Booking a holiday in term time ?

fluffnutter

pinkladyof66 wrote: »

Cant do sickie as [STRIKE]son will talk all about plane etc and will be tanned.. [/STRIKE] that's just teaching him it's OK to lie

Corrected for you.

fluffnutter

74jax wrote: »

Just out of interest, how much is the fine in relation to savings going away in term time? Is it 60 a day, or did I dream that.....

My daughter is 17 now so not a problem we have any more, but I remember it being so much cheaper in term time, even if had to pay the 60 a day it would have been.

I wonder if the fines are now discouraging people??

In West Sussex it's £60 per parent per child if paid within 21 days of the notice being issued, doubling to £120 if paid after that period. If payment is not received within 28 days you may be taken to court and if found guilty you can receive a fine of up to £1000 per parent per child and/or parenting order and/or community service order. It's not per day, it's just for 'unauthorised absence' which actually covers a few things, namely, ten or more missed sessions of school, a term time holiday (of any duration I assume), or a child being in a public place during the first five days of an exclusion.

So for an 'average' family of two parents plus two kids then a term time holiday needs to be more than £240 cheaper for this to be a cost effective way of having that all-important fortnight in Magaluf.

pinkladyof66

our holiday for us or a week is £580 the same holiday in school holidays is over £1k. just checked flight and our flights or 3 of us are £285 in total same flight in may bank holiday week is £1,302.54 without even accommodation added so no way we could pay that. Fine of £120 certainly makes it cheaper than school holidays.

pinkladyof66

Total cost of holiday in may bank holiday for 3 is £1,970.19 and we have paid just £580

Jagraf

When we couldn't afford holidays because of the cost out of term time, we bought a massive tent. I think it was a 12 berth or something. We found some lovely sites, some with indoor swimming pools and parks and so much space to run around with a ball or a kite etc. in the summer months it was still really cheap comparatively, and we found sites near beaches. Kids don't care about weather IMO.

It was a joy for the kids, whole days of fresh air and exercise, no crowds, and you could come and go as you like. No queues at airports etc.

My DD hated missing school so we just had to find a cheap alternative.

She still likes camping at nearly 16 although I'm sure soon she will prefer the crowds and parties in Ibiza soon enough, although I won't need to go!

We found that by camping we saved enough money to go in school hols as she got older.

fluffnutter

We just went to grandparents'. In the holidays. I remember two 'proper' holidays when I was young, and both were in the UK. It wasn't normal to go abroad - only the very rich did this.

I know things change (not that I'm that old) and foreign holidays are comparatively cheaper now but I do smile when people try to argue it's a necessity or a right to go on holiday and that it's too expensive taking your kids abroad during the school holidays. It's about the first generation ever that that's applied to, so it seems a bit difficult to argue it's a 'necessity'.

Tigsteroonie

nodiscount wrote: »

I think it's very sad that children are being encouraged to lie to their teachers by parents who call in sick for term time holidays.

Is this a general comment on term-time holidays or one specific to this thread? As if it's the former, I'll duck out of the inevitable discussion.

I certainly won't be asking my son to lie, but I'd be pretty darned well amazed if he did considering he's non-verbal :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Yes, we're saving over £500 by going on holiday in June rather than waiting until the holidays in July. That's for one week, and it's in the UK.

Cash-Cows

These £60 fines aren't working as parents are just taking the hit. They need to be increased to £500 then there wouldn't be a saving.

surreysaver

nodiscount wrote: »

I think it's very sad that children are being encouraged to lie to their teachers by parents who call in sick for term time holidays.
Would these parents be happy if their children lied to them?
And what about when these children enter the world of work? Calling in sick because they're on holiday will be ok?

The other side of the argument is if the laws were reasonable, then people wouldn't feel the need to break them, or to lie. It can be good to teach children that unreasonable laws should be challenged. Yes, people shouldn't take kids out of school, but the definition of exceptional circumstances seems to be too rigid. And why does this law only apply in state schools and not private ones?

fluffnutter

I'm not sure they're working too well either. All it seems to do is get people's backs up - that's hardly conducive to a good school/parent relationship. But there IS a problem, clearly, and I wonder how best to tackle it. What's at the heart of it? Are people simply deciding that school attendance is optional? Are people so sick of hiked holiday prices that they're ignoring schools' pleas to keep holidays to the holidays? Are people's expectations such that a good bargain is more important than risking the school's ire? Is it a case of 'it's my kid, I'll do what I damn well like'? Are the fines simply to try to alleviate another problem - that of persistent absence - and they're unfortunately making almost-criminals of many perfectly caring and conscientious parents?

Find out what's at the heart of this and you'll be half way to a solution.