Questions on school fines for the upcoming year

powerful_Rogue

jaycee147 said:

No parent wants to take their children out of school in term time. Not every parent has the luxury of being able to take their vacation in the school holiday timetable for many reasons. 

Many parents, particularly those in professions with inflexible schedules (such as healthcare, law enforcement, and essential services), find it challenging to synchronize their leave with school holidays. This legislation does not account for the complexity of modern work-life balance.

   - For those needing to book annual leave within a 13-week period, companies cannot allow all staff time off during school holidays. This limitation is particularly acute in sectors where business operations must continue without interruption.

The new legislation does not apply to families who home-school their children, creating an inconsistency in how educational policies are applied. Parents who home-school have the flexibility to plan education around family commitments, whereas parents of children in traditional schools face punitive measures. This discrepancy highlights an unfair and inconsistent approach to education and family life.

The threat of court action and possible fines or criminal records is an excessive response to parents prioritizing family needs. It places undue stress on families and can exacerbate financial and social hardships.

The price of holidays in school  holidays sky rocket and can take it out of affordability for lots of hard working families, who just want to pass some quality time with their children when they can.

There is a petition to hopefully bring this to be reviewed. If this affects you please check it out on the change.org website

I think the fines should be a lot higher, and that's coming from someone with an 18 month old that previously enjoyed very cheap holidays - cheap because the prices are lower to entice people, rather than the prices increasing during the summer holidays.

It's this sense of entitlement that really grates on me. Look at any 3rd world country where the childen want to goto school and get educated - some people don't realise how lucky they are to live here and have the schools we do.

Which brings me onto home schooling. It's not 'unfair or inconsistent' - If you want to home school your kids and take holidays when you like, then do it. But don't start complaining when you want them to have free education at school and also take holidays as and when you like. You can't have your cake and eat it.

swingaloo

powerful_Rogue said:

jaycee147 said:

No parent wants to take their children out of school in term time. Not every parent has the luxury of being able to take their vacation in the school holiday timetable for many reasons. 

Many parents, particularly those in professions with inflexible schedules (such as healthcare, law enforcement, and essential services), find it challenging to synchronize their leave with school holidays. This legislation does not account for the complexity of modern work-life balance.

   - For those needing to book annual leave within a 13-week period, companies cannot allow all staff time off during school holidays. This limitation is particularly acute in sectors where business operations must continue without interruption.

The new legislation does not apply to families who home-school their children, creating an inconsistency in how educational policies are applied. Parents who home-school have the flexibility to plan education around family commitments, whereas parents of children in traditional schools face punitive measures. This discrepancy highlights an unfair and inconsistent approach to education and family life.

The threat of court action and possible fines or criminal records is an excessive response to parents prioritizing family needs. It places undue stress on families and can exacerbate financial and social hardships.

The price of holidays in school  holidays sky rocket and can take it out of affordability for lots of hard working families, who just want to pass some quality time with their children when they can.

There is a petition to hopefully bring this to be reviewed. If this affects you please check it out on the change.org website

I think the fines should be a lot higher, and that's coming from someone with an 18 month old that previously enjoyed very cheap holidays - cheap because the prices are lower to entice people, rather than the prices increasing during the summer holidays.

It's this sense of entitlement that really grates on me. Look at any 3rd world country where the childen want to goto school and get educated - some people don't realise how lucky they are to live here and have the schools we do.

Which brings me onto home schooling. It's not 'unfair or inconsistent' - If you want to home school your kids and take holidays when you like, then do it. But don't start complaining when you want them to have free education at school and also take holidays as and when you like. You can't have your cake and eat it.

Couldn't agree more. There are companies who dictate when an employee can take holidays, what happens when these children who think they are entitled to take holidays whenever they like start working for a living and get told 'No'. 
Imagine if teachers all decided to take time off during term time to get cheaper holidays and left schools with a massive shortage of teachers for the children. I imagine parents would complain then.

sheramber

This year my son and family are going on holiday during the October school holidays as it is cheaper than July/August.

For those who cannot take holidays during school term time, what do they so to look after their children during the school holidays?

