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Education

Taking your kids out of school for holiday

15 replies

alisonjjo · 22/07/2013 23:05

Has anyone else had a letter from the local authority stating that you wont be able to take the kids out of school outside of holidays without being fined. hopefully they will also lower the cost of holidays during school holidays as well then if they are planning on doing this

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prh47bridge · 22/07/2013 23:19

Fines for taking children out of school without authorisation have been around since 2004. Contrary to popular myth you do not have the right to take your children out of school for a holiday. It is at the discretion of the head and heads are under increasing pressure to improve attendance.

MirandaWest · 22/07/2013 23:38

I don't think the local authorities set holiday prices tbh.

As prh says, there is no right to take children out of school for a holiday.

ChaosTrulyReigns · 22/07/2013 23:49

I don't think the LEA are in charge of holiday prices.

I do believe there should be a cap between the highest and lowest holiday proce.

The doubling of prices from one week to the next is obscene.

thismousebites · 22/07/2013 23:53

We had this letter today.
Won't make any difference as the fine will still be less than the cost of the holiday in out of term time. so don't worry about it.

StarlightMcKenzie · 22/07/2013 23:55

I think people are going at this all wrong tbh.

The rules to code B have changed yes, but imo the future is in using it creatively. Trouble is you need a forward-thinking school with a genuine commitment to partnership-working with parents.

I have been through a number of schools and this commitment just isn't there. What they call partnership, I call outreach. Any other model just isn't tolerated.

Clary · 22/07/2013 23:55

The holiday companies charge what they charge because they can as people are prepared to pay it

If people didn't pay it, they would charge less. I can see how it is annoying but let's face it, it's business.

If you sell ice cream, you do better in the hot weather. You might choose to bump up your prices then. If you sell an ice cream in winter at £1 and then try to sell it in July at £5, you might find people don't want to pay that. Or you might find they do.

StarlightMcKenzie · 22/07/2013 23:56

It's not about prices. That's just driven by market demand, and becoming more draconian with out of term holidays just means the demand for school holiday holidays will increase further and cost even more.

1805 · 23/07/2013 00:34

would it be at all possible for a school to set all 5 inset days together in early June, so parents can go on holiday then?
I honestly don't know how inset days are set.

Clary · 23/07/2013 00:41

Not practicable to do that with Inset days.

They are there for staff training, and even if a school can run two or three together with a common aim (tho not common IME), most schools have one at the start of the year for staff to sort out groups/combined planning/last-minute plans for the year, and a similar one in July to plan for next year. Hard to do those in June really!

Clary · 23/07/2013 00:43

What I have never understood is how all the people who can't afford to go on holiday in school hols do about the school hols? Surely all your childcare must cost more than the holiday? As soon as our DC reached school age, DH and I tried to make 10 weeks stretch to cover 13 including a week or fortnight off together. It was always a struggle so taking a fortnight in June wouldn't have helped.

Mendi · 23/07/2013 06:05

Surely it's no more obscene for travel companies to charge double for holidays/flights in school holidays than it is for the rail operators to charge twice as much for my train ticket at peak times than at non-peak times?

I've never taken my DC out of school for a holiday even just a day or two early - not because of the "rules" but because I think it's the wrong message to give them about what's ok and what's not. I'm fairly sure that if they were allowed a few days off to suit my holiday requirements, they'd soon be asking why they couldn't have a day off here and there just because they felt like it. And I wouldn't have any good answer to that.

HeyCarrieAnn · 23/07/2013 07:22

Or the one I don't get - people taking their children away for two weeks - one half term and one week attached to it 'because it's cheap'. Just don't be greedy and have a one week holiday.

We would only holiday alternate years and only in this country, on the whole, as we certainly can't afford abroad in holiday time.

To be fair, sahms (or dad) households don't need to cover the school hols and with only one income are probably worst affected by the holiday time prices. It's tricky.

Camping's cheap, though. And hotels are the same price year round.

inkyfingers · 23/07/2013 17:39

One head teacher said that the pace of teaching and assessment in even early years now, is so fast that a lot happens and pupils miss out. Parents don't mention how they'll pick up the gaps in their child's learning for the missed 5-10 days. Staff will not be interested in finding the 1:1 time with kids to do this.

We've always just budgeted for the cost as it is in holiday times. Don't look at the savings for June etc.

englishteacher78 · 23/07/2013 18:14

It's not that the staff aren't interested in plugging the gaps - it's that there isn't time!

Talkinpeace · 23/07/2013 21:35

re INSET days : the schools have to scatter them through the year because people like DH who leads INSET sessions at schools can only be in one school at a time ....

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