Holiday in term time not authorised, will I be fined?

thatgirlsam

SINBAD wrote: »

...most of the teachers I know are very judgmental when it comes to parents taking their children out of school term time- illegally- to go on holiday. This is because us teachers really care about the students we educate and want them to do as well as possible, and we know that the best way for this to happen is for students to attend school.

Do you really think that parents don't know that!

What we are trying to explain to you is that sometimes it is up to us to decide what we beleive is best for our child at that particular time

As I said, I took my kids out for a day unauthorised to attend their Great Grandfathers 90th birthday party

How many chances do you think you get to celebrate a family members 90th birthday - We had relatives that they had never met coming over from Poland to attend the party

I wanted my children to be there, for my Grandad and for them - I beleived this experience was more valuable to them that a day at school - My son is 6 and my daughter 11

I really don't know where teachers like you get off on telling me what is best for my children - I will decide that!

Do you know, I work in a hospital and teachers are the worst patients, absolute control freaks most of them are

Poet I do not include you, You have 100% respect from me, If my kids have teachers like you I shall be chuffed

Spendless

**Patty** wrote: »

To be fair, you could argue about this all day long.

"This law basically states that children should be at school learning during term time, unless there is a valid reason for missing school approved by the head;"

Is this where those *valid reasons* include: Training Days specified by the school.......Teacher's strikes.......*snow* days.......closing early due to the proposed new intake Parent's Open evening (i kid you not)......

During the past school year, my DD's secondary has had in excess of 11 days of the above.....and probably more i can't recall....(3 children/3 different schools).......And the Head wants to quibble about 6 days for a family holiday?

On each one of the occasions listed above , my Daughter was physically able to attend school.......Education can't cherry pick about which rules it wants to apply & when. It's either all or nothing.:o

You missed closing early due to England playing in the world cup (how many threads did we have about that last year!) and my DD's school recently had 2 extra days in the school hols due to building work. Apart from they already knew when they asked for the school to be shut, the work wouldn't be completed on time anyway hoo..... humm.
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I have just literally booked a weeks hol for my family for the correct May half term next year (ie the 1st week of June). Of course if the Queen dies in the interim, possibility, since she's in her 80s and the Government change the BH back to its regular slot I suppose it will be my fault for not guessing this would happen. Mind you I wouldn't be daft enough to post on mse about it. :p:p:p:p:p:p

poet123

thatgirlsam wrote: »

Do you know, I work in a hospital and teachers are the worst patients, absolute control freaks most of them are

Poet I do not include you, You have 100% respect from me, If my kids have teachers like you I shall be chuffed

Thanks:A

Shhhh, Whisper it .......I am a control freak though.:rotfl:

geoffky

The amazing thing is that when teachers strike the very same people who take the kids out of school moan about them striking for one day.

i am about to take mine out for 4 days in oct before half term.

thatgirlsam

poet123 wrote: »

Thanks:A

Shhhh, Whisper it .......I am a control freak though.:rotfl:

*whispering* I think all teachers are

In all seriousness I think a lot of teachers obviously have to be in control at school, of the children, its when they start trying to control the adults that problems arise

Actually its not even trying to control, its talking to other adults as if they are children and expecting them to toe the line without question as the children would

My ex-mil is a primary school teacher and sometimes would go into teacher mode and attempt to control her family this way

Didn't work on me

thatgirlsam

geoffky wrote: »

The amazing thing is that when teachers strike the very same people who take the kids out of school moan about them striking for one day.

i am about to take mine out for 4 days in oct before half term.

The majority of maoning would be about the hypocrisy I would imagine

Education is paramount! Except when we need to strike, have a new intake, wind down for the end of term, close for the world cup etc

Tis a bit of a joke really

janninew

Why do teachers get such a hard deal on this forum?! They can't do right for doing wrong! I work in a secondary, but I'm not a teacher, it isn't a job I could do. I have noticed over the year's parent's attitudes changing (mainly for the worse!) The teachers don't write the rules on attendance and authorising holidays, nor do they have any say that schools should shut when it snows, or how many training days they should have and when the should be. Most just want to do the best by our children and teach them the curriculum.

