Good people of Britain...........PANIC

[machin05]

Parents happy to pay the fines. Private schools finished a fortnight ago. Year 11 and 13 finished a few weeks ago too.

 

[Dire Wolf]

It's cheaper to pay the fine than to pay the additional cost to go on holiday when schools have broken up, I'd have thought.

 

[BillyDee]

No brainer...

Lancashire mum fined £240 defends term-time holiday

In the last academic year, pupils across England missed more than six million school days through unauthorised holidays.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[pagey]

On a cruise ATM. Loads of kids. I suppose parents are happy to pay the fines if schools are applying the rules

Fines only come in after missing 5 full days of education, so with ours breaking up this Friday, we could have gone any day after Monday morning and been fine.

I took a fine for 2 kids in 2022 for saving over a grand.

New rules come in from September though.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Maybe instead of hammering parents with fines they could hammer the tour companies for blatant price gouging during school holidays?

Just a thought.

 

[pagey]

Maybe instead of hammering parents with fines they could hammer the tour companies for blatant price gouging during school holidays?

Just a thought.

Tricky one, tour companies need to cover costs throughout term times, when demand is low?

So effectively, families are subsidising those with out children.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

New rules come in from September though.

Fines for parents for taking children out of school: What you need to know – The Education Hub

The Education Hub is a site for parents, pupils, education professionals and the media that captures all you need to know about the education system. You’ll find accessible, straightforward information on popular topics, Q&As, interviews, case studies, and more.

educationhub.blog.gov.uk

 

[Alan]

Not Britain, but thought y'all might get a kick out a historical oddity that happened in Philly yesterday:

It hailed in the area yesterday, and because hail isn't overly common up there, it gets recorded as "snow". So parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey have now seen the most recorded "snow" in a July since 1870.

The old record was 0.0 inches.

 

[Del Woppio]

Tricky one, tour companies need to cover costs throughout term times, when demand is low?

So effectively, families are subsidising those with out children.

Nah not having that. There's no way that they're putting on loss making package holidays in term time. Flights are rarely anything but full, and hotels will obviously have staffing and consumable costs in line with occupancy. There's absolutely no chance there's 2-3-400% difference in cost in the first week of July as there is in the last week of July

 

[The Bear]

Fines only come in after missing 5 full days of education

So then during term time, you could fly out on a Wed night and fly home the following Wed evening and still be fine.

 

[pagey]

So then during term time, you could fly out on a Wed night and fly home the following Wed evening and still be fine.

Nah you'd have to return to school on the Wednesday, unless it was broken over the start of a holiday.

Never understood why kids can't take a holiday when parents can afford it. Schools are closed at various point for voting/training and a flurry of snow anyway.

 

[pagey]

Nah not having that. There's no way that they're putting on loss making package holidays in term time. Flights are rarely anything but full, and hotels will obviously have staffing and consumable costs in line with occupancy. There's absolutely no chance there's 2-3-400% difference in cost in the first week of July as there is in the last week of July

Yeah your right, was just passing on the bullshit fed by the likes of Ryanair.

 

[Dire Wolf]

Nah you'd have to return to school on the Wednesday, unless it was broken over the start of a holiday.

Never understood why kids can't take a holiday when parents can afford it. Schools are closed at various point for voting/training and a flurry of snow anyway.

I don't think it is any benefit to the child or the family to either:
a) never have a holiday, or
b)have a holiday that costs so much that the family ends up in financial difficulty subsequently.

Education shouldn't be about plunging families into debt or preventing families from having the opportunity to have a holiday and all the positive mental health benefits that come from one.

That being said, like others have pointed out, a lot of the blame falls on the travel industry that gouges prices during school holiday time. Having worked for a long time in education, I have only ever had a holiday in expensive peak periods, or when I have taken unpaid time off work. The same is true of every single person who works in education, who everybody loves to point out the great benefit of the long holidays they have, never mentioning this fact though.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

It's a shite state of affairs but the travel industry can hide behind supply-and-demand, how you legislate against it in any meaningful way is a tricky one.

 

[lemonjelly]

That being said, like others have pointed out, a lot of the blame falls on the travel industry that gouges prices during school holiday time. Having worked for a long time in education, I have only ever had a holiday in expensive peak periods, or when I have taken unpaid time off work. The same is true of every single person who works in education, who everybody loves to point out the great benefit of the long holidays they have, never mentioning this fact though.

I work in education (have done for 17 years now- yikes!) I am lucky enough to be able to take my leave outside the peak price period if I choose to.

 

[lemonjelly]

It's a shite state of affairs but the travel industry can hide behind supply-and-demand, how you legislate against it in any meaningful way is a tricky one.

I think there are plans to review and amend the school year so it isn't 6 weeks off in summer. Not just the cost of holidays, but with most households requiring 100% of the parents to be in employment creates huge difficulties for childcare arrangements etc.
The original reasons for 6 weeks no longer apply. Given it suits no one, it needs overhauling.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I think there are plans to review and amend the school year so it isn't 6 weeks off in summer. Not just the cost of holidays, but with most households requiring 100% of the parents to be in employment creates huge difficulties for childcare arrangements etc.
The original reasons for 6 weeks no longer apply. Given it suits no one, it needs overhauling.

Oh yeah, agreed. That's a different question though.

 

[pagey]

I don't think it is any benefit to the child or the family to either:
a) never have a holiday, or
b)have a holiday that costs so much that the family ends up in financial difficulty subsequently.

Education shouldn't be about plunging families into debt or preventing families from having the opportunity to have a holiday and all the positive mental health benefits that come from one.

That being said, like others have pointed out, a lot of the blame falls on the travel industry that gouges prices during school holiday time. Having worked for a long time in education, I have only ever had a holiday in expensive peak periods, or when I have taken unpaid time off work. The same is true of every single person who works in education, who everybody loves to point out the great benefit of the long holidays they have, never mentioning this fact though.

One thing my daughters school have started recently is to take a week of the six weeks holiday and giving them an extra week off prior to half-term in October.

Found some bargains the last 2 years and the coming one for this 'extra' week, but it won't be long before the industry catches up and shafts us. I've noticed about a 15% increase each year so far.

Prior to that I used to book a week away to coincide with a training day, so the kids only missed 4 days and therefor couldn't get fined. I understand the importance of good attendance but that week would involve some education, museums, historic sights etc and I've always been upfront with the school.

 

[ROVERT47]

When I as at Birmingham Airport last month it was full of school kids.

 

[Tony Towner]

When I as at Birmingham Airport last month it was full of school kids.

And at Uni by the time they got through security