DF's not the schools favourite parent atm!

DF went to talk to dd's teacher as we are going on holiday the week after the half term (MIL books a family holiday once a year for 18 of us! so hence why it wasnt in the school hols!).
When he told the teacher she replied that he needed to pick up a "holiday permission form" from the office.
DF then replied - no you mean i need to pick up a form to let u know when I will be taking MY child in holiday - I wont be asking for permission at all.
The teacher just told df to fill in a aform from the office about the holiday lol!
I know schools are trying to keep attendance up but come on! we cant afford our own holiday which makes us sooooooo grateful to go on one with MIL and family - but we cant expect MIL to pay 3x the price for 4 bunglalows just becoz a school wouldnt give us permission to take our child out for 1 week!

this going to be me as talia starts in sept but oh is takin her and older two to cyprus for his daughters wedding.sorry but it goin to be the only hol they get this yr .i dont take them out regular so it a one off.it alrite for them to take them abroad .ie.school trips

I thought that holiday companies were supposed to be putting an end to hiking the price up
As my Mum's a teacher we're well used to it!

they dont seem to have hun lol
the bungalows we stay in are usually £600 for a week in holidays this goes up to £1400 a week!

That's disgusting - the government should be seriously doing something about this if they're going to be so insistant about staying in school

I'm going to be controversial here, but I personally don't blame the holiday companies at all!

It's a case of supply and demand. Most people don't want to go on holiday during the Christmas period, therefore the price for holidays tends to be much lower at this time of year. The same is true with school holidays - because that's when most families want to go away on holiday, the holiday companies can charge more and still fill all their vacancies.

If holiday companies were forced to charge less for holidays during peak periods (half terms and summer holidays), there would be more people booking and therefore less places available. It would also mean that holidays in off-peak periods would become more expensive.. the companies would have to make up the shortfall somewhere!

While I agree that it's annoying that holidays cost so much more during school holidays, unfortunately it's a result of a free market and the effects of supply and demand.

Being that I'm in the Travel Industry, I can totally relate to your explanation Rob, very well put!!

It's different here though, Christmas is one of the most expensive times to go on vacation because the schools are out the week between Christmas and New Years and warm places get booked up the year before, and you pay twice the amount then you would in the summer time.

Sugar, I understand you're wanting to go then and save money!!

The problem is that alot of professions cannot go on holiday during school time - contrary to popular belief a lot of teachers work very hard throughout the holidays - the schools are open for them during that time and even when away concientious teacher's have laptops.
Wouldn't there be uproar if education suffered because teachers went on holiday in term time and supply teachers were required - funding for this coming from the school and therefore using money that should be used for equipment.
It may be supply and demand but alot of people book the holidays during this time because they have no choice! Is it fair to penalise them further by hiking the price up.
Some companies don't but why not all??? Perhaps if they were more reasonably priced then people may go away for longer.....

we're not paying for the holiday MIL is i was more trying to say i cant believe school want parents to ask permission to take their own children on holiday!

I think that this is more of a government initiative and the schools bear the brunt because they have to 'tick' the right boxes. I also think it is more for the parents who seem to do this whenever they feel like, and everyone else has to 'toe' the line as well. At such a young age it really isn't a problem - when they have course work etc it is different

As a teacher a week off is a long time, and you can miss a lot in a week.- I can see your point about MIL paying but also the school holidays are known well in advance (and kids do get quite a lot of them) How would you feel if the teacher wanted a week off to go on holiday? Or how do you feel when teachers have a training day??

Maybe not so much on Lotties case but later on school attendance is very important for jobs/uni etc and all UNATHOURISED(which is what it is when you take them out fo school for a holiday) look bad. Only time a holiday would be authorised is, say a child has moved over from OZ and they are going to visit family for 6 weeks.

I could understand if Lottie was doing course work or starting her GCSE's etc.
It's not the teachers im blaming though its obv not them that have put things like this in place - i know its what they are asked to do.
And when teachers have training days it doesnt bother me hun the more time i get with charlotte the better
as for a teacher wanting a week off for a hol - again wouldnt bother me - my mates a nursery teadcher and i know they have a lot f hard work to do during the school holidays i think teachers should get time off during term time they never seem to stop
i also wouldnt take lottie out of school for more than a week for a hol - tbh we usually only go for 2 long weekends but the last year and this year we gone for a week instead as we have 18 people to accomodate with this hol lol so u can see why its not really up to us when it was booked - we have got (ready for this?! lol) me, df, bil, sil, mil, fil, df's auny, uncle, 3 cousins, lottie, thomas, niece, great aunt, uncle, cosuin, and another cousin and his partner lol! so to get everyone the same week off is a miracle lol!

werent the government going to bring in fining parents for taking children out of school...or have I got the wrong end of the stick

jake starts school sept and im dreading the holidays for fear of bankrupcy

I think england and Wales were talking about it (I say think because it isnt up here- but if it works down there I am sure we will adopt it aswell)

I understand schools getting parents to ask for permission to take their kids out of school for holidays. There are parents that regularly plan to take their children out of school during term time. I know some that take their kids out for 2 weeks every year just before the summer holidays.

The government has started trying to do something about it by staggering some of the holidays. For example this year Easter was spread out over quite a long period of time. As this eases the demand it should lower the prices, however how do you get companies to charge less when it is a foreign location that you are travelling to and they have no control over that price.

Also those 6 weeks over the summer are probably the only chance the company will have to make any money. The rest of the year they probably tick over with very little profit, and those siz weeks probably generate 60-80% of their profit. Probably trying to force lower prices at these peak times would result in some companies going under, leading to less availability to meet the demand and therefore an increase in price.

Yes Disneyland Paris was no more expensive during half term, as in Europe their half term was the week before - hee hee

i have always had to fill in a permission form to take my children out of school, i dont think its an unreasonable request, and as long as you dont make a habit of it the schools usually accomodate any requests.

Ive never had a problem as we dont do it every time.

I took Charlotte out of nursery for a week but I didn't need to get permission, although when she starts full-time I pretty sure I will.

thats because it is not compulsary for a child to attend nursery.

I think it's right that you should ask the school for permission. It is compulsory for a child to attend school, and if you take them out without permission, you are liable to fines or prosecution.

For me, my child's education is more important than a cheap holiday. If we can't afford to go on holiday during the school holidays, we don't go.