I agree holidays can give children so much, and if attendance is excellent (at our school to have excellent attendance you need 99% or above) then a holiday probably won't do much harm. I see all the letters from parents asking and making up excuses why they 'need' a holiday in term time, we all realise that it usually comes down to money and holidays being cheaper in term time - again this isn't teacher's faults!

balletshoes

milliemonster wrote: »

If you can't provide any evidence then holiday will be unauthorised and each parent is given a £50 fine, rising to £100 each if not paid within 28 days and a court summons if not paid within 42 days, our LEA is taking a real hard line with absenteeism now, I know my son's primary has had an issue last year with low attendance, OFSTED apparently classed anything below 95% as poor attendance, and 97% needs to be improved so there is little margin for time off! the school were sending out letters to every parent stating if their child fell below 97% they would be putting measures in place for discussions to improve attendance as otherwise the school could be put into special measures

This sounds very like the line my DD's school is about to take. She is in year 6, and up til now we've never had any school-wide letters home about attendance. This week we did, for the first time. Up to now the school has authorised up to 10 days off in termtime, I doubt very much they'll be doing that now, as OFSTED say the attendance over the last year (which includes lateness, not just absence) is unsatisfactory. The school is nowhere near special measures, because all other categories OFSTED report on are good or better, but I can see where the school is coming from with hammering home better attendance for the whole school.

I have booked 3 days off in termtime in November, so it will be interesting to see what happens when I put in the holiday form this year.

Plans_all_plans

I'm on the fence on this one. On the one hand, I believe that parents know their children best and that if they feel that their child's schoolwork won't suffer by being out of the class for a week or so, then there's no harm in them going. On the other hand, the school can't have all and sundry taking time off willy nilly, so they need a blanket ban so as to not encourage it.

You'd hope that in the OPs situation, common sense would prevail and if the kids are on top of their work, bright enough to catch up on what they miss and have good attendance then there should be no repercussions.

flimsier

FBaby wrote: »

I think you are missing MY point. My kids ALSO had good attendance despite missing 5 days for holidays, yet you seem determined to make a point that my kids' education might have suffered as a result.

Yes, your kids education might have suffered as a result. I have no way of knowing, not even knowing your kids. But you also have no way of knowing. What there is is a lot of evidence that illustrates a correlation between attainment and attendance. You see to think your kids are outliers. Good on you. But you can't know. I don't understand why you don't grasp that I'm just agreeing with research.

All the top pupils at your school who didn't get 100% might also have done even better if they had 100%, is it what you told them when they were congratulated for their achievement?

What a ridiculous question.

You are making assumptions that are based on studies not taking into account personal circumstances. NO I didn't set precedence when I took my kids out because I explained to them that it was exceptional and not something that would be occur regularly (there was a family reason for doing it which I won't bother to detail here). I have also always made a point of them having to go to school unless they are VERY poorly. As a matter of fact, my daughter was telling me only Friday that she wanted me to send her to school however ill she was because she wanted to get 100% attendance this year.

I'm making no presumptions. I'm saying 5 days can make a difference to any child. I don't know you so I don't know why you're getting so defensive.

You protect your opinions on the basis of evidence

Err, well yes. Would you prefer it the other way round?

without considering individual cases and I would be really worried if you were my kids' teacher.

Nice, make it personal.

Kids are not robots and don't act in accordance to 'evidence'.

the evidence is based on studying kids results. So that's a ludicrous comment. It's a correlation. Not a rule. I've never said anything else.

Thankfully, my kids had excellent teachers who saw them as the people they really are, hardworking and dedicated, even though they went on holiday for 5 days when they were not supposed to. As I said previously, it didn't stop my daughter getting the 'pupil of the year' award, so clearly her teacher and headteacher thought very differently to you. Personally I am bored of teachers like you who think they know everything because they can read research papers.

:rotfl:That made me laugh. I don't think I know everything. I think I know what the research says and I do take the time to research how I can do a good job for our students.

Your kids? I have no idea about them obviously. No-one has said they're not hard working, but as I've said - 5 days away makes a difference, however minimal. Why try to justify it? Just accept it makes a difference and minimise it (which you claim you do - you then go off on one).