Missing school to go to WDW?

[Lobey]

When my DDs were in primary school I used to take them out for 1 week either side of the October mid term holiday to give a 3 week holiday. However, now they are in secondary school I feel that they would miss too much and so this year we are going in the summer for the first time. However, we are going one week before the school breaks up. I have no qualms about this whatsoever - they are only sitting round watching videos etc. during the last week anyway.

 

[kkymmy]

Hi Lobey you must be in WDW around the same time as us!

 

[Lobey]

Hi Lobey you must be in WDW around the same time as us!

Yeah! We head out June 25th ... flights (flyglobespan) and villa booked, busy planning the rest. I hope your countdown is moving faster than mine is ...

 

[kkymmy]

nope....never ever seems to move we're out there june 23rd (but not arriving till late) and staying on property (ASMo's)...maybe we could meet up and say hi over a nice cold something or other?

 

[dis-me]

Thus subject is very relevatn to me at the moment - I am considering taking my sisters to Florida with me in Jan '07. At the moment I'm check when January AS Level exams will be (one sister is going to be in year 12 then) and if they do not coincide with the dates I will write to the headmaster explaining that it would be a very special opportunity for us and a surprise treat for them. No idea what the outcome will be yet.

Hoqwever, even if the AS exams are done once we leave, I'm still unsure whether to even puruse this as taking my sister out of school in year 12 (the other is in year 9) for a week, might be very bad for her studies.

Any thoughts?

 

[gilld]

Personally I don't think Years 9, 10, 11 or 12 a good idea - one of your sisters will have SAT's and the other will have AS levels. But if that is the only opportunity you/they have, then you AND they will have to weigh up the pros and cons with the schools involved. Is it not possible to arrange it over a half term holiday?

 

[Gillsfan]

Personally I do not have a problem with taking my children out of school. Why? because children spending time with thier parents, siblings is just as important as school life. I work shifts sometimes I do not see my children for 2 days. For me thats horrible, but I chose my profession and I love it. However, children going on holidays in general are just as educational. Take Disney for example they offer science, animals, history, different cultures, fun and most importantly patience. Having to wait for rides or characters has taught my daughter to wait and be patient. Also you have Kennedy Space Centre since when has schools had real rockets, imax cinemas, etc...

Sorry for rambling what I am trying to say is. Please dont feel guilty about taking your children out of school for a holiday. They are just as important.

Enjoy yourselves. Cant wait to book my Oct 07 holiday

 

[kkymmy]

Thus subject is very relevatn to me at the moment - I am considering taking my sisters to Florida with me in Jan '07. At the moment I'm check when January AS Level exams will be (one sister is going to be in year 12 then) and if they do not coincide with the dates I will write to the headmaster explaining that it would be a very special opportunity for us and a surprise treat for them. No idea what the outcome will be yet.

Hoqwever, even if the AS exams are done once we leave, I'm still unsure whether to even puruse this as taking my sister out of school in year 12 (the other is in year 9) for a week, might be very bad for her studies.

Any thoughts?

I took two weeks out at the beginning of year 13.....in some ways it was the best thing i could have done because i'd been working full time all summer then gone straight back to school and not had a break....BUT I missed an awful lot of work (including assessed coursework) and after we got back I was only back for a week before we had a two week half term (effectively only attending school for 3 weeks out of the first 7....never looks good on the old attendance.

It really is up to you...I was really excited about it all but kept thinking while we were there about how much work I would be missing. I was scared to go and see my teachers about having the time off even though the school knew, and apparently I should have taken two coursework projects with me...whoops!

However I worked excessively hard for the rest of the academic year and came out with three decent A Levels (BBC), and AS level in a foreign language and a place at the only uni in the country that does my course.

As things turned out it didn't affect me too badly, possibly because it was at the start of the academic year and I had until May/June to catch up (we didn't sit external exams in January)...I suppose the best thing is to see how your sister feels about it, then approach the school and see what they have to say. it's very difficult keeping everyone happy in a situation like this and although going to WDW is very exciting.....it will always be there and the magic will always be strong no matter what age you visit and what the cirucmstances surrounding that visit are. Your sisters will only get one chance at their education, and if they've got big dreams then they need to do everything they can to achieve them.

 

[arieliwish]

I'm glad this subject has been raised again as I'm grappling with what to do for aug/sep 07.

In 05 we travelled end aug/sep and in 06 from second week of sept, our primary school were fine about taking our two out.

However, this sept DD starts big school and as we're 'only' doing DLP in oct half term this year, we've started thinking about next year when she'll be starting year 8. DS will be year 5.

The price difference from aug/sep to second week sept is around £1000, that would be park tickets and part food costs to us.

Big decisions, but I usually can't bring myself to book until after easter, so plenty of time to think!

Lynn

 

[gilld]

I'm glad this subject has been raised again as I'm grappling with what to do for aug/sep 07.

In 05 we travelled end aug/sep and in 06 from second week of sept, our primary school were fine about taking our two out.

However, this sept DD starts big school and as we're 'only' doing DLP in oct half term this year, we've started thinking about next year when she'll be starting year 8. DS will be year 5.

