Schools no longer allowed to authorise holidays

becominganobsessivesaver

I have saved thousands of avios to help me try to take holidays in the school holidays. It has worked for this summer (10 nights in the south of france, £1,000 accomodation, £110 flights for four of us!) Mexico next easter wasn't quite so straightforward, and my 6 year old will miss the last 2 days of term. Fingers crossed we won't get a fine, but we'll wait and see. She's had 100% attendance this year (no sickness at all).

peachyprice

becominganobsessivesaver wrote: »

Fingers crossed we won't get a fine, but we'll wait and see. She's had 100% attendance this year (no sickness at all).

It has to be 10 missed sessions (5 days) before they can issue a penalty notice.

Jimx26

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Isn't this also about teaching our kids to respect the "rules of the game"?

Taking them out of school for a non-essential reason is giving them the message that their education comes second... Plus, this has a longer term message - that it is OK for them to ignore the rules.

Very poor parenting...

Exactly this.

Taking kids out of school for holidays is giving them the message that school isn't as important as saving Mommy and Daddy a few quid!

becominganobsessivesaver

peachyprice wrote: »

It has to be 10 missed sessions (5 days) before they can issue a penalty notice.

Thanks for that. I figured we'd be better missing 2 days at the end of term, rather than her suffering jetlag for the first week of term (she'll have four full days to recover).

It would have been a bit harsh to get a fine for the odd day.

Really chuffed with the avios though, a mexico holiday on the same dates with first choice costs around £500 more for their cheapest option, we're flying premium economy and club world and have got a much higher standard hotel. Roll on April (and August for France).

We haven't had a proper holiday in over 2 years, hence the excitement.

MarilynMonroe_2

Jimx26 wrote: »

Exactly this.

Taking kids out of school for holidays is giving them the message that school isn't as important as saving Mommy and Daddy a few quid!

It's not quite 'a few quid though'!
in my case it is the difference between giving my daughter a holiday and possibly never being able to once she starts school. I'm not in a position to be saving £50 a month for a weeks holiday in the shcool holidays but I could save £100 a year to pay for one in term time.

Marker_2

Yes the whole 'saving a few quid' is getting irritating now. It's not just a few quid, its hundreds sometimes thousands of pounds.

The latest holiday I booked I am saving over a thousand pound by dd missing 3 days of school, and that's with 2 adults, a 7 year old and an infant.

When my DS reaches 2, holidays are going to be even more expensive for us as a family as we will have to pay full price for him. Add to that booking in school holidays, argh!!!! But I will continue to overlap with school days as that is the only way we will be able to do it.

And for those who think I am a terrible parent, just to help you stick the boot in ... both my husband and I work full time, so our children have a childminder.

Dunroamin

Marker wrote: »

Yes the whole 'saving a few quid' is getting irritating now. It's not just a few quid, its hundreds sometimes thousands of pounds.

The latest holiday I booked I am saving over a thousand pound by dd missing 3 days of school, and that's with 2 adults, a 7 year old and an infant.

When my DS reaches 2, holidays are going to be even more expensive for us as a family as we will have to pay full price for him. Add to that booking in school holidays, argh!!!! But I will continue to overlap with school days as that is the only way we will be able to do it.

And for those who think I am a terrible parent, just to help you stick the boot in ... both my husband and I work full time, so our children have a childminder.

If you're saving a grand by going on holiday in term time then it must be a very expensive holiday, which would mean that you could probably have a cheaper holiday when the schools are off anyway.

I don't have a particular problem with this but please don't make it sound as if you're doing it for the children's sake as opposed to your having the sort of holiday that you want.

securityguy

Marker wrote: »

Yes the whole 'saving a few quid' is getting irritating now. It's not just a few quid, its hundreds sometimes thousands of pounds.

The latest holiday I booked I am saving over a thousand pound by dd missing 3 days of school, and that's with 2 adults, a 7 year old and an infant..

It's only saving you a lot because it was expensive to start with. I very rarely take holidays, with teenage children and therefore paying four adult prices, which cost more than a grand. In school holidays. I doubt, seriously, that were I to go outside the holidays they would suddenly be free. You are presumably spending one, or possibly two, grand on a holiday. It is perfectly possible to have excellent holidays in the peak of the season with a budget like that.

It is not a saving, this being MSE, to make a very expensive luxury purchase less expensive.

Marker_2

Dunroamin wrote: »

If you're saving a grand by going on holiday in term time then it must be a very expensive holiday, which would mean that you could probably have a cheaper holiday when the schools are off anyway.

I don't have a particular problem with this but please don't make it sound as if you're doing it for the children's sake as opposed to your having the sort of holiday that you want.

I'm not one of those people who want to go to the same destination all the time. If your happy to go to Spain every year then crack on. But me, there is a whole world out there that I want to explore.

BUT, actually the holiday we are going on does not cost much more than if we went somewhere more local like Europe (or at least at time of searching and booking). A saving is a saving!!!

But regardless. Does it matter where someone goes on holiday and how much their holiday costs? If they are saving a considerable amount by overlapping in term time by a few days then why would you begrudge them that?!

Regarding the highlighted bit. I'm doing it for all my family, including myself.

When I take the kids to Disney, I'm doing it because I want to see their faces light up - is that selfish of me?

zagfles

Marker wrote: »

I'm not one of those people who want to go to the same destination all the time.

And you think we are :rotfl:

If your happy to go to Spain every year then crack on. But me, there is a whole world out there that I want to explore.

Yes. I'm taking the kids to SE Asia and NZ this summer. Booked it all independantly - the cost is no different to going in term time. In fact it's a lot cheaper than if we'd gone eg Jan-March time.

If you're going abroad and want to save money, you just need to avoid the local peak season, which will never be exactly the same as the UK school holidays, and often vastly different. Particularly when going outside of Europe, where there is often little overlap with the UK school holidays.

And other than start/end of half terms, flying in the school holidays is not usually more expensive than at other times. Particularly in August - since everyone goes and comes back at different times, so the "family on holiday" passengers hardly make a difference to the flying numbers.

It's only if you book packages that you'll get ripped off in the school holidays - long-haul packages particularly, which are usually a rip-off even in term time. Similar package to the holiday we're doing would likely be double-triple cost.

BUT, actually the holiday we are going on does not cost much more than if we went somewhere more local like Europe (or at least at time of searching and booking). A saving is a saving!!!

But regardless. Does it matter where someone goes on holiday and how much their holiday costs? If they are saving a considerable amount by overlapping in term time by a few days then why would you begrudge them that?!

Regarding the highlighted bit. I'm doing it for all my family, including myself.

When I take the kids to Disney, I'm doing it because I want to see their faces light up - is that selfish of me?

Florida, I have to admit, is a problem in the UK school holidays, partly because it's full of British, but mainly because Christmas, Easter and August are the worst times to go. Christmas and Easter are packed, theme parks are really no fun if you're queuing the best part of an hour for the main rides, or pushing your way to the front to see the parades, and August is even worse as it's still quite packed but also really hot, humid, and the hurricane season.

We went before we had kids, in October/November, which was ideal, accomodation was so cheap around Orlando/Kissemee, because there's so much of it and it was off peak. We were paying about $15 a night in Kissemee!! (though this was 16 years ago). No queues to speak of in the theme parks. Went all over Florida - couldn't believe how cheap it was (and was only $1.40 to the £ then IIRC). Great place for a holiday and so much more to it than theme parks (which most Brits don't seem to realise) - but not in the UK school holidays!

We took the kids to Disneyland Paris instead, in the Oct half term - but stupidly didn't check when the French holidays were - the French schools were off too so it was packed in the main park