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100% OT; school holidays
As many of the people on this NG appear to have children of school
age, what does the panel think of proposals by the government to reduce the cost of taking holidays in school holidays. Can they do it anyway? Is this the soft option to the £100 fine idea? Presumably the tour operators will counter by saying it's not school holiday holidays that are expensive, it's the term time ones that are cheap. |
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#2
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100% OT; school holidays
On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 23:52:50 -0700, MartinM wrote:
As many of the people on this NG appear to have children of school age, what does the panel think of proposals by the government to reduce the cost of taking holidays in school holidays. Can they do it anyway? Is this the soft option to the £100 fine idea? Presumably the tour operators will counter by saying it's not school holiday holidays that are expensive, it's the term time ones that are cheap. Looks to me like a classic supply and demand issue. High demand out of term time means the suppliers can charge a higher rate but lower demand in term time means lower prices. I don't see what it has to do with the government in all honesty, unless we are moving to a society where we have to subsidise parents for their choices? -- Regards Tony Hogarty (Take out the garbage to reply) |
#3
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100% OT; school holidays
On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 07:56:16 +0100, Tony Hogarty wrote:
On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 23:52:50 -0700, MartinM wrote: As many of the people on this NG appear to have children of school age, what does the panel think of proposals by the government to reduce the cost of taking holidays in school holidays. Can they do it anyway? Is this the soft option to the £100 fine idea? Presumably the tour operators will counter by saying it's not school holiday holidays that are expensive, it's the term time ones that are cheap. Looks to me like a classic supply and demand issue. High demand out of term time means the suppliers can charge a higher rate but lower demand in term time means lower prices. I don't see what it has to do with the government in all honesty, unless we are moving to a society where we have to subsidise parents for their choices? It does have something to do with government if the travel companies are colluding in order to charge 'above market rates' in the peak periods. There might be something to this given the fact that many of the operators are owned by the same large companies but tourism is very much a supply and demand industry. Individual hotels charge more in the peak period, airlines charge more, campsites charge more, everyone charges more. And the problem isn't necessarily one that the UK government can control on its own. All the European countries go on holiday at roughly the same, adding to the peak demand. If the government really wants to do something to control prices (and if it's not the case that the tour companies are colluding to raise them) then it might have more success if it followed the German practice of staggering school holidays by region much more than at present so that people don't all go off at the same time. -- Michael MacClancy Random putdown - "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." -Groucho Marx www.macclancy.demon.co.uk www.macclancy.co.uk |
#4
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100% OT; school holidays
On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 08:15:52 +0100, Michael MacClancy wrote:
It does have something to do with government if the travel companies are colluding in order to charge 'above market rates' in the peak periods. Given that the majority of travel companies are in an extremely poor financial position it seems unlikely that there are charges above the market rates. Indeed you could reasonably argue that the prices should go higher still - if the market would support that of course. -- Regards Tony Hogarty (Take out the garbage to reply) |
#5
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100% OT; school holidays
"MartinM" wrote in message
om... As many of the people on this NG appear to have children of school age, what does the panel think of proposals by the government to reduce the cost of taking holidays in school holidays. Can they do it anyway? Is this the soft option to the £100 fine idea? Presumably the tour operators will counter by saying it's not school holiday holidays that are expensive, it's the term time ones that are cheap. Personally I just think they should be more tolerant of taking a few days off either side of school hols. Ten days in a year as a guideline is fine, but it's ridiculous to say if you take an 11th day the sky is going to fall on your head - or a fine in your wallet. One more day doesn't make much difference to the child's education. Most parents are responsible and will try and minimise the time out. The government doesn't spend enough on education, directly and indirectly creates a system of inequalities where many parents don't want to send their children to their most local school, leading to the damned 'school run', and then complains like mad about parents even of primary children taking their kids off a few days early or coming back a few days late. Absurd! Rich |
#6
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100% OT; school holidays
If the government really wants to do something to control prices (and if
it's not the case that the tour companies are colluding to raise them) then it might have more success if it followed the German practice of staggering school holidays by region much more than at present so that people don't all go off at the same time. Those of you down south may not realise this, but in Scotland school holidays start 2 weeks earlier than in England. The cheap prices in early July suit us very well! -- Bob Downie Remove #n0spam# to reply directly |
#7
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100% OT; school holidays
Michael MacClancy wrote:
It does have something to do with government if the travel companies are colluding in order to charge 'above market rates' in the peak periods. I don't see much evidence of that - it is a fierceley competitive market. I think it is simply that, as previously mentioned, off-peak holidays are cheap. Consider the relative costs of weekend and weekday rates at four star hotels. Many holiday destinations have to recoup pretty much their entire annual operating cost over two months in the summer. I am unhappy (read: disgusted) with people who disrupt classes by taking their children out for holidays. It causes significant extra work for the teachers and slows down the rest of the class at a time when it can be quite hard keeping things together anyway, what with the kids being "demob happy." And we lost top spot in the league tables one year because two children were removed without permission during SATs for family holidays - children thus removed score zero on the SAT and bring the average for the entire school down (so much for league tables!). Holidays in school holidays have /always/ been more expensive. It's not like it's a secret. If you don't want hassles like taking holidays at peak times, don't have kids. If you do have kids, their education comes first. That's my view anyway. There are exceptions, of course. A friend will have to take their child out for two weeks in term time because that is the only way they can afford to visit her sister in Australia. That's not going to happen more than once or twice in the child's entire school career, and the school have been consulted and are cool with it. Some work and background reading can be provided for the child to do while away. If the government really wants to do something to control prices (and if it's not the case that the tour companies are colluding to raise them) then it might have more success if it followed the German practice of staggering school holidays by region much more than at present so that people don't all go off at the same time. As long as the regions are the right size. We are likely to head into a nightmare world where one child will be in a Berkshire school and one in Oxfordshire; they have different half-terms. No more half-term breaks for us for a while! -- Guy -- May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting. http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk |
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100% OT; school holidays
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#9
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100% OT; school holidays
Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
: And we lost top spot in the league tables one year because two children were : removed without permission during SATs for family holidays - children thus : removed score zero on the SAT and bring the average for the entire school : down (so much for league tables!). If I had kids I think I'd try and take them out of school on SAT days as a policy..... : Holidays in school holidays have /always/ been more expensive. It's not : like it's a secret. If you don't want hassles like taking holidays at peak : times, don't have kids. Don't have kids. Works for me Arthur -- Arthur Clune http://www.clune.org "Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect" - Paulina Borsook |
#10
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100% OT; school holidays
Richard Goodman wrote:
Personally I just think they should be more tolerant of taking a few days off either side of school hols. Ten days in a year as a guideline is fine, but it's ridiculous to say if you take an 11th day the sky is going to fall on your head - or a fine in your wallet. If you take your child out, then the child misses some programmed lessons. The school has an obligation to the child and the teacher will inevitably have to spend time filling in the bits the child missed. and if they don't and the child performs poorly in sats, you will be the first to complain that the school has not done it's job ie you taking your child out reduces the teaching resources available to my child and every other child in the class. Take a child or two out for a week at the start and end of every term and the whole class is disrupted and damaged. Your choice and actions damage my child. pk (School governor) ps one of the teachers at our school was going away on holiday with a group of non teaching friends. they had to go in school holiday time and all take the £££ hit because she could not take holiday in term time. |
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