Taking my son on holiday in the middle of September

[Meme1980]

I have booked to take my son on holiday beginning of September as I can't afford to do it in the summer holidays. I have never taken him out school before, my ex sister-in-law has informed me that they start doing they assessments 2wards there GCSEs. O u think he will miss much in those 2 weeks. I'm worried I may be easing up his education :/

[Ellipsis]

If you want your kids to be at a good school, then one of the things you should expect is not to be able to take them out of that school during term time. Your choice.

[gness]

G. A week in a log cabin in Canada`s Rocky Mountains with ex-colleagues and a get together in France with touring Australian friends. Timing was their choice but blowed if we were going to miss the opportunity.
Like I said we all choose how we educate our children. I chose good schools, private for the last child when I saw how state education was going. The schools complimented the education and up bringing I planned when they were born. It was our responsibility to do that not the school's. I worked part time in son#2's Comp and was on the PTA and ran the Brownie Pack for D #3's school. Never had a problem. All our children loved school and did extremely well.
As for falling standards? Look to the parents who don't care and see school as a convenient baby sitting service and cock-ups by successive governments which is why I, and most of my colleagues, got out early. And of course OFSTED. :-)

[Ellipsis]

We all have choices in life, and there's no doubt that taking your kids out of school during term time is a selfish choice. That's not to say it's always the wrong thing to do - sometime you have to be a bit selfish in life - but it's definitely selfish. It doesn't help the school or the other kids there.

I hate the idea of my kids' education being in any way worsened because other parents think it's OK to take their kids out of school for weeks at a time, at any time they see fit. That's just not fair on everyone else, but while it only happens on a small scale it's tolerated.

A hallmark of a good school is that its tolerance of this would be zero or as near zero as it was possible to get. My kids are at a good school, and I'd expect one hell of a fight if I wanted to take them on holiday during term time - and I'd admire them for it.

[gness]

Well, we must differ. I obviously chose schools where we discussed, not had a fight over, our children's education. Between us we did a jolly good job.
Quite sure from involvement during and after the children's formal education that I harmed no-one and no school.

Meme...an interesting discussion your post raised. Have a great holiday and enjoy it without worrying. x

[craft1948]

I'd just take your son and go whenever..............then when his teacher takes 2 weeks off to go clubbing in Ibiza during term time and buggering up his tuition you can't really moan can you............

[gness]

Crafty!! You said you`d never mention that holiday we had!

[Ellipsis]

gness, I wasn't talking about your personal circumstances. I was talking about the general case.

[gness]

Appreciate that E. I just find it so difficult to accept that classroom teaching is the only way to educate. In fact I set up a four pupil school for my daughter`s G.C.S.E. years because the local state schools were not, in my opinion, up to scratch. Brilliant results. And not because we had the money...it was difficult but worth it. Having been denied a good education I really appreciate it, but it comes in many ways.
Also appreciate SD's point that the reasons some parents take children out of school are not always for the good of the children.

[ganesh]

Well said Ellipsis.An interesting debate,and gness,I am thinking of those parents who don't care..there's a reason there's an attendance record on reports.Don't get me started on Ofsted,they are a joke!
I hope you have a good holiday too Meme but please reconsider before you do it again.

[cazzz1975]

my daughters friend really struggled after going to india for a month in year 10, not only did she have a mountain of work to come back to she also failed the first round of gcse's.

all kids like missing school, however you do have to remember that as payment for the time off there is a lot of work to go back to and everyone in the class has moved ahead of you.

[joko]

take the holiday.

for most kids holiday are a great learning expereince - one which they can never get in a classroom.

they are what childhood memories are made of and a chance to experience new cultures and ways....not to mention proper quality time with the family.
some other types of learning are just as important as sitting in a room with a text book.

they soon grow up and these times can never be replaced

many lessons are an hour a week and the main lessons are what 3-4 hours a week?
What can be taught in that time on each subject can be so intense and complicated that cant be caught up on?
Kids have 5 years of lesson...2 weeks is not the end of the world!
I dont believe anything taught in that short time could possibly be so detrimental as to ruin their education.
but i do believe the chance to go away with the family and have a great holiday is irreplacable.

we always went away every year and i would have been very angry at the school if those opportunities ad experiences were denied me because they insisted i did yet more lessons.

i wouldnt expect a teacher to make up some individual lesson plans just for that child, but most lessons involve books and handouts and other source materials etc - anything like this can easily be saved and given to the child when they return at no major effort.


aside from all that, kids will learn what they learn regardless of missing a few weeks - the kids that want to will catch up, and the kids that dont want to learn, wont learn anyway.

[factor-fiction]

Maybe we should have much longer school holidays and let children and families take odd days/weeks off whenever they feel they can provide something more valuable than time spent in school.

[Mosaic]

My belief is that we need to seriously question why in the 21st century, with technology all around us, we are still relying on our children's education being delivered through a system of mass rote-learning, grafted onto the agricultural year, devised in early 19th century prussia to turn out workers who could read, count and follow orders.

[factor-fiction]

Well that's a good question, Mosaic, but probably not one that we can resolve tonight.
Whilst I think there are real problems with the way we run our education system I'm not aware it's far out of line with the system/methods used in all the major economies. Is there much evidence of an alternative model that has been shown to work better? And of course school is not just about educating pupils- it's about getting them used to working with peers, working under a regime, keeping them off the streets and keeping them out from under the feet of parents who want to work or have time to themselves.

It's a good question, but for tonight I think I'll just stick to answering crossword queries and identifying advert tunes.

[ganesh]

No-one is arguing about the value of family holidays Joko,we are just saying take them in the appropriate time during the 13 weeks a year given to pupils for that purpose.

[gness]

Joko is spot on. Appropriate time doesn't always suit. Classroom teaching is far, far from the be all and end all.

[ganesh]

Never thought it was,in fact I think it's rubbish..and I think people who educate at home are not only very brave but may well do a better job.I just don't think missing time is good,and if you are going to attend school then you should go at the proper times.The kids have so much holiday.We might as well treat it like a walk-in centre,just turn up when your'e not busy doing something else.I can't believe that people think this is ok.