with the ridiculous hand outs in the form of tax credit you get for pursuing your lifestyle choice..........

I don't object to the holiday companies making their money this way, it's how a proper free market economy should work. I object to the Govt telling us when we can and can't have our own children. They dictate school holidays as it is, which play merry hell with the freedom of working parents (and the businesses which employ them). To then say we don't have the right to take them away when we get the opportunity is, fankly, preposterous

And you may think our children are a lifestyle choice, but in years to come, it's the taxation on their income which will provide your public health care/state pension/income support.

wallbash

oh yes wallbash, have a think about the terminology 'price-fixing', while you're at it...

If you had spent more time at school , you would have the education to follow the argument.

dmg24

easy wrote: »

Well, it depends how the OP does it.

We took DS on a 3 week cruise to the caribbean 2 years back (he was 8). Before we went, on 2 or 3 occasions we got out the atlas to look at where we would be going. We talked about the countries we would be visiting

On the trip, we looked at the map on board every day to see how far we had travelled (and did the maths associated with that). One of the officers saw our interest, and showed DS how to read the ships charts.

When we crossed the equator, we talked about what that meant, why it gets dark so early in the evenings there, and why we were changing our watches every day.

At each island stop we went through a potted history of that island. DS learnt about colonisation, about sugar cane farming, about the history of the slave trade.

In Madiera on the way back, we boarded a smaller boat and went out dolphin watching. We saw dolphins in the wild, and talked about their habitat.

And along the way DS gained experience in how to behave in a good restaurant, met a diversity of other people, learned to make new friends in the kids club, and gained confidence and life experience.

He wouldn't get all that in 13 years sitting in a classroom, never mind in the 13 school days he missed (would have been 14, but the school had a strike day in the middle ).

So how does that relate to Florida? There is a big difference between going on cultural visits and visiting Mickey Mouse!

kelloggs36

There are 13 weeks out of a year for school holidays - why can't you save up for a longer time and go when it is the holidays? Teachers and other school staff have to! All the other arguments about what you can learn whilst abroad stand, but as I said, you have 13 weeks a year in which to do that!

Murphy_The_Cat

kelloggs36 wrote: »

There are 13 weeks out of a year for school holidays -

Have you considered that for business people (one man bands), self employed, agricultural workers etc etc that they have demands place upon them over and above when it fits in with the school timetable ?

JVRMac

poet123 wrote: »

I am a school Governor too, and I have never heard of this new policy. DirectGov makes no reference to it, and a quick google brings up no imminent changes. Were you told what legislation it was? I would be interested to know.

I was informed by the school, that from September the laws relating to the 10 days off will be changed and that all holidays would be unauthorised, which would be reported to the welfare officer and classed as truancy, we would then be taken to court and would probably have to pay the fine of £100 per child. (It was previously £50 per child).

Just checked the LEA website and it doesn't refer to any changes to the exisitng policy, so will have another word with the school.

mogadon

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Have you considered that for business people (on man bands), self employed, agricultural workers etc etc that they have demands place upon them over and above when it fits in with the school timetable ?

When you sign your kids up to school you sign them up for the whole package, not just the bits you want to pick and choose. No-one is forced to send them to school, they can home educate and take them on holiday whenever they want.

But, most parents don't want that sort of hassle or inconvenience, and of course it would eat into the finances, making it harder to fund those essential and expensive foreign holidays. They just want to be able to pull kids out of school when it suits them.

What a great way to teach kids that rules don't apply to them. No wonder we end up with so many self-entitled adults that expect the world to bend to their every whim, and are then shocked to discover that employers don't see it that way.

A holiday is not a basic human right or need. Perhaps there are lots of people who are really in a position where they can never ever spend time with their children during the QUARTER of a year when the kids are off school. Not even just staying home together or a weekend away.

That's a shame for them, but there are many people who can't take a holiday at any time of year, for health, financial or other reasons. Yet miraculously they seem to survive. Holidays are a luxury, a child's education is far more important. At least it should be, but I suppose it depends where the parents' priorities lie.

easy

Oh mogadon, I really must take issue with your post.

"When you sign your kids up to school you sign them up for the whole package, not just the bits you want to pick and choose. No-one is forced to send them to school, they can home educate and take them on holiday whenever they want. "

Of course we are, in the main, forced to send them to school. The law says they must be educated, and HUGE numbers of parents would feel (and in fact, would be) unequal to the task of home educating. Of course most families can only afford to go on these holidays because both parents are in paid employment. Furthermore, many people feel home educating is too closed an environment for most children.

They just want to be able to pull kids out of school when it suits them.

Our head teacher has just authorised a holiday for 2 children in the school so they can go on holiday with their father. He is in the armed forces. So he was away on active service over Christmas AND Easter. He isn't just "pulling the kids out of school when it suits him"

a child's education is far more important

and a child's education doesn't ONLY happen in a school.

easy

dmg24 wrote: »

So how does that relate to Florida? There is a big difference between going on cultural visits and visiting Mickey Mouse!

Hmm, that shows the HUGE hole in your geographical knowledge ..

Disney World isn't the only thing in Florida you know.

The Kennedy Space Centre and the Everglades pop IMMEDIATELY into my mind, both full of educational possibilities.

And Epcot "is dedicated to international culture and technological innovation."

Presumably the OP wasn't going to spend all 14 days of the holiday ogling Mickey & Donald.