Term time holidays court cases dropped
local councils in England have now dropped court cases against parents , and are one reviewing there policies ,
its now a start for all others Wales ect to follow suit , imy view it's a good
Comments
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The ball is now in the Governments court because the only way the impasse will be resolved is for it to acquiesce or introduce more water tight rules and risk upsetting voters. They could go back to the old system wherby you were allowed to take children
out of school for a maximum of two weeks each year. To avoid disruption they could also insist that there was a minimum notice period so at least the schools could plan their resources. Given that our years at school provide the foundation for the rest of
our lives I am not sure what it says about parents that wish to put that at risk just for the sake of a cheaper holiday.David
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The fines need to be increased significantly, to stop this happening.
why is that Ian? serious question
are you concerned about children's education or more children on site during term time?
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It's my veiw to that the old system was fine , yes it certainly needs to be controlled so parents don't take advantage but under no circumstances it should it be crimal , there are rules and regulations for those parents who avoid or don't care enough to
bother sending there kids to school0 -
Take them out of school whenever you want - and as often as you want, I say! However, it goes hand-in-hand with absolutely no comeback on the country, education system, schools, and individual teachers that these children end up inadequately educated to
succeed in modern life.So, as this is in effect a self-inflicted injury, they should not expect any state support when they find they cannot get work. This would release funds to better support those who DO attend but need more support to get there. And it would take a huge amount
of stress away from the teaching profession who have nowadays to make it look like every child in the school has succeeded even though some are frequently not there.0 -
It's up to parents when to take their children off school. In the late 70's in my early career when my sons were at school I had to take whatever dates were available as my employer had a holiday policy that gave priority to senior staff, regardless of whether they had school age kids or not. We were unable to afford school holiday season prices and most of the (older) senior staff took non school periods leaving us with no option.
We also had to take one week to bridge the Xmas/New Year period. That's one week of our annual two week entitlement, which increased to 3 weeks after 5 years' service, or with (rare) promotion.
Cuh! Parents today don't know the half of it.
I don't recall my kids' education suffering due to being absent due to measles, tonsilitis, mumps or whatever.
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Education is so important. I never took my three out of school to go on holiday and never would have. Having said that, it is difficult for parents these days and I blame all the holiday providers for putting prices up so much in the holiday period.
A better solution to the problem would surely be staggering the school holidays? Having said that, holiday companies could just put their prices up, to cover all holidays.
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My children haven't suffered from missing school, both have degrees both have succesful careers. They frequently missed school due to OH being in the forces, moving every 18mths to 2 years they would miss a week or 2 at a time then have to settle back down
again and find new friends. If anything it has helped them become well adjusted, well balanced men.My eldest is now in the forces and has 2 children, when he moved back to UK 18 mths ago the education authorities didn't seem to care that they couldn't find a school for the children to go to, it took 4 weeks and a lot of time and pushing by the parents
to get their children into a school. It seems to me that its one rule for them and another for the parents. I am firmly in the camp that taking children out of school once a year for a family holiday, isn't going to stop them from attaining good results. Teachers
can quite easily give some work to be done while away, just like they do for children that have to spend time in hospital or at home due to illness. We have 4 Gkids and none of them take time out for holidays but it does mean that they don't get the holidays
that the parents would like to give them.0 -
Education is so important. I never took my three out of school to go on holiday and never would have. Having said that, it is difficult for parents these days and I blame all the holiday providers for putting prices up so much in the holiday period.
A better solution to the problem would surely be staggering the school holidays? Having said that, holiday companies could just put their prices up, to cover all holidays.
Write your comments here...your right no holiday company will allow it to effect them no matter how they stagger the holidays check out the site fees for CC site's at school holidays no different to any other company they will all do it
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I totally agree with stopping fines for children being out of school. OH could only have his summer holidays at end of June/beginning of July (he worked shifts and had to work it in with his counterparts). As long as we wrote a letter to the headteacher
explaining this, there was no problem at all. Personally, fining is just way of councils getting extra funding0 -
It's really down to two things.
1 - Do you value your kids education and adapt your holiday expectations to suit your child receiving the best start in life.
or
2 - Do you go for the cheapest holiday during term time and make your child miss out on some of their education.
It's a matter of personal choice depending on a parent's priorities.
We always favoured the first alternative when our children were of school age.
