It is the beginning of a new school year. Two hundred children have returned to school looking super smart and eager to learn. Staff are revitalised and the school is looking beautiful - so why do I have a frown upon my face?
Four words: holidays in term time.
It’s only a matter of days before the forms on my desk are starting to pile up, causing a genuine headache. My governors and I have wrestled with this problem for years, and we are still no nearer to reaching a conclusion we are happy with.
We are a coastal town - an incredibly popular seaside resort - and as such we face a unique set of problems.
One group of parents own businesses. School holidays are their busiest times and they can’t take this time off. One parent is the head chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant - he can’t go on holiday during school break due to the constant queue of tourists waiting to sample his cooking. Others work in seasonal employment and therefore need to work whenever the opportunity arises. Because this work is low paid and erratic, this too is prohibitive to holidays during school breaks.
In addition we have a local RAF base nearby with servicemen on active duty, and many of our parents work offshore on oil rigs. In these situations, families take holidays whenever possible.
Low attendance figures
My governors and I wholeheartedly see the benefits of family breaks for our children. We know that (most of) our parents do not take this decision lightly, that many will complete holiday homework and keep us abreast of their adventures on Facebook and Twitter.
Our understanding of the reasons does not, however, help us in the real world of attendance. My heart sinks every time I see a holiday form because I know the detrimental effect it has upon our attendance figures. This in turn will play a part in our Ofsted judgement.
Last year we had almost 3 per cent absence due to unauthorised term time holidays alone -a figure which will likely be repeated this year. With illness on top of this, our attendance is barely satisfactory.
We can, of course, demonstrate the steps we have tirelessly taken to improve this. We fine for every holiday of five days or more, in line with county policy. Last year, we put our training days together to provide the children with a week off in term time. We also highlight the importance of attendance weekly in assembly, on display boards and on social media.
However, this has not resulted in significant improvement.
Do I think these holidays are detrimental to a child’s learning? Occasionally. But for the majority of our children, they make little difference. So, the best we can do is keep doing what we are doing and hope that we have an understanding Ofsted inspector…
We are concentrating on the blessings that are our super smart children, eager to learn. But any suggestions or tips from schools in similar localities would, however, be gratefully received.
Christina Zanelli Tyler is headteacher at West Cliff Primary School in Whitby, North Yorkshire
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