holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

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Yamin151
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Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 8:30 am

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by Yamin151 »

Guest55 wrote:Yes I do love teaching ...

We spend our holidays in 'less obvious' places and I have only once in 30+ years met a student whilst away! I'm not saying where we are going this year ... :lol:
Oh go on! We can come along then with a whiteboard and some coloured pens to catch up on any work we miss!! :lol: :wink:

You make good your escape, bet you make the most of it, to face the onslaught of the next term!
MedievalBabe
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Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:56 pm

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by MedievalBabe »

Has anyone seen the news about the couple fined for taking their children out of school in September and now have to pay just under £1000 due to court fees on top of the fines. I think it is very likely councils will be stricter in fining families for absences.
sbarnes
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Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:30 pm

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by sbarnes »

because they care about the children's education rather than another revenue stream...
Tinkers
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Location: Reading

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by Tinkers »

If you read the bbc story, the daughter already had a poor attendance record, they weren't just being fined for taking her on holiday in term time.

Heads can, in exceptional circumstances, grant permission for holiday in school time. If parents cannot get leave in school holidays, heads would be mostly sympathetic to this, as long as the children had good attendance records and the parents were happy to help their children catch up with school week, being sensible about avoiding exam times etc.

At my DDs primary school, there were several parents who took their children out of school on a regular basis. These were children already struggling and behind. For some English was their second language. One girl always missed the first week of term in September, every year. That was quite disruptive to the rest of the class when she came back.

Most parents would be sensible about holidays in term time, but unfortunately a small minority have meant that strictly rules were needed.
southbucks3
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Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by southbucks3 »

The children that will mostly be granted dispensation by the heads will be those that can say they are visiting family abroad...this is already happening in our school...so it is ok to spend a week celebrating someone's birthday abroad in term time, but not ok to celebrate one another's company in a relaxed environment without getting stressed about the huge cost of doing so in the official school holidays. Either set the rule in concrete and tackle the rip off British holiday companies (see conversation on how Europe and Scotland cheaper) or just let parents be f they obide by school rules for every other week of term.

Councils are set to receive approximately 30k in fines per year from the new stricter rules, as shown by east riding who piloted a similar scheme in 2011/12, that was actually a bit more flexible. Whether this covers the cos t of the admin staff who enforce, I do not know?
kenyancowgirl
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Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by kenyancowgirl »

My particular bug bear was the authorisation of holiday for someone to take their children to America for a week for Thanksgiving (which basically celebrates harvest and is a feast day) - not a particularly religious celebration. Yet a friend who wanted to take their child out for skiing the same week (physical activity - exploring another country - time with family) was refused.

I don't have an issue with people taking their children out of school, if everybody is allowed to do it - it's where some people do it, some with slightly dubious authorisation and get a cheaper holiday but others don't because they are worried about children missing education or getting fined, and then can't afford a real holiday.

If it was the case that everyone could do it, policies could be in place outlining the school expectations and parent responsibilities. For example, nobody who had less than 95% attendance could be authorised and all children who were away would have some set work to complete - possibly including a project to share with the class about where they went. Children who were struggling or behind their targets could be in the same boat as those with high absence. They might actually benefit from the smaller class sizes on some weeks! A maximum amount of days could be allowed per year - even one week, allowing people to head off before the very expensive holidays would help.

It does seem a nonsense fining someone who has opted to take holiday in term time, because they couldn't afford it in the holidays!
scary mum
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Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by scary mum »

Guest55 wrote:In my schools we teach right to the last day ...
This certainly isn't the case in all Bucks grammar schools - it drives me crazy the number of wasted lessons my kids have at the end of term. They truly have no need to be there.
scary mum
tiffinboys
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Location: Surrey

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by tiffinboys »

Our primary was in sleep mode after the SATs and we took a week off for 'educational trip' much to the dislike of the HT. Visited France for history and hands-on French lessons (we had travelers' guides in hand).

As it turned out, DCs hardly missed anything in the schools and probably learnt a lot more during this 'educational trip'.
Amber
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Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by Amber »

scary mum wrote:
Guest55 wrote:In my schools we teach right to the last day ...
This certainly isn't the case in all Bucks grammar schools - it drives me crazy the number of wasted lessons my kids have at the end of term. They truly have no need to be there.
Ditto for Glos grammars. My kids said what a shame they didn't finish a week earlier so they could have been spared the endless videos and 'quizzes'. I reckon the 'advantage' of grammar schools, ie that one's supposedly bright child is taught with other supposedly bright children, is that they finish the curriculum halfway through term, don't give any homework and spend the last couple of weeks dossing around. Sometimes I have to smile at threads on here about whether a child is going to 'cope' with GS - they teach the same stuff and I have sometimes wondered what is so very different. I am now forming the opinion that it just means doing everything faster so you get more time to laze about at the end. :D
Last edited by Amber on Thu Jan 16, 2014 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
pheasantchick
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Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:28 pm

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by pheasantchick »

I remember talking to someone who ran a small travel agency business years ago. He said the opposite of what most people assume - term time holidays are cheap, rather then summer holiday deals being expensive. Also, he said that they had to do it that way, otherwise they would go out of business. As someone else, has said, it's a matter of supply and demand. They are not deliberately hiking up summer holiday costs to make profit, but to stay in business.
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