Are you asking people to provide you with plausible lies?

Use the power of prayer...

We were allowed to take our eldest daughter out of School for a holiday. My wife would have been heavily pregnant had we gone in late July or August and our daughter's headteacher allowed us to tack a week on the end of the Spring Bank holiday week. She was only in year R at the time though.

I don't throw sickies at work so I wouldn't use that tactic to take my children on holiday out of season. I recommend telling them the truth, you never know as it is an important milestone/occasion they might actually say yes.

Since when has a Darts player been able to educate kids ?

Depends on the type of holiday, but the life experience the child will encounter assuming your not just lying on a beach all day but rather doing something a little more meaningful, will out way missing five day's of school. Particularly if the absence is properly prepared for before hand.

Many things disrupt the education of a class, including various proper inclusion policies, teaching strikes, lack of proper funding etc.

I personally find "teacher training days" that are not taken during school holidays very disruptive to my kids education, not to mention my families childcare plans.

I think the 4 days before next May's half term that I've decided to take my daughter on holiday, with the head's consent, during term time, are fairly low down on the list of what will cause the most classroom disruption. Particularly when those days lead up to half term and games are played and movies are watched etc.

I also took my son on holiday during his preparation for GCSEs. he took some work with him and he flew back early. He got fantastic results and starts University in September.

Parents play a large role in the education of their children. Some parents are able to instill proper values into their children about the importance of education and schoolwork away from the class. If they do and they take holidays at a time they can afford then good for them.

Play the game, make the request and i it's denied pay any fine. It will be cheaper anyway.

I completely agree.
As I said earlier, we chose to take our 6 year old out of school during term time for a holiday.
My husband is self employed & works away Monday to Friday, we arranged the holiday to fit in with a quieter time in his work schedule.
I honestly believe the disruption to his education was minimal at that time, he's in all the top groups within his year & his overall attendance even after the holiday was 95.9%.
Yes, we did save money & yes we told the truth & paid the fine, but I do believe that both our sons benefited from spending some much needed quality time with both of their parents. TBH, that's all I'm concerned about.

Quite. Not seeking sympathy votes here but as full time bread winner in the house I get to see my 8 year old about an hour a day. Weekends are tough with various things to be fit it.

That full week or two we spend together as a family is irreplaceable in my eyes. I am sure it is for other families. If that can only be afforded in term time then I think it's fairly important that it's taken.

Nobody suggested that all schools are perfect, but that's hardly a justification for additional disruption.


I can tell you right now that you're the exception and not the rule. The vast majority of parents who want to take their kids on holiday during term time have no plans and no intention of compensating the way you did. And the timing is important as you mention. Which is why each request should be dealt with individually.


It's not just about the kids that go, as mentioned earlier.


Education is not a game.

There are other ways to afford a holiday. Going somewhere cheaper, for instance. All a matter of priorities.

I have always had our holiday in August and have never taken my daughter away in school time. I feel school is where she should be. Unfortunately she is still yet to gain 100% attendance over a school year because she has recurring, wipe her out kidney infections at least 3 times a year , so to add to her lack of attendance by throwing a holiday in there is , in my eyes, wrong.

We authorise time off if immediate family are ill abroad or things like that. I think the reason less holidays are authorised is that often a kid will come in with a note saying they are going on holiday in 2 days time. Never going to be agreed but we obviously can't stop them.

I have known students to miss 2/3 weeks to visit Bangladesh or Pakistan and after a certain number of days the student will be taken off roll.

All are issued fines which i think were £50 per parent, per child.

As a school, we are continually badgered about attendance levels and what we are doing to improve them.
However, we are a secondary school and i accept that it is very different to primary. I dont believe a child should be removed from secondary education during termtime at all.

What the law says:



[urlhttp://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/SchoolLife/DG_4016103[/url

Where were you taken for the week your school did spelling?

So let me get this right: your advice is to lie. And presumably this example is handed down to your children, too?

By the way it was Prof. Robert Winston before he became Lord Winston. He'd be very angry if you likened him to what we terms "junior doctors" (ie Registrars and the like).

It was readable. Just!



Incidentally I missed a lot of schooling as a youngster. I hope it doesn't show.



I spent large chuncks of the school year away visting my father who worked overseas. Twenty five day's a year or so. Of course this is going back a while to a time when my school any way, didn't give a hoot about absence. Time's moved on of course now.

I agree. Utterly disgusting example to set to his / her children.

Okay, I was having a particular fit of pedantry.



My parents kept us off school rarely, but that did include for religious reasons (Whit Friday).

TBH, I don't recall any other time they kept me or my sister off.

We did spend an extra week or two off primary school at the end of one Easter holiday, because we had been staying with family friends who were farmers in Westmoreland. But that was unplanned, since my father went down with, IIRC, pneumonia. But we attended the village school for a week (or so) in the interim - which I remember fondly.

The whole holidays being more expensive in the, err, holiday season is a bummer, but in some ways I have limited sympathy: we had years on end when we didn't have family holidays because we couldn't afford it or (imagine this) holidays in Todmorden because someone my father know lent him a cottage there.

Times have changed.

SATS will be in May

Fill your boots and have a good holiday

This comes from someone whose combined attendance of my 3 kids is 99.9% over the last 6 years.

And if anyone says that losing 5 days education will have a major effect,well im guessing mine will be, as their secondary school opens a week later than most others due to it being a new building.

Took our kids out of school a few times because of cost, we always tried to mix the holiday with some educational visits to the likes of Ephasis, Knossos and Pyramids. It hasn't done them too much harm, they are both doing well in life with families of their own. I think its more about keeping school stats high rather than the needs of the kids.

Ironically, my daughter is now a teacher and is not allowed holidays in term time, while her pupils go when it suits the parents.

Indeed, if we started taking 4 days off here and there in term time for a cheaper holiday, would that be ok?

It's both. Indeed, the two are inextricably linked.

That'd be well smart innit cos we'd get a supply teacher in innit. We could doss about then.


Sir.

It's all a question of perception.
When I lived in London, I knew a Parisienne who worked at an employment agency who had lived in Tod-Mor-den (as she pronounced it) and absolutely loved the place.

It grows on you.

Yes, I know mould does too.

What would Jesus do?