taking kids out of school

jacqhale

My son has just started reception and I have seen a last minute deal to Eurodisney that is too good to pass up in January so will be taking him out for 3 days. We have also booked a family holiday to Spain in May for a week.
I don't have a problem with this as he is young for starting school (August baby) and we don't have the money for holiday-times as I am about to lose my job. School is so much more tiring for him at this young age than for others in the class who are nearly a year older so a little break does him the world of good and really helps him out for the rest of the term. He is not a sickly child so I don't expect he will be off much for sniffles and such, some of his class have already had over a week off already so I don't think this is much different.
It's not like I'm telling him to stick two fingers up to the teachers and do something he's not alllowed, as far as he's concerned he doesn't understand what dates term starts and ends so there's no disrespect on his part while he's only 4.
I am happy for him to have work we need to do with him but I think what he gets out of it will be really beneficial and he loves his Muzzy dvd and we encourage him to speak and read in the language of where we are.
I suppose the teacher might think it's wrong but I'll be damned if I will pass up a fantastic trip in January for them to shut the school for 2 weeks in February because of the snow ..................
I would never dream of it if he was struggling or in the middle of exams etc...
Obviously there should be no question in emergencies.

Lunar_Eclipse

For all those who are against taking children out of school during term time, I would like to know how much time you have spent in your child's classroom?

I would love to believe that even 80% of time spent in school is productive, but my opinion is that the reality in the state system is far from it, even in the best schools. It's important to make informed decisions and choices, based on reality and not over estimating the learning that takes place in school with c.30 kids/class.

In theory I agree that there is an issue if everyone took time off school etc. I was adamant my children wouldn't miss a day of school unnecessarily when we started out, but sadly feel differently several years down the line. Someone once said that education is too important to let school get in the way. It's a debatable and subjective comment, but raises a valid point.

Mojisola

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

For all those who are against taking children out of school during term time, I would like to know how much time you have spent in your child's classroom?

I would love to believe that even 80% of time spent in school is productive, but my opinion is that the reality in the state system is far from it, even in the best schools. It's important to make informed decisions and choices, based on reality and not over estimating the learning that takes place in school with c.30 kids/class.

In theory I agree that there is an issue if everyone took time off school etc. I was adamant my children wouldn't miss a day of school unnecessarily when we started out, but sadly feel differently several years down the line. Someone once said that education is too important to let school get in the way. It's a debatable and subjective comment, but raises a valid point.

Over the years I've been a teacher, a School Governor and a parent helper so I've been in quite a lot of classrooms. I'd agree that learning doesn't take place every minute of every lesson. Having seen the progress that my sick sons made with an LEA home tutor for just a few hours a week, it's clear that a lot of school time is not productive. That's no reason to make it even less so by having a constant turnover of absent children who have to catch up on the work they missed.

It's only manageable in most schools because not many parents do it.

FBaby

My concern about taking the kids out of school is not in relation to their education, both exceed significantly the expect target for their year, so missing a week is certainly not going to have an effect on them. However, I am reluctant because of the precedence it sets. If I can do it, so can everyone else, if every family decides that they can take their kids out when it suits them, it could quickly become quite chaotic, especially in middle class schools where parents are more likely to be able to afford to go away, but not so well off they don't mind doing it during term time.

I think it is all about balance. I have taken my kids out once for a holiday abroad with my parents who they don't see much at all as they live abroad themselves, and they missed a total of three days. It was the one and only time in the 7 years they've been at school, so don't feel too guilty. It wasn't granted though, so ended up as unauthorised which annoyed me a bit especially as many kids didn't turn up to school the week prior due to snow, even though it was only a very fine layer and it was obvious many used this as an excuse, but this was approved. Some parents take their kids out of school every single year and don't care at all. I am not sure the message this gives the kids though.

money_honey

My daughter's a bit young for school at the moment but... when I was 14 my parents took me, my 12 year old sister and 9 year old brother out of school for 3 weeks so that we could visit New Zealand for an amazing trip culminating in a very close friend's wedding (The trip was actually for a month but some of it was during half term). They contacted the schools to check it was ok and my school gave me assignments to do while I was away so I didn't get behind. And do you know what? I was amazed by how little I'd missed. It may have been that I didn't go to a very good school of course, but I managed to get information for my assignments in New Zealand (e.g. one of them was on different cultures and I gathered info on the Maoris), and I actually ended up getting the highest score in my class for one of the assignments.

So I think in certain situations it is definitely fine, and the life experience I got from travelling around New Zealand far surpassed anything I could have learnt in those 3 weeks of school.

Mojisola

money_honey wrote: »

My daughter's a bit young for school at the moment but... when I was 14 my parents took me, my 12 year old sister and 9 year old brother out of school for 3 weeks so that we could visit New Zealand for an amazing trip culminating in a very close friend's wedding (The trip was actually for a month but some of it was during half term). They contacted the schools to check it was ok and my school gave me assignments to do while I was away so I didn't get behind. And do you know what? I was amazed by how little I'd missed. It may have been that I didn't go to a very good school of course, but I managed to get information for my assignments in New Zealand (e.g. one of them was on different cultures and I gathered info on the Maoris), and I actually ended up getting the highest score in my class for one of the assignments.

So I think in certain situations it is definitely fine, and the life experience I got from travelling around New Zealand far surpassed anything I could have learnt in those 3 weeks of school.

It sounds a wonderful trip and, as you did the school work while you were away, you kept up and your classmates weren't affected by the teacher having to give you extra help when you came home. I can't see that anyone would have problems with your situation.

themull1

I have, and will continue to take my kids out of school to get a cheaper holiday, because if i don't we will not get a holiday. We only have one every three years as it is at the moment. I would expect the kids to get extra work on their return if they missed anything. My parents took me out of school for holidays and i still passed my exams and got a job. So nowt lost there!!

gregg1

themull1 wrote: »

I have, and will continue to take my kids out of school to get a cheaper holiday, because if i don't we will not get a holiday. We only have one every three years as it is at the moment. I would expect the kids to get extra work on their return if they missed anything. My parents took me out of school for holidays and i still passed my exams and got a job. So nowt lost there!!

So you expect the teachers to take time out from teaching the kids who don't disappear in term time to sort out work for your kids after you have chosen to remove them from their lessons for a holiday!

Jewel_2

gregg1 wrote: »

So you expect the teachers to take time out from teaching the kids who don't disappear in term time to sort out work for your kids after you have chosen to remove them from their lessons for a holiday!

Exactly what I was going to say!

Jewel_2

themull1 wrote: »

I have, and will continue to take my kids out of school to get a cheaper holiday, because if i don't we will not get a holiday. We only have one every three years as it is at the moment. I would expect the kids to get extra work on their return if they missed anything. My parents took me out of school for holidays and i still passed my exams and got a job. So nowt lost there!!

Well its beyond the call of duty for the teacher to give extra work to every child who misses lessons through to parents who don't think it's important - so if I were your child's teacher, I wouldn't bother, because the parents don't think its important anyway.