The price difference from aug/sep to second week sept is around £1000, that would be park tickets and part food costs to us.

Big decisions, but I usually can't bring myself to book until after easter, so plenty of time to think!

Lynn

I think it's a difficult decision to make, but obviously Year 8 isn't as vital as Years 9,10,11,12,13 as there aren't the external exams - we didn't ever take ours out of school for holidays, except once in Infant School, we just didn't have long haul holidays as often, as they cost so much more in the summer - as we all know!!! But everyone has to make up their own minds and talking to the respective schools can help.

 

[Soprano]

DD (5) got her end of year report today, all excellent, apart from attendence which was hit badly when we took her to Florida this year for 3 weeks.

At her age, I brush off anyone who frowns at us taking her out during school time. Would do it again to avoid crowds/heat if choosing Florida.

 

[karengr]

we took ds out of school for 8 days last may this was tagged onto 2 inset days and the half term to make a 3 week holiday. No problems and i would do it again. Our friends wanted us to go out January 06 and i said i didnt want to take DS out of school so early in the year. They went out to Florida and had a great time and i ended up having DS home for the week due to a upset tummy so he missed the time anyway most of the time he had sick at home he was fine but due to infection policy had to stay home.

Taken him out next july for 2 weeks (the last 2 weeks of term) . I believe a childs progress at school is not just down to the teacher but also what is learnt at home and through experiences and what a great experience Disney or any other country is and dont forget the time spent as a family learning about each other.
I say go and take your children out of school but respect the teachers ,headteachers and also the school and be sensible how you choose your dates.

 

[kkymmy]

and as previously discussed this is also highly dependent on the age of your child!

 

[dis-me]

I think you're probably right. I was very dedicated and school so could've easily caught up on a weeks work. Not sure my sisters will be so good though. We can only go this time - we have already booked our trip and it occured to me as we had a villa for part of it I could treat them and have them fly out for a week with us and stay. But the more I think about it, the more I realise its probably not sensible.

 

[kkymmy]

you might think its your only trip at the minute but a few years and lots of concerted saving down the line im sure you'd all be able to go again at some point, and as the tapestry of dreams parade used to tell us "we're all just children, reaching for our dreams...." you're never too old to go back

 

[SammieG]

Hey Jo!

Im not saying much as this is a subject I feel very strongly about! HOWEVER, I think missing the odd day tagged onto a half term, or the very end of term is ok. I wouldnt let a child of mine miss the beginning of a term, as so much happens at that time, which could be disorienting for a child.

And its good if you feel guilty about it too!

Whatever you do will be fine. They are only little your girllies..

Sam xxxx

PS you all will love Vistana Villages! We stayed there last year.

 

[AndRu]

Im not saying much as this is a subject I feel very strongly about! HOWEVER, I think missing the odd day tagged onto a half term, or the very end of term is ok. I wouldnt let a child of mine miss the beginning of a term, as so much happens at that time, which could be disorienting for a child.

Totally agree with this statement.

We made a mistake by taking our children in the first two weeks of September a couple of years ago. They were 9, 7 & 6 at the time. It took our eldest about a month and our middle (brainiac boy) about a fortnight to catch up with the rest of the class. However, our youngest found it really hard work and he was still lagging at Christmas. Missing those first two weeks of a new term meant we had a great holiday at a great price but their education did suffer. I know that we wouldn't want to do that again.

 

[TinkTatoo]

Personally I do not have a problem with taking my children out of school. Why? because children spending time with thier parents, siblings is just as important as school life. I work shifts sometimes I do not see my children for 2 days. For me thats horrible, but I chose my profession and I love it. However, children going on holidays in general are just as educational. Take Disney for example they offer science, animals, history, different cultures, fun and most importantly patience. Having to wait for rides or characters has taught my daughter to wait and be patient. Also you have Kennedy Space Centre since when has schools had real rockets, imax cinemas, etc...:

It's up to the parents on whether or not to take their kids out of school for a holiday but this argument doesn't stand up as they can get exactly the same educational / family time benefit etc., but going during the school holidays

 

[richtomas]

Im being made redundant in two weeks {i got laid off 2 weeks ago and got put on garden leave}we were told about getting made redundant in april,so i decided to get prices for august {the prices were a joke}but lucky for me i {not school} i book up for port orleans leaving august 31st for 2 weeks with 14 day pass for disney for £2300{saving £1500} to go 2 weeks later,

we filled out the holiday forms {10 days}for our son 5 and daughter who is 10 and got granted there holidays due to having 95% attendance last year and were told by my daughter school to enjoy herself as they dont do much in the first two weeks.

they are both doing well at school as well and my son will enjoy his birthday in disney on sept 2nd

 

[AndRu]

Richtomas - sorry about your job but please look at my earlier post. Missing the two weeks at the start of a term had a bad effect on my 6 and 9 year olds - it took them a long time to catch up. When we did it I was chuffed that I'd saved so much money but the aftermath (extra home work and tuition) was a high price for our kids to pay. I hope that yours fare better than ours.