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

FBaby

flimsier wrote: »

How do you know? It's literally impossible to know that.

Nor is it possible to make the assumption that their education was affected by the trip. Maybe it even had a positive affect on it, maybe they did even better when they go back than they would have done have they not gone on the holiday

They finished the year at level 4c in Maths, and 3a in English for my y3 boy and 5a in Maths and 5b in English for my Y6 girl which were the expected levels and some above they'd assessed to reach at the end of the year.

In any case, whichever affect it possibly/potentially had didn't concern either their teachers, nor me. one sure thing, we really had a great time and enjoyed themselves, so all together, there is no doubt that it was worth it.

Nara

I will be taking my DD out of school for holidays every year, otherwise she would NEVER get to go on holiday since I can;t afford and refuse to pay the stupidly over inflated prices in the holidays.

Why should my DD miss out on a holiday that she loves so much because of the unfair prices ?

I never went on a family holiday as a child as my parents were too busy working 24/7 to ever take a break and so i feel its something that i want to make sure we do as a family every year.
We don't go anywhere jazzy, just a caravan park in the UK but my daughter loves it so much as do we all.

And before the teachers start whinging about the fact that they have to take their breaks in the holidays and pay the high prices, maybe you should think about people on a lower wage who otherwise couldn't afford a holiday!

I seriously doubt that missing 5 days of school a year would harm my child's education, some kids are off more then that sick a year!

nickyhutch

wannabehermit wrote: »

Haven ime are about the most unflexible company going. I've tried to make changes to holidays with them in the past and faced massive brick walls all the way up to management.

But what did they say this time? You have asked, haven't you?

poet123

SINBAD wrote: »

Nothing will happen to you, but I can tell you as a teacher, your name will be mud in the staff room, and you will be viewed as the type of parent who puts going on holiday above your children's education.

....unless of course your kids are badly behaved, in which case the above will still apply, but their teachers will be relieved that they're out of class! It's also very true that the type of people -from any background- who think that a child can easily miss a week or so of school, are the people who have the worst behaved kids!

Bear in mind also that you are teaching your children that it is ok to break the law, just so long as 'you get away with it.'

I am sorry, but (also speaking as a teacher and Vice Chair of Governors) that is an appalling attitude, a sweeping generalisation and an erroneous conclusion.

Privately most schools do accept that they need to be flexible, even if publicly they have to toe the party line re authorising absences. If it is a rare occurrence and the child has an otherwise excellent attendance record and it is not at a crucial time of year then a short absence will have little or no effect on the overall education of a child. You know it and I know it.

These restrictions will never bother those they are intended to deter, the habitual rule breakers, but an attempt has to be made and so everyone gets caught in the crossfire.

Your comments do not show teachers in a good light.

bestpud

wannabehermit wrote: »

I only registered on here a week or so ago and have already noticed that lots of posters really give you a hard time if you've dared to make a mistake. It would be nice to be one of those people who has clearly never cocked up in their lives, but then maybe it wouldn't be so great getting things right first time otherwise how would you learn and improve?

No I haven't contacted Haven and I will do as much as possible to avoid any contact with Haven staff before the holiday arrives, they're far from flexible and having a ruck with them would only ruin the holiday for me. I clearly am not the only person who was unaware that the BH and half term have moved, another poster on this thread has admitted the same and as the private owners that I contacted at the site were quoting over £600 for the week I doubt very much that they knew either.

The OFSTED information is interesting as our school is bottom of the pile according to them (supposedly the worst juniors in the city and one of the worst 5 out of all schools) so I can understand that if OFSTED is on the heads back constantly she's not going to want to be explaining away these absences.

I will be taking the holiday as it's done now, I was unsure about fines hence the reason I started this thread, and I will be talking with the teachers beforehand to see what, if anything I can do with them over the proper half term.

I don't want to break it to you, but you will more than likely receive an even bigger slating for saying you will ask the teachers for advice about helping your children! I mean, how dare you 'expect' them to do extra work when you can't be bothered to stick to the rules? :rotfl:

Seriously though, these threads always cause a heated debate, so don't take it personally.

FWIW, I'd write to the school, thanking them for their letter and informing them your children will be taking unauthorised absence during that period.

Then, worry no more about it!

RadoJo

FBaby wrote: »

And how are you making the assumption that because you go away for a week in school time, the child is not hardworking???? My kids both got an 'A' in effort for every single subjects. They are VERY hard working, which was probably the contributory factor to my DD getting the 'pupil of the year award'. Do you really think the school would have giving to her if she wasn't indeed hardworking?

You are entitled to your opinion on gifted/talented children, call it what you want, it makes no difference. The point is that my kids are advanced in their learning and being away for a week made no difference to their levels. If I'd believed that missing 5 days (oops, 4 since one was for teachers decision to strike!) could have had a detrimental effect on their learning (for whichever reason), I wouldn't have done it. My kids education always comes first, but some kids are lucky to learn and adapt easily and not suffer from missing a few days.

