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

flimsier

poet123 wrote: »

Your underlying assumption and implication is that the schools and their officials are somehow more responsible and capable of deciding the welfare of any given child.

Completely untrue.

flimsier

ash28 wrote: »

Our grandson goes to a decent school and is in Year 6 - the two Year 6 classes are split into three ability based sets for English and maths - GS is in set 1 for both subjects (he must have had a motivation transplant over the summer holidays). There are 3 or 4 children who have maths lessons outside the three sets - they are the brightest.

GS and about 5 other children have one English lesson a week outside the English sets - the rest of the English lessons they have are with the set.

The children who have maths lessons outside the sets are taught seperately for every maths lesson. They would probably be bored out their skulls if they were doing the maths even the higher set was doing.

The school is pretty good at stretching the children - including the brightest, but that is what I would expect from a decent school - to try and help all of the children.

We are moving shortly to another area and I would like to think that GS's current school is the norm - perhaps I'm in for a rude awakening.

Great to hear.

I think you have the right to expect that - and I agree; I hope it's the norm.

moomoomama27

thatgirlsam wrote: »

I think if the parents take their child out for a holiday then the onus is on the parent to make sure the child catches up and not the teacher

That would never happen. The child, having missed 2 weeks would be incredibly behind, especially in the foundation years. Unfortunatley, not only would that impact greatly on the child, but the whole class while that child struggled to catch up on any project or group work missed.

I'm not a teacher, but I do help in a school, and the disruption it causes is unbelievable! Moreso when it's for a couple of weeks as opposed to a few days.

I do not agree with holidays in term time. Schools have their policies for a reason.

flimsier

thatgirlsam wrote: »

And that is the absolute crux of the matter!

The law in England is that children of age 5 and above should be educated for a minimum of (I think) 25 hours a week for 190 days.

I think that's a good law. Do you?

flimsier

moomoomama27 wrote: »

That would never happen. The child, having missed 2 weeks would be incredibly behind, especially in the foundation years. Unfortunatley, not only would that impact greatly on the child, but the whole class while that child struggled to catch up on any project or group work missed.

I'm not a teacher, but I do help in a school, and the disruption it causes is unbelievable! Moreso when it's for a couple of weeks as opposed to a few days.

I do not agree with holidays in term time. Schools have their policies for a reason.

Agree; the observed disruption is huge. But the parents think that working on some worksheets at home means they're not behind.

Of course, someone will jump on me and saying I'm generalising and in one individual I may be wrong. Of course I may be; but my experience suggests the time makes a difference.

I do think that three months of not being challenged is pretty criminal, but then that parent thinks that private schools (where teachers don't have to be qualified) are the only schools that challenge. Wrongly.

gregg1

poet123 wrote: »

So, you are now saying that those of us who take our bright;) kids out of school lack intelligence?

The holidays in term time policy is a universal policy not a school specific one, and certainly not designated a school rule, so your last point is irrelevant as whatever school they attended that policy would apply.

I do not think it is the wisest thing in the world to do, no! As I said before, that is my opinion, I am not going to change it.

It is not irrelevant as some school have their own variations on the policy regarding taking holidays during term time. Some are more lenient than others.

gregg1

thatgirlsam wrote: »

No, of course I don't think ALL are judgemental, just the ones on this thread Except from Poet

I think if the parents take their child out for a holiday then the onus is on the parent to make sure the child catches up and not the teacher

The advice is that children shouldn't be taken out in term time, thats fair enough - What I think is that it is advice and should be left for the parent to decide what is best for their child

I have no problem if the parents do actually do this but in my experience, it does not happen all that often. I am sure you do this with your own child but please believe me, I know of many instances where the parents have made little attempt to find out what work their child has missed during their term time holiday .

For instance, I know of many instances where my OH has emailed catch up work to kids who have taken holidays and it has not been done (interestingly, those are usually the parents who kick up more of a stink when their child does not achieve the standard they expected him to). It can put a lot of pressure on a child trying to get them up to speed if they have missed a couple of weeks work. As for parents deciding what is best for their child, I agree, and surely, what is best for any child, is to be in school with his other classmates!

thatgirlsam

flimsier wrote: »

The law in England is that children of age 5 and above should be educated for a minimum of (I think) 25 hours a week for 190 days.

I think that's a good law. Do you?

Yes, I do

The law does not tell me I have to send my child to school though does it?

flimsier

thatgirlsam wrote: »

Yes, I do

The law does not tell me I have to send my child to school though does it?

No; but if you home educate and are inspected by the LA (or equivalent), then that's very different to just electing to remove them from school - the impression on this thread is that parents still want the school to be responsible for education, but only on days suitable to the parents.

Have you deregistered your child? In which case why are you getting involved?

I'm guessing you haven't, and want to use the fact that children do not have to be sent to school (because they are being educated elsewhere full time) to justify taking time off school at the parents' discretion.

thatgirlsam

flimsier wrote: »

No; but if you home educate and are inspected by the LA (or equivalent), then that's very different to just electing to remove them from school - the impression on this thread is that parents still want the school to be responsible for education, but only on days suitable to the parents.

Have you deregistered your child? In which case why are you getting involved?

I'm guessing you haven't, and want to use the fact that children do not have to be sent to school (because they are being educated elsewhere full time) to justify taking time off school at the parents' discretion.

eh? No, I don't want to use that fact at all - My child attends school and personally I wouldn't take her out for more than a couple of days

But I can see why many parents would want to reserve the right to do so IF they beleive that their child wouldn't suffer

You have already said that you can't comment on a child you don't know so really you have no idea wether my child would be affected or not

Good grief woman, are you this militant in other areas of your life?

:rotfl: