Term-time holiday fine rise won’t stop us, say parents

27 comments

1. How about everyone in the holiday industry stops ripping off customers? That would be lovely.

2. I’ll predict some of the top comments already. People talking about taking their kids on cultural trips and ensuring personally they catch up on all missed work.

   Here’s the thing – those parents and kids aren’t the problem.

   The Venn diagram correlation is very strong between kids who are struggling at school, kids whose parents don’t help them with schoolwork and kids whose parents let them take time off for holidays (or anything else really) at the drop of a hat.

   School absenteeism is a major problem and a growing problem. Term time holidays feed into that which is why the government has to at least try and do something about it.

3. It should be obvious that such a financial penalty is going to have limited success given how much more expensive a holiday is during the school holidays than outside the school holidays. For financial penalties to work they would have to be greater than the cost variance of the holiday. Even booking to fly out 2 or 3 days before the school holidays start can result in a significant saving.

   The article mentions summer in Thailand, I was a bit surprised by that as August is probably not the best time to visit due to the hot and very wet weather, but it goes to show that even places like that are affected by school holiday pricing.

4. I get that something needs to be done, but my kids had a better attendance record than their teachers last year. If the staff take 6 days off for strike action they can’t then say that every day in school is precious and can’t be missed.

5. The one that gets over looked is not just the ridiculous price rises, but not all parents are allowed to use annual leave over school holidays. Companies hate losing a large chunk of their work force at the same time each year so i know some people that really struggle to even get a few days off during the holidays. Means parents are forced to use a lot of time off when kids are at school most of the day, and then have homework or are too tired to properly interact, and they don’t get the chance to go away somewhere and have what is actually a great bonding experience.

6. Shock and horror for kids going on a holiday over learning a week of maths

7. Commonly known as the holiday tax. In 99% of cases, It has zero to do with the child’s educational welfare.

8. I honestly think if a kid is thriving and passing all their exams / getting good grades then who gives a shit? I had like 50% attendance in year 10 and 11 because I was experiencing different cultures, enjoying myself and occasionally working on things that mattered more to me than piss easy and ultimately pointless GCSEs.

   GCSE grades don’t even matter providing you have enough to get on to the A level courses you want.

9. “The alternative is to not have family time”

   Dunno about anyone else, but we still manage to have family time without needing to take my daughter out of school for it.

10. This comment section consists of people who have children and people who talk out of their arse.

11. Here’s a solution: stagger the school holidays in different districts around the country. That way not all kids are off at the same time and therefore demand for things like flights and accommodation won’t be as crazy high. 

    Of course, there’ll be some overlap, e.g., around Christmas, but it’ll massively help the current situation.

    This is the model currently used in Germany and France amongst others and it works well there.

12. Rise them higher then.

    I’m sure the extra money would be appreciated

13. The “Me me me” culture in the UK is rife so this is not surprising.

    And the kids know they can get away with money and grow up and become parents and do exactly the same

14. A reminder that privately educated pupils have different term times so can benefit from cheaper holidays

15. 15 years from now these same parents will be complaining that the deck is stacked against their kids despite them having “worked as hard as anyone else” – having been taking them out of school 3 weeks of every year and letting an iPad do most of the parenting for them. 

16. Fines don’t work. The fines ironically give permission. It’s a cost benefit analysis.

    Instead should require the parents to attend school to explain themselves and a telling off.

    The first days of term are the most important to attend. Its set the plan for the term.

    I remember missing a few days at the start of term, and a feeling of being lost in class, turning up and them talking about ATCG (dna), not knowing what’s going on, and being able to follow along.

17. A friend of my wife said that if we take our child out of school with a unauthorised leave for two weeks, there is a risk that he may get expelled.
    Can anyone shed any light on this?
    Sounds a little too drastic to me!

18. Well yeah, the financial penalty is still less than the savings. Also, my parents would just lie and say we had a funeral or a wedding to go to. I think that schools are also reluctant to fine parents in order to not harm relations

19. The simplest solution would be to give children a 5 day pass that entitles them to having 5 holiday days in any given academic year, penalty free. If children are ‘sick’ on the days building up or straight after the holiday days are taken then the holiday days are wiped off and a fine is given, as well as making the child intelligible for the holiday days the following year.

20. What I’m surprised no one has commented here is that it’s possible to just not send your kids to school and homeschool.

    If you can afford the loss of a wage in a two-parent household you can have an admitted untrained teacher delivering one-on-one lessons and handling sickness and holidays as you damn well please.

    If a kid isn’t in school because of truancy, it’s concerning as they’re not being supported in getting an education.

    For a short holiday? For sickness? Perfectly reasonable. But schools are so target driven that they care only about the number of days off. Not the situation, not the child. A tick box exercise. Your child is talking about self harm and suicidal thoughts and the first email you get is ‘this is an unauthorised absence!’ because apparently mental health doesn’t count.

    Schools don’t offer flexibility and they should.

21. Would it not be better if school holidays were staggered so different schools had their breaks at different times? National holidays being the exception of course.  

    That way there’d always be schools still operating whilst others were closed. And thus less demand for the holiday industry to exploit.

22. People can’t afford to take their kids on holiday outside of term time due to ridiculous prices – I know, we’ll fine them if they go within term time! Can’t have those poor kids enjoying holidays.

    One holiday a year for a week or two isn’t going to make a big difference, it’s common sense not to do it around exams and important years / dates.

23. Im tempted to take my kid away through term time. I was going to take my kid away through the summer holidays and every where out priced them selves.

    Before summer holidays, £495 a week in centre parks. Have a holiday during summer kolidays its over £1000.

    Even cheap hotal on Morecambe or Blackpool are cheap as chips out of holiday, can have a weekend there for around £100. Summer holidays it went up to £250.

    Prices are ridiculous in all holiday times and needs to change. It use to be cheap at one time in holidays, but greed set in, and raised the prices.

24. When a kid is taken out of school for a holiday—the parents aren’t taking them to any holiday resort for educational purposes, so let’s stop the lies. Mummy or daddy or both just wanted a cheap holiday.

25. I don’t think missing 2 weeks a year due to holidays is the problem, it’s a life experience. The issue is the kids taking the piss with ‘illness’.

    My cousin would get a few days off a month for a cough whereas when I went to school I got no time off when I broke my collarbone.

26. Imo a week or 10 days off school, at any period before year 9, would have no long term material affect on most children’s education. Statements otherwise are just hyperbolic

27. I’ve really tried since we had our kids but taking them on holidays during the summer break is a fkn nightmare. The beaches are so crowded it’s dangerous, the prices are insane and the experience hellish, for the most part. I still won’t take them out of school during term-time so we’ve given up on foreign holidays and just go for trips to local hot-spots instead. Fortunately, the kids and I hate the heat so staying in central Europe suits us fine and we spend considerbaly less money while keeping the local economy alive. It’s nice to return home not feeling like you’ve been scammed for two weeks.