StephenC

We knew there was a chance of it coming so no big shock really, took kids away for a week in June during term time. Got letter yesterday from council wanting £50 for it. Now I dont mind paying as we saved a good few hundred by taking them in term time but still pisses me off. They say a week off can impact there results by one level but they felt fine not to make it in when it was snowing early this year when we managed to get the kids their in all conditions. Do we have any kind of appeal on these fines or is it not worth bothering? Anyone had the same?

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

i'd tell em to fook off.

surely that cant be legal can it?

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

To be fair, I can see why they do it - Some parents would take the piss and take their kids away for a fortnight or longer. We go through the same issues when we want to go away, although our LA don;t fine you, just threaten to 'investigate' you. I can see how it can be disruptive to the kids education if they're away for a long time, but I'd argue that they learn more from an exciting week's holiday than a week at school.

Rsmat

iTrader: (2)

+1

FasterFords

Tell them, if they give you £50 for shutting the schools when its snows, you'll give them £50 for the holiday.

StephenC

Just pisses me off with all these 'inset days' they suddenly drop on you so you have to take days of work and shit but when you want a day (5days) off its fines through the door. Hypocritical fuck pigs.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Surely this thread should be titled "£50 fine for making my kids truant from school" as wether they were on holiday or not isnt the issue, its the fact you prevented them from going to school?

When the school closed for snow, the lesson plans were adjusted accordingly so your kids and all the other kids started from the same point, however when your kids miss a week and the others dont, it means that if the thing they are learning the next week is based on the thing your kids missed, they will struggle with the next bit too.

Personally I think its a very good idea but the fine needs to be a LOT higher

StephenC

I didnt prevent them, they didnt want to go to school Call it what you want, as long as theyre not practicing what they preach I dont see how they can dish fines out? My eldest has had more time off this year by way of them closing school (for boiler not working;brand new school I might add, for snow, for inset days, for teacher training, etc) than she had off for that holiday. We wrote to the school before hand informing of our intentions and she brought work with her.

daveandhelenturbo

iTrader: (1)

What gets me is when the school closes and you don't find out till the morning. Then you have to have time off work or find child care.
So why can't we claim for that then.

Rant over.

Dave

Chip

iTrader: (3)

As per my reply above, its totally different when all the kids miss school as it doesnt mean that your kids miss out on something that everyone else gets to learn and is required for building on.

Lets say you were learning about engines, and you missed the day about compression ratios, you'd be fucked a week later when it came to the day about ignition timing!
That would impact you far more than if they rescheduled all the weeks so that you got 3/4 day on compression ratio and on a few other subjects including 3/4 day on ignition timing etc, which is what they do when the school closes.

Cant believe you dont understand the MASSIVE difference between the two, were you perchance taken out of school by your parents on the week when they covered fucking common sense?

dazoriginal

you should be able to take your kids on holiday whenever you want
you may struggle to get holidays yourself when the kids are off ,if your working
etc , i'm sure a week off will not be a great loss to their education
unlike other kids - parents who are not responsible
tell them to do one

daveandhelenturbo

iTrader: (1)

It doesn't make a diffance to me as Helen is term time so we have to have holidays when the kids are off.

Chip I understand where you are coming from. Our school allows 2 weeks off but with permision and the child gets all the school work still to do while off.

Dave

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Yeah fuck em, the little cunts deserve to struggle in an already competitive environment, pick the week of their GCSE exams to really make it count

Its a pointless extra difficulty you are introducing into your kids education for no good reason. If you pick the wrong week it could really set them back.


Yes that is undoubtabley the responsible attitude to show towards a school who are genuinely trying to improve your kid's chance in life by attempting to give them a fair shot at being educated

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Fantastic system that, not only because it means the kids dont lose out on the key points of the week they have missed, but also becuase it teaches them to work for something they want, ie if they want the holiday then they have to work that little bit harder the couple of weeks before or after or to do some homework while on holiday.
I think thats the best solution for all concerned.

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

fuck it - the kids play truant these days most of the time anyway

dazoriginal

i see what your saying chip but there's more to taking a week off and being honest about it ,rather than some bullshit
also if everyone was told to take their kids whilst on holiday term
i think there would be an outcry
somehow it would not work

smokey

£50 is still cheap price to pay for a cheaper holiday off-peak!

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Agreed, if they are going to have a fine then what they should do is:

a) make the fine dearer than the difference in holiday prices, so 1000 pounds for example

b) give some alternative to being fined that still allows holiday out of term time, such as taking work home etc, if on a pre-booked week arranged with the school

StephenC

I was taken out of school every year for two weeks at a time as my parents couldnt afford to take us during holiday times. It may have been the common sense lesson I missed by that didnt stop me been the only person in my year who got 12 out of 12 GCSE's all above C. Your arguement seems very blinkered Chip, one that you seem to adopt on most 'tabloid' situations. Way I see it, it was fine 10 years ago so why not now?! Did me no harm and probably 95% of people on here no harm. She took work with her and has not fallen behind at all, she felt no extra stress when she went back to school and any stress she did feel was negated by the excellent time she had with her family

Chip

iTrader: (3)

StephenC, If you read my replies im saying that providing the work gets covered and its all arranged with the school it shouldnt be a problem, the issue is kids missing a weeks schooling, if they do that work at another time though they havent missed it.

