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TQ12 3SN
21 November 2014 at 10:04I whole heartedly believe that the rules in place banning parents from taking their children out of school should be reversed. I agree that for children who are regularly missing from school or play truent needs a system in place to prevent that however for the majority of parents it ia one week of school a year and the benefits of a family spending the quality time away experiencing new cultures or experience far outways any supposed negative impacts on the children. I find it outrageous that we are moving towards an almost dictatorate society where the government seems it is acceptable to take the rights of parents to be parents away from them in a 'we know best' attitude.
sian rolfe
21 November 2014 at 10:04I would consider that the DofE has failed in the use of evidence in policymaking in respect of the new approach to term time holidays. There are a number of studies that suggest holidays provide an enriching experience for children and in fact do not damage their overall prospects providing their attendance outside of the holiday is good. The ban is ineffective and unenforceable as parents in many circumstances are left with no choice but to ignore it, such as armed forces families who can only have leave at a certain time, family funerals, families who cannot secure time off work during school holidays etc. Head teachers are also applying the guidelines inconsistently across the Country. Please review the evidence, consider peoples right to a family life, holidays are an essential part of that and reinstate the guidelines that allowed for up 10 days per year.
Elaine Harrison
21 November 2014 at 10:00The policy for term time holidays definitely needs reviewing, for one thing ten days term time holidays has been granted for the last 50 years and this never had an impact on a child's education ,this would have shown up before now if this was the case ,over all these years universities have been full ,as long as people don't take time off at exam times and while they are doing sats this shouldn't be a problem it's rubbish to say a child cannot catch up from having a short time off,this has definitely not been thought through properly ,the impact this has had on holiday resorts in this country is catastrophic ,your ministers should visit these places to see how badly they have been affected ,I am sure there are will be a lot of small businesses that will end up closing down ,these shops at holiday resorts have such a short window to make enough money to see them through winter months ,this year they have had periods where the beaches have been empty,also this new policy means that less well off family will now never afford a holiday so it will only be the rich that it will not affect ,there are many circumstances where people can't just take term time and these don't come under the new rule ,policeman ,fireman nurses bus drivers often work on a rota system and cannot pick when they have a holiday so now you are saying well sorry it just tough if you go you are going to get a fine ,children do not belong to the state they belong to their parents so if the only time they can take a term time holiday of 10 days they get a fine this is wrong they are not criminals ,there are always truants in school it's these that should be targeted and it shouldn't be just so the numbers look great for schools having the least absence ,for the records a holiday should not be added to the same table as absences ,parents put up with a lot of rules but it just shows how many fines there are that this is one thing that they will not let them take away and that's their right to have a holiday when then can with their own children,if there is any party that will change this back they will get voted in as parents feel very strongly about to the point that a lot would go to prison rather than live in a dictatorship .
Dora
21 November 2014 at 09:51The ban on term time holidays needs reviewing. Blanket bans are not helpful.
Alice Smith
21 November 2014 at 09:38The new policies were put in place without a decent evidence base and without proper consultation. It does not target repeat offenders with low attendance. It targets those who need to take leave in term time who were previously 95% or above attendance. These people were never an issue and by many well researched studies it is proven these amounts of leave do not affect grades. Repeat offenders need to be treated differently, ie those with attendance of less than 80/75% should have a process put in place to deal with persistent absenteeism. This policy is a disaster. Companies cannot let all staff have school holidays off, therefore there are now families who cannot have a family holiday together - this is surely against the concept of a right to a family life. As a service family we often needed to have holidays in term time to be able to be together. Due to the children's high attendance it was not a problem for the head to grant this leave when needed. Now we have to decide whether to have a holiday or whether to pay the fine. It is completely out of line to fine people for making the best choices for their families, under the pretence of dealing with persistent absenteeism, as the target families are not those who are being affected by this policy. Who can I vote for to get this thrown out?
Sue Powell
21 November 2014 at 09:15The government is wrong making holidays a class thing only the better off families can have a holiday now ... my foster children only had 4 nights in blackpool and the fostering holiday allowance doesn't even cover that .. now you're finning parent's .I loved giving the children an opertunity to travel . I paid for this out of my own pocket .I got permission from the schools. They had good attendance. Why shouldn't these children have a holiday ?
Nicola Law
21 November 2014 at 09:12Please re-look at the evidence that led to changes in heat teachers being allowed to authorise term-time holidays. Currently different local authorities have different rules. There are many professions that restrict when their employees can take holidays leaving too many parents all wanting the same weeks off, which isn't viable for employers to let happen. There are exceptional circumstances which head teachers aren't authorising because of unclear guidelines.
sandra nelson
21 November 2014 at 08:56The policy on school term holidays is very unfair, it stops children from having a family holiday because some parents can't afford to go in school holidays or get the time off work. Also children with special needs like my son who can't cope with crowds of people or long queues. All children need relaxed family time, children with special needs even more so . This policy needs to be reconsidered.
Jennefer Kensey
21 November 2014 at 08:47The policy for fining parents who take their children out of school for term time holidays is flawed. Punishing parents for wanting to have quality family time with their children is wrong. Change the fine system, it's one rule for state education and one rule for private, that can not be fair?
Nicola Nichol
21 November 2014 at 10:04The blanket ban restricting term-time holidays needs to be reviewed. My husband does not have a single whole week of leave from now until the end of September 2015, that coincides with school holidays. The most he has is 5 days while our children are off. As a result we cannot book a full week away anywhere as most accommodation starts and finishes at weekends. He is a pilot for a major airline and the busiest times are when schools are off. He works most bank holidays and has worked every weekend since early September and is scheduled to work every weekend up to Christmas! He has Xmas Day off but will work Boxing Day. We would love 1 or 2 weeks together with our 3 children but we're denied this due to policy! Please be more realistic in the Education Dept. I suspect, however, that the revenue generated will preclude any review now.