Mum taken to court over son's 'term-time holiday'

GirlRacer_2

Could it be that you had your son's report before you went on holiday. I have my son's school report (which states his attendance record) in May, so if you took your son out of school after the report was issued it wouldn't show up.

morlandbanks

My sons school says in thier prospectus that they can authorise up to 10 days a year holiday by written request.

I applied for 3 days off this March to take my son to see his Grandparents who live abroad. I got the stroppiest reply:

On (underlined) this occasion only (end) the authonrisation will be given. Holidays will not necessarily be authorised in the future.

For heavens sake - it's not 2 weeks in Disney - it's a cultural experience and a visit to see my parents!! I've no doubt it will help with his education rather then hinder it!! If he had flu he'd have more than 3 days off school!!

bargainbarmy

Happy_saver wrote:

Children should be in school in term time !!!!

I take my holidays during 'term time' to try and get away from screaming kids. I enjoyed my children but I don't see why I'm expected to enjoy other folks kids. Keep 'em in school :j

I've child proofed the house - but they're still getting in :rotfl: :rotfl:

Miserable so-n-so !!!

Knelley

I was interested to read about this as i have just boooked a holiday in the summer and we are taking my 6 year old out of school for the last week of term. I was going to write a letter to the school asking permision but I think I will be just sending them a letter saying that he is going!

We do extra work at home with my boy anyway and have started to teach him and his 4 year old brother Spanish for going over:)I understand they have to moniter the childrens absence but I think if you are prepared to do extra work with the absent child and make up for the time off then the schools should have a bit of give and take.

Happy_saver_4

bargainbarmy wrote:

Miserable so-n-so !!!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

lizzie12_2

morganb wrote:

I'm a teacher and was on half-term last week; my son, however, is on half-term this week! And, the school that his Primary feeds to was on half-term last week, so parents with children in both schools had two half-terms to cover.

How ridiculous is that????

Difficult situation there..... Just a quick question.... If you went away - which week would you choose. You have a week off or your child. Sounds like a no win situation - another couple of years left for me...

dipsy

You could argue that travel is education, as the child is seeing a different part of the world and different culture/language... that said I don't take my kids out of school, they normally have 100% attendance. Having said that my daughter has had 5 days off since Sept 06 due to a fall where she smashed her tooth and had a fat lip and was in some pain. I do however think that kids get enough time off without pulling them out of school for holidays.

misspoppy

I have mixed opinions on this one. Kids should be in school during term times. that said my sister is a single parent and could only afford to take her boys (7 and 1) to Butlins in June, the price more than doubled in school holidays.

I agree with the poster that has child proofed their home I go on holiday in term time but there are still loads of kids around which is very annoying.

Education should be the priority for parents and one off holidays in term time ie one off as in most of their school years, should be allowed but ever year er no!

achtunglady

In my sons class last year, two pupils were away abroad in the West Indies,one for four weeks the other for a total of 7 weeks (three of which were Easter holiday). Now my grandmother lives in the West Indies, and is getting on in years and is forever asking us to come over so she can she her great grandkids before she dies(my dad is first born, i'm the first born and so its a very strong bond).
I asked for three weeks, well two weeks either side of a halfterm and was told no. May have to go and see the headmistress and ask why not, when the other pupils in son's class were allowed. It's not as if my son is finding school difficult, hes above average in all his subjects and I even asked for work that he could do when he was abroad.
I remember going to the West Indies when I was at school and had loads of work to do, given by the school while there and I also went along with my cousins to their school too.

hobo28

At my last school I had an interesting discussion about this with the head. His opinion was that the clampdown is down to the fact that some schools have pretty bad attendance records. Usually caused by parents who quite frankly don't care. The problem is of course once you set rules, they apply to everyone.

Luckily his school had a great attendance record so he was very relaxed about it. I didn't even need to ask in writing for 2 days off.

Our new school does seem to have a slight problem. The headteacher seems obsessed with attendance. I can only guess she has a target to achieve. Standing at the school gates, giving 5-7 yr olds stickers for coming on time is pretty useless and misses the point. If a 5yr old is late, its his parents fault. Not the child's! Maybe she needs to give the parent a sticker!?!?!

I agree that for 99% of parents who are decent and genuinely have their children's welfare at heart, a week off school isn't going to hurt.

If missing even a couple of days is so disastrous for my child's education, why do teachers keep having inset days during term time or using our school as a polling station? Surely its more important for our children to be educated than making adults walk an extra 600 yards to the community centre (it literally is that far). And why is it my kids seem to have a never ending run of supply teachers!?!?! Personally I'm more bothered by that than the fact little Johnny misses a week to go on holiday with his family.