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

Lotus-eater

Miss_Ratty wrote: »

I think it's damn right wrong to charge more for peak periods (I was always taught that the supply and demand laws meant things were cheaper when in demand, but no, lets capitalise on parents!).

It is supply and demand, the supply goes down in the summer as more people use up the spaces everywhere, so demand goes up ... and so do the prices.
If there are late unused spaces, the price drops.

onlyroz

Miss_Ratty wrote: »

This really gets my goat. I think it's damn right wrong to charge more for peak periods (I was always taught that the supply and demand laws meant things were cheaper when in demand, but no, lets capitalise on parents!).

Think you're missing the point about supply and demand. The prices go up because people are willing to pay the higher prices. If they were too high then nobody would pay them, and so the price would drop. Simples. You can hardly blame the holiday companies from wanting to make a profit - if you don't like capitalism then go and move to a communist state.

Bufger

My parents always called us in as sick, we never knew!!

My brother and I both did well in school so it was never an issue, it was always May for us too. With the exception of GCSE's May/June is always a wind down at most schools, i remember wondering what i'd missed and it ended up being very little each and every time.

The saving you make often offsets the fine. I'll do the same for my son and we'll go out of peak holidays. If they challenge the root of the problem it wouldnt happen - the fact that companies can take advantage of the fact that most people are completely restricted to a couple of key weeks.

sunshinetours

Also for thos calling for cheaper holidays in peak periods, you do realise that all off peak periods will be then more expensive? It works the same the world over and won't change anytime soon.

The old phrase I believe is cutting your cloth accordingly - if you can't afford a big sunshine holiday for two weeks in August then go for one week and go somewhere cheaper - no one has a "right" to a holiday away

Marisco

onlyroz wrote: »

Think you're missing the point about supply and demand. The prices go up because people are willing to pay the higher prices. If they were too high then nobody would pay them, and so the price would drop. Simples. You can hardly blame the holiday companies from wanting to make a profit - if you don't like capitalism then go and move to a communist state.

Yes you can, because they have people by the short and curlies!! Those who want to "do the right thing" and wait for school holidays get penalised. There is no choice, as they all do the same thing! There is a difference from making a profit, and ripping people off!

I was talking to someone the other day, and asked where they were going on holiday, and he said "nowhere"!! He said the difference between term time and not, was nearly £800!!!!:eek: (There are 5 of them) That is just pure rip off!!! And you wonder why kids are taken out of school???? How does it work with Asian pupils then? They tend to go "back home" for months!!!

sunshinetours

Marisco wrote: »

Yes you can, because they have people by the short and curlies!! Those who want to "do the right thing" and wait for school holidays get penalised. There is no choice, as they all do the same thing! There is a difference from making a profit, and ripping people off!

I was talking to someone the other day, and asked where they were going on holiday, and he said "nowhere"!! He said the difference between term time and not, was nearly £800!!!!:eek: (There are 5 of them) That is just pure rip off!!! And you wonder why kids are taken out of school???? How does it work with Asian pupils then? They tend to go "back home" for months!!!

No, people can choose not to holiday there and find cheaper options, like we have past couple of years. Sorry but if you choose to have 5 children why would you expect anything to be cheap?

Just because you can't afford something someone else can, doesn't mean that company is ripping people off - why do so many people struggle to get that.

I'm ignoring your last part

Lotus-eater

Marisco wrote: »

Yes you can, because they have people by the short and curlies!! Those who want to "do the right thing" and wait for school holidays get penalised. There is no choice, as they all do the same thing! There is a difference from making a profit, and ripping people off!

I was talking to someone the other day, and asked where they were going on holiday, and he said "nowhere"!! He said the difference between term time and not, was nearly £800!!!!:eek: (There are 5 of them) That is just pure rip off!!! And you wonder why kids are taken out of school????

It's not just the holiday companies is it though?
It's B&B's, hotels, campsites, absolutely everybody in the business. They'll only put the prices to what people are willing to pay. It is supply and demand.

Why do you think power companies sell cheap electric at night time? Because no one uses it then. Short and curlies, I don't see anyone complain they don't sell cheap electric in the daytime, when we can actually use it.

poet123

gregg1 wrote: »

With respect, I have yet to hear of a parent who has taken their kids out of school during term time who does NOT have super intelligent offspring. Obviously, your kids have done extremely well. However, I do think it is quite obvious that some parents come out with that line to try and justify their actions and I can tell you with certainty that some kids DO have a problem catching up when they have been taken out of school.

As for the holidays, most teachers will tell you that by the end of the summer term most kids are fit to drop with exhaustion and need a decent break to refresh their batteries. Certainly my children needed a good break by the end of July, but then they had very little time off during term time and turned up to every lesson, so maybe that explains why they were running on empty come July!

I suspect, on this particular point, we will have to agree to disagree.

No one is denying that some kids do, what they are contesting is the blanket statement that all do, or that all will be affected. The point about achievement is that I knew that those days wouldn't affect my kids because of the consideration I had given to time of year, and length of time away.

My kids were never running on empty by July, but then maybe it is because they have a healthy routine of bedtimes, exercise and diet to ensure they are at peak fitness.;)

In the working world most people get two weeks annual leave in summer and manage to survive. For most of our kids that will be their expectation/actuality too, so by the time they get to Secondary school six weeks holiday may be nice but if they "need" it there is something badly wrong imo.

I have to admit that working in education and enjoying all the holidays we do get I wonder how they (people who get the normal holidays) do it, but they do, so it is a failing of mine to "want" it but not one I confuse with real need. I am tired by July....but don't need six weeks to recover, I would be loathe to see it go though, but I acknowledge the hypocrisy of it when allied to short term time breaks.

I think that we fudge the issue of summer learning loss because we don't want to dig too deeply into the consequences of that one;) You can see this in articles in TES, but even more prominently in the readers responses. If we are brutally honest we would have to accept that this issue is far more of a detriment to overall learning than the occasional few days out of school at considered times.

Marisco

sunshinetours wrote: »

No, people can choose not to holiday there and find cheaper options, like we have past couple of years. Sorry but if you choose to have 5 children why would you expect anything to be cheap?

Just because you can't afford something someone else can, doesn't mean that company is ripping people off - why do so many people struggle to get that.

I'm ignoring your last part

Why?? That is a genuine query! What do schools do/say when this happens? And it's not 5 kids, it's 5 all together, you know 3 kids, 2 parents!! So flower shops who put up huge mark ups on flowers before Valentines' Day are not ripping people off either?

kafkathecat

Phew, I'm glad I home educate, it sure saves a lot of bother.