Holidays during termtime...opinion please

fluffybunny_2

adamantine wrote: »

i dont understand why different schools have different holidays. the whole country should have the same holidays as that would make everything easier for everyone.

i think the schools opinion on the matter would be that for a while all your kids are off together so you should schedule the holidays during that time and now at the start or end of the holidays where one or more kids are meant to be at school.

for the summer holidays that would obviously be the case but in the case of "briansdaughter" up above, October half term is a one week holiday. one child was off one week, the other child was off the friday of that week plus the next week so they only had one day off together.

you are absolutely right though...all schools should be off at the same time

adamantine

fluffybunny wrote: »

for the summer holidays that would obviously be the case but in the case of "briansdaughter" up above, October half term is a one week holiday. one child was off one week, the other child was off the friday of that week plus the next week so they only had one day off together.

you are absolutely right though...all schools should be off at the same time

i can imagine the schools trying to tell parents not to take holidays then or just take a long weekend. totally stupid esp when holidays are enormously inflated during the holidays but thats a WHOLE other discussion :rotfl:

fluffybunny_2

lisa26 wrote: »

If you were wanting to ga awy in a half term for example and they were two different weeks then you'd need to apply to the school of the child(ren) who should still be out of school and ask for permission and explain why this was required. You may well find they are happy to authorise the absence in these circumstances. If they do not authorise it then they can't stop you going away but it will go down as an unauthorised absence....5 days will count as 10 sessions as morning and afternoon are counted as 2 seperate sessions. Different schools and local authorities have different rules as to at what stage they take legal action such as fines so its difficult to say what would happen with regards that. if you're open and honest with the school and ask them about it then they will hopefuly help you as much as possible.

If it was me I'd tend to take the youngest out of school (only if absolutely necessary though!) rather than the ones at comprehensive as they'd probably have a lot more to catch up.

having one child in comp at the moment I have always toed the line and never upset anyone with regard to holidays.

i would always go down the road of taking the primary age child out first. not that primary education is any less important than comprehensive but my son hated it when he missed school for a few days and had to catch up. i booked a holiday well before he started comp and i wrongly assumed the holidays would be the same as the primary. i agreed it with the school but he said "never again. the catching up wasnt worth the time off " lol

shellsuit

3 years ago, my son was in high school and my daughter was in junior school.

The junior school she was in, is a feeder school for the high school my son is in and they are right next door to each other.

That year, my daughter had 1 week off for Easter and 2 weeks off for Whit, whereas my son had 2 weeks off for Easter and one week off for Whit.

I haven't a clue why the schools did it that way that year but my God it didn't half present problems to parents who needed time off for childcare and familys who wanted to go away on holiday, so much so, they've not done it since.

I don't envy you OP, it's a pain in the backside when schools have different holiday times.

Nicki

fluffybunny wrote: »

for the summer holidays that would obviously be the case but in the case of "briansdaughter" up above, October half term is a one week holiday. one child was off one week, the other child was off the friday of that week plus the next week so they only had one day off together.

you are absolutely right though...all schools should be off at the same time

The October half term comes so quickly after the long summer holidays though that few people feel it essential to away for a break at that time.

There are swings and roundabouts with conflicting holidays. I've had it with my older two even though they go to schools in the same borough, just have never attended the same school. Usually there is a few days difference between their holidays which means that each gets some 1:1 time with me doing things they like best (or did until their baby brother came along!) But if I was working, it would cause more of a headache.

The worst one I had was a few years ago when ds was off for the two weeks before Easter and returned to school on Tuesday after Easter. DD was at school until the Thursday before Easter, then off for 2 weeks afterwards. So that year, I had 5 weeks when one or other child was off and I couldn't schedule any adult only stuff during the day, then a short summer term, then they were both off again for another 7 weeks on summer holiday! That did make me grumble a bit about lack of synchronization of dates.

dizziblonde

I live on the boundary of two counties... also very close to the city LEAs within those shires - so I have four sets of term dates to keep up with for supply teaching, and it's going to get especially complex when one of the city LEAs makes radical changes to its term dates next year I think it is (they're going for a shorter summer and longer Christmas and Easter I believe). Christmas you usually have a discrepancy of a few days on the start and end, and Easter sometimes falls out of kilter. My diary's got half terms and term starts marked in a tonne of different colours!

I think most schools near county boundaries are somewhat used to it though with siblings at other schools that might be in a different LEA and children going out for those few days as a consequence (it often hits the staff's children as well). Certainly our local ones are - but again, it's not the schools that set these, they're set by the LEA and the schools only really have the discretion with things like the pseudo-bank holiday for the royal wedding (where as it fell in holiday time they got told to fit a day off in where it best suited them) or when to put INSET days in.

brians_daughter

fluffybunny wrote: »

what happens if you go on holiday? does one school try and fine you?

No not as of yet anyway lol.
We went away last October and i wrote to both schools explaining that due to my placements teh only time we could go away would be Oct half term and then detailed my problems with 1/2 terms. I chose to book to go tuesday and come back tuesday so both children missed 2 days of school. The heads were very nice about it all TBH and even commented how much of a juggle it must be. I did offer to take work with us but the offer was never taken up :T:T

We will be doing it again in Feb half term - they will both miss 2 days each. They dont have any sick time infact ds1 has never had a day off sick in his 10 years of schooling - the head said that was a key factor in 'allowing' us to go ie he wasnt a child that was off frequently.

TBH i would call the education authority before approaching the schools and explain to them the situ.

adelight

It's awkward and expensive, but can you not just take a yearly holiday when everyone is off? If you need one to miss school I'd suggest it be primary school over senior school as senior school moves much faster and it's harder to catch up. Primary schools can turn it in to a positive thing, asking kids to write a diary of what they did and anything they saw on holiday so they're practising writing and learning history/geography!
A lot of senior schools can be very funny about you taking a child out of school for holiday though it does vary. I missed school for holidays occasionally when I was in a very high achieving high pressure school and it was awful, i'd rather have gone without the holiday. Teachers can be very snooty not helping you to catch up and expecting you to do homework that was set while you were away.

Marisco

This might be a daft question to those of you with school age kids, but bear with me, it's a long time since my kids were in school, and even longer since I was!!! But why do siblings go to different schools??? I mean why does one kid go to one high school and brother/sister go to another?

pinkmami

So far I'm lucky as all 3 are in primary school & the head has no problems with me taking them out for holidays. They have a brilliant attendance record otherwise. But at the secondary school its frowned upon (but you are allowed if its not during important time) but they don;t like you doing it.