Holidaying in Term time

iammumtoone

I am a single mum on a very tight budget and have booked to go away middle May for 5 days at Butlins (total for accommodation travel and food £200).

I need to fill out a form for the school. My son is 5 and whilst I agree he has to go to school I also think it is important for his social development he has a holiday/time away from home. He has not had a day off sick or for any other reason since he started school.

His school are very strict with holidays and say no time is allowed off in term time. Has anyone any suggestions how I can answer this on the form
Reason why holiday is unable to be taken during school holidays (please note we cannot accept cost as a valid reason for an absence during term time)

I am stuck as my reason is cost we either go in term time or he doesn't get a holiday.

Thanks

cr1mson

What action do they take? Our LA (Head cannot overrule) have a policy of declining all requests unless under very specific circumstances but you just get a standard letter saying it will be marked as unauthorised absence which in practical terms means that unless there is an issue with attendance nothing will happen.

balletshoes

you think the reason its important to take your son out of school is for his social development, so thats what you put on the school form.

Whether anyone else thinks its acceptable or not is completely irrelevant really, as each school has its own policy, and each school will follow that policy as they see fit.

Valli

Are you in employment?

Could it be that you have a holiday rota and this is the time your employer will allow you to be off?

If Michael Gove has his way, and the school timetable is restructured then either prices will be sky high for the period during which schools are to close or there will be a LOT more holidays taken during term time.

iammumtoone

cr1mson wrote: »

What action do they take? Our LA (Head cannot overrule) have a policy of declining all requests unless under very specific circumstances but you just get a standard letter saying it will be marked as unauthorised absence which in practical terms means that unless there is an issue with attendance nothing will happen.

I don't know what action they will take, they haven't said and I've never been in this situation before.

iammumtoone

balletshoes wrote: »

you think the reason its important to take your son out of school is for his social development, so thats what you put on the school form.

Whether anyone else thinks its acceptable or not is completely irrelevant really, as each school has its own policy, and each school will follow that policy as they see fit.

Its true that its irrelevant in the fact it won't change anything, I just thought it would be interesting to find out what other peoples views were on this.

skylight

I have taken and will continue to take (where appropriate) my children out of school for day trips or holidays. I fill in the forms requesting the leave, but I view that as my informing the school, not asking for permission!

I don't do it often, in fact rarely for holidays and most trips out connect in some way to what they are doing at school or are very interested in (ie, Florence Nightingale museum or Astronomy Photography exhibition etc). Its not for day trips to the seaside!

But I have no problem taking them out of school. I took DD2 to Paris last year for her birthday present and that meant 2 days out of school. She learnt a lot there; it wasn't just a jolly!

If there are only certain times you can take then you have to take them. Holidays are important for them socially.


BTW, none of the schools have ever done anything other than telling me they are refusing to authorise. None of my kids are behind, all are above average/Significantly above average - if they were not then that would sway my mind not to take them.

balletshoes

iammumtoone wrote: »

Its true that its irrelevant in the fact it won't change anything, I just thought it would be interesting to find out what other peoples views were on this.

I do it - but I don't kid myself its for anything other than financial reasons . In primary school I did it more (maybe 3 or 4 days out of the school year, always giving the school plenty of notice in advance). Now my DD is in secondary school, I only take her out, at most, one day before a term/half term ends.

My mum and one of my sisters disagrees with me on this issue in principle and in action, and my other sister does the same as I do, considers all the angles before making the decision.

If my child had poor attendance at school, or was failing in classes, I wouldn't do it all. But she hasn't and isn't, so I do.

holidaysforme

balletshoes wrote: »

I do it - but I don't kid myself its for anything other than financial reasons . In primary school I did it more (maybe 3 or 4 days out of the school year, always giving the school plenty of notice in advance). Now my DD is in secondary school, I only take her out, at most, one day before a term/half term ends.

My mum and one of my sisters disagrees with me on this issue in principle and in action, and my other sister does the same as I do, considers all the angles before making the decision.

If my child had poor attendance at school, or was failing in classes, I wouldn't do it all. But she hasn't and isn't, so I do.

Completely agree with you here. My DD has missed one day of school since september. She is in secondary school.

I will be taking her out for two days leading up to may half term to go on holiday. Did exactly the same last year as well, and will no doubt do the same again next year!

I will be informing school of my intention,rather than asking for permission, although from what i can gather, they are absoloutely fine with a few days holiday, and dd's friend has just come back from a family wedding in italy, having been away for a week.

I make no apoligies, or try to justify on grounds of social skills, learning lots from holidays ect.
I am simply taking her out of school because it suits us as a family and it's cheaper.:)

Funny thing is that around 15 of her form are going to france on a school trip (she's not going this year) and will miss the whole week leading up to the half term

Had i known this when we were planning our holidays for this year, i would have taken her out for the whole of that week rather than just the two days, as little work of substance is going to get done with half the form missing!
Originally planned to fly to the canaries this may half term, but because the flights were so expensive, we decided to go back to holland again. The week before for flights was considerably cheaper:(

duchy

I think a lot depends on the type of holiday.

I don't think kids learn much if the holiday is to Butlins or to a sun and sand beach resort aimed exclusively at the British market however a holiday where they get to experience a different culture does have value and to me is justifiable . (Doesn't need to be a long haul holiday-a Dutch or French small town or a European city has an entirely differant culture - whereas say Palma Nova - doesn't in my view)

My son's primary school did try to address this issue in part -for many years the May half term was two weeks rather than one -as so many parents did take the first week in June off tagged onto half term so instead of losing half the school for a week the head at the time decided to legitimise it and we broke up for the summer a week later than the other schools to make up for it. The school was a state CoE school so had the autonomy to be able to do this.

However-after several years of this and the majority of parents very happy with it....... a small group of parents with children at secondary school complained -saying it made problems with childcare/holiday plans breaking up a week later-and the governers decided that the school needed to fall back into step with the other schools in the area.

The year it happened I had already booked (a year ahead) long haul flights so informed the school I was taking my son out for that week anyway-the school lost the form I completed and the last day of term told me they needed another-which I didn't have time to return. It then got a bit surreal-as when we got back we got a visit from the LEA truancy officer -the school claimed they were "worried" as they couldn't contact me...... Odd that as my mobile was still on -and my mother lived in the same house as me and had her own phone number which they had as well as both of mine. My mother was housebound so certainly didn't miss any calls either. The truancy officer was as unimpressed with the school as I was at the waste of their resources -but be aware if the school gets the hump -you could get a visit !

giraffe69

A law was introduced giving headteachers the power to fine parents who persistently took their children out of school during term time but on the whole heads were very reluctant to use such power. I think there is a difference between the parent who takes their child out occasionally for a trip/holiday/visit that has educational value and those who remove their children almost every term end so they can save on the air fares.
It is certainly the case that if the school makes the absence unauthorised then if that is the only one absolutely nothing will happen.