Schools no longer allowed to authorise holidays

seven-day-weekend

When my husband was teaching, his attitude to term time holidays (not that he had any part in the decision-making process), was 'fine, you have your holiday whenever you like, but it is YOUR responsibility to make sure your child catches up with the work on their return as I am not prepared to take time out of lessons to do it as the other 39 kids in the class will suffer, nor am I prepared to give up my lunch break to do so'.

I appreciate things are more expensive in school holidays. We had to take them for 25 years when my husband was teaching, so we went camping instead of booking a hotel (and never went abroad). It's coat and cloth really.

FBaby

I believe, if I'm not wrong, that the whole issue about fining parents when they take children out during term time is that missing school affects their learning and therefore results. To this effect, they are using statistics from various research. However, these are indeed just statistics, not proof that each individual child studies will be affected. So how can they fine on an individual basis.

I don't know if I will take my kids out during term time or not, but if I do and they fine me, I will go to court and make my case on this basis.

Out of curiosity, I am assuming that this doesn't apply to academies?

Hezzawithkids

Rev wrote: »

Ten years time schools will be telling you when to feed you child, wash them and send them to bed.

Absolute madness.

When DD started primary school the then Head tried to tell us exactly this - saying that our children should be in bed by 6.30! She got fairly short shrift from the assembled parents LOL

Debrac

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Parents have at least SIXTEEN WEEKS of the year available to take children away on holiday so why on earth do they decide to go during term-time? I can understand a special family occasion such as an overseas wedding/funeral but just for a family holiday? Purlease!

We often have little choice when holiday companies, hotel owners etc charge extortionate prices during school holidays just because they can. For example, next year during spring half term our prospective holiday would cost £890 but a week later once the schools have returned, the same holiday costs £359 :mad:

securityguy

Debrac wrote: »

We often have little choice when holiday companies, hotel owners etc charge extortionate prices during school holidays just because they can. For example, next year during spring half term our prospective holiday would cost £890 but a week later once the schools have returned, the same holiday costs £359 :mad:

You always have a choice about whether to spend money on non-essentials.

seven-day-weekend

securityguy wrote: »

You always have a choice about whether to spend money on non-essentials.

This is it, isn't it? It's not essential to go away on holiday. Days out/visiting friends/picnics/local attractions will do just as well, especially for small children, who would be equally happy camping in the garden.

Dunroamin

Debrac wrote: »

We often have little choice when holiday companies, hotel owners etc charge extortionate prices during school holidays just because they can. For example, next year during spring half term our prospective holiday would cost £890 but a week later once the schools have returned, the same holiday costs £359 :mad:

Tour operators etc are private, profit making companies - why wouldn't they charge more when there's high demand?

Almo

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

When my husband was teaching, his attitude to term time holidays (not that he had any part in the decision-making process), was 'fine, you have your holiday whenever you like, but it is YOUR responsibility to make sure your child catches up with the work on their return as I am not prepared to take time out of lessons to do it as the other 39 kids in the class will suffer, nor am I prepared to give up my lunch break to do so'.

I appreciate things are more expensive in school holidays. We had to take them for 25 years when my husband was teaching, so we went camping instead of booking a hotel (and never went abroad). It's coat and cloth really.

I taught teenagers for a while and then adults and this was my attitude as well. When I first started out I used to get really wound up by students skipping off on holiday but in the end I just took a hard line approach and would tell them all that it was their responsibility to catch up and that there would be no extra help whatsoever. With a big class, hardly a week went by without someone being off for something and it would have been impossible to keep giving extra help/lessons on a week in, week out basis.

Obviously, the above does not apply in cases of sickness or genuine need (illness of a close relative etc).

The problem is partly that it becomes a vicious cycle: half the class takes the week before school holidays off so you cave and don't cover anything particularly important, because it's utterly pointless to do so and will come back to bite you in the future. That means the following year even more people take that week off.

As for people saying the government should force holiday companies to price evenly across the year, I can't tell you how much it tickles me that the same posters are aghast at the government 'interfering' in how they run their families.

paddedjohn

From what I read a while ago I gather its not the schools that will be dishing out the fines but the local authorities, register will be taken each morning and all the data will be uploaded to the LA site where they will be able to see who is absent and act accordingly.

seven-day-weekend

Almo wrote: »

I taught teenagers for a while and then adults and this was my attitude as well. When I first started out I used to get really wound up by students skipping off on holiday but in the end I just took a hard line approach and would tell them all that it was their responsibility to catch up and that there would be no extra help whatsoever. With a big class, hardly a week went by without someone being off for something and it would have been impossible to keep giving extra help/lessons on a week in, week out basis.

Obviously, the above does not apply in cases of sickness or genuine need (illness of a close relative etc).

The problem is partly that it becomes a vicious cycle: half the class takes the week before school holidays off so you cave and don't cover anything particularly important, because it's utterly pointless to do so and will come back to bite you in the future. That means the following year even more people take that week off.

As for people saying the government should force holiday companies to price evenly across the year, I can't tell you how much it tickles me that the same posters are aghast at the government 'interfering' in how they run their families.

It goes without saying that my husband would have given up time to help someone who had missed lessons due to something beyond their control. I remember him giving up almost a week of lunchtimes to help an 'A' level student, who'd had time off because her father had died, catch up with her coursework.

But just to go on holiday? Not a chance!