K
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It isn't just about cheaper holidays in term time. My son in law is a chef, our daughter works on a holiday park, we live in a holiday area. If our son in law asked for time off in the school holidays his boss would just laugh, there is no way, it's the
busiest times of the year. Our daughter is in the same position. Therefore, unless their daughters take time off school then no family holiday. Due to worrying about a huge fine they had no holiday together last year and none planned for this year. We have
stepped in both years and taken them away in the van - Hillhead in peak season isn't really our choice but the kids love it. Our daughter always makes sure she helps with their homework, takes a real interest in their schooling and their reports were excellent.
However if the schools go back to allowing a week away in term time maybe they will all get a holiday together next year - how can anyone say that is wrong!0 -
There is one other thing to think about, children get 11 - 12 weeks holidays a year. How do working parents manage to cover that when they only get 4 or 5 weeks holidays. My youngest son and wife have to rely on grand parents helping out for some of the
holidays or they would never manage to even cover the amount of time the kids have off, let alone manage a family holiday. School holidays are far too long, if the powers that be are so concerned about the amount of time the children have off maybe the school
holidays should be shortened.0 -
It's really down to two things.
1 - Do you value your kids education and adapt your holiday expectations to suit your child receiving the best start in life.
or
2 - Do you go for the cheapest holiday during term time and make your child miss out on some of their education.
It's a matter of personal choice depending on a parent's priorities.
We always favoured the first alternative when our children were of school age.
K
.The only way we could take our children away during school holidays was if a mutual change of holiday rosters could be arranged as the company was a 365day 24hr requirement organisation ,so there were always some having to take term time holidays .
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The fines need to be increased significantly, to stop this happening.
why is that Ian? serious question
are you concerned about children's education or more children on site during term time?
Both.
a fair and honest answer!
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I have seen no evidence whatsoever that taking one's kid off school for a week or even two weeks is irresponsible parenting insofar that it results in a poorer education for the youngsters.
Have you examined the evidence? In fact, is there any actual evidence available either for or against? In my view it's virtually impossible to supply robust evidence on this issue as the variables cannot be controlled. My gut feeling, however, for what
it's worth, is that I didn't want my children to miss a single minute of their schooling. Not only is every second important but it sent a clear message to my children how much education should be valued.0 -
I have seen no evidence whatsoever that taking one's kid off school for a week or even two weeks is irresponsible parenting insofar that it results in a poorer education for the youngsters.
Have you examined the evidence? In fact, is there any actual evidence available either for or against?
That's precisely my point.
Lots of hot air and pontificatiion about nothing factual.
I might as well say:
Kids who have most time off school suffer fewer illnesses as they are not exposed to the sneezy, measlely, chicken poxy, verruca'd kids who are at school.
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I have seen no evidence whatsoever that taking one's kid off school for a week or even two weeks is irresponsible parenting insofar that it results in a poorer education for the youngsters.
Have you examined the evidence? In fact, is there any actual evidence available either for or against?
That's precisely my point.
However, that's a lot of evidence that says children do better in education if their parents value it.
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Education is down to who is teaching it, and how schools are led,also it is the responsibility of parents to assist with said education, not just expect the schools do do it all, our children were given some work to do (not much)normally holiday oriented,
by their school on the occasions that we took them out for our enforced annual leave roters0 -
My mam used to say to me that you will go to school as in her time she did not have that opportunity and made sure that I did. We could not afford holidays in any event but that is not the point.
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An odd week off during term time for a family holiday would've paled into insignificance compared to being taught by some of the teachers we had 'teaching' at my school. It was at the time a state grammar school and I can think of half a dozen of them that
couldn't teach even if their lives had depended on it.0 -
I also wonder why this law doesn't apply to private schools? My brother has two kids in a paid for school, he can take them out anytime he wants with no penalty, so this will apply to most MPs, including Gove, who brought this law in, but then they don't
live in the real world do they. Neither does this law apply to home educated children. Seems totally unfair to me. Rock to crack a nut comes to mind, it was all changed due to some families taking their children out of the country for months at a time.0 -
An odd week off during term time for a family holiday would've paled into insignificance compared to being taught by some of the teachers we had 'teaching' at my school. It was at the time a state grammar school and I can think of half a dozen of them that couldn't teach even if their lives had depended on it.
Write your comments here...Things haven't changed much then.
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I, like many, had to take holidays in a pecking order rota which entailed taking the children off school rather than being motivated by costs. One has a degree and the other is an HEO with ONS, so in the words of Janet Webb from the end of the Morcambe and
Wise show "it never did me any harm"0
