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 :/

[gness]

Hi BD. Thought he was younger. You can`t go and let him house sit? :-)
Did that when son was sixteen. Neighbours were amused by the cleaning and tidying going on the day before we returned.

[eyethenkyew]

Nah, get off and take the lad for his holiday - life's too short. Don't take any notice of the doom and gloom merchants.

[sherrardk]

Anyone else noticed that we are talking to ourselves?

[gness]

My son has a job which means he works in schools during holidays. He only gets a holiday in term time. It`s cheaper to pay the fine and take the kids out of school in term time than if they holidayed during school breaks.....if they could. Guess the fines won`t work.

[gness]

Yep Sherr...happens often but it`s fun. We`re bonding.;-)

[sherrardk]

When I was working, there was a particular member of staff who was in charge of deciding who should be fined - complete jobsworth with no idea of the realities that people face in the real world.

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Might book early for next year and let him come out for a week at half term. His dad could come with us and bring him back after the first week giving us two weeks on our own. Will check out holiday dates on college website.

[sunny-dave]

The name is Bond .... Brooke Bond :+)

[Meme1980]

Thanks for all your comments, I do feel awful for taking him out of school especially as its an important year or him. I was unaware of this had I of known I wouldn't of bothered. I ave spoken 2 a friend who is also a teacher and she has reassured me they won't b doing any controlled assessments atths tie so the only thing he will miss out on hs some theory's. Ism prepared 2 get work books from shops and send him 2 catch up classes after school for all the children that couldn't we it due 2 illnesses.

[Meme1980]

Sorry about spelling but I think you get the jist of it x

[factor-fiction]

hi sherrardk- you said "Factor, I taught for 16 years and always got irked about the attitude of some members of staff towards term time holidays - they didn't seem to be able to comprehend that cost is a major factor for lots of people. "

I'm not sure whether this means you were also irked with my response, which I thought was quite measured- I said it's the parent's call bearing in mind the law regarding unauthorised absence.

In my experience of teaching (which I accept isn't as great as yours) my attitude to holidays has never been relevant. As a subject teacher was never consulted about time off- it was a decision for the head which I assume had to take account of the the law, the school policy (agreed by governors) and the interests of the child. The final choice though was always with the parent

I got the impression also that some responses to my post were suggesting I didn't appreciate the high costs of going away in the school holidays compared to other times of the year. Quite the opposite- as a teacher I had to pay those higher prices and was well aware of the differential.

[gness]

Meme. Don`t worry about books from shops. Take the two weeks....enjoy the time with your son.. don`t even think about school and don`t let your son think about it either. It`s ten days out of a lifetime of learning. What....fifty hours?
Take it from me.......it won`t hurt one little bit. xx
Let us know about your holiday.

[sherrardk]

Sorry Factor, wasn't meant like that. I didn't know if you knew I was an ex-teacher and was trying to give my point of view from that perspective. (I was a senior teacher and the only one who ever argued the parents' case which fell on the deaf ears of my colleagues who were on good wages. They were (as a whole) extremely sanctimonious about the whole thing whilst probably earning two or three times more than a lot of parents.) Hope I haven't offended you, x

[factor-fiction]

Thanks sherrardk

[hc4361]

If you had to pay for schooling, would you still take your son out of school?

[sherrardk]

If you had to pay for schooling you would probably need the cheaper holidays.

[gness]

I paid for schooling hc. What difference does that make?

[factor-fiction]

Just to add one thing- whilst it was inconvenient having to set work for students who were going to be off or have catch up sessions with them afterwards, there were certain students for whom teachers were rather pleased to hear that they would be on holiday for a week or two! (I'm sure that's not the case for Meme's son though.)

[gness]

And then there were the ones we asked to go on holiday during OFSTED Factor. :-)

[factor-fiction]

...or arranged a trip out somewhere.