Out of term

[3disneykids]

Originally Posted by Picalily

Hi, I never took my kids out of school but now they have grown up I wish I had. You are only a child for a very short time and need to enjoy it memories are worth a lot.

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I love this and it is so true...I used to be more uptight both with schooling and financially but after my parents both passed away relatively young and seeing how fast they grow up I definitely am of the feeling to invest in memories.
Our go through as unauthorised I would factor £120 fine per child into my costings just incase... This year outside the Aprkl holidays we saved £4000 so it was well worth it

[ziggyzag]

I am taking my daughter out this year as its the only time my husband could get holidays authorised. its actually a week either side of half term so ten days (was supposed to be 9 but they changed the inset day) 5 will probably be authorised the other 5 not. I wouldn't normally tak her out of school as we usually go in August but couldn't this year. I wouldn't take her out of school in Year 7 or above

[mushumadness]

We have been fined every time of ten sessions missed
We used to do a week term time (last week of term) and the the school holidays week
My fines 480.00 paid it three times now

[Pluto201]

Only way I can get leave from work for 2 weeks is to tag a week onto half term, so have made the decision to go then as the only option for us. Accept might get fined but view family time as so important it the bigger picture of life.

[PhillySpecial]

Sew109 - We have thought long and hard as you’ve suggested, the main feeling is that the eldest will be at an age where we think the fantasy might be about to wear off, the middle child and my youngest are probably at the better ages.

And no I wouldn’t suggest that visiting a theme park is about the culture I was simply displaying different scenarios we have heard of granting leave out of term. Although we do intend on day trips to see the NASA space centre and such, we won’t be penned into Disney or Universal for the whole duration.

LegallyBlonde - yes I think we will ask the teachers for what they think the children could do when out there.

Hilz22 - Thank you interesting it’s based on previous attendance? I think between the three children they have close to a 99% attendance rate, never get sick and we have never considered anything like this before.

Thorpy - I agree, and for us it’s basically affordable tagging the week but unaffordable going in the holidays. It’s a lot to consider.

Picalily/3DisneyKids - I totally agree, we want our children to experience this before the fantasy of it all wears off, the saving isn’t really a factor when it comes down to how much we save, just the fact that it’s affordable tagging a week of half term with a week in term.

Mushumadness - what does the ten sessions equate to in days? We have heard that two sessions are one day? Three times and nothing more than the fine? The threat of prosecution is concerning but when does that come into play?

Pluto - I’m with you on this, the family time is so important, for us too my father has a illness and we aren’t sure how many opportunities there will be to have a big family holiday like this.

My partner spoke to the headteacher today and she said that she can only speak for the two that will still be in her school when this happens but that she wouldn’t look to enforce the fine on us but that we will be sent a warning letter. She said that for the child who will be in year 7 she can’t comment on only to inform us that all secondary schools in our area enforce the fine.


Thank you all so much for your responses, much food for thought!

[Nollypat]

We're taking our children (14 and 10) out next month. Both have 100% attendance...famous last words!
Our son is in Year 9, daughter Year 6.
Whether or not we deserve to end up on Death Row for it is a matter of opinion. It's not ideal, I absolutely believe that education is a privilege we take for granted and I fully expect to be fined, but life doesn't always play nicely.
My husband's leave restrictions mean he can't book 2 consecutive weeks during school holidays, and we wouldn't consider going to Florida for a week, so we're tagging a week onto half term.
Our son is Autistic, struggles with every aspect of school and has been relentlessly bullied, physically and mentally. He's now talking about Disney World (Galaxy's Edge especially) with a sparkle we have missed for too long, where he had been talking about wanting to end his life.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[Eldent]

We did this last year. My daughter missed the last two days of term and first two days back. My husband and I both received fines and have had to pay £120. My sister's a teacher and told us about the 5 day rule but unfortunately it didn't apply and we were fined.

[Sew109]

One thing worth noting is that in some schools you are less likely to get a fine towards the beginning of the year as som schools base fines on the class/school attendance as a whole rather than your child.

Like many it seems that you need to do this as it is cheaper outside of school holidays this is not a reason for authorised leave to be granted.

Last year we did not have our leave granted even though we needed to go at that time of the year to see the Bears in Colorado and we took In 6 state parks.

As I said Florida is not high on the agenda for an educational destination (though my nieces school did a school trip there ! ) families go to Orlando for theme parks and despite what Disney say about EPCOT there are far more places to go if your reason for trip is educational. Even coming out of the parks the areas around them are not typical of demonstrative of American life, I did not go to Orlando until about my 6th trip if I had gone there first I would never have gone back to the USA its not dissimilar to Blackpool.

As I also said please do not ask the teachers to supply work if they offer that’s fair enough, but you are choosing for your kids to miss school. I was speaking to teachers about this yesterday and contrary to what you may here on her they hate it, teachers on here have posted that as well, it’s not fair on them and most of the time the kids don’t do it or don’t do it properly anyway. The price you pay for taking kids out is that they miss some of their education. It will also cause arguments and affect your holiday.

As I have said I take my daughter out though as she is s year six next year we will take her out after the 11 plus and that will be the last time until after her GCSE’s so I am not criticising anyone or judging please don’t think that I am.

Just on another note I am Asumming you are going for a fortnight well first trip disney universal and KSC etc will be a push and imho a bit of a waste of money we go for three weeks and even then Disney and other stuff without Universal is more than enough to do and if money is an issue Universal tickets would probably be £1k.

[ClaireNJ]

I always took both my boys out for a week added on to the October half term or the May holiday,maybe every couple of years, didn’t do them any harm, one of them got 2A* & an A at A Level, so each to their own, I always asked what they would be missing and get work to do beforehand

[Angcap]

A difficult one to answer! I have ALWAYS taken my 3 girls out of school. Was I right to do it? Probably not BUT I am very lucky, my girls had great attendance, always completed home work (usually more than required) and were hard working students.
For us it worked out well due to their attitude to work hard and determination to do well. It didn’t affect their schooling and grades at all.
The memories were well worth it and holidays remain one of the most important part of our family life.
If they didn’t work so hard then maybe I would have acted differently.
Only you know if it’s worth it.

But if I were you I would go and have a great time!