Reply to: Holidays and School Term Times

[lukemg]

Got some sympathy on both sides and I don't think a week off makes any difference for the vast majority of kids especially close to summer when they do fck all for the last few weeks !!!
Think we over-estimate the amount of work they get through, its astonishing how little some kids can actually have learnt after 12 YEARS in school - see educating yourkshire for details.
I like the 6 weeks blocks one school is doing with hols split through the year.
Yeah I know, kids at different schools but there is usually some overlap and boo hoo if johnny doesn't get a sunshine break(#1st world problem)

[northernladuk]

Parents who really want to take the kids out during term time just phone them in sick "little Tommy can't come to school today because he has explosive diarrhoea" and off they go. The school doesn't ask questions otherwise it's put down as "unauthorised absence" and that reflects badly on the school. So the school would rather just turn a blind eye....

That's right cause kids are great at keeping up the pretence when they get back. I guess they can put the tan down to discolouring effects of a body covered in explosive diarrhoea. Schools do pick up on this and letters/words are had in many cases. I think you will be surprised how little of a blind eye good schools take on this.

If that's correct then it would suggest the education approach is too fragile; many kids are likely to miss a week or so each year due to flu or other illnesses; are they then going to end up with a disadvantage?

Potentially yes but these are not yearly and good teachers will support this when it happens. tulip does happen and they know this. The system then breaks when you take this effort in to account and THEN add a whole school of kids missing a week on top of that (in the worst case). It isn't that fragile that sickness can't be dealt and a good teacher will put the extra effort in to make sure it doesn't impact the kids.

I am talking generally here of course. Sometimes it doesn't matter and sometimes some people don't care.

[lilelvis2000]

The problem with schools setting their own holidays (and some counties have half terms at different times already IIRC) is that many families have kids in different schools - sometimes n different counties / LEAs (if they still exist). My brother has three kids - the two in secondary are in one county and the one in primary is in another county - they all go to their nearest school. It is not easy to cover holidays as it is but would be significantly harder if they did not coincide with each other, which is I believe another of Gove's bright ideas.

Nevermind county, my lad's friends got to a variety of schools, school holidays can vary as much as 5 days. And these are primary schools in the same town!

[Old Greg]

BBC News - Drop term-time holiday ban, urges petition



Shirley a better approach would be to A) Allow school to set their own term times, so there is less over lap between areas B) Ban Holiday firms from gouging prices which are much much higher than the rest of the year!

The problem with schools setting their own holidays (and some counties have half terms at different times already IIRC) is that many families have kids in different schools - sometimes n different counties / LEAs (if they still exist). My brother has three kids - the two in secondary are in one county and the one in primary is in another county - they all go to their nearest school. It is not easy to cover holidays as it is but would be significantly harder if they did not coincide with each other, which is I believe another of Gove's bright ideas.

[lilelvis2000]

A buddy of mine always rings in and says the kid has a bug. While on holiday he just remembers to ring in each day. Problem solved.

As for holiday prices..my wife notices that the prices of holidays fluctuates during the day with prices in the morning being lower than those in the evening. Not sure if that's due to demand or a pre-programmed pricing curve in the software - I suspect the latter.

[amcdonald]

Oh dear price controls

Well everything else is going back to the 70s, even the obsession with digital watches....

[DodgyAgent]

Easy impose a price controls over package holidays for the uk which we could have more control over, if people want to holiday abroad tough they have to pay more

It might help arrest the decline of sea side towns

Oh dear price controls

[SueEllen]

Shirley a better approach would be to A) Allow school to set their own term times, so there is less over lap between areas B) Ban Holiday firms from gouging prices which are much much higher than the rest of the year!

Lots of people have more than one kid at a school at a time and lots of families have 2 working parents.

So if you have a kid in primary school with say a 12 year old in secondary school you are screwed completely if all their holidays are different.

[Wanderer]

Shirley a better approach would be to A) Allow school to set their own term times, so there is less over lap between areas B) Ban Holiday firms from gouging prices which are much much higher than the rest of the year!

A) is a good idea I think. It would take the pressure off the huge getaway on the last day of school. Ban those stupid Christmas and Easter holidays too and allow people to stagger them throughout the year.

B) is a load of bollocks really. Holiday prices go up because the demand is high, simple as that. They will be moaning that the prices go up at Christmas next. It's not for the government to interfere with the market. If they can stagger the demand then the problem is reduced though people are always going to be moaning that taking a holiday in a resort in the peak mid-summer period is more expensive than in the middle of winter or that flights on a Friday afternoon are always more expensive.

Parents who really want to take the kids out during term time just phone them in sick "little Tommy can't come to school today because he has explosive diarrhoea" and off they go. The school doesn't ask questions otherwise it's put down as "unauthorised absence" and that reflects badly on the school. So the school would rather just turn a blind eye....

[doodab]

We should do it properly. Take children from their families at age 7 and force them through an unremittingly hardcore communal education system. It worked for the spartans.

[eek]

Whats wrong with the current rules.

They are simple:-

if a child

• is dead,
• in rehab
• or parent is are being mobilised then they can have time off...

Everything else is unauthorised and should be persued via the local truancy officer to court.

*Before anyone asks this is the policy of 2 county councils....

[Ticktock]

B) Ban Holiday firms from gouging prices which are much much higher than the rest of the year!

Whilst I have some sympathy with people who can only go away during holiday times (teachers and parents mostly) this is always held up as "they charge more because they know it's the only time lots of people can go away", rather than "they charge more because demand is higher".

So you could argue that it's simple supply and demand, and then start arguing whether you want government intervention in other markets too. At the moment, the only call you seem to see for this is when there's a perception that prices are not following supply and demand, such as the current arguments over energy prices.

Then again, the same can be said for train fares (peak vs off-peak pricing) where pricing puts the train companies at odds with government policy (getting people off the roads and on to public transport).

[kevpuk]

Moral maze indeed.
My kids are 6 and 4, and we once took the eldest out of school for 2 days for a EuroDisney trip (youngest was not then in school). I can't see we would do this again, whether the current rules permit it or not, as term-time is term-time and I think there is plenty of holiday time in the school year.
Yes, the costs are notably higher in 'holiday time' but I don't feel that gives us the right to ignore rules on attendance, in general. Either we will pay what the rate is, or select a different option from the myriad of other choices, not all of which have to cost loads!

The irony is that the 3 days I didn't invoice for would've paid for the whole trip!

[Mich the Tester]

That will be a week a year for up to 10 years for a start and that week can put a child back to the point it directly affects their grades, particularly in courses that build on other aspects of the year.

If that's correct then it would suggest the education approach is too fragile; many kids are likely to miss a week or so each year due to flu or other illnesses; are they then going to end up with a disadvantage?

[amcdonald]

That would be difficult; are you sure they aren't just passing on the prices set by hotels and airlines? Hotel owners in southern Europe are smart enough to google school holidays in northern European countries and adapt their prices to fit demand.

Easy impose a price controls over package holidays for the uk which we could have more control over, if people want to holiday abroad tough they have to pay more

It might help arrest the decline of sea side towns