Fairly Rotten Really

[Katys Grandad]

Andrena

Regarding the weather, my daughtet and son il law went to Venice a couple of weekends ago and got flooded everywhere. They bought the equivalent of the yellow ponchos, in Venice everyone was wearing yellow plastic wellingtons that go over your shoes to keep dry.

That always disappointing I know but wet weather in Europe a couple of weeks ago is the exception whereas in Orlando it"s very wet and humid in June/July/August/early September every year. In fact, it has something approaching 20 times the rain of Venice in those months and nearer 30 times that in the Med resorts in Portugal, Spain and Greece.

I holiday in Florida at least twice every year and will continue to do so but I've been there and other parts of the world often enough to know that I can get more reliable weather elsewhere in those months. As I'm lucky to have that choice I stay away but for others I recognise that the situation might be different.

[dawn]

We received a letter from our school recently, stating new government legislation saying that authorised absence will no longer be allowed at all in term time, except in exceptional circumstances - the head teacher no longer has authority to grant it. This comes in to effect from September 2013.

[steph_goodrum]

This is the transcript of the new legislation
"http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/behaviour/attendance/a00223868/regulations-amendments"
at least it makes it consistent and not down to the individual discretion of the head teacher who may have differing views from another.

[E. Cosgrove]

Whilst I approve of the amendments I think they will be extremely difficult to enforce. The fines are not enough of a deterrent as they are far less than the saving a family of four will make travelling in term time.

[ujpest doza]

We received a letter from our school recently, stating new government legislation saying that authorised absence will no longer be allowed at all in term time, except in exceptional circumstances - the head teacher no longer has authority to grant it. This comes in to effect from September 2013.

We got that letter as well.
We've been booked up since last April and have already submitted holiday forms for this Octobers trip where we're taking our 2 out of school.
There's 2 things for me with a summer trip to Florida. 1 is the extreme heat, humidity and crowds and the other is my job as july and august are very busy for me so a florida trip usually means October as we've found this most suitable.

[Lyn]

If they fine you, it is £60 per child per parent so £240. This would still be much cheaper than the increased fares for going in July/August. The school will say there will be unauthorised absences on the child's school record. I am not sure that this affects the child at all, it does however look bad on the schools record, it is one of the things that OFSTED look at.

[gpullan]

We tested the options of August and October. August flights £7800 for 10 people flying Virgin. October flights £4700, same flight!

We booked for October!!!

Submitted holiday request last December and followed the rules the headteacher set out the last time we went 2 years ago. They were that the children needed over 95% attendance in the full school year preceeding the holiday, the previous year must not include any holidays and that the holiday must not be taken in September. She authorised 2 out of 3 holidays, the reason she couldn't do the 3rd is that she was not allowed to authorise a holiday for any child in year 6 (the last school year in primary).

No fines though, just one child unauthorised and she said nothing would happen but she couldn't make as authorised.

As said, it's not the parents that should be targeted, it's the holiday companies. Jet fuel and wages cost no more in August than they do in October!

All that said, we wouldn't choose to go in July or August anyway with kids aged 5 and 3. Far too hot and humid for them in the parks.

[ujpest doza]

If they fine you, it is £60 per child per parent so £240. This would still be much cheaper than the increased fares for going in July/August. The school will say there will be unauthorised absences on the child's school record. I am not sure that this affects the child at all, it does however look bad on the schools record, it is one of the things that OFSTED look at.

Exactly, not the childs record that looks bad but the schools ofsted report.
We got a letter 2 years ago as one of ours had a 91.8% attendance record and the rules stated that any child with less than 92% attendance got a warning letter about attendance.
The stupid thing is that on one of the occassions she was sick we'd took her to school and she felt poorly while lining up to go in so the teacher told us to take her home there and then without any hesitation.

[Tony G]

As said, it's not the parents that should be targeted, it's the holiday companies. Jet fuel and wages cost no more in August than they do in October!

Absolutely. Parents taking their kids out of school are a symptom. The cause is the swines putting the prices up SO MUCH during peak periods. Of course, they're untouchable as far as the government is concerned.

...Not that I'm bitter, or anything.