Anyone taking the children out of school??

[tinkerpea]

I've always taken my boys out of school, I actually normally take them out for at least 2wks normally 3!

I did this as a child every year and it didn't harm me

Our holidays are the time that I know hubby will be home with us, and I won't be in hospital receiving treatment!

Hubby is spending 4months away from us right " military" now coming home every other wk end, and I spend a lot of time in hospital on and off,only just came out after spending last week in.

so holidays are majorly important to us, I want my boys to remember the good times and when I'm sick we spend a lot of time watching our disney holiday DVDs or talking about our plans for the next trip,

So I will gladly pay the fine!

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

We have decided to go the last two weeks of September and this means taking DD9 and DS7 out of school for two weeks. Is anyone else doing the same?

Did it in 2012 and it wasn't an issue, however with all this new legislation, think it might be!! We booked back in June 2013 before this new legislation came in to play.

Our trip in August will be the first time we haven't taken our children out of school,and only because DD is coming up to GCSEs.They have missed a maximum of 2 weeks with absolutely no adverse affects to their education whatsoever.If we hadn't been able to take them out of school then we simply would not been able to afford to go on holiday,and after our return from the first trip DS teacher commented on how he had matured and grown in confidence.

Take them away,give them magical memories

 

[bex7583]

they missed about 10days at the end of our last holiday last year , i did get a letter that they had fallen in to the attendance concern catergory and that it would be monitored over the next 12 month

i didnt get a fine

but if needed and its the best price/weather/events calendar for what we want to do then yes i will take them out again.

they were 4,5,and 7 so not missing any important stages or tests i bought them a disney hardback journal each for the trip so they could record there holiday and stick photos and tickets in. since they have been back at school my dd topic was journeys/transport so she used her journal and made a lovely poster . and my eldest ds topic was islands so he used all his knowledge from our keys road trip and did some good school work based on that. non of the other kids had real life experience of visiting islands and seeing turtle nests etc

 

[2Tiggies]

This made me giggle!

It's easier to apologize than to ask for permission I'm only using the local authority's own tactics on them. They give 11th hour notice of impending changes so that we don't have enough time to submit objections. If it's good for the goose ......

 

[dixonsontour]

We've taken DD out a one or two days either side of October in the past all authorised. Luckily DD gets 2 weeks hols then.

Head also authorised 4 days off when DD was 6 when we went on a late deal. Even got DD up in assembly to talk about meeting winter the dolphin at Clearwater.

Work is more of a hassle as they wont authorise me and DH off for more than 2 weeks now. Only exception once in a lifetime holidays. Given been to US approx 20 times hard to argue that

DD is at a private school so outside LA fines system. Head takes a sensible view eg they published the May exam week in September and said could term time holidays be kept to a minimum and please avoid exam week.

Will be interesting to see if local authorities do impose the fines.

If they do then it will realistically limit Florida to Easter or summer for many unless you are lucky enough to have 2 weeks off May/october.

 

[Princess Leia]

As a teacher I won't be able to go outside term time until I retire. We have always gone to Florida over the summer holidays but after the dreadful weather last time I am considering Easter next trip. Some Scottish schools get 2 weeks at October which I would love. I do think the government need to look at cutting taxes on flights during school holidays as I do think families are penalised at present with outrageous pricing during school holidays.

 

[Cinderella2006]

I hate taking the boys out of school as I work in the education sector and I know how much missing a days work can impact the child and the teacher so yes I feel a little guilty.
Having said that I think family time is just as important and some holidays can be really educational and children will learn things that cannot be taught in the classroom.
I have a disabled son and hot weather and crowds are not a good mix and we prefer October/May time so the boys end up having 6/7 days off school as the holiday overlaps the half term. My eldest has 99% attendance and my youngest is 92% but this is due to his disability and school sending him home but we are lucky enough to have an understanding head who has authorised our May holiday.

 

[joolz1910]

As a teacher I won't be able to go outside term time until I retire. We have always gone to Florida over the summer holidays but after the dreadful weather last time I am considering Easter next trip. Some Scottish schools get 2 weeks at October which I would love. I do think the government need to look at cutting taxes on flights during school holidays as I do think families are penalised at present with outrageous pricing during school holidays.

Same here. I managed it once as I am part-time so I was able to go to DLP on my days off. I also went to WDW for 2 weeks in October as I was a job-share and we were allowed to cover each other. Alas, that is no more. Next year we are going in August. If I didn't teach I would take my kids out of school for 1 week in October/November to combine with the half term and take the fine on the chin.

 

[Zeebs]

We don't mind tacking days onto the holidays, as long as my children have a good attendance level (which they do) and are tracking well (which they are) then I am happy to take them out. I do avoid the start of the school year. So would never do September.

Since having Ariana (who has additional needs, learning difficulties) while family time has always been important, it is even more so now.

