deathrey Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 That's really interesting @Chest Rockwell, so as I understand what you've said, the schools issues the fine themselves? As you've pointed it negatively effects the school and teachers massively, so I'm not against them getting the money from it. I know it's not much better it helps with things like resources rather than teachers/staff spending their own wages which is something we have all done even though we are told not to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 I took my kids on holiday out of term time. Absolutely extortionate prices to take them all during holidays. Two of the kids go to school in Wales and didn’t get any fines, two go to England and I had a fine for the one in high school but not the one in primary. Even with me paying one fine twice (me and the mum got separate fines for the same absence) it was literally thousands cheaper. I won’t be able to do it again because the fines and consequences ramp up per offence. It’ll certainly be a bitter pill to swallow when the more well off children are going on skiing trips to Italy or visiting New York with the school during term time and mine are in a half full class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TibBo Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 Hypothetically, if you go on holiday but your kid is ill while you are away....is that a days holiday or illness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted September 6 Paid Members Share Posted September 6 Ohhh I think I get you. So you’re going to want to poison the children 24 hours before the start of the holiday. They need to be good and sick on the morning of day one or your timeline and version of events will be all out of whack. If you time it right they’ll just be getting over it to be back in school the day after you return. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted September 6 Paid Members Share Posted September 6 (edited) Unfortunately this is what happens when things like education are run like a business with targets to hit in order to attain funding from their corporate sponsors.  You want to take your child on holiday during term time to save yourself some money? Well that dip in our attendence is going to affect our bottom line, so I'm afraid you'll have to help us make up the shortfall. Edited September 6 by Jazzy G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted September 6 Moderators Share Posted September 6 Nah. Not buying that take at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 32 minutes ago, TibBo said: Hypothetically, if you go on holiday but your kid is ill while you are away....is that a days holiday or illness? Funnily enough the one who I had the fine for told her teacher she was going on holiday and they told her to just ring in sick so we don’t get a fine. It’s not just holidays though it’s excessive days off. I get the reasoning behind it and it’s fair enough, they tell you the consequences beforehand and like I said it was cheaper even with the fine. Although they were all in school in Wales when the holiday was booked so if their mum didn’t move them across the border it would have been no fine for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SuperBacon Posted September 6 Members Share Posted September 6 22 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said: Nah. Not buying that take at all. Oh come on. When we took the kids out of school, we got a letter from their corporate sponsor McDonald's saying "Truancy? I'm not loving it" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted September 6 Paid Members Share Posted September 6 We went to the US last year for my brothers wedding. I just sent a letter in to explain. My kids have never missed school but it was a once in a lifetime event. They were going. I never got a fine, not sure why. The kid was actually devastated, she had 100% attendance before we went and apparently there was a prize of an hour on a bouncy castle if you maintained it. Genuinely cried about it. Madness. I think it's all fair enough. The galling bit is that public schools get extended holidays at Easter and over the summer and get to take cheap holidays. We've four great girls in our football team and they're always taking advantage of it. Jammy bastards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 My nieces school save up all the training days and they have an extra week off so they can book cheap holidays. The teachers did have some leeway with how heavily they could enforce the guidelines but my daughter’s school reckon it’s been taken out of their hands now and they have to explain the absence to the local authority. I did read online that they will make exceptions though say if you have an autistic child who needs to go when it’s less crowded etc. Apparently it’s going to be enforced the same in gods country too so I’d have 4 loads of fines if I did it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathrey Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 1 hour ago, Jazzy G said: Unfortunately this is what happens when things like education are run like a business with targets to hit in order to attain funding from their corporate sponsors.  You want to take your child on holiday during term time to save yourself some money? Well that dip in our attendence is going to affect our bottom line, so I'm afraid you'll have to help us make up the shortfall. Respectfully, in the UK, this is not a thing. Unless you are talking specifically about private schools? In which case most of the parents (not all) can afford to take them on holiday all year round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted September 6 Paid Members Share Posted September 6 A lot of academies and the like have corporate backing and sponsors. Look at the headmistress who took her own life because of the school being declared "inadequate". There shouldn't be this kind of pressure on people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gmoney Posted September 6 Paid Members Share Posted September 6 That was Ofsted - they're not a corporate backer. Respectfully, I think you need to do a bit more reading around the subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathrey Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 (edited) @Jazzy G I don't want to write an essay on this but the academy trust corporate sponsorship thing was a fear when academies were first established, it didn't actually happen. It was just bullshit drummed up by the media. I've worked for a number of Acadamy's across the country, none of them had pressure applied by the Trusts. The pressure to get good results is due to league tables and standing which is a government thing. Money is not allocated by results, it's allocated by things like deprivation index and pupil premium along with a set amount per student that attends. Plus, arguably, almost all schools in England are oversubscribed and don't really have to worry about getting bums on seats. I followed the Ruth Perry story closely. The school were failed on non-educational grounds, OFSTED are brutal when handing out the results and she felt she had let the community she serves down. The school isn't even part of an Academy Trust, it's a community school. Too much pressure is put on staff in schools but it's rarely coming from the Trust, it's the government regulations, Ofsted and honestly, parents that are a bigger issue.  Edited September 6 by deathrey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted September 7 Paid Members Share Posted September 7 OFSTED aren't fit for purpose. My daughter's school got a 'Good' rating and when I read the detailed report on how they received that rating, they were failed on two minor issues - an issue with car parking (!) and the school's aesthetics. I was fuming. It's a school for autistic young people, it's not supposed to look like a bag of Skittles. If they're not an Outstanding school then I don't know what is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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