Our kids refused time off school during term time - please advice

pinkshoes

Jagraf wrote: »

I was also a teacher and I disagree with time off for holidays. Why not have education and holidays? Maybe as a parent as well I can see both sides, I never took my daughter out of school, education is too precious.
Do you teach GCSEs? Do you have a year 10 tutor group?

Half my classes are GCSE.

You are right, education IS precious, but education is also more than just sitting in a classroom all day.

snowdrop1967

A lot of colleges do look at attendance when pupils apply but I dont think just having a week off will make too much of a difference. I work in a school and from September ii is going to be even stricter with unauthorised absences, the school doesnt have a choice in this. Also the parents who take their children on holiday and then claim they are ill have to provide medical evidence if they are off for 5 days.

fierystormcloud

governorjohn wrote: »

Hi all.
Wouldnt you think that every family could have a flexible week or two off school if only to avoid those ridiculous prices the travel companies and holiday operators charge when they know the kids are on holiday. Perhaps then we`d have some more spare cash for all those Voluntary Contributions !
I mean - would it really damage their education - particulary for any child under 13.

bylromarha wrote: »

And fining a parent for thinking "I do reading, writing, science, maths, cookery, observing, looking after others, singing and have fun lots with my child all through the year and I have done since they were born - a week of not doing it at school, and continuing to do it while we're on holiday, in order that we can have some quality time as a family" is a really really stupid thing to do.

pinkshoes wrote: »

Half my classes are GCSE.

You are right, education IS precious, but education is also more than just sitting in a classroom all day.

These 3 :T

It's utterly idiotic to suggest or imply that letting a child have a week (or two weeks) off during the academic year is going to have a huge impact on their education. I will tell you how much it has shall I? NONE.

I have 9 nieces and nephews and 5 of them were taken out of school for one or two weeks, every year between around 7 and 13 y.o. on family holidays, and the other 4, a few times too. Not one of them has ever had a bad school report or failing grades, and 4 of them are at universty. (The rest are still at school!)

A child kept out of school for one or two weeks a year is no more likely to be a failure in life and fail their education, than a child who is NOT taken out of school for holidays is going to be a professor of physics.

At the school my sister used to work at, they used to say that they much prefer the families who keep a child off for 2 or even 3 weeks of the academic year, to go on holiday, than the families who don't give a rats about their kids, or if the children go to school or not, and whose children have two to three days off within each fortnight...(for seemingly nothing...)

And despite all the unsubstantiated and frankly rude comments about the people keeping kids off in school time being the irresponsible ones who skive work; in my experience, and that of my sister and the school she was at; it is often the more responsible and intelligent families who do it.

Indeed, as some have said, children who are taken off on a PROPER holiday, to the Inca Trail or the Himalayas or America or Australia or Asia or Africa etc, tend to be far more well versed, intelligent, and savvy, and have much more respect for other cultures, and more interest in travelling and expanding their minds.

Weirdly, up to about 6-8 years ago, it was widely accepted to allow children 10 days (2 weeks) absence in school time. So why has it changed?

What's more, as some people have said, schools shut down when it suits THEM; PD days, snow days, silly charity events...

Like I have said before on other threads; do people actually think before they post? There are some ridiculous comments being posted on this thread...

chris_n_tj

governorjohn wrote: »

Hi all.
Wouldnt you think that every family could have a flexible week or two off school if only to avoid those ridiculous prices the travel companies and holiday operators charge when they know the kids are on holiday. Perhaps then we`d have some more spare cash for all those Voluntary Contributions !
I mean - would it really damage their education - particulary for any child under 13.

Are you including teachers in this idea? I just wonder how you see it working, want to elaborate please.

Jagraf

pinkshoes wrote: »

Half my classes are GCSE.

You are right, education IS precious, but education is also more than just sitting in a classroom all day.

Absolutely it is more than that. Do your gcse students just sit in a classroom all day? I'm struggling to see how a gcse teacher thinks its ok for a student a week to be off on holiday of her / his cohort. I don't know what your subject specialisation is, but when do you help them catch up? At break time? Or do you use lesson time. Or don't you? With your reckoning someone could be on holiday each week, so you would rarely have a full class. Especially if you add in sickness. That means every week you are helping someone catch up with underpinning knowledge, homework etc. in fact, they must also miss the second week of studies as the first week is being built on. So easy to fall behind. Never mind, they have their pictures of sandcastles.

Loz01

I used to go on 2 week holidays as a child/teenager, normally one week in half term and one in school term so I also used to miss 5 school days and I can safely say it did NOT affect my education. I caught up with the work. In fact, I distinctly remember sitting on a plane to Florida doing maths sheets (yes really!) - I still got my GCSE's, A Levels and a Psychology degree. I think schools need to get some perspective on this and maybe realise that 5 days for a family holiday isn't the ruining of education.

Jagraf

Loz01 wrote: »

I used to go on 2 week holidays as a child/teenager, normally one week in half term and one in school term so I also used to miss 5 school days and I can safely say it did NOT affect my education. I caught up with the work. In fact, I distinctly remember sitting on a plane to Florida doing maths sheets (yes really!) - I still got my GCSE's, A Levels and a Psychology degree. I think schools need to get some perspective on this and maybe realise that 5 days for a family holiday isn't the ruining of education.

it might affect others though, while the teacher is helping you catch up after your holiday. And even if you didn't need it, other students might not have done any work while away.

onlyroz

Yes let's have every parent take their kids out of school willy nilly for a random week each during the school year. That wouldn't be disruptive at all would it? I'm sure the teachers wouldn't mind giving up their free time to prepare holiday work for the kids to take with them and then give them extra catch up lessons when they return. And I'm sure it's great to teach your kids how unimportant school is and that rules are there for other people to follow. After all it's our *right* to have a cheap week in the sun, isn't it?

Jagraf

onlyroz wrote: »

Yes let's have every parent take their kids out of school willy nilly for a random week each during the school year. That wouldn't be disruptive at all would it? I'm sure the teachers wouldn't mind giving up their free time to prepare holiday work for the kids to take with them and then give them extra catch up lessons when they return. And I'm sure it's great to teach your kids how unimportant school is and that rules are there for other people to follow. After all it's our *right* to have a cheap week in the sun, isn't it?

The thing is, people only see it from their own perspective. "It didnt affect my education, as I had my holiday and then the teachers put me first so that I could catch up while everyone else waited". That is exactly how folk see it. They want free education, cheap holidays and extra support as and when they choose. Someone else has to suffer.

consumers_revenge

Gotta love teachers...


Gotta love councils...


Both milking the cash cow and complaining....