Kids holiday during term time

ckerrd

tigtag02 wrote: »

I'm another who doesnt agree with taking them out of school a lot but the way the travel agents play on this drives me INSANE :mad: and leaves us with not many oiptions sometimes!

tigtag

Agreed about travel agent/companies and just about anyone involved in the holiday trade. They know they have a captive market.

Because DS school goes back after the summer break a bit later than some other schools we are having a late summer holiday this year.
Saving a small fortune and flying from our local airport.
If we went the week before the cost of the flights rises by approx £200 - each!

ckerrd

Just had a look around the web and some interesting stuff about this

Devon - http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/learning/schools/attendance/absence-from-school.htm

Absence from School - a study http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR424.pdf

Derby - http://www.derby.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4704ABB4-C753-461C-AB23-33B93C742DB8/0/EWS_pupilextendedleavederby.pdf

Dorset - http://www.dorsetforyou.com/index.jsp?articleid=349605

Scotland - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/edc05-00.asp

aeuerby

Sorry to be pedantic but it is the tour operators and travel companis that set the holiday prices not the travel agents.

Travel agents are the "agents" ie, just sell the things and collect the money!
I used to be one in my past life and got loads of people moaning at me about the price in the school holidays like it was my fault!:rolleyes:
Or they come into our shop for a last minute bargain and then go up the road to see if they could get it cheaper.
Two things wrong with that.

1.The shop up the road had the same owners as ours and we'd often go in and say hello to the customers that had left our shop 5 minutes earlier :rotfl::rotfl:

2. As agents we all got the same last minute holidays at the same price!

Anyway back to the topic.
I know a family (one parent is a school govenor) who takes their child out of school twice a year.
I thinks it's wrong. The govenor should be setting an example to the rest!!
If I could afford a holiday I would take them during school holidays.
I thinks it's important that children miss as little school as possible.

BillScarab

At my children's primary school you just ask for a holiday form at reception. The official line is you can have ten days but I know of one person who needed more and spoke to the head and was told to get a form for ten days and just phone in sick for the last two!

Personally I don't see any harm in taking the odd day off. At the end of this month we have an inset day on Friday 26th so we're going away for a long weekend and taking them out on Mon 29th as well. I don't think one day is going to ruin their education.

You also have to look at what your children get from the holiday as holidays can be educational in their own right. When we go on holiday this month we're going to Dorset and planning to visit Stonehenge and Avebury on the way back so the children will still be learning something.

The other thing, as someone else suggested is to think creatively. We wanted to go to Center Parcs with friends in February half-term. It was over £900 for a villa for eight. Instead we went to Center Parcs in Holland as it wasn't school holidays there and the same standard of villa was £440. Even with the cost of ferries it worked out far cheaper and funnily enough most of the people there were British people who had the same idea.

bunty109

We do Center Parcs in Belgium on the last week of the summer holidays. Belgian schools go back to school late that week and it was soooooo much cheaper than over here. The parks are also about the same size, but never seem to have as many villas so there's never so many people around the pool. I'd recommend it as a better alternative to Center Parcs over here (we use our Tesco deals on the Eurotunnel to get over there too to help save a bit)

BTW, I'm not against a day off. The argument from schools is that by taking a week or two a child can miss a whole topic that may not be revisited that year: important in things like maths and literacy, and also important in SATs years (not applicable in the OPs case, I know!)

mutley74

WOW so many replies and the morning is not even over.
Thanks. i will have a think over and decide where to for a holiday, probably be looking at next school year now. If i get the chance i will ask any parents i see at the next birthday party.

thanks

dylel

As a teacher I can tell you that you have no right to take your child out of school for a holiday, it would be an unauthorised absence. Although I do sympathise with taking them out for a cheap holiday, do not expect teachers to provide extra work for your child, and to mark it afterwards - we have enough work to do already without this on top, especially working harder to provide cheap holidays for others while we are unable to do this ourselves :-)
As I said, I do have every sympathy, but some parents do take their kids out of school just before important exams, some unbelievably even during!!! These are usally the same parents who will complain when their children get poor marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have to take them, make sure it is not at an important time, and make sure that they copy up any work missed (most will not bother)

poe.tuesday

depending on where you take you children can be a learning experience for them, they don't have to be in school to learn so I don't have any issues with taking my children out of school - but I personally would not do it at vital school learning/exam times

dylel

School is a learning experience - don't make excuses for having a cheap holiday - surely having a full attendndence at school and extra learning experiences during their holidays would be more beneficial???

wellsie82

I'm 19 now but i always remember having one week off primary school during Whit (May-June time)
once i reached secondary it stoped as my parents knew it was more important in secondary.

I now work in a school so know it's really really expensive for me to go on holiday without missing work, thankfully for me i work in a special needs school and we have two weeks off at Whit but not that mnay other schools in the contry do so it's slightly cheaper for us to go away!