I don't think anyone on here said your children weren't hard-working.

nickyhutch

We have 13 weeks a year to take our children on holiday, so I don't see the problem. Oh, yes, I do - it's the cost of holidays in school holiday time! You know what? You knew before you had kids that that was the case, and went ahead and had kids, so you should a) suck it up and save up for the more expensive holiday; b) forego a holiday and spend the money on day trips; or c) buy a tent and have loads of cheap holidays.

Having kids is expensive - get used to it!

CH27

wannabehermit wrote: »

I only registered on here a week or so ago and have already noticed that lots of posters really give you a hard time if you've dared to make a mistake. It would be nice to be one of those people who has clearly never cocked up in their lives, but then maybe it wouldn't be so great getting things right first time otherwise how would you learn and improve?

No I haven't contacted Haven and I will do as much as possible to avoid any contact with Haven staff before the holiday arrives, they're far from flexible and having a ruck with them would only ruin the holiday for me. I clearly am not the only person who was unaware that the BH and half term have moved, another poster on this thread has admitted the same and as the private owners that I contacted at the site were quoting over £600 for the week I doubt very much that they knew either.

The OFSTED information is interesting as our school is bottom of the pile according to them (supposedly the worst juniors in the city and one of the worst 5 out of all schools) so I can understand that if OFSTED is on the heads back constantly she's not going to want to be explaining away these absences.

I will be taking the holiday as it's done now, I was unsure about fines hence the reason I started this thread, and I will be talking with the teachers beforehand to see what, if anything I can do with them over the proper half term.

So why book with them?

FBaby

RadoJo wrote: »

I don't think anyone on here said your children weren't hard-working.

I think the statement below kind as a counter-argument to what I was saying more or less implies it:

That's a myth. It's all about persistence and hard work (see a great book by Matthew Syed: Bounce). Hence by taking able students away from school you are doing some damage, however minimal. Don't try to justify it spuriously; just admit it has an effect and try to minimise it

In your statement flimsier of year 11 attendance, it would seem that 3 pupils had more than 5 days off during the year. Maybe it was illness, maybe holidays, the end result is the same, and clearly they have done very well, doesn't that defeat what you are saying above? My kids had attendance of 97.1% last year.

SINBAD_2

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

Wow it really is very reassuring to know the kids at schools today are being taught by judgemental people like you
At my kids school right up till last term the head would authorise up to 10 days if you could show valid reasons but now it's a straight out no.We didn't take any term time off when it was "allowed" but now we do need a week it's automatically unauthorised.
Even so I'm taking my DS out for a week as he has aspergers and really struggles to cope with crowds/noise so going peak times would be a nightmare.He's working at a year 6/7 level but is in yr 4,been free reading since beginning of year 2 etc so I'm not concerned about him catching up once he returns.If my name is "mud" I really couldn't care less tbh.He's 8,it's not like he's doing his A levels and a holiday is a learning experience in itself.DS has had 100% attendance most terms with the odd day off with sickness bugs and we will catch up on any work he misses.
We're making the decision based on what's best for us as a family..or at least I THOUGHT we were...how silly of us not to take staffroom gossip into consideration :rotfl:

Sorry, but I don't think I'm being judgemental, I'm expressing an opinion based on my professional knowledge and experience, and my respect for the law of the land. 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; these don't generally include going on holiday.

I did not say you should take 'staffroom gossip' (your words, not mine) into consideration. However, I am pointing out that when parents take their students out of school for unauthorised holidays (I'm not talking about for funerals or medical appointments) this is usually seen in a bad light.

I am sorry to hear about the fact that your son struggles to enjoy holidays in peak season as a result of his Aspergers. In my first year of teaching, I taught an Aspergers student, and I tried to adapt all of my activities to enable him to access what I was teaching, in consultation with his parents. However, I am genuinely not trying to be harsh, but many parents would like to take their children out of school for a holiday in term time: if the head was to agree to your request, could s/he turn down in all fairness turn another child's parents down who said they could only afford a term time holiday due to financial reasons, or another child wanting to attend an overseas wedding, or indeed the o/p who got the dates mixed up.....
You write as if we are all 'entitled' to a holiday anyway: are we? In many countries, parents dream about being able to send their kids to school...

If you disagree with the law, write to your local MP, don't complain about the head: they are only applying the law.

You talk about breaking the law based on 'what's best for your family': is this a valid reason for breaking this and other laws?

Your son sounds like a bright kid: have you considered getting him a scholarship to a local prep/independent school? It sounds like he needs challenging, and there is the added advantage that private schools often have different holiday dates to state schools, thereby avoiding the hassle of holidays at busy times.