Spendless

sheramber said:

This year my son and family are going on holiday during the October school holidays as it is cheaper than July/August.

For those who cannot take holidays during school term time, what do they so to look after their children during the school holidays?

??? They find childcare. A holiday club, a childminder, ask a relative, pay an older teenager/Uni student  to babysit, if child is old enough to  just need an adult presence rather than needing care sit them in front of the TV whilst they work from home. I did a variety of those as my children grew. I never had a job where I could take every hol off. 

Exodi

It's as if the OP's don't know what the fines are for...

Especially for the annual trip to Centre Parcs. Do they really need to increase the fines to the point that they are equal to the difference in price between the peak and off-peak holidays to finally deter parents.

jaycee147 said:

No parent wants to take their children out of school in term time. Not every parent has the luxury of being able to take their vacation in the school holiday timetable for many reasons. 

Many parents, particularly those in professions with inflexible schedules (such as healthcare, law enforcement, and essential services), find it challenging to synchronize their leave with school holidays. This legislation does not account for the complexity of modern work-life balance.

   - For those needing to book annual leave within a 13-week period, companies cannot allow all staff time off during school holidays. This limitation is particularly acute in sectors where business operations must continue without interruption.

The new legislation does not apply to families who home-school their children, creating an inconsistency in how educational policies are applied. Parents who home-school have the flexibility to plan education around family commitments, whereas parents of children in traditional schools face punitive measures. This discrepancy highlights an unfair and inconsistent approach to education and family life.

The threat of court action and possible fines or criminal records is an excessive response to parents prioritizing family needs. It places undue stress on families and can exacerbate financial and social hardships.

The price of holidays in school  holidays sky rocket and can take it out of affordability for lots of hard working families, who just want to pass some quality time with their children when they can.

There is a petition to hopefully bring this to be reviewed. If this affects you please check it out on the change.org website

There's a lot of beating around the bush considering we obviously all know in the significant majority of cases the motivation is financial. The OP is also such a case.

I'll be honest, I was somewhat dumbfounded at your suggestion that a jolly to Center Parcs is a 'need' or the irony of stating that fines can 'exacerbate financial hardship' for those poor destitute families just trying to go on their annual Center Parcs trip.

I did go on change.org as I was interested in how someone would word a justification for children to be pulled out of school at their parents whim, but the only popular one I could find was this: https://www.change.org/p/prevent-unfair-price-hikes-for-holidays-during-school-breaks

The request doesn't really make a lot of sense since holiday providers are driven by supply and demand, and obviously school breaks like the summer holidays are peak demand. I don't really see what the government is expected to do?

Sapindus

I think every time I've ever seen someone complaining about how unfair school fines are, it's been about wanting to take some expensive trip like center parcs or disney.  Even one article I saw "if we don't go in term time we won't be able to afford school lunches or uniform... so we took them out and went to euro disney".

Comments about fines not applying to home schooling being "inconsistent" are a complete red herring - if you think home schooling is such an easy ride why don't you try it?

Honestly, try just finding an ordinary cheaper holiday and spend some quality time doing real things with your kids instead of buying into the production line meat market "making memories" spiel of center parcs. 

sheramber

I can only remember three holdays as child- one to a caravan site in the same county, one to stay with a relotive, and one to Butlins when I was 11.  

We couldn't afford holidays every year.

My kids had UK holidays in our caravan or to self catering houses.

None of us have been  damaged by not getting to go abroad, or go to a theme park,

There are plenty of options available to holiday in the UK or visit local attractions.

After all , look at all these foreigners that come to UK to holiday.

These holidays are the parents' choice. What 5 year old  cares whether he is on a beach in UK or in Europe. 

A  colleague took her 6 year old son to Disney and all he wanted to do was go back to the hotel and play in the pool. He was not interested in the theme park,

SadieO

Exodi said:

It's as if the OP's don't know what the fines are for...

