Taking Children out of School in Term Time

skattykatty

It's like (mis)managing a classroom. There are one or two kids behaving badly, so the teacher decides to keep everybody in at break. There are a number of parents who keep their children off school because they haven't got strong enough sense of their parental responsibilities; poor boundaries; difficult experience of education themselves, poor attitude; neglectful/abusive etc etc SO every parent is hit with a fine. Ridiculous.

Jagraf

skattykatty wrote: »

It's like (mis)managing a classroom. There are one or two kids behaving badly, so the teacher decides to keep everybody in at break. There are a number of parents who keep their children off school because they haven't got strong enough sense of their parental responsibilities; poor boundaries; difficult experience of education themselves, poor attitude; neglectful/abusive etc etc SO every parent is hit with a fine. Ridiculous.

To me that's like arguing that only some people should pay a fine for driving over the limit. Who decides which parents have a strong sense of parental responsibility? You only get a fine if your child has unauthorised absence, not because of someone else's behaviour with their children.

One or two adults behaving badly at work can have consequences for a whole company.

Spendless

Have a lovely time Pollyanna.

When my eldest went into Reception he was meant to do 2 weeks of half days, the second week stopping for lunch before they all went all day. He went for about 5 1/2 days before coming down with chicken pox and being off for the next 2- 3 weeks as school refused to allow him back before his spots had all gone rather than just scabbed over as 'we get too many complaints from other parents".

My first ever thread on mse was about him having chicken pox. I worried when he went back to school weeks later straight in that there'd be problems, as the other children had had the full staggered start, but he was fine. Teacher said it was more to do with friendship groups forming that may cause the issue with being off early in the term, but that wasn't the case. Son had been in school nursery the year before just like your youngest has so many children and staff were familiar to him. Reception became even more play based in the 3 years I have between my children and youngest is now at Secondary, so I am sure she can catch up on whatever is missed in class.

mgdavid

supermassive wrote: »

Literally the stupidest thing I've heard not to have come from Boris Johnson's mouth.

What on earth was going through their heads when they thought this muck up? "Oh if we make parents poorer then they'll have to never go on holiday har har har" idiotic.

Take the chip off your shoulder for a moment; the reason is to try to get people to realise that a child's education is more important than the parents' holidays.

pollyanna24

mgdavid wrote: »

Take the chip off your shoulder for a moment; the reason is to try to get people to realise that a child's education is more important than the parents' holidays.

Eek, didn't mean to start any of this!

And I know that it's not great to have my kids off school, believe me. I'm one of the ones that have them there rain or shine! I even keep a note of the days they have off and match them up to their school reports (although like I said, my eldest got 100% attendance for last term!).

I do think that my brother and his fiancee should have thought things through, but my kids are the only two going as there don't seem to be any kids on her side of the family and I suppose we are not the centre of the world.

Yes, it is a "pretend party" and I could really do without the expense of going, but it is a one-off and so will go and the girls will miss four days of school if the school won't agree (which I know they won't, but I'll be handing the letter in tomorrow).

So what's done is done, and there will always be a debate about kids being off school, but I can only do my best. I don't have any other brothers and there's no chance of me getting married (although if I did, it would be a day trip into London!), so hey ho.

EDIT: Oh, and I will pay the fine if I have to, but I draw the line at having to pay £60 for my ex, or £60 a day!!!

Mojisola

pollyanna24 wrote: »

EDIT: Oh, and I will pay the fine if I have to, but I draw the line at having to pay £60 for my ex, or £60 a day!!!

Have you checked your council's website? It's definitely £60 per day per parent for each child here.

Added: Just double-checked and the £60 is per block of absence, not per day.

Jagraf

pollyanna24 wrote: »

Eek, didn't mean to start any of this!

And I know that it's not great to have my kids off school, believe me. I'm one of the ones that have them there rain or shine! I even keep a note of the days they have off and match them up to their school reports (although like I said, my eldest got 100% attendance for last term!).

I do think that my brother and his fiancee should have thought things through, but my kids are the only two going as there don't seem to be any kids on her side of the family and I suppose we are not the centre of the world.

Yes, it is a "pretend party" and I could really do without the expense of going, but it is a one-off and so will go and the girls will miss four days of school if the school won't agree (which I know they won't, but I'll be handing the letter in tomorrow).

So what's done is done, and there will always be a debate about kids being off school, but I can only do my best. I don't have any other brothers and there's no chance of me getting married (although if I did, it would be a day trip into London!), so hey ho.

EDIT: Oh, and I will pay the fine if I have to, but I draw the line at having to pay £60 for my ex, or £60 a day!!!

I think your brother started it.

Jagraf

mgdavid wrote: »

Take the chip off your shoulder for a moment; the reason is to try to get people to realise that a child's education is more important than the parents' holidays.

Well said that MSE :T

meritaten

I must be on a different planet. to me a family wedding is one of the most important events in a families life. and to have this in a different country and for the children to meet extended members of the family is an experience not to be missed. so they miss a few days of school, which considering the number of 'bugs' around they may do anyway.
both children are so young - its not as if they are missing important coursework for exams is it?
to me its a no-brainer - I would go and take the kids and that is that.

Person_one

meritaten wrote: »

I must be on a different planet. to me a family wedding is one of the most important events in a families life. and to have this in a different country and for the children to meet extended members of the family is an experience not to be missed. so they miss a few days of school, which considering the number of 'bugs' around they may do anyway.
both children are so young - its not as if they are missing important coursework for exams is it?
to me its a no-brainer - I would go and take the kids and that is that.

There isn't going to be any wedding happening abroad, its happening here and the children are going.