Don't penalise parents for term-time holidays.

dreamdaisy

Those who should be penalised are the travel companies who cheerfully hoick up their prices at half-terms and the longer breaks, they are the true culprits here. DD

Megrose489

Even though I'm aware how difficult it is for children to catch up properly if they are away at the beginning of a term, I have sympathy with parents who don't want to pay the exorbitant peak holiday prices. I also have a bugbear with the travel companies who put on a high extra charge for single travellers! :x

Meg

barbara12

My son and dil have taken the children away this week saving £ 450...and they will be fined £60, so still much cheaper for them... so were is the sense in that..by the way the one that goes to school has 100 percent attendance before this.. :roll:I just think they should be allowed the two week of there choice has long as it doesn't interrupt exams ..

stickywicket

I don't see this as an either / or. Surely both are at fault. Of course prices are hiked at peak periods. That's capitalism and market forces. It's a cynical fact of life.

This isn't new. When our kids (Now in their 40s) were at school I lost count of the very appealing holidays we couldn't have because we could only afford them during term time. We always ended up self-catering as that was all we could afford. And that's not a good option with arthritic everything.

However, as a former teacher, I found it hard enough trying to help kids catch up when they'd been ill. I admit I resented it somewhat when they'd just been on holiday.

barbara12

There were no price hikes when my sons were young they are 42 and 39..so we just had the local holidays... wakes week that landed in the school holidays..

tkachev

We took a holiday at the end of July with one child missing 2 days and one missing the final (early finish) day which included a noisy BBQ which would have distressed him. My other Son had just completed his GCSE's and was not attending school. I wrote to the schools asking permission which was granted, albeit last minute,and if they had refused I'd have gone out a few days later if there were flights available rather than pay a fine.

I didn't like my Daughter missing the 2 days, especially as she has a lot of illness and I definately wouldn't do it again.

I later found out that My Son's school had fined everybody the previous year for leaving even 2 days prior to the end of term.

Elizabeth

theresak

As a retired teacher I can see it from both sides too, but I don`t see the travel companies ever towing the line - there`s too much money to be made for them ever to do that.

I could never go out of school holidays either, so I admit to feeling a wee bit resentful when families did. I had one child, whose family went to Tunisia every year without fail in the fortnight immediately following the summer holiday - so when she came back, I had to organise her timetable/books/homework diary/planner etc., as well as work she`d missed.There were also parents who asked for their children to be set work to do while they were away, but it was rarely completed, and you couldn`t blame the poor child for that!

My younger son`s school in York fine parents who take their children out, so he now goes in August and pays peak prices.

A thorny problem!

dreamdaisy

Perhaps parents should be allowed to fine teachers when teachers go on strike - apparently when they feel the need to deprive children of one vital day of education it's not a problem. I think it's high time that the academic year is split into four equal terms, with Wed. to Fri. off half way through and a fortnight off in-between terms. The time spent in educating will increase from around 37 weeks to around 43 which has to be a good thing as it would allow for more thoroughness and possibly eradicate the ridiculous fortnightly timetables that many schools around here have to use. One of my key selling points when I was a private tutor was that I worked through all half-terms, the Easter and summer breaks too.

I remember other parents when I was at primary and secondary school (in the 60s and 70s) writing to request an absence - my mum did it when it was her Mother's funeral and I was allowed out for half a day. I've only just recalled that. DD

stickywicket

Does anyone else remember the School Board Man?

When I was 11, and first started with what they then deemed 'Rheumatic Fever', my mother, who had kept the school fully informed, was mortified to find him at the door one day as he had to verify my absence.

theresak

There was an article in the Press this week about a Headmistress, in a primary school,being granted a week's holiday leave by her Board of Governors. A bit contentious I thought, since the same board were not allowing any parents a similar privilege.
The 4-term school year has been talked about for ages, but never gets any further.

My son is a H o D, and his school operates a fortnightly timetable, which I would have hated, but fortunately back in the dark ages we had no such system!

theresak

stickywicket wrote:

Does anyone else remember the School Board Man?

When I was 11, and first started with what they then deemed 'Rheumatic Fever', my mother, who had kept the school fully informed, was mortified to find him at the door one day as he had to verify my absence.

Oooh, the School Board Man - yes, I remember that! You couldn't miss school unless you were dying, as there was always the threat oh him knocking your door. When he became the Educational Welfare Officer he didn't sound nearly as sinister!

Slosh

Sorry, just to clarify, Heads have permission to grant up to 10 days in exceptional circumstances, this has been the case for many years. What has happened now is that schools are enforcing the law.
A lot of parents "play" the system, booking flights etc. before asking permission from the school, we even had one case where the parent did this, and then a couple of weeks later came in to say the family had to fly to Pakistan due to an unexpected bereavement! We have also had the same grandparent die two times!

Schools are under a lot of pressure to achieve at least 95% attendance across the school as if it falls below this it can be one of the triggers for an inspection, and can impact badly on the final report. There is also a lot of evidence about the long term effect if children take a couple of weeks off a year, it can reduce GCSE grades, and with the way maths for instance is taught now a pupil could miss out on a whole topic.

I am a teacher and can say I have never been on strike, and when my daughter was young always had to pay full whack.

frogmorton

I remember once seeing a discussion about this issue on the news; with the airlines insisting that they run almost at a loss the rest of the year except for school hols. :?

I never had mine off and oh how I yearned for being able to go at the end of June/beginning of July (in the really good weather). This year would have been my chance!!!! Lucy my youngest would have been finishing for her exams early, but due to her ill-health, flying (or even a few days away) was out of the question:(

The school have 'done something' so that I won't get the EWO at the door for non-school attendance, but it means I don't get my child benefit either :roll:

One day maybe they actually will sort out the 4 term school year

love

Toni xxx

Slosh

When they last looked the 4 term year they ran into a major problem, apart from the fact that for it to work it would have to be national, and holiday firms etc would simply switch their peak periods. That is that it would cause enormous problems if they altered the start date of the school year as most proposals involved this. At present this is officially 1st September and decides when a child starts school. If it was altered either way there would be massive problems as thousands of children would be affected, and would potentially have to either stay down a year or move up a year. The issues around this were one of the main reasons it was abandoned. The longer summer break is also often the time when schools can get a lot of maintenance and building work done without disrupting schooling.

frogmorton

I see their reasoning, but I bet those are not insurmountable problems if they assumed that two things must remain static:
1 Exams
2. 'Official' start date. (most schools rarely start before 3rd/4th September anyway)
Airports, large shopping centres etc have their maintenance done out of hours already (or should I say off-peak times) so it is possible.

Scottish schools have different dates already being at least two weeks ahead of us. We have used this to our advantage in the past by holidaying up there when their kids are at school. I also have a friend who holidays down here while ours are in school (centreparcs I think).

Scottish kids are going in on Monday having just had two weeks and ours are about to start their one week.

Ah well....

I'm sure it'll sort out one day....maybe

stickywicket

Slosh wrote:

The longer summer break is also often the time when schools can get a lot of maintenance and building work done without disrupting schooling.

I hadn't thought about that. Mind you, to judge by the local news, I'm not sure schools do get repaired any more. How conkers can be deemed a health hazard but mouldy walls and leaking roofs not is one of life's mysteries.

theresak

A digression I know, but when the PE staff in our school complained about the freezing temps causing ice to form on the Sports Hall floor, the Head's answer was to have the thermometer removed. Elf 'n safety was still in its infancy then.