I will inform the school of our plans, I will ask for some extra reading books and get the kids to do a small diary. If they supply stuff great if not no big deal.

You would never guess how many movies the kids watched in the lead up to the Christmas holidays they just seem to practise for the Christmas concerts, the both had non speaking parts and couldn't have cared less if they were at school or not that week.

Kirsten

 

[Vixster]

I will be taking mine out for 4 days and will be just writing a letter to say we are away not asking for permission as it won't happen anyway and our holiday is booked I lie October time and with a week for half term isn't quite enough I like 2 weeks at disney and Halloween too

 

[Minniesgal]

It has just occurred to me we are moving house at the end of June so I am taking mine out from 20th June. We aren't going on holiday so I hadn't thought about it but the school will probably consider that an unauthorised absence where as I see it as them leaving the school before the end of term.

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

I will get ready to close the thread soon

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....s-with-gove-on-school-holiday-rules-1-6115016

So far so good hey Wayne

 

[zippy99]

My sister has a daughter in Year 4 who has NEVER had a day off school and they are going Skiing tomorrow and their children are missing a week.

For her (and a bit like us with Florida) their choice to go in term time is due to personal circumstance and not to save money - interestingly, she explained that operators offering family ski holidays - effectively the only week they actually have to work with is Feb half term as Easter is too late this year so one company - MountainBase has offered to pay parents fines if they go out of this time.

The fines are just as damaging to the tourism industry as less people going during 'low season' will only see more increases in peak season to recoup costs pricing more out the market.

Why can't common sense prevail for once instead of such blanket approaches.

 

[Cadbury]

We have the same policy in the Netherlands and get fined 100 euro per day per kid for missing school

 

[Holstar]

Our girls will be missing the first week of school, well, three to four days of it anyway. Our eldest will be starting collage, middle miss will be going into year 9 and the youngest into year 6.

When we originally booked two and a bit years ago for last summer, we got permission from the school but then had to delay our trip. We've not gotten permission yet, but I'm hoping they'll be okay with it, if not, we'll just pay the fine.

Neither me nor my SO could have gotten three weeks off work in the peak of summer, and the only available time for me was end of August to end of September - we could have saved quite a bit of money by taking them out towards the end of September, but we went for what we thought the school would prefer. Still, it was a hassle getting their time off approved before, now I'm dreading it!

 

[NatalieMT]

I think going on holiday a few days before term ends or coming back a few days into term isn't a big deal, personally I wouldn't take a child out of school for 2/3 weeks right in the middle of the year! But that's just me and there are many factors that come into play such as age of the children, what they'd be missing etc. I do think you can still be learning on holiday as someone pointed out seeing real life geography/nature.

When I was at school, I was at a private school and they pretty much had a no tolerance policy for it. Obviously it happened but not regularly. I never missed school for holidays as a child but if I had done I don't think it would have greatly effected me since I became very ill during my last 2 years and still passed all subjects on something like a 50% attendance rate. I think the fines are a step too far, most parents have obviously thought logically that taking their child out of school for a short period of time is the best option for them and their family. It is perfectly legal to home school and you don't have to follow the national curriculum as long as your child gets a well rounded eduction from 5+ so I kind of think if that's the case then missing a few days is neither here nor there if you're committed to catching up the work.

 

[tinkerpea]

We have the same policy in the Netherlands and get fined 100 euro per day per kid for missing school

That's INSANE! I'm so pleased we don't have that here! It would cost me a fortune lol

 

[2Tiggies]

That's INSANE! I'm so pleased we don't have that here! It would cost me a fortune lol

 

[Tinkjon]

I have never had any problem with taking my children out of school and my Head was always happy to authorise it. Since the new regs came in he can't authorise anymore but we're taking the leave anyway The onnly thing I wouldn't do is to take leave in September as they need to be settling into new classes, making friends etc. And I would advise against asking for work to be sent home - this is extra work for the teachers so it's not very fair on them. If you want your child to keep up with every lesson then simply don't take them away in term time! Not fair to ask a teacher to plan work to send home...

 

[Zeebs]

I have never had any problem with taking my children out of school and my Head was always happy to authorise it. Since the new regs came in he can't authorise anymore but we're taking the leave anyway The onnly thing I wouldn't do is to take leave in September as they need to be settling into new classes, making friends etc. And I would advise against asking for work to be sent home - this is extra work for the teachers so it's not very fair on them. If you want your child to keep up with every lesson then simply don't take them away in term time! Not fair to ask a teacher to plan work to send home...

I will be asking for extra reading books (which they grab themselves) and the homework sheet that gets handed out on a Wednesday. I am also going to get them to try and fill in a journal. But won't be asking for any stuff that is being covered in class. We have tacked our days onto the May half term so they are missing a week.

Kirsten