Children holidaying during term time.

My teaching staff weren't overly pleased when I told them we needed to set work for children taking holidays.
However, we found a solution by just sending home the grammar workbook which had clear explanations, then loads of exercises. My staff then initialled every page in the exercise book as "done", but not checked. It kept the parents happy!

eazyber
I would be interested to know the name of that school.
In forty years of teaching in different schools and authorities I never met a teacher who agreed with that that. Possibly they were more concerned with the short term impact on them in having to spend valuable time teaching children vital components of the long-term curriculum which they had missed, and which prevented them in progressing further until they experienced and learned them.

I’d like to know that too. There certainly wasn’t the stress that OFSTED and league tables caused, but children being absent causes problems for teachers and affects other children.
I’ve never met a parent yet who wasn’t convinced it wouldn’t harm their child but who wasn’t quick to complain if their child’s report was not as expected, and they simply never considered either the teachers or the other children.

I never asked a teache to do anything to help my children keep up or ctach up in the two years I took them out for an annual holiday.

Having myself missed over a years schooling in various ways due to hospital admissions, travelling between locations and so on and always managed to catch up without any extra involvement by teachers. I just assumed that my children would cope, all they ever missed was a weeks schooling - and they did.

Lots more children are home schooled now as well. My 2 granddaughter's included, they do their work online , so can do it anytime. Just took them away for a few days in Devon, it cost £195 for 4 days, it goes up to £950 for the same caravan in May half term

Wow Lizzie - what a cheek!
I was really thinking - we will be looking at linear number sequences or ^ using the subjunctive form^ or whatever!

For the attention of the School Bursar."
However. It soon became obvious that the only reason holidaying in school time was an issue was that the local authority could fine headteachers if the attendance figures dropped below a certain level. Without exception all the teachers did not believe that a couple of weeks out would make any difference in the long term learning outcomes of the children. In fact one part time teacher always took her children away the week before exams because, as she says, if they don’t know it now they never will and at least they’ll be relaxed.

I would be interested to know the name of that school.
In forty years of teaching in different schools and authorities I never met a teacher who agreed with that that. Possibly they were more concerned with the short term impact on them in having to spend valuable time teaching children vital components of the long-term curriculum which they had missed, and which prevented them in progressing further until they experienced and learned them.

I don't know of any jobs these days where people just put in and are granted two weeks annual leave.

Most jobs have rules about when people can take time, and how much at any one time.

We took our boys out of primary school two years running for one week each time. On both occasions the week was added on to a half term to give us two weeks in Florida.

We didn't ask for work to be provided while they were away, and didn't request or expect for their teachers to provide additional support on their return.

Was two weeks visiting the theme parks and enjoying the wonderful weather educationally beneficial? Not at all. Did we all have a great time? Absolutely. Do we regret it? No. Did their education suffer as a result? No, as we were certain it wouldn't do.

The Head was aware of the reason for their absence and was perfectly happy to give his permission.

LizzieDrip

You’d be surprised at the number of times I was asked by parents, taking their children out of school for holidays, for me to do the following:

Print ‘worksheets’ for them to take.
Put together a ‘work pack’.
Give them ideas of activities.
Go over any work missed with the child on return.

That’s just a few examples! When I said this wasn’t possible, stating the reasons I posted above, many parents thought I was just being awkward! If parents want bespoke teaching & learning for their children, I suggest they pay a private tutor … maybe using some of the money they’re saved on the holiday

Oh, how very unreasonable of you… NOT!

Absolutely agree, Lizzie Drip and others.

Yep🤷‍♀️

Bloody cheek.

You’d be surprised at the number of times I was asked by parents, taking their children out of school for holidays, for me to do the following:

Print ‘worksheets’ for them to take.
Put together a ‘work pack’.
Give them ideas of activities.
Go over any work missed with the child on return.

That’s just a few examples! When I said this wasn’t possible, stating the reasons I posted above, many parents thought I was just being awkward! If parents want bespoke teaching & learning for their children, I suggest they pay a private tutor … maybe using some of the money they’re saved on the holiday

We never took the children out of school for a holidays. Irresponsible.

By "make sure they do the work" I mean that you work with them on a one to one basis to make sure they understand the subject and are going to be able to slot back in.

