Would you take your primary sch children out of school for a week holiday?

lollipopsarah

YES

Mine are all grown up now but when they were in primary school my husband couldn't have summer holidays because of his work to we always
booked the first week in september so only missed the first few days of term - back then there were no fines.
I met a family yesterday who are going to disneyland florida and then a cruise round the caribbean - yes they have paid the new legal fine (£60 I think) but they also saved £3.500 on the holiday by just losing a week at the end of term.
xx

lolly3

YES

If you wish to try & reverse the changes coming in in September this year which means no authorised holiday & fines of £60 per parent, please sign the below petition. Thanks

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49640

iammumtoone

YES

lolly3 wrote: »

If you wish to try & reverse the changes coming in in September this year which means no authorised holiday & fines of £60 per parent, please sign the below petition. Thanks

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49640

I signed it. It did get enough signatures so the government had to respond and the response was

"The Government has no plans to change its policy on this issue"

bossymoo

UNDECIDED

I think it's a shame it has come to the point of fining for this sort of thing. I would love to understand the true reasons behind it - what proportion of children miss 2 weeks of school every year, is it really more disruptive than if the child was sick?

Having said that, at parents evening recently, our head was explaining the changes, and remarked that a child who missed 2 weeks every year from age 5-15 has lost 20 weeks and therefore half an academic year. Which kind of put it in perspective.

They seemed content with the previous guidelines, and allowed a 2 week absence providing it wasn't in September or around SATs or other national tests, and the child was above 95% attendance otherwise.

Now apparently its exceptional circumstances only, but who decides what's exceptional? In practice will it really be any different?

Not all families can take time off work during school holidays...

I guess some took it to the extreme, meaning the rest of us get hit with the same rules, rather than being able to use our own parental judgement.

sweetme

Simple answer is no I wouldn't. Like someone else has said, I also wouldn't take an unauthorised day off my work either.

WantToBeSE

I'd probably say that i would only do it a week before they broke up for summer, or the 1st week back in September.
I wouldn't consider doing it at any other time of the year, but that's because my son has SEN so it's a struggle for him to catch up with a lot of work.

iammumtoone

YES

bossymoo wrote: »

Having said that, at parents evening recently, our head was explaining the changes, and remarked that a child who missed 2 weeks every year from age 5-15 has lost 20 weeks and therefore half an academic year. Which kind of put it in perspective.

Yes but that's including secondary school. I think most parents who want the best for their children agree that once they get to secondary school this rule seems reasonable. We are only talking primary schools 5-11. The government could reduce it to 5 days (a child can still have a holiday in this time) that's 6 weeks, what harm at this age is that going to do?

bossymoo

UNDECIDED

Quite, I would hope most parents could judge whether their child would be able to catch up or not. 6 weeks wouldn't be detrimental to most primary age children.

I actually missed most of my work experience aged 15 due to a family trip to Africa. It certainly hasn't made me workshy or an underachiever.

lolly3

YES

iammumtoone wrote: »

I signed it. It did get enough signatures so the government had to respond and the response was

"The Government has no plans to change its policy on this issue"

It hasn't got enough signatures.
It needs 100,000 signatures & it will then go to debate. So please, pass this on.

bylromarha

YES

vikingaero wrote: »

No. You break the rules and where is your example to your children? I also tend to disagree with those who claim that holidays are educational and those that claim that it's OK because they only watch videos at the end of term.

The example is that sometimes rules need challenging and if you're prepared to live with the consequences of your decision, so be it.

I know my children best, not the government, and I know that the term time holidays I took my kids on when they were in Reception and Year 1 were giving them far more education than school were. Holidays which we could never have afforded otherwise.

I went back to full time teaching when he started year 3, so no more term time holidays for us as I can't get the time off work.

You come on one of our holidays in the Maldives or touring Asia and have some educational fun with us - holidays are one of the richest forms of learning as the hands on, real life experience gives a context to what is being taught in a way that the classroom never can.