Holidays with kids in school time, have you done it?

lolly101

Very well said Jinx, couldn't agree more!

gregg1

Jinx wrote: »

I think many people will agree with Pigpen too. Yes our children get free education, dont you think that parents who take their children out of school help fund this?

Any responsible parent takes many things into consideration when planning a holiday including will the child be able to keep up their level of performance; what is their normal attendance like, can I afford the cost during actual school hols, can the parent get hols during this time to fit in with monthend/deadlines/other parents hols.

Any time off school regardless of reason is absence from the classroom, so in this regard could affect performance so sickness and holidays are the same.

As a 'selfish' parent I would always choose a fabulous trip for my child over a week in school. There is a whole world out there and a lust for life and a passion for travel are more inspiring than many classes. Trips to Barcelona and Florence to see the architecture and skiing in Canada and Europe have been great for my childs confidence, sense of wonder and curiosity and have affected her choice of Uni course and given her a worldly perspective rather than some of the local children who are very insular. In fact my daughters teachers have always been supportive of her trips and she actually visited China with the school (in school time funnily enough! lol)

Did I disagree with that in any of my posts?

The "selfish" part referred to the refusal to acknowledge that taking kids out of school impacts on the other kids in the classroom, however much people think it doesn't, although I guess it suits people to think that way!

The fact that you say you would always choose a holiday over a week in school for your child says it all really!

kelloggs36

bestpud wrote: »

People often say that on these threads but I've never seen how it is relevent tbh.

Teaching is an occupation and has its own rules, like any other.

If they took a week off, the school would need to provide cover, but they don't do that because it is not allowed in their chosen profession.

I can't take annual leave over Christmas, however much I may like to take my family away. Doesn't mean the people I care for shouldn't go away over Christmas if they want to, does it?

What I am saying is that the rules apply to everybody - you aren't supposed to take your children out of school and the LA CAN fine parents for doing so - the argument for it being cheaper is a weak one because the parents can always save up for a longer period of time and still take their holiday during the school holidays. There is no given RIGHT to have a holiday at all! I went many years without taking a holiday because I couldn't afford to do so. I get a bit fed up of hearing about parents who feel that it is their right to have a holiday and even more so that they have disrupted their child's education to do it. It is disruptive to that child because they will have missed what is going on in school - teachers work long enough hours as it is without having to do any catch up sessions with children who really ought to have been there in the first place - they can't do 1:1 sessions for this purpose as there is not the time during the school day - unless the parents are happy for the child to miss break times, but then the teachers don't get a break, or time to set up for the next lessons. Basically, if you want a holiday that is not a problem but if you have to wait and save longer for it, then that is what you will have to do - that is what we teachers have to do as we can never take advantage of off peak prices. You have children, you have to take the financial costs that come with having them. Teachers don't have the choice and can't make the decision to save money by taking term-time holidays in the same way that parents with children can't either.

kelloggs36

Jinx wrote: »

I think many people will agree with Pigpen too. Yes our children get free education, dont you think that parents who take their children out of school help fund this?

Any responsible parent takes many things into consideration when planning a holiday including will the child be able to keep up their level of performance; what is their normal attendance like, can I afford the cost during actual school hols, can the parent get hols during this time to fit in with monthend/deadlines/other parents hols.

Any time off school regardless of reason is absence from the classroom, so in this regard could affect performance so sickness and holidays are the same.

As a 'selfish' parent I would always choose a fabulous trip for my child over a week in school. There is a whole world out there and a lust for life and a passion for travel are more inspiring than many classes. Trips to Barcelona and Florence to see the architecture and skiing in Canada and Europe have been great for my childs confidence, sense of wonder and curiosity and have affected her choice of Uni course and given her a worldly perspective rather than some of the local children who are very insular. In fact my daughters teachers have always been supportive of her trips and she actually visited China with the school (in school time funnily enough! lol)

Those things don't disappear during the school holidays though - you can always give them the pleasure of visiting these places when it is least disruptive to the school and your child by saving up for longer if you can't afford to do it in the year you want to!

Mojisola

The problem with saying that "it's only a week/two weeks and my child attends the rest of the time" may be right from that family's viewpoint. Look at it from the teacher's point of view who has 30 pupils - if all the parents felt like that about holidays, there could be children missing from the class every week of the school year and that's without taking any sick children into account.

Every child who misses a week has to have special attention while they catch up with the rest of the class. The progress of the whole class is slowed down and the other children have less teacher time given to them while the holiday children are brought up-to-date. Although it might not seem as if your child going away has any detrimental effect on their individual education or on the progress of the whole class, it does.

kelloggs36

Exactly - in the Autumn term we had our class assembly which we had to plan and prepare for in our class. Every class member was to take part, except there were 4 children who were not going to be there, so they couldn't join in with those activities and had to do other stuff (extra work for teachers, not much fun for the children). Plus when they came back they had missed lots of the work that the others had been building up to and so couldn't finish the project by any stretch of the imagination as they had not had the input nor time to get up to speed with what the rest were doing.

gratefulforhelp_2

Didn't know you were a chalk as well, kellogs we get everywhere!!

Just chipping in with this...when kids have coursework to do, or exam prep, and I'm talking mainly about years 10-13, it is really really unfair on them to miss that time in school, its much harder for them to do it when everyone else has already done it, and kids can't do the exam prep entirely on their own...if they could then teachers would have been replaced by computers and revision guides long ago (much cheaper!).

msb5262

Mojisola wrote: »

The problem with saying that "it's only a week/two weeks and my child attends the rest of the time" may be right from that family's viewpoint. Look at it from the teacher's point of view who has 30 pupils - if all the parents felt like that about holidays, there could be children missing from the class every week of the school year and that's without taking any sick children into account.

I agree with this. Bearing in mind there are 39 school weeks in a year and usually between 22 and 35 children in a class, you don't need to be Einstein to see that if parents take their children out for one or two weeks holiday a year, the class is never complete even without counting illness.

Must also say that the description upthread of school as unutterably dreary and full of "prattling teachers" made me wonder why the poster concerned doesn't homeschool? If school is so boring and pointless for your children, why send them at all?

MsB

kelloggs36

I find that term offensive as it takes hours and hours of planning of lessons - and if that is what you think of teachers, then really, what is the point in my doing anything to help YOUR children? I would rather spend the time I spend planning (for which I don't get paid as it is done in my free time - ie in the evenings, weekends and during the holdiays) with my own family rather than giving it all up for ungrateful people who clearly don't value teaching as a profession at all!

Not aimed at previous poster BTW!

GobbledyGook

People take their children out of school and often they don't really think about the timing of it.

In my experience in schools taking a child out for the first week or two of term can be a nightmare for teachers. It's the time that the children get settled back into school, get used to their new teacher's way of working, where the new teacher assesses her new charges and where the foundations of the rest of the year are laid.

Several of the schools that I work in have parents cribbing often that those that take their kids out at the start of the year get much less support than those who do it at the end of the year and they just don't think even when they have it explained.

So if you must take your child out of school then you should at least have a bit of consideration about the impact it will have on their education imo and make sure you do it at the best time possible.