Hols In Term Time, What Do You Think?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-25733272
This family didn't save any money! bet they wished they'd paid extra to go in the school hols now!

[Jeza]

As a child we went away for 2 weeks every year in term time. Nothing was ever said. We got a holiday, a lot didn't.

[jno]

perhaps you had a parent at home 24/7, woofgang? I did. It must be tougher getting family time when both parents work and one of them can't get leave during school holidays.

In their place I might have done what they did and paid the fine. We were just fortunate the problem never arose.

[cassa333]

When I was a child we didn't get fly away holidays. In fact (as I do now) we didn't even go out for a day trip unless we had the money to pay for it. Therefore anything we wanted, including holidays we saved for it. Perhaps this family should have saved a bit longer.

I think they probably got the fine because of the difficulty making surre the older one actually went to school on a regular basis. They don't do much else than make a note of it if the children have a good attendance record.

[sherrardk]

School trips as a teacher are not the jolly you might imagine and a lot are done to make the school look appealing. They are, quite frankly, a pain the arse.

[woofgang]

no jno, both my parents worked. My Mum worked at the school that I went to, she taught needlework.

[sherrardk]

Woof, then you wouldn't have gone on holiday in term time as your mother wouldn't have been able to get the time off.

[cassa333]

Forgot to say.... Just lie :)

We had a kid off for a week and every day the mother or father phoned in to say the child was sick.

Said school the next week and when she was asked how she was she said she wasn't allowed to say. When asked by someone else she said 'because I'm not allowed to tell you we went on holiday.

[sherrardk]

It's sort of compulsory. If you want to 'get on' then you go on the trip, regardless that you might incur cost or that you might miss your family, etc. I went on some voluntarily (stupid and young) but did start to feel pressurised. There are only so many Coca Cola factories that you can go to. It's also a lot of responsibility, especially if you go abroad with them.

[jno]

I'm sure you're right, sherrardk... jno jnr once went on a school trip to some countryside activity centre and the local cop had to go along too... fortunately he was able to share a tent with Miss, so everyone was happy.

[=rizla=]

Its amazing the difference in prices, ie our school has teacher training days after the may 1/2 term, using these we can get a 1/2 price week away!!!

In Stoke on trent a few years ago they used to have 2 weeks off in june, the 'potters holiday' all schools were off and iirc they only had 4 weeks in the summer, but obviously holidays were a lot cheaper. Why cant other areas do the same?

Its not the holiday companys fault, they have to make their money, they are running a buisness, they will their prices accordingly to make x amount of money during a season, if no families are going away out of school holidays then they will have no option but to increase prices during the holidays and reduce prices out of the holidays to try and fill the flights/hotels as more of a damage limitation exercise.

The sooner local authorities have some flexiablity aout when school holidays are the better for all concerned.

ps dont forget the teachers are stuck paying the premiums for holidays if thehave kids or not.

[Gromit]

The leftwing local education authorities have whipped the arse of some jumped up Min of Def nobody, so we can all laugh. Beers all round.

[saxy_jag]

Different matter when teachers go out on strike and working parents have to take time off work or find alternative care for their kids.

[Buenchico]

>>>Why cant other areas do the same?

As of next year 'areas' won't be able to do anything. Individual schools will be free to determine their own holidays (subject to the same rules about children attending for 190 days per year and teachers attending for 195). Some schools are expeced to introduce a 4-term year, getting rid of the current summer holidays altogether.

While secondary schools are likely to work together with their main feeder schools to have roughly the same holidays its possible that some parents may find that there are no dates (other possibly than around Christmas) when all of their children are on holiday at the same time.

[ummmm]

I went on most school trips...France, Germany, Italy....then there was Long Town, Frontier Camp, PGL...

And, my parents, shock horror, took us away in term time as a family. I don't think it had an impact on my education.

[mikey4444]

Its the law, so I don't have any sympathy whatsoever for parents like these. If you notice its always an expensive holiday abroad, never a week in Margate or Minehead. Kids need to go to school, not laze around on a foreign beach.

[emmie]

i posted this seeing as how well it went over - some seem to think no problem, i wondered why.

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1304196.html