Taking kids out of school...

[Zoo Music Girl]

Don't have any myself but this topic is always a hot potato. The LGA have waded in:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/34581078

[Smeble]

It wouldn't be an issue if the travel companies didn't double the prices during school holidays.

 

schools don't seem to have an issue closing for strikes, teacher training days but the world ends if you take a child out for a few days

[russycarps]

Until I meet a teacher who knows more than I do, schools can go fuck themselves.

[zero000]

I've never understood why this is an issue. Why not lie and say they're ill?

[russycarps]

Teaching your kids to be liars isn't ideal

[A Guy Called Matt]

I am married to a teacher - so please don't blame them - they are just trying to do their jobs.

 

As for taking kids out again ,please don't have a go at the schools or staff - this stupid rule has come down from central government and there is no room for common sense ad it must by law be adhered to.

Most teachers think it is stupid.

Most teachers are also not members of unions and only have to not work due to EU law on child/teacher ratio when strikes are called. We won't talk about inset days though 

[Zoo Music Girl]

Yeah its clearly not the teachers' fault. I think the central law is stupid personally. One week out of school does not ruin your education. If I had kids I'd want to take them to Glastonbury I reckon.

[slash's hat]

Mine missed the Monday after Glastonbury this year. We rang them in sick, but it was common knowledge where they were and didn't ask them to lie about it. They're up to seniors next year and I wouldn't do it then.

[acidstorm523]

Glad to see this ridiculous law has been successfully challenged. I take my 3 kids to Glastonbury every year, and will continue to do so. I have called them in sick in the past, and made it clear to them that it is about working within a system that I have no problem challenging, it is an infringement of my right to bring up my kids as I see fit, and make choices that I believe in - not the Tory government. Last year I was given a fine which was withdrawn as they didn't follow procedures according to their own guidelines.

All my kids have very good attendance, and are exceeding all their targets. They work hard and are well behaved -  never had a detention or black mark between them in 10 years. My eldest won a distinction diploma for her work this year. I truly believe that having wider life experience is not only valuable, but essential. School is not a prison where we can be criminalised for not being there occasionally. It is every family's right to bring up their kids as they see fit, not create a generation of bland proles! 

It's not the teachers fault of course. Last year I was chair of governors, and I fully support e school, but it is also important to stand up against these ridiculous laws that infringe our human rights. 

 

[The Placid Casual]

I was taken out of school for football games a few times in school. Teachers knew where I was as the following day I'd turn up with the match programme from that game. Once was during a show and tell the day after Wales beat Italy 2-1 in 2002.

 

If your kids are doing well in school, I don't really see much of an issue with taking them out of school for one day. They're really not missing that much.

[Terence Fletcher]

I don't have kids so it is not my business what parents do, as long as the kids are on top of their work and are able to catch up on the work they miss I don't see the big deal.

The issue of inflated summer holiday prices will never be resolved, my wife worked in the travel industry and it is the hotels in Spain, Greece, Portugal and other places, that see £ signs flashing before their eyes and jack up the prices, Thomson, First Choice and others then have to put up prices, it is not greedy tour operators it is greedy hotel owners.

[A Guy Called Matt]

I don't have kids so it is not my business what parents do, as long as the kids are on top of their work and are able to catch up on the work they miss I don't see the big deal.

The issue of inflated summer holiday prices will never be resolved, my wife worked in the travel industry and it is the hotels in Spain, Greece, Portugal and other places, that see £ signs flashing before their eyes and jack up the prices, Thomson, First Choice and others then have to put up prices, it is not greedy tour operators it is greedy hotel owners.

and greedy airline companies.

infact greedy rich businesses all over.

The thing is that we can play with holiday dates all we want and all that happens, as is happening now, is that the time holidays cost more gets longer.
As someone married to a teacher I wish I could have taken her out of school so we could have  a cheaper holiday - thankfully she now does contract and supply work so can choose where and when she works.

[zero000]

It's not just an issue of greed though, there's clearly an element of supply and demand, caused in part by the government's stance on taking kids out of school.

[A Guy Called Matt]

It's not just an issue of greed though, there's clearly an element of supply and demand, caused in part by the government's stance on taking kids out of school.

Nothing to do with what the government have said or done - it has always been the case that school holidays cost more.... and yes that is supply and demand, or so they say but as loads of hotel rooms are empty and flights get code shared rather shows that the demand is not what the companies say.