Especially for the annual trip to Centre Parcs. Do they really need to increase the fines to the point that they are equal to the difference in price between the peak and off-peak holidays to finally deter parents.

jaycee147 said:

No parent wants to take their children out of school in term time. Not every parent has the luxury of being able to take their vacation in the school holiday timetable for many reasons. 

Many parents, particularly those in professions with inflexible schedules (such as healthcare, law enforcement, and essential services), find it challenging to synchronize their leave with school holidays. This legislation does not account for the complexity of modern work-life balance.

   - For those needing to book annual leave within a 13-week period, companies cannot allow all staff time off during school holidays. This limitation is particularly acute in sectors where business operations must continue without interruption.

The new legislation does not apply to families who home-school their children, creating an inconsistency in how educational policies are applied. Parents who home-school have the flexibility to plan education around family commitments, whereas parents of children in traditional schools face punitive measures. This discrepancy highlights an unfair and inconsistent approach to education and family life.

The threat of court action and possible fines or criminal records is an excessive response to parents prioritizing family needs. It places undue stress on families and can exacerbate financial and social hardships.

The price of holidays in school  holidays sky rocket and can take it out of affordability for lots of hard working families, who just want to pass some quality time with their children when they can.

There is a petition to hopefully bring this to be reviewed. If this affects you please check it out on the change.org website

There's a lot of beating around the bush considering we obviously all know in the significant majority of cases the motivation is financial. The OP is also such a case.

I'll be honest, I was somewhat dumbfounded at your suggestion that a jolly to Center Parcs is a 'need' or the irony of stating that fines can 'exacerbate financial hardship' for those poor destitute families just trying to go on their annual Center Parcs trip.

I did go on change.org as I was interested in how someone would word a justification for children to be pulled out of school at their parents whim, but the only popular one I could find was this: https://www.change.org/p/prevent-unfair-price-hikes-for-holidays-during-school-breaks

The request doesn't really make a lot of sense since holiday providers are driven by supply and demand, and obviously school breaks like the summer holidays are peak demand. I don't really see what the government is expected to do?

If these petitions are somehow successful at forcing holiday companies to charge the same price all year round, do they honestly think the result will be them charging everyone the lower price, or the higher one??

Parents may regret that in a few years time when their children have left school, and they themselves could benefit from cheaper holidays outside of term time! 

lincroft1710

Exodi said:

jaycee147 said:

No parent wants to take their children out of school in term time. Not every parent has the luxury of being able to take their vacation in the school holiday timetable for many reasons. 

Many parents, particularly those in professions with inflexible schedules (such as healthcare, law enforcement, and essential services), find it challenging to synchronize their leave with school holidays. This legislation does not account for the complexity of modern work-life balance.

   - For those needing to book annual leave within a 13-week period, companies cannot allow all staff time off during school holidays. This limitation is particularly acute in sectors where business operations must continue without interruption.

The new legislation does not apply to families who home-school their children, creating an inconsistency in how educational policies are applied. Parents who home-school have the flexibility to plan education around family commitments, whereas parents of children in traditional schools face punitive measures. This discrepancy highlights an unfair and inconsistent approach to education and family life.

The threat of court action and possible fines or criminal records is an excessive response to parents prioritizing family needs. It places undue stress on families and can exacerbate financial and social hardships.

The price of holidays in school  holidays sky rocket and can take it out of affordability for lots of hard working families, who just want to pass some quality time with their children when they can.

There is a petition to hopefully bring this to be reviewed. If this affects you please check it out on the change.org website

I did go on change.org as I was interested in how someone would word a justification for children to be pulled out of school at their parents whim, but the only popular one I could find was this: https://www.change.org/p/prevent-unfair-price-hikes-for-holidays-during-school-breaks

The request doesn't really make a lot of sense since holiday providers are driven by supply and demand, and obviously school breaks like the summer holidays are peak demand. I don't really see what the government is expected to do?

Which is exactly why I didn't sign it!

Grumpy_chap

Sapindus said:

 "if we don't go in term time we won't be able to afford school lunches or uniform... so we took them out and went to euro disney".

I suppose that is then a win-win for the parents.  If they don't send the children to school but choose holiday instead, there is no need to waste money on uniform