Term Time Holiday

lindsaygalaxy

Inset days are in the holidays - they are not taken off of school days.

z1a

"coffee"????

thegirlintheattic

Schools is our area will not authorise absence for holidays. Fines are not common place yet though.

It does get a bit ridiculous, you end up with lots of kids off, which impacts the learning of everyone else when they get back and start moaning they weren't in so don't know x,y,z that the others had done.

Worst I've had is a parent that took a exam year child on holiday for a month. Then complained that the child was behind on coursework and getting bad grades.

I think taking children out of school like that, just reinforces the idea that school is not important.

Spendless

clairey1208 wrote: »

The rules change in September 2013 & head teachers are no longer allowed to authorise any holidays during term time!

http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/behaviour/attendance/a00223868/regulations-amendments

Yes, we've had a letter about this as well as one from the local authority about what they class as 'exceptional circumstances'. As we fit at least one of the criteria, if not two, I will be submitting the evidence required. If it's accepted good, if not then I will be paying the fine, which will be £60 per child, per parent, so £240 in total. Either way we will be going. I spoke to 1 of my children's headteacher and the other's head of pastoral care prior to booking the holiday and they were supportive and understanding of our reasons.

[Deleted User]

Attendance is a major issue when Ofsted come visiting. If a school's attendance is below an acceptable threshold the school can be put straight into Special Measures. That's why a lot of schools will not authorise term time holidays.

peachyprice

z1a wrote: »

"coffee"????

Yes, I wondered that too :rotfl::rotfl:

springle_ring

It isn't a case of schools deciding to fine parents in order to deter term time holidays so their figures look good for ofsted.
This is a govt edict to try and eradicate the link between poor attendance and under achievement - and make the figures look good for ofsted. I don't think many teachers would begrudge a week for a holiday seeing how much more it costs to go in school holiday time, they should know, they have to pay those inflated prices too.

fawd1

pollypenny wrote: »

So...........?

Sounds like a good idea to me.

In reality, schools tend to have a mixture of evening sessions and the full day. Full is usually for moderating coursework or when there are visiting speakers / trainers.

So if they're not going to be training in those days, they should allow the children to be at school. It's not just a nice day off for the kids. Working parents have to organise childcare. So whilst I'm sure it's lovely for the teachers, it wouldn't go down too well with me if I was having to pay 100quid for 3 kids to be looked after and the teachers were just having a day off.

Marauder999

My daughters primary school allows 2 weeks (10 days) term time holiday. We just need to send a letter in and let them know what is happening and all is agreed.

pollypenny

fawd1 wrote: »

So if they're not going to be training in those days, they should allow the children to be at school. It's not just a nice day off for the kids. Working parents have to organise childcare. So whilst I'm sure it's lovely for the teachers, it wouldn't go down too well with me if I was having to pay 100quid for 3 kids to be looked after and the teachers were just having a day off.

Those days were always part of school holidays. As has been said many times, the INSET days were added to the teachers' school year by Kenneth Baker.

They were informally called 'Baker days'.