I wasn't going to reply to this, but then I remembered something .....
It's illegal because you are depriving your kids the right to an education right ?
(I think that's the line of thinking)
OK, how come our kids have so many days off for 'staff training' then ..... ?
Why can't they do that during the 12 weeks of 'holiday' instead of term time ?
I agree that it's a bit of a crap system (being a parent).
I'll just wait over here to get lynched by any teachers on the site ....... !
And how comes children of diffarent culture are allowed time off to celebrate their holidays?
In our daughters school they can have permission to take two weeks off per year outside the holidays with written permission. We personally couldn't afford to go away in the 6 wks hols
You are allowed up to two weeks' holiday time off during term time, at the discretion of the headteacher. So places where there aren't many staff, will still be able to allow staff to holiday with their children.
INSET days are classed as working days for teachers; we don't have days off just so that we don't have to teach your children! We have to provide your children with 195 days of education per year. It's usually the same people who moan about INSET days, who want to take their children on holiday during term time, too.
You can't stop people/children having days off to observe religious festivals. We have Christmas and Easter off, same thing really. Many asian children have weeks off at a time to go and visit relatives abroad and their places have to be saved for them at the school. I don't think we can do anything about it, either.
We take ours out of school for a few days during the year..
Neither one of them suffers.
There's no way we could afford to go during school holidays as its just too damned expensive..
As for everybody taking the same holidays.......It would never work..
The whole country stops for 2 weeks a year..........Nah.......Cant see it.
As I said with only 4 on my shift and 3 with kids it would cripple a very productive shift.
No way my bosses would stand for that....
I don't think anyone was suggesting that the whole country holidayed at the same time. Not sure about other parts of the country, but in Sheffield/Rotherham there are still companies which close for two weeks during the summer holidays. They are known locally as 'works weeks'. I think that's what DP was referring to.
I try my best not to take the kids out of school, I believe they need all the education they can get. None of them have had more than 2 afternoons out on the last day of term when they just play.
I would never consider taking them out for a week at a time which probably explains why our kids have never been in a plane. Its too damned expensive to go fly abroad in school holidays! We often go to France on that train thingy, its only £100 if you book it right :thumbup:
Having said that, I do believe that these law's should be enforced. I believe that some parents are not being fair on the kids in the long term, anything longer than 2 weeks should have a bloody good excuse.
most schools do allow kids two weeks term time off at the discretion of the head...
I dont like taking my little one out of school...but did do last year for 4 days ..
To me i also think it is quite educational for kids to see different parts of ther world and experiance different cultures..so if ya cant afford to go away other than durin term time then its up to the individual.
Up here we used to have shipyard fortnight- last week in july and first week in August when i was growin up.( not that old tho ..lol) Due to my dad workin in the shipyards we had to have our family hols then . We cud never afford the prices to go abroad during that time...i missed out visiting the places we used to talk about at school and i really dont want my children to do that ...
Well now they have decided to bring the area I live in into line with the rest of the country they will break up from school at the begining of July and not go back untiul the beginning of Sept ( doing away with the old wakes weeks) thats 9 weeks of school holidays expensive for childcare and a nightmare to keep them occupied all that time.
ok hijack over
I personally think that this will backfire on the powers that be! And the sooner the better!
I'm not one for taking the children out of school willy nilly but we're off to the states next year and we are taking the children out of school just after they go back. The saving to us will be in excess of £500 and I'll use the same reasoning with the school head.
It's only illegal if a child doesn't receive an education, many people opt out of mainstream schooling and home educate. What better education can a child get ? The chance to learn about other cultures, particularly in Nevada where we're heading, other currencies, geography (Grand Canyon and Death Valley are amazing), experiencing different forms of travel (plane and helicopter), other forms of wildlife, the list goes on.
Sorry ... I'll back teachers as much as I can but holidays can be as educational and give children some real life experiences that a classroom just can't replicate. I appreciate that some parents are stay on the beach types, but our children are precious to us and we believe in being hands on with education, our holidays range from a day searching round an old roman fort, to museums, art galleries, hunting for animal tracks in a wood, to pleasure seeking at a theme park. Not all of these things can be carried out during weekends and I have few holidays a year that I have to compete with others for.
C x
:P 
Gem. x
)
take the other week I purchased a fire engine (don't ask) and the night before I collected it I rang my daughters mother to see if she could keep her of school so she could come with me to drive it home. What small child would fail to be chuffed to bits sitting next to her dad whilst travelling in a fire engine? But my ex dutifully informed me that we need to give 2 weeks notice and provide a written explanation to the school if we want to keep our child away during term time. :( 