[guypjfreak]

there was a bloke on tv who in his day would have been able to go on hoilday any time he wanted when he was a kid ...HE said that one week yea one week can ruin a kids chance of getting a good well paid job ........

well he was a school govenor getting paid loads ...didnt do HIM much harm did it ...

 

its a load of bollocks imo.....taking your kids on hoilday is great for them and they learn wot they call life skills ..i called learning to have fun ......imo some one should do something about the hoilday firms/hotels/flights//ect that triple or more in price as soon as the kids CAN go on a hoilday ..tis all wrong old sons

[dizzymoo]

It's not just that families are forced to take holidays at the most expensive time (though of course those who can afford to send their kids to fee-paying schools are not because they have longer school holidays and different rules), but it has an effect on workplaces where staff with children are all trying to get time off in the same few weeks, with some missing out. The research which claims to show even a week off school affects kids' attainment doesn't differentiate between time missed through family holidays and through truanting, which can represent very different attitudes to learning.

We had a real struggle with the school this year (whinged about by me at length on another thread). They had always readily given permission for time out for Glastonbury before the new rules but refused any time off this year, including to the last half day of the summer term (for Latitude) when there are no proper lessons.  When I pointed out that a trip to Spain to play football in term time was considered educational, but missing a few hours of school to visit a festival of literature, theatre, music etc wasn't being allowed, the school relented and recorded the absence as an educational visit, which seems the most sensible course. I appreciate what other posters are saying about schools having no flexibility, but some do seem to be applying the rules with great enthusiasm.  Parents I know have had problems getting permission for their kids to go to weddings and funerals, which are supposed to be 'exceptional circumstances'.

Claiming illness for 2 kids at the time of Glasto when it's common knowledge they're going just invites prosecution, and I wanted to be honest and try to maintain a good relationship with the school.  The rules as they are now just encourage parents to be dishonest, or result in schools' unauthorised absence rates rising as families choose to pay the fines which are small compared to what they can save in holiday costs.

[Platt073]

Just take them I wouldn't do myself,  I'm too busy having a good time. I too have had to fight for getting my daughter 3 days off school for a family holiday. I run a holiday let business so I can t go away in the peak time. As for prices it is supply and demand, prices would fall peak times if we had a longer season with kids coming out of main school holiday.

It's been contested in the courts and it's unlawful to fine, a child only has to regularly attend school.

 

[slash's hat]

I wouldn't have rung them in sick if they were there the whole 5 days. They joined me on the sat so only missed 1 day of school. But I know where you're coming from. I know at our junior school absence for holidays was pretty high, and they cracked down on it before the new fine system. 

Its all about having the right attendance figures on a sheet though. Family life is falling apart more now than ever with pressures on parents, a few relaxed days having some fun, even if not educational, can be worth much more than formal education.

[willutalk]

Provided no important exams etc. Take them! I'm sure they'll learn so much more from their time at Glastonbury than the classroom anyway. 

 

It's just another bureaucratic stunt by the government to use educational policy to dismantle term time festivities like Glasto.

[guypjfreak]

theres a petion some where ill try and find it

[buddiepaul]

I took my kids out of school for End of the Road.  Decided to be honest and the schools accepted it without question.  Also said it was an important family commitment that we went.

[guypjfreak]

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/106133

[themuel]

Just to wade in on behalf of schools, most teachers are ok with kids having time off if they're doing OK in general, as long as people don't take the piss  

I work in a school and am allowed it off each year, and there are families who take their children out for the week to go as well. No official action has ever been taken by us, what would happen if the authorities stepped in I don't know. Our heads opinion is that 5 days at Glastonbury teaches you things about life that school can't. 

It's all about not taking the piss and everything works out ok, or at least it is where I live! I'm very lucky.  

[themuel]

You can't say "most" teachers are ok with it.  There has never been any effort to gather the collective thoughts of teachers.  The two teachers I know both think it adds pressure and would rather kids attend as much as possible as I posted above.  You obviously know some with a differing opinion.

Any sensible solution to this "problem" is to give full power to head teachers and let them decide as they know the families, pupils and teachers involved best.

ok, most (vast majority) teachers I have had the conversation with, and that is a lot as it is an opinion I am interested in. 

Edited October 21, 2015 by themuel

[themuel]

Ok you are clearly the authority on the subject matter  cough

Aren't we all just giving opinions? I don't understand why you're so argumentative/dismissive. I joined the discussion to add my thoughts, not claim to know more than anyone else. 

Edited October 21, 2015 by themuel