school holidays

are you fed up with schools telling you when you can and when you cant take YOUR kids on holiday? .for years no one gave two hoots if you took the ten days you were allowed to have a holiday you could afford outside of the official school holidays that are too expensive for many of us. and suddenly your childs head teacher sends you a letter saying they cannot approve it and there is a chance you may be fined. sorry, fined for taking a holiday!. I am not advocating taking holidays willy nilly just one or two weeks max a year. the difference in cost is substantial and something most of us in these difficult times would find it impossible to ignore. schools are not allowed to tell you why they cant approve it but are under pressure from county councils who in turn are probably under pressure from central government. all  of them hiding behind the skirts of your childs head teacher, who we all blame, ie "its ok for them with their 13 weeks a year holidays" etc. these are the same people who a few years ago wished you a happy holiday and are now bearing the brunt of our irritation. unhappy about this? then write to your mp and your local county councillors, they are hiding this from you because they don't want to lose your vote. do they care about your situation or your kids? of course not, you are the only ones who care about your kids. if we all had to take the same holiday weeks can you imagine the arguments at work over whos going to miss out. on top of which its ludicrous to expect holiday companies to exist on revenue generated on only a few weeks a year. half the reason the prices are so high in the school holidays is because increasingly a generation of parents are being led to believe its illegal to take your kids out of school. if the business was spread more widely prices would hopefully come down. on bbc radio Essex the other day james whale got the chairman of the association of head teachers to admit that the likelihood of anyone taking a 2 week holiday because they were unable to get time off at any other time being fined was, and I quote,"this is not the case in my experience". we get told about the people being fined and the reality is its probably those who take too many holidays. so far as im aware its not illegal to take 10 days unauthorised absence in one school year. my mp told me that. in fact when labour mooted doing this a few years back the sun jumped on it and said "government to stop your holidays" they couldn't back peddle fast enough. I asked my childs head if she used any services during school holidays, and was she surprised to find people at work and not all away on holiday like she was? that's because the rest of us have to live in the real world where we don't grind to a holt  for those 13 weeks a year. so don't let your selves be bullied out of a holiday, complain and write to those who think this a  good or even practical idea before you find your kids have grown up and its to late to take them away for a holiday.