Taking children out of school in term time

chocolateteddy

I requested 8 days off for our feb holiday then discovered dates of feb 1/2 term had been moved so we thought we only needed to request 8 days as 2nd week we were away was 1/2 term!! but now need 13 days off as 1/2 term is a week later OOps
I notified the school of the mistake and today got a letter saying they will grant 10 days authorised leave but unauthorise the other 3. The next line then read 'taking your child out of school during term time is detrimental to your childs education'!!!!!!

At least that was painless got to now go to our other daughters school and explain to them! I am dreading it as it was not likely to authorise 8 days let alone 13.

Spendless

Is that for feb 1/2 term next year chocolateteddy? Our feb 1/2 term is a week later than usual, first ime I've known it happen since mine started at school 7 years ago!

jackieblack

Half term is 21st - 25th Feb here, which is a week later than usual, probably because Easter is late next year so moving half-term evens out the two halves of the spring term

Most local authorities post term dates on their websites (try googling "school term dates your county") more than a year in advance (2011-12 dates have been available since April/May here) although individual schools then add their own non-pupil days (5)

sunshinetours

You could always try and move your holiday?
As JackieBlack says most county councils have school term dates at least 2 years in advance. Of course private or non state schools may be different.

As was said on the previous thread its a lifestyle choice for you as parents, nothing else. I don't believe kids will suffer in the long term from missing say a week each year but I do wish people wouldn't try and dress it up into something it isn't ie its an educational trip - no its not , its a family ski trip !

Murphy_The_Cat

jackieblack wrote: »

Good news for you Murph!

Where you off to this time then? No planning thread this year?

It was Texas earlier this year & somewhere slightly less exotic in October. Next year, at this early stage, its looking like it will be acombination of Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia & Delaware. Probably in the weeks around half term at the end of May. It looks liek we'll wait a bit longer before we venture to Hawaii.

sunshinetours wrote: »

You could always try and move your holiday?
As JackieBlack says most county councils have school term dates at least 2 years in advance. Of course private or non state schools may be different.

As was said on the previous thread its a lifestyle choice for you as parents, nothing else. I don't believe kids will suffer in the long term from missing say a week each year but I do wish people wouldn't try and dress it up into something it isn't ie its an educational trip - no its not , its a family ski trip !

I'm not dressing it up in any way whatsoever. It suits our family to go where we choose to go, at the time that we choose to go and the school is fully supportive of us when we do it. No matter how peple try and do it, you cannae have a fortnight in Hawaii in a schools holiday week. :D

sunshinetours

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

I'm not dressing it up in any way whatsoever. It suits our family to go where we choose to go, at the time that we choose to go and the school is fully supportive of us when we do it. No matter how peple try and do it, you cannae have a fortnight in Hawaii in a schools holiday week. :D

To be honest it wasn't really aimed at you. You have have already clearly stated you don't like being confined by rules (paraphrasing for which I apologise if I am wrong here) so quiteclearly you are going to be doing your own thing regardless of others anyway.

Its more others who try and make the fact that they are choosing to go in term time to be something educational and more important than schooling that bugs me. Its not that at all, its a lifestyle choice so you can get your desired holiday when it suits you (generic "you" that is)

Somehow I think you knew all this when you started the thread anyway Murphythecat!

Murphy_The_Cat

sunshinetours wrote: »

To be honest it wasn't really aimed at you. You have have already clearly stated you don't like being confined by rules (paraphrasing for which I apologise if I am wrong here) so quiteclearly you are going to be doing your own thing regardless of others anyway.

Its more others who try and make the fact that they are choosing to go in term time to be something educational and more important than schooling that bugs me. Its not that at all, its a lifestyle choice so you can get your desired holiday when it suits you (generic "you" that is)

Somehow I think you knew all this when you started the thread anyway Murphythecat!

No worries, but it was an honest opinion that was relevant to the discussion and was worthy of a response :beer:.
hmm, following rules/doing your own thing regardless of others hmmmm. Perhaps I would prefer to say that 'I look for alternate methods of doing things that can differ from the norm', Yep. I'll go for that, its close enough .

As for people justifying their holidays, I think that I can see where some of this comes from. The first time that we asked MTKs Headteacher for 'permitted abcense' from school, we had a long list of 'relevant justifications' that Mrs Cat was going to present to her. However, The Head wasn't interested in them, so weren't pushed along that route.

I started this thread because the previous one to this, in a very similar vein, was sadly closed. It was hugely relevant to parents who may have/have not considered taking their children from school in term time and helped to show people how much was 'fact' and how much was mere 'opinion' -- and also how much discretion Heads and use IF THEY CHOOSE TO DO SO.

I've not said where I'm going this time, as it's irrelevant to the thread, but as well as it being precious family time, its an area that we haven't visited before and when the things that were are going to see & do, do appear in the school curriculum (maybe 2 or 3 years time), MTK will have a useful base knowledge that will hopefully have piqued his interest inh the subjects :beer:

sunshinetours

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

No worries, but it was an honest opinion that was relevant to the discussion and was worthy of a response :beer:.
hmm, following rules/doing your own thing regardless of others hmmmm. Perhaps I would prefer to say that 'I look for alternate methods of doing things that can differ from the norm', Yep. I'll go for that, its close enough .

As for people justifying their holidays, I think that I can see where some of this comes from. The first time that we asked MTKs Headteacher for 'permitted abcense' from school, we had a long list of 'relevant justifications' that Mrs Cat was going to present to her. However, The Head wasn't interested in them, so weren't pushed along that route.

I started this thread because the previous one to this, in a very similar vein, was sadly closed. It was hugely relevant to parents who may have/have not considered taking their children from school in term time and helped to show people how much was 'fact' and how much was mere 'opinion' -- and also how much discretion Heads and use IF THEY CHOOSE TO DO SO.

I've not said where I'm going this time, as it's irrelevant to the thread, but as well as it being precious family time, its an area that we haven't visited before and when the things that were are going to see & do, do appear in the school curriculum (maybe 2 or 3 years time), MTK will have a useful base knowledge that will hopefully have piqued his interest inh the subjects :beer:

I have no doubt what-so-ever that your holiday will have some educational value as do many foreign trips for many people. Merely learning some foreign phrases and numbers etc is hugely educational and mind-broadening for younger children for example, the fact is that foreign holidays and official school holidays don't have to exist as mutually exclusive beings (for MOST people that is)!!

Many people as we both know, use it as an excuse to get cheaper holidays, end of.

Murphy_The_Cat

sunshinetours wrote: »

Many people as we both know, use it as an excuse to get cheaper holidays, end of.

agreed, with a caveat.
For many people, without it being a lot cheaper, making it affordable to them, they would not get the opportunity to spend to leisure time with their children --- which, for a working parent in a relationship, is absolutely crucial.

sunshinetours

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

agreed, with a caveat.
For many people, without it being a lot cheaper, making it affordable to them, they would not get the opportunity to spend to leisure time with their children --- which, for a working parent in a relationship, is absolutely crucial.

I am sorry but with Sun £9.50 holidays and such like I don't agree.

The "entitled to" culture we now live in has bred this belief that all and sundry are entitled to a plasma TV, foreign holidays and nice new shiny car as "basics" of life.

Some people can afford certain things in life and others can't - that is the world we live in. This has nothing to do with spending quality time with your family. You can do that without spending fortunes as many people used and still do

For me the only caveat would be those who are forced by employment or work requirements to holiday at certain times of year. I can see the argument there