LizzieDrip and others - I think it is totally wrong to expect anything or even anytime extra from the school in my opinion if a child is taken out. It may be reasonable to ask what they will be missing so you can (as a responsible parent) make sure they do the work whilst off!

asked for the work they missed to be given to them when they returned

As a teacher, I used to find this annoying actually. Much of the learning in school happens during the lessons - questioning, discussion, group collaboration etc. and any written work follows on from that. It’s not as simple as ‘giving them the work when they return’. For it to be in any way meaningful to the child it would need to be individually discussed with them. I was more than happy to work individually with a child who required individual learning but for a child who’s been taken out of school to get a cheap holiday - sorry, no!

Well, the answer must be to pretend to have cancer, because I can assure you that schools couldn't care less then.

If I sound bitter, it's because I bloody am.
"As long as he's not truanting" at 7 years old!!

As a former secondary teacher, I am not in favour of children being taken out of school for holidays. I have rarely found that it didn't impact in some way upon their exam results to go just before the exams. Parents would occasionally ask for exam practice material but it was rarely completed. At that point in the term, we often went over practice papers in class, self marking, partner marking and I would mark some too. Pupils would identify the types of questions they struggled with and I would arrange individual sessions in class and after school to support them. You can't do that if they're on holiday. My cousin never understood this and took her children on holiday in April every year. Both did worse than expected because they didn't revise on holiday nor did they have any teacher input.
I fully understand that some parents have no choice in when to take holidays. As a teacher, I certainly didn't. However there are only a few years when going away will impact on the outcome of your child's education. Maybe do something else? It shouldn't be up to the teacher to ensure that your child catches up on work missed because you wanted a holiday in Marbella. They have a curriculum to follow, lessons organised for the year and enough marking to do without having to revisit something. And yes, they will probably try to help your child catch up because that is what we do. However your child is the one who is falling behind. I'm talking about secondary pupils mainly here.

My father was also working offshore for an American company back in 60s and 70s. I was always allowed time off from my state schools to spend with him, though I rudely told him I'd rather be back in the classroom!

Yes, Joseann - some years ago the state school headteachers could do this. I arranged with a headteacher for a child I worked with to have 4 days off once.

Notspaghetti It is not just service families who have leave dictated or restricted. DH's work involved the movement of large floating items at sea. This happens in the summer weather window(April-September), and is dependent on tides, weather and other factors.

Back in the heyday of the Offshore UK industry, when our DC were at primary school, he was away from home almost continually in that period. One year we had our 'summer' family holiday during the early March half term (Easter was late that year). Twice we took the children out of school in late September. Neither did we then have expensive overseas holidays. We spent the March half term in a boat on the Broads, probably the only hire boat out that early, otherwise we went to the Lake District. Most holidays happened with only a few days notice when DH would say.' I am OK for leave next week, find somewhere', and I would.

We would never have taken the children out of school, for any reason, other than the one we did and always said we would not do it once they reached secondary age, but by that time the industry had changed, fewer loads and bigger and we were able toholidayduring the school holidays.

I also think there should be some leeway for headteachers to allow children time for important family events.
A very sensible suggestion NotSpaghetti, though I don't think Headteachers are allowed to apply discretion in the state sector? Private shools have greater flexibility on this issue. Although most private schools discourage holidays during term time, there are often circumstances where an understanding Headteacher will authorise a holiday or leave of absence. As mentioned upthread, parents can have jobs which take them away for long periods, so should they wish it, family time together is granted on their return.

PamelaJ1 I stopped the constant moves when my father retired from the army. I was 21. Since I married I have lived in, broadly, the same area for over 50 years and I know a lot of people purely superficially.

I belong to several organisations, where I have been a member for 30 years or more and I have friends through that, but they are what I call 'organisation friends'. Once we move on, as we hope to this year, I am not sure that those friendships will turn into personal friendships.

I do have a few good personal friends. My dearest and closest dates from school days and will bcoming to stay for the weekend later this morning, but apart from that, one from university, a couple from from when my children were young, one from work, but, sadly, several of these have died as we move in to old age.

Interestingly, I have recently made two good friends through GN.

Please can someone explain why taking children out of school is "teaching* them that rules don't matter? Surely the adults will explain why they are doing this.

If they can understand that school/ education is a privilege then surely they can understand that being able to have time off is also a privilege?

I am basically against taking them out but do think that services families should be able to have occasional dispensation as they have no choice when they get leave. I also think there should be some leeway for headteachers to allow children time for important family events.