Your school sounds shite though so bad example, my state school was full of people getting all A's never mind all C and above, I even got my maths GCSE when I was 14, must be cause I didnt miss school and you did

rsnissan

iTrader: (9)

Good idea this!

Rick Astley

Reckon they are chasing the parents of the regular truants? Or just going for the easy targets?

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Probably just the easy targets

If stephenc had lied and said his kids were ill they probably would have got away with it with no fine, although might have struggled to explain the tan

StephenC

yeah, pretty rough school in fairness, my 5 A's, 5 B's and 2 C's arent worth much, nor the certificate I got from MENSA at 15 with an IQ of 177. Got to be honest, other than been able to read and write I think its a fair assumption that not one of my GCSE's has ever come useful in my life but thats a different topic altogether.

Trying to weigh up if its worth writing a snotty letter or just paying the cash.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

"Been" able to? past tense? Have you forgotten now then?
I take it one of the A's wasnt in english?

Let me know if you want it proof read by someone who didn't miss school.

StephenC

I used "been able to" in the present prefect sense, notice I put "in my life" adding a definite time span to it. So I think you will find it gramatically fine. Thanks.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Your view is all well and good with it comes to secondary school aged kids Chip, but for primary and junior kids they learn more about the world on a holiday, than they do at school.

It's also an easy argument to make when you don't have kids, but when you realise just how much more it costs to take your kids away in the holidays it really is the difference between having a holiday and not having a holiday for some families.

Agree that the school needs to keep tabs on it, and actively discourage it, but four figure fines are just daft.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Were you on holiday during the punctuation lesson?

whosyadaddy

i'd tell them to get to fuck, were struggling to get our son into a secondary school, were constantly onto the local education office and they just give the impression they don't care.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

No, but I mashed up my right hand with a hammer at the weekend so typing mainly with my left one, and that one isn't near the commas and things at the moment so not up to my usual standards.
Also I must confess to not taking spelling and punctuation on forums seriously anyway providing its readable, hence I never normally pick anyone up on such things, I only did so here because he was posting about how awesome is education was at the time

Chip

iTrader: (3)

No, you should have used "being able to"

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Depends on the age, towards the end of primary school you start to learn some fairly useful stuff as it effects your ability to do an entrants exam for secondary school.
Kids upto about 8-9 or so though I agree that its unlikely missing a week is going to matter much.
And for older kids, like Ive said in this thread, there should be an agreed way of doing so without impacting their education, such as extra work or homework.


Agreed, its a massive difference, and if more people could take their kids (on an agreed scheme with extra homework etc) out of term time the prices would start to level off slightly as well as currently the premium charged for going during school holidays is ridiculous!


No, 50 pound fines are just daft, whats the point in a fine at all if it is so tiny its not a deterant?
There should be a BIG fine, but a way of avoiding it totally by doing the work, like in my post above, a small fine and no alternative isnt a good enough system IMHO

StephenC

tut tut, school boy error, see me later for your lines


be·ing noun \ˈbē(-i)ŋ\
Definition of BEING

1
a : the quality or state of having existence b (1) : something conceivable as existing (2) : something that actually exists (3) : the totality of existing things c : conscious existence : life

2
: the qualities that constitute an existent thing : essence; especially : personality

3
: a living thing; especially : person

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Er nope. Chip was right.

Other than being able to read
I have not been able to read

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Just felt like repeating that in case he missed it the first time

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

No, you just messed up your punctuation because you bunked off school once and now you are stupid!

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Yes I really did, whilst removing a wheel bearing without a press at the weekend. I must have missed a week of metalwork at school when they explained to only ever remove bearings with a press

No, its just as per my reply above TBH mate:
Its entirely down to a lack of effort rather than a lack of education in my case.
Unlike StephenC who missed some school to go on holiday a few times, and now (possibly only co-incidently) genuinely does seem to struggle with which words to use when writing in the english language, not just in haste on a forum, but even when he stops to think about it and goes as far as trying to use a dictionary to help him as well

Ridgey

iTrader: (5)

IMO it just shows your level of responsibility as a parent.
Nothing to do with costs or what would be missed in lessons.
Plus it sets an example for our future generations on priorities.

Social standards are slipping in this country (and we all are unhappy about them), and some of the replies to this thread reconfirm my dismay at the way this country is going.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

No, it's because your mum made you leave school on Friday lunch time so you could have a long weekend at Minehead Butlins, and now you're actually retarded.

StephenC

why change your post chip??