Selfish Cheapskate Parenting Now Legal.........

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.com/news/education-36277940
In order to get a cheaper holiday it's ok to degrade your child's education. Wonderful. Brainless parents win again. When will our dopey judges move to this planet?

[jim360]

Speaking as someone who had holidays in term time every year while I was at Primary school... I can't say it did my education much harm.

[ToraToraTora]

you sure?

[jim360]

Well I suppose one can never be too sure without starting life over and having those weeks in school after all. But it's difficult to imagine its making all that much difference, considering.

[dannyk13]

If travel agencies stopped bumping up prices in school holidays perhaps parents would wait until then to go on holiday.

[bhg481]

I have no beef with children being taken out of primary/junior school for holidays. Once at secondary school education in many subjects becomes sequential ie, what you learn this lesson requires knowledge gained last lesson. Taking children away from school at this level is foolish.

[ToraToraTora]

don't have children if you value money above their education. simples.

[jambutty]

I tend to think they shouldn't be taken out of term time, but the Judges looked into her attendance at school and decided she has good attendance otherwise and based it on that. We never took ours out in term time.

[vulcan42]

On the other hand a school has just stopped a child from attending because somebody in that school doesn't like his hairstyle.It seems to be OK for a school to deprive a child from education but not the parents.

[Old_Geezer]

Used to pee me off to be told that X was on a holiday whilst I was slogging away in a hot classroom, knowing they'd still get the full entitlement of holiday on top.

Seems to me that the teaching system has rules that try to ensure each pupil has the maximum chance of learning, and that flaunting the rule that says there should be maximum attendance, whatever the excuse, is simply wrong.

Regardless whether the education is noticeably affected, either all parents should be taking their kids out for an extra week or fortnight off, or none should. It's not like the kids are going to benefit greatly in the longer term for having skived off with their parents blessing. And not having continental holidays didn't do my generation any harm.

[jim360]

I think it depends on the child. I would have thought that parents ought to be given some level of trust to know what is best for them. They usually are.

Also, why this sudden love for keeping children at school from TTT, where they are subject to leftie brainwashing all the time? I'd have thought a one-week break from that now and then would help matters no end.

[dannyk13]

///don't have children if you value money above their education. simples///
That is a facetious remark TTT. Many parents struggle to afford a holiday without having to pay over the odds.

[ToraToraTora]

every cloud jim.

[ToraToraTora]

statement of fact danny, sorry if it's too honest for you.

[Hypognosis]

Oh come on jim. You were clearly brainy enough to catch up!

My parents had loads of books for me to read so I was probably learning things that schools never teach, even in my downtime. I mean reference books.

Whenever TV news show books and kids simultaneously, the titles and cover art do not suggest reference books, to me. Probably Eezeereed material to a) get them to read *at all*, b) make it "fun", c) generally help them learn to expand their vocab and grammar, etc.

The abiding memory of my first day at infant school was puzzlement about why it was necessary to line the walls of the room with big letters, surrounded by pictures of animals and the word for the animal. I have zero recollection of being taught to read, not even by my parents.

[chelle7272]

Well said Danny. I would never have been able to take my son away when he was little during school holidays.
I don't think it does too much damage in junior school years if the child is achieving well otherwise.

ASs a side note, it can be very annoying to be told you can't take your child out of school then for the last few days of term they do nothing but watch DVD's!

[dannyk13]

///statement of fact danny, sorry if it's too honest for you///
Nothing to do with honesty, you obviously live on a different plane to parents who struggle to provide their children with a holiday.Come down off your high horse.

[chelle7272]

TTT, circumstances change, things happen, you don't always know what financial situation you may be in a few years down the line.

[Hypognosis]

@jambutty

//Judges looked into her attendance at school and decided she has good attendance otherwise and based it on that.//

Lily-livered judges; trying to have their cake and eat it. Clearly a ploy, to be able to pull the same stunt with their own kids, in future.

90-95% attendence is deemed "acceptable", justifying this absence. What's wrong with 99%???

This policy invites the "throwing a sicky" of up to 10 schoold days per year, OR an equivalent holiday, in term time, for *all*.

If law is about precendent, this is a bad one to be running for. (pun, pun)

[jim360]

Well hypo, modesty forbids but I guess I'll agree that I shouldn't be seen as typical. But nevertheless a blanket rule seems wrong, because the "damage" to education is hardly absolute but child-specific.

The ruling in this case in the end amounts to saying that context matters. I had, I think, 100% attendance otherwise on some years. At high school, until one week in Year 11, I think I missed no more than half a day a year through illness. Someone who has taken a week's holiday in term along with several other missed days has to be seen separately from someone who has had an otherwise near-perfect attendance. I don't think it's unreasonable to take context into account.

[gness]

Mine had holidays in term time if it suited us best......their education certainly didn't suffer at all......but if you are going to suggest it may have done we can't really prove that one way or the other.
As they are both happy and very successful I'll settle for that and memories of great holidays.....☺

Holiday companies will tell you, if asked, that they don't bump the prices in school holidays......that's the price but they reduce it in term time......☺