unauthorised abscence from school

tired_mum

in reply to the other poster who said there best time was lots of days out unfortunatly when paying for 5 it becomes as expensive as a holiday as we found out last year in my kids early years we were lucky enough to have a bungalow by the sea which we used all summer so they never went abroad till 2 years ago with the scouts to switzerland and as such my youngest and my husband and i did not have a break that year as we had to fund their trip
when i asked this question i did not expect some people to be so nasty that they think i am the worst mother for doing this whilst we will visit the beach we will be doing loads of other things to learn about the country unfortunatly i cant afford to loose £4k so we will be taking the kids with us and will face the consequences on our return

Gabriel-Ernest

My parents did not have the educational opportunities we had; consequently they placed a very high premium on our school attendance and learning record, and would never have dreamed of taking us out of school during termtime for a holiday. That's what school vacation times are for.

Savvy_Sue

tired_mum wrote:

in reply to the other poster who said there best time was lots of days out unfortunatly when paying for 5 it becomes as expensive as a holiday

There were 7 of us - 5 children and our parents. And I didn't say it was cheap.

debtfreehopeful_2

Becles wrote:

I agree with that.

However, where do you draw the line?

Some people don't like touristy holidays. They tend to go somewhere less touristy, eat local food, speak the lingo and learn about the local history, environment etc., at relevant attractions.

Other people like to go to places where lots of British people go. They speak English all the time, eat British food and their days consist of sitting by the pool all day and drinking all night.

While schools might be happy for children to go on example 1, I'm sure they wouldn't be happy about children going on holiday 2. The schools cannot police what holidays are acceptable or what isn't, so it's easier to have rules and procedures to deter all holidays in term time.

I dont disagree with you here, as i said in my post i find it a difficult one but at the end of the day, tired_mum is their parent, she has a holiday lined up which really will be educational, as such im not even sure i class it as a holiday but thats my thinking. Im aware im a little different to most on this thread in that im not even considering school for my children, certainly not as anything other than a last resort.

I also think schools should use a bit of independance in the sort of holiday they will allow, blanket refusal unless a parent can set out real educational advantages seems fair to me, state the policy clearly beyond that its up to the parents whether they risk the fines and hassle.

Sue

cookiesncream

I'm really torn with this one. I can see it from both sides. I know it's a holiday but can't the teachers at least give a few pages to read in a textbook on what they're missing so it's not as difficult to catch-up? It's ok saying how many lessons they're going to miss but I was chronicly ill for the last 4 years of my schooling and missed alot, and I mean alot, and I'm still standing. I hardly think that a week is going to make a difference. I know there are alot who will disagree but there must be some sort of middle ground that can be found here.

I lean more toward a parent because it grates on me that a parent can be told what to do with their child. We're not talking about high truancy here, only a few days holiday. It's your children, you should be able to do what you want with them. I cannot believe that anyone thinks otherwise. I also think it's very unfair that tired mum is getting pm's about this and by the sound of it, they're not positive ones. I think that's way out of order.

Take them and have a good time xx

Karb

Just to back up mom23 here, something that doesn't appear to have been considered much on this thread is that not everybody can get leave during the school holidays.

It's all very well for teachers to say that they are not allowed to take leave during term time, but that still leaves them with an awful lot of weeks left available to book a holiday.

Where I work, I am part of a team of 5 where only one person is allowed off at any one time and no leave is permitted during the Christmas/New Year period. Our leave is rostered one week in the spring, two in the summer and one in the winter.

This basically means that three of us will get our summer leave during the school holidays and two won't.

So the choice for us is not to go on holiday at all or go in term time. Now obviously, we wouldn't go away in the middle of the kids SAT's or GCSE's, but at the end of the school year, with no major exams taking place, we'd probably go.

jumpinjilly

hi,
i had the same dilema as we are taking our children to disney just after christmas, i wrote a letter to the schools concerned and thankfully they both approved of the holiday, i am really lucky because my elder sons headmaster refuses all holiday in term time.
I explained to them my husband is a manager of many staff alot of whom have school age children who all need associated holiday time off of school so his time off at the same time as our children is very limited and rare. i also pointed off that teachers have many more weeks holiday than my husband who only gets 3 weeks a year, and although i agree with the reasons behind the unorthodised absence i do think they should be more open to specific circumstances. My older son has very good attendance, works hard, and has had an awful lot to deal with in his last 5 years.
It also like yours is a holiday of a lifetime, and we wont be going away again that year or next, as older son who is 14 has his exams in 2008. They were really kind and understanding, as we did have a few more circumstances.

Good luck, i hope that you all have a fab holiday, you have been honest and told the school, and they should at least respect that, many wouldnt for the reason it might/would be refused, - and i fully appreciate why those that choose not to tell the school as well.
If my holiday hadnot been approved i still would have taken my sons although i would have worried constantly i hve to say.

domestic_goddess

I read this the other day and didn't comment but as this thread is still going strong I just wantd to add my tuppence....

I really dont think kids should be taken out of school, I think I remember reading that as well as this holiday the OP had already taken the kids out for a week in this school year. (Apologies if I am wrong - I haven't reread everything). So that is a week earlier in the school year and now this two weeks. To me that is a lot of school to miss out on

Also a holiday to the caribbean is hardly educational!

I personally would not want my children to miss out on their education for some sun sea and sand. I also would notwant to put extra pressure on the teachers asking them to catch up my kids. I found the post that was from a teacher showing the things that children would miss just in one subject very informative and taking that into account (bearing in mind that its just one subject) I would now be looking at changing my holiday to a later date.

We are responsible for ensuring our children are educated well to prepre them for the real world, surely showing them that they can miss school against their schools wishes for a holiday is not the right way to go.

Sorry for the rant:mad: :mad:

Feeling better now:T

lulu650

I'm a teacher and before that a teaching assistant. Equal years in both post. 13weeks and the INSET days actually gives 14 weeks off for holidays and as I've worked in education for 14 years have never been able to have holidays during school time.

Have to say when my boys were teenagers they would never take time off school unless they were at death's door, they both dreaded getting left behind in lessons. Both had to work very hard to keep up with some real high achievers in their groups.

Think if you can justify why you need to have a holiday during school time then go for it. Some children can easily catch up with missed work, others find it much harder.

Savvy_Sue

jumpinjilly wrote:

my husband who only gets 3 weeks a year,

Something wrong there: legally he must have the equivalent of 4 weeks, although that might include the 8 bank holidays. Some employers give the bank holidays on top of the 4 weeks, of course, but 3 weeks is illegal!