A question about keeping children off school in term time: to take them on holiday.

missbiggles1

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

Most definetly. But I was talking about grades, and they have improved over the last 5-6 years.

I was talking about standards, which definitely haven't.

duchy

Oh dear...... Perhaps the OP's holidays were the weeks debating was taught at their school

Too funny !

Georgiegirl256

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I was talking about standards, which definitely haven't.

I agree with you.

peachyprice

fierystormcloud wrote: »

In addition - the school I and my sisters went to AND the ones my NINE nieces and nephews went to, AND the schools my friends children went to, were ALL relaxed about people having a week or two off up to 5 or 6 years ago.

I think that says it all really.

Vikipollard

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

We had nearly thirty years of school holidays because my husband was a teacher.

Surely school holidays are long enough to go on holiday in? It isn't compulsory to do something 'educational' (although I'm sure the vast majority of this 'education' comes from sitting on a beach in Lanzarote). We used to go camping and had a great time.

Schools have more than enough holidays - the usual argument is that it is cheaper to go in term time (which it clearly is).

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

One of my son's teachers wanted to get married & have her honeymoon in June and she told me she had to have permission from the governing body to do so

I seriously hope this was refused (unless someone was too ill/dying and would not have been able to attend the wedding if it was later).


If I'm honest, teachers asking for term time leave offends me far more than parents' request for students. They get 13 weeks, where parents in the main will get between 4 and 6 weeks.


Does it seriously impact on educational outcomes for the children - I have no evidence to offer. One week off in a couple of years early on (and not round SATs), or in Y7 or 8? I doubt it. Anyone who opts to take a child out in exam years, however, disregards the learning by rote which may just make a difference in grades.


Standards, however, have been in decline for decades - certainly since the removal of corporal punishment in schools, but that's a whole separate debate.

clearingout

Not read the whole thread so apologies if this has already been said.

Statistics show that children with attendance of less than 95% come out with at least one grade lower in their GCSEs than children who attend 95% of the time or more. It literally only takes a few days of illness here and there for attendance to go below that figure.

Most children will have the odd day off here and there which we all accept can't be helped. Adding a two week holiday on top of that will, in many cases, lower attendance below the magic 95% figure. Ofsted will ask questions - lots of questions - if a head teacher is seen to be agreeing to holidays which lower the school's attendance figure below 95%. Since Ofsted can make or break a school (and the headteacher's career), no one sensible is going to be allowing holidays.

We seem to have got to the point in this country where we see holidays as a right. Children are off school for 13 weeks a year. Except for parents in professions where their annual leave is dictated to them, there really is no reason to be having term-time holidays.

Jagraf

clearingout wrote: »

Not read the whole thread so apologies if this has already been said.

Statistics show that children with attendance of less than 95% come out with at least one grade lower in their GCSEs than children who attend 95% of the time or more. It literally only takes a few days of illness here and there for attendance to go below that figure.

Most children will have the odd day off here and there which we all accept can't be helped. Adding a two week holiday on top of that will, in many cases, lower attendance below the magic 95% figure. Ofsted will ask questions - lots of questions - if a head teacher is seen to be agreeing to holidays which lower the school's attendance figure below 95%. Since Ofsted can make or break a school (and the headteacher's career), no one sensible is going to be allowing holidays.

We seem to have got to the point in this country where we see holidays as a right. Children are off school for 13 weeks a year. Except for parents in professions where their annual leave is dictated to them, there really is no reason to be having term-time holidays.

This is an excellent post and in my mind so obvious.

Jagraf

There is no right to a cheap holiday.

There is a right to a child receiving an education.

There is certainly an argument that a parent is denying the right of a child to an education by removing them from the chosen educational process.

I would make the absence process more rigourous.

meer53

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Anybody who knows anything about it.

I have 2 children. One who is now 28 and another aged 14 who is currently in high school. I think having been on the board of governors at 2 different schools, and a teaching assistant at another, i know enough about it thanks.

Standards have really slipped. But not school standards, the standards of those parents who these days think it is their right to have a 2 week all inclusive !!!! up so they can drink their body weight in alcohol for 2 weeks during term time when it's much cheaper.

I'm taking my daughter away this year. During the school holidays, it's costing me double the amount it would if i went earlier but i wouldn't take her out of school. Rules are rules.

missbiggles1

meer53 wrote: »

I have 2 children. One who is now 28 and another aged 14 who is currently in high school. I think having been on the board of governors at 2 different schools, and a teaching assistant at another, i know enough about it thanks.

Standards have really slipped. But not school standards, the standards of those parents who these days think it is their right to have a 2 week all inclusive !!!! up so they can drink their body weight in alcohol for 2 weeks during term time when it's much cheaper.

I'm taking my daughter away this year. During the school holidays, it's costing me double the amount it would if i went earlier but i wouldn't take her out of school. Rules are rules.

14 years isn't really a very wide perspective in educational terms, I'm afraid.