Taking your child out of school for holidays.

[Flo_and_co]

#36 Cheryl - are you sure? In that case my sons primary school must have been worse than I thought :-( They averaged about 25% at level 5 (which was the highest level they actually reported for the KS2 SATs)

I've done a quick Google and checked a few other random Primary school sites, and it seems about the norm.

He had to sit a separate paper in Maths to go for the level 6, as the teachers told me the standard papers only grade up to a 5

Have I got this all wrong??!! or were we at cross purposes - were you by any chance talking about KS3?

Flo

 

[Flo_and_co]

sorry for the missing apostrophes and rather random brackets in that last post (it's late!)

just to clarify - eldest son got all 7s at KS3, middle son got 2 5s and a 6 at KS2

teachers TOLD me that was excellent - maybe they were just being nice!

As for the raging debate on teacher training days - I don't have a strong feeling on this one - my kids love 'em! And yes, they're inconvenient for me as a working mum but my boss is nice and usually lets me work from home on those days so no huge biggie for me, thankfully (can see how they must be a pain if you have a less accommodating employer though)

But I can see AndRu's point on picking up on the original "education is a contract" line - should work both ways, you would think

But Pat is also right that the real baddies here are the holiday companies who milk the holiday season rather obscenely!

 

[Hilary]

Err, we seem to have strayed away from the original question here, which was:

"Taking your child out of school for holidays"

I can see how the other points being made (repeatedly! ) about teachers' contracts are connected but please keep the rest of this thread on the original Trip Planning topic. You're welcome to continue the teacher training days debate on a new thread on the Community Board as long as you stick to the posting guidelines.

Thanks

 

[MazdaUK]

I'm taking my two DS (11 and 5) out of school for 8 days leading up to Easter. Basically it would add at least £2000 to the holiday to go later AND it would be more crowded for the whole timne we're there. Prior to this I have taken eldest son out for ONE day.

The school made no problem, as the headmistress points out "travel broadens the mind", and this is our last chance before the eldest in in secondary school. We will not miss and SATs and the 11+ results will have come through, so all they're missing is a few days of "wind-down" before the Easter holidays.

Mind you, this is an exceptional family holiday. Another mother in eldest son's year has a flat in Portugal and is always adding on a day here or there to half terms etc. - much more disruptive IMHO

 

[lucy_love_]

hi

i take my children out of school for holidays. its because of the money but not because we cant afford it but because im tight (as my friends well know). lol i can peel an orange in my back pocket. joking aside there are better things that you could spend an extra 2k on.

love

lucy

 

[DisCharmed]

Gosh, my jaw is dropping at some of these comments. I've just logged on here after a (for me) short week of roughly 60 hours. Oh did I mention I'm a teacher? And a working parent? As per Hilary's request I won't carry on that particular discussion but don't forget teachers are parents and Disney addicts too!


Should you take children out for holidays? Well it all depends on the age of the child, the time of year and how often you do it. One holiday a year I don't think is a problem. However I currently have a child in my class who is always going on holiday. I'm talking about two 2 week holidays in the first half term! I counted up and she had missed 5 1/2 weeks of a ten week term.

But would I do it if I could? hmm I'm not sure. The only reason I would is because of the money aspect. We pay almost double for holidays in too hot weather because its the only time of year we can go. It's my husbands busiest time of year, so he has to apply for special permission to take holidays which is a pain.

We always remind ourselves 'Life is not a rehearsal' and make our decisions accordingly.

 

[LynnTarrant]

Here's a really radical thought for you all, maybe you shouldn't be taking your younger children out of school, when they are at the early stages of learning to read write and count, when it is so vital that all the new information that they are taking on board is reheased and practised regularly without long gaps, when they are often less sure of themselves and take longer to settle back into routines and when it is harder for them to have work to catch up with independently. Maybe it's in secondary school where they have mastered the basics and can use text books to catch up and independently research that least damage would be done!!
Here's another point for the people who would never take them out at test time, maybe it's less important for the children at any age to be in school to be continuely tested and more important for them to be there to actually be taught!
Just another opinion

 

[DisCharmed]

I couldn't agree more, I teach year 1 and when you are teaching a child how to write a number sentence (as a random example) it's a major piece of information to miss and will take a lot of trying to catch up.

 

[vicky1bfc]

However I currently have a child in my class who is always going on holiday. I'm talking about two 2 week holidays in the first half term! I counted up and she had missed 5 1/2 weeks of a ten week term.



I would have a problem with that,i woud never dream of taking them out for that long.

As it is they will miss 10 days of school,i don't think thats really to bad in a whole school year.(they are in year 2) plus my daughter's school will only allow up too 10 days of school to be missed due to holidays.

 

[patdavies]

At the risk of seeming heavy handed, the school will only allow 10 days for holidays (where schools do at Head's discretion) because the law only allows 10 days.

It may be worth considering that a child taking 10 days of holiday in term time is losing more than 5% of their school time for that academic year

 

[vicky1bfc]

Pat, sorry if i sound rude, but <<<yawn>>>

There is after all more to learning than sitting in a classroom.Think of what they are learning seeing the world,plus quality time with their parent's.Kids are put under so much pressure at school now a days with sat.s ect.My children are 6,they should be enyoying childhood, imo.





Beginning to wish i had never started this thread.

 

[DisneyBB]

We always take our DD out of school for about 2 weeks a year. I ask her teacher if there a problem with doing this. But this is just to be polite, I have to book flights so far in advance that I do not know who her teacher will be that year. So when I am asking it already booked for a long time. I would not take her out if she was have difficulties at school or behind in any way. I am not a fan of SAT's, but would still avoid that time as it would distress my DD to much to miss them. She always does a diary to show her teacher. The kiddie stops usually provide interesting things to show at school when she gets back. The masks were great as it involved all the different countries.

Holidays are a great family bonding time. We do everything together and have a ball.

Going twice this year, but two different school years!

 

[MazdaUK]

Stupid question maybe, but what are the kiddie stops?

 

[allie5]

The "Kidcot" stops are where kids can stop and make a mask. They collect stamps and charms from each country and there is a person in charge who can answer any questions about the country you are in. My 4 year old has done this twice and loves it. They have colouring pens, glue and stuff to decorate the masks and is huge fun.

It does get spoilt a bit when adults try to do it too and push the little ones out of the way. My DD was shoved aside by several "elders" that should have known better, but on the whole its a great idea as Epcot can be dull for little ones.

 

[MazdaUK]

That's a great idea! With the changed EMH Epcot will be open on our first day so perhaps we can make that our first thing to do.