Has anyone changed a departure date with virgin holidays?

[PPM]

Originally Posted by Guest

SATS aren't really that important, they are more for the school (to address their league table position) than for the child as almost every secondary school will retest once there or go off teacher assessments rather than the SAT mark.

No school will however agree to a holiday during SATS for any reason as zeros (which is what their official mark would be) has a massive effect on their overall mark.

I'm also aware that most private schools don't bother with SATS and that doesn't seem to affect them getting huge amounts into Oxford and Cambridge each year.

In summary you should try and send him for the SATS (as otherwise you've set a precedent that's it's OK to skip exams if there is a reason) but if you have to it will have no long term effect on him

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The OP has said she made a mistake, and is going to change it. You seem to be trying to make this into a “ take my child out of school” debate which it’s not.

[klr15]

I would go down the cancel and re book route. There should be a 24 hour cooling off period and you should be able to cancel free of fees and get your full deposit back. If you were to amend the dates I believe they’d charge you £50pp. Might be slightly different with different travel agencies though but this is usually the norm for most.

[disneyLisa]

Originally Posted by PPM

The OP has said she made a mistake, and is going to change it. You seem to be trying to make this into a “ take my child out of school” debate which it’s not.

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yes the op made a mistake and is willing to change, but if I was under the impression sats mattered for the child and having to spend money changing dates, I would be glad to know that missing the exams wont make any personal difference and save the money, some peoples priorities are different, if I was having to pay £200-£300 for a date change so that the school gets better results then I'd be glad of the advice that sats are personally meaningless and wouldnt worry about missing them, however if you can change it free of charge then of course do that. For me its a money thing not a school thing, I do find here on the dibb that people think that if you are going to florida on holiday then you have unlimited cash for little hiccups like this, £2-300 would be a huge part of my overall budget and I would not want to pay it for something I wont actually benefit from. (the school benefits from your child taking the SATS not the child)

[PPM]

Originally Posted by disneyLisa

yes the op made a mistake and is willing to change, but if I was under the impression sats mattered for the child and having to spend money changing dates, I would be glad to know that missing the exams wont make any personal difference and save the money, some peoples priorities are different, if I was having to pay £200-£300 for a date change so that the school gets better results then I'd be glad of the advice that sats are personally meaningless and wouldnt worry about missing them, however if you can change it free of charge then of course do that. For me its a money thing not a school thing, I do find here on the dibb that people think that if you are going to florida on holiday then you have unlimited cash for little hiccups like this, £2-300 would be a huge part of my overall budget and I would not want to pay it for something I wont actually benefit from. (the school benefits from your child taking the SATS not the child)

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So you too are changing the thread to a “ take a child out of school” debate which wasn’t the OPs intention.

I’ll step out of this now as thread has changed and won’t comment on rights or wrongs of the new direction of the thread.

[Scaramouche]

Let us know how you get on with Virgin! Always handy to hear experiences. Hope they sort it for you for only a small amount of money!

[Mjordan]

Originally Posted by Kat22

Whoops! I’ve made a huge boo boo! After booking my holiday at midday, I just found out that my daughters year 6 SATS tests don’t finish that week till the day after we leave! I was misinformed by another mum from the school. So annoyed with myself as I had two quotes and now need the dates from the other one! I could kick myself as I’m normally so careful with details like that! And now they are closed of course!

Has anyone had to change their departure date? Will I have to pay to change, even if it will be less than 24hrs after making the booking?
So annoyed!

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I think you are going around the same time as me, and if so, you may be ok, as when my son did his SAT's they were finished by the Thursday, and had a 'treat' day on the Friday just watching films.

Check with the school first just to make sure, as you never know your luck

hope you get it sorted

[Kat22]

After waiting impatiently all day to hear back, they have agreed to change the date without charge. So relieved! Although there are two less days the price is virtually the same due to outbound flight being more expensive.
Had a few hassles with virgin holidays in 2016 with our last trip, but thankfully they have been really helpful this time.
On with the planning! xx

[Twinklestar1]

Originally Posted by Kat22

After waiting impatiently all day to hear back, they have agreed to change the date without charge. So relieved! Although there are two less days the price is virtually the same due to outbound flight being more expensive.
Had a few hassles with virgin holidays in 2016 with our last trip, but thankfully they have been really helpful this time.
On with the planning! xx

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Phew - nice to hear when companies have been reasonable - enjoy the planning 😀

[Kat22]

Originally Posted by Twinklestar1

Phew - nice to hear when companies have been reasonable - enjoy the planning 😀

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Thanks! I will do!x

[Guest]

Originally Posted by PPM

The OP has said she made a mistake, and is going to change it. You seem to be trying to make this into a “ take my child out of school” debate which it’s not.

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Actually for once I wasn't trying to do that I was simply pointing out that if you did miss the SAT for whatever reason (illness, holiday, sit at home and watch TV) it has precious little impact on their future as the secondary school tends to ignore it anyway.

I know no one will believe me but I'm making a real effort not to comment negatively on term posts as I've had it pointed out to me that it really annoys people, I can see however as I've sinned many times before people would jump to the "he's doing it again conclusion" but I assure you I absolutely was trying to do exactly he opposite and talk about the issue rather than the merits ...

Great news that VH have helped out on sorting this for the OP