holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

[southbucks3]

Granted some are, but some are just out to make as much as they possibly can, my friend has flats in Devon, and they serve her very well indeed....who wouldn't you exploit an unregulated market of limited resources, where your customer has enforced inflexibility.

The powers that be are forgetting the health of the workforce is known to dramatically improve with annual holidays...the very reason breaks and British holiday camps were introduced, and now they are not available to many workers or their children.

I am not including us btw...I am just holding out for my kitchen re-fit, but some families have this dilemma every year, and do not have green fields and fresh air on their doorstep.

[Amber]

I am not including us btw...I am just holding out for my kitchen re-fit, but some families have this dilemma every year, and do not have green fields and fresh air on their doorstep.

Yes we are in the midst of 'holiday or new bathroom?' discussions; but like you are lucky enough to have countryside on our doorstep and a large garden to eat and play in. And after spending an entire year travelling when the children were younger, holidays now seem like such a stress - so short, so much hanging on them, so concentrated, so expensive...

[solimum]

I once tried to get authorisation for a ski trip with a church youth group for " religious" reasons, plus exposure to French culture..... That was the year when I think the Easter holiday dates didn't align across the country and I realised too late DD would be missing 3 days at the end of the Spring Term. That may have also been the same year she'd taken 4 days off before half term so we could accompany my OH on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia ( he was going on business) - 2 of those 4 days the school was closed anyway for snow! Both lots were unauthorised, but it seemed to me preferable to the alternative of pretending to be ill which I have known other parents adopt. Glad I don't have children at school any more now though, that would have been an expensive year.. ( incidentally the GS where my DS was in the lower 6th were delighted to authorise the Australia absence..)

[southbucks3]

Interestingly wycombe rugby club are giving us letters for our schools to take kids out on the Friday before a European rugby tour...they swing it as the boys exchange with another school...staying in their houses, whilst accompanying adults stay in a hotel.

So will this be classed as educational, 60 boys all vanishing from school for the day to essentially throw a ball round a muddy field and their parents have a shindig. I will doubtless find out, but it shows how rules can be tweaked for organised breaks...it assumes the child will learn more in a group, than with parents on holiday, which is nonsense. My ds will not learn anything new as the hosts are a British school, he will just play and stuff pizza and return on Monday bleary eyed.

[Amber]

Just be grateful that it's in the UK, SB3 - one of my pet hates is the 'Sports Tour to South Africa' which is basically a couple of games of rugby taking place thousands of miles away and incorporating various sights and uplifting experiences. All fine and dandy if the parents of the chosen few get to shell out a grand plus for the honour, but no! Inevitably this is dressed up as a 'charity' event with quiz nights, socials and cake bakes organised to encourage all the other parents to contribute to the thing. 'A wonderful opportunity for our talented young sportsmen..' etc. Which I am sure it is - perhaps I could get them interested in an equally wonderful opportunity for hardworking mothers to have a nice relaxing break somewhere hot.

And don't get me started on World Challenge...

[southbucks3]

Just be grateful that it's in the UK, SB3

It's not...it's a British school in Brussels!

Approximately 12 hours on buses and ferries with smelly boys and pushy dads...dh has got out of this one! For an afternoon of rugby! Harrah! Thankfully my roomie is a lovely lady and an absolute blast!

I could out write you if I started about world challenge Amber...I have just erased 10 lines, and that was me holding back, so best I do not get drawn into that discussion, as I would offend someone somewhere....but grrrrrrr says most of it.

[Proud_Dad]

Just be grateful that it's in the UK, SB3 - one of my pet hates is the 'Sports Tour to South Africa' which is basically a couple of games of rugby taking place thousands of miles away and incorporating various sights and uplifting experiences. All fine and dandy if the parents of the chosen few get to shell out a grand plus for the honour, but no! Inevitably this is dressed up as a 'charity' event with quiz nights, socials and cake bakes organised to encourage all the other parents to contribute to the thing. 'A wonderful opportunity for our talented young sportsmen..' etc.

I know!

Much as I'd love to help pay for someone else's privileged middle-class child to go on holiday to South Africa, unfortunately I've already donated all my spare hard-earned money this month to help provide clean drinking water for hungry South African orphans with AIDS. Not that the rugby tour isn't just as deserving a cause obviously...

Its beyond me how some schools and parents have the nerve to ask other parents to donate for these sort of jollies!

[southbucks3]

Perhaps they could let us take our kids to centre parks during term time and donate half of the savings towards paying for other peoples privileged teenagers to travel to Africa especially to play football or rugby with malnourished kids and give them gifts of polyester branded sports gear before heading off on a reserve safari..oops did I just say that...what I meant to say was donate the money to schemes providing water cleansing tablets and vaccinations in areas devastated by flooding and disaster!

[Proud_Dad]

Maybe Lenny Henry and friends should think about running a "Cauliflower Ear Day" once a year?

Raise some money for all those poor, disadvantaged kids who can't afford to go on Rugby Tour to South Africa because mummy and daddy have already spent this year's bonus on a new kitchen and a Range Rover?

[Amber]

Maybe Lenny Henry and friends should think about running a "Cauliflower Ear Day" once a year?

Raise some money for all those poor, disadvantaged kids who can't afford to go on Rugby Tour to South Africa because mummy and daddy have already spent this year's bonus on a new kitchen and a Range Rover?

Best one I heard was that a 16 year old child was going for 4 days to somewhere in South America to 'help build a school', so please could I pay £20 for a cup of coffee at her mother's house? I mean, what practical use can a 16 year old British girl be in 4 days to a school-building project in Latin America? The rest of the trip was unabashed 'jolly' - but the charity angle allowed children to 'fundraise' aka extort money from their poor parents' friends. Because of course saying 'no' is not an option.