Haven Holiday Parks -secret they dont want you to know about!

[ww2nut]

Once a year i enjoy a week in Kiln park with the van, we always go on the 12th sept, and have never paid more than 55 pound on a super pitch! if you ring them up they will wax lyrical about 'book now or risk loosing the pitch' well we tried booking online a few weeks before and the price was in the hundreds, every week i checked and the site showed that the choice of pitch was reducing as time went on!
we booked and paid 2 days before going and found for the 3rd year in a row, very few vans were there and we enjoyed having a choice of where we wanted to go! the pool was empty all week. we had no roblem getting served at the bar and the entertainment was fab, what a bargin, If you have kids the schools understand a one off holiday due to the cost of going during the summer holls and i have no guilt in giving the kids a week off school.

 

[nelmo]

Not sure what the 'secret' is here - that sites are cheaper and emptier outside of school holidays or that the Haven sales team exaggerated how busy they were? Pretty standard stuff, I'm afraid.
And you're proud of 'only' paying £55 a night in, effectively, mid-low season?

You must be loaded

- I've never paid more than £35 a night in school holidays and I thought that was a lot....

 

[Parksy]

I think that ww2nut meant that he paid £55 for the entire stay, not per night

Haven's, Hoseasons, Butlins and just about every large commercially owned site that I can think of has 'special offers' or 'promotions' and the advertising tries to convince us to 'Book Now!'.
Park Resorts offer 7 day breaks in low season for less than £50 including ehu, the holiday parks are ok but I'd advise anyone who goes to be prepared to use your own shower and sanitation, the tourers facilities are a bit old,tired and neglected in some of these places but hey ho, it's a cheapo

 

[nelmo]

I think that ww2nut meant that he paid £55 for the entire stay, not per night

Ahh, right - makes more sense

Although that is very cheap (for same period next year, they want £165 at the moment) - so I guess the point is to not book until a week before you go, when they're likely to have a cheap deal?

 

[Parksy]

Most of these large commercial sites such as Haven have a section of their website reserved for 'special offers' and they can be booked well in advance.
The example of a full week for under £50 at some Park Resorts sites are for April 2011 and they could be booked now. I think that these sites like to get sites booked at otherwise quiet times because they have to take on the seasonal staff and keep them employed anyway so having visitors ensures that they have something to do.

 

[waffler]

It is illegal to take children out of school in term time and some authorities will fine parents for doing it. Instructions from the government tell head teachers not to approve absence on cost base and that they should not normally approve absences. After all the kids only go to school 180 times a year and us miserable codgers don't want our holidays spoilt by children who should be in school.

 

[ww2nut]

The average CL CC site charges about 10 pound a night with elec, in comparison sites like Haven etc at this time of year have indoor pool, entertainment, shops, resturants etc etc....the other tourers who were in Haven the same time as us had all paid rather more than the 55 pound that we paid, they booked in plenty of time and because of that had to pay vastly more than we did, not fair really.
on the point of taking the kids out of school i totally agree, however in our case, my eldest son is in the RAF and always attends this holiday with us, the school understand the importance of the family getting together at least once for a family holiday and they support our decision to go just after the school holidays. I beleive that over the years the kids have gained far more from this holiday that an extra week spent in school, we attend digs and other ww2 related events. This year we were digging for a bunker on an old local airfield, facinating!

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

It is illegal to take children out of school in term time and some authorities will fine parents for doing it.

This year we booked a cottage in Cornwall and took our two youngest grandchildren and their parents with us. My daughter took them out of school but had to get the schools permission which wasn't a problem so it's not strictly true that it's illegal.

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

There are no legalities involved in taking children out of school for holidays - it is at the discretion of the headteacher! If you are refused, and then take them out regardless, then you are liable for a fine.

 

[Philspadders]

You have a legal requirement to send your children to school or provide them with education approved by your LEA.... its on the statue books. Failing to send them is a crime and you can be taken to court for it and imprisoned as has occured.
Provision is made for parents to request a childs abscence from school, but should this be declined then you will be breasking the law by not sending your children to school.
Its highly unlikely that a school will object unless its in the last 2 years or running up to or during exams.
Schools also have the right to exclude your child should you remove them from school with out permission.... especially at over subscribed schools.

yes it is strictly illegal, you can not have partially illegal, it either is or is not.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

yes it is strictly illegal, you can not have partially illegal, it either is or is not.

So what you are saying is what my daughter and son-in-law did was illegal?

I'm sorry Spadders old bean but your logic doesn't add up. Forget your reasoning that it's strictly illegal or they have a legal requirement to send them to school. The simple fact of the matter is they had the schools permission so in my books that made it legal

Maybe you can't have something that's 'partially illegal' but it's possible to have something that's either legal or illegal. It's now almost November and this happened in May. So far they haven't been charged with child neglect. Besides, if the authorities do come down hard on them His Windyship knows some pretty influential people

 

[ww2nut]

i totally agree, i have in the last 7 years always taken the kids out of school for this same date, in both junior and senior schools, a nice letter requesting the abcence is usually fine as long as notice is given, as long as there are no outstanding abcence issues they have always said yes and thanked us for asking, as many simply call in sick for their kids or dont bother at all. in the area i live school places are like gold dust, i am aware of several children who do not attend any formal school at all and are 'taught at home' this of course is not happening. I agree that removing a child from school long term is illegal as we have a duty of care as parents to ensure they are educated and failing to do so, without going through the correct proccedures, will find you inbroiled with social services...thats my 10p worth..lol

 

[coachmanamara1]

im a bit late on this subject but every year i take my son out of school to go on holiday for a week as were not rich and can only afford to go away out of high season along as my sons school attendance is above 95% they allow it for example we went to holiday resort unity in beging of july it was £136 inc ehu wanted to go back in august same pitch was £250 we didnt go as far as i know its down to the schools to either allow the time or not

 

[Tony_5041742]

Unfortunately this is one of those issues where there isn't an obvious solution. Yes, holidays in school time tend to cost more. And it's also true that most schools will allow students limited time off in term time. However, I was at a parents evening at my kids school the other day (it's a very good state secondary) and the head put up some stats on GCSE achievement alongside attendance. The correlation between achievement and attendance was scary:

74.3 per cent of students whose absence was 6.5 per cent - missing two weeks or less of school in a year - gained five or more A* - C grades at GCSE.
Only 44.6 per cent of students whose absence was 10 per cent - missing four weeks in a year – gained five or more A* - C grades at GCSE.

So, although I hate being ripped off by having to holiday in school holidays, I'd rather do that than compromise my kids education by taking then out of school.

 

[coachmanamara1]

my boys only have a maximum of one week off for our holiday in a year i do belive that education is very important sepecially in secandary school which my boys arnt in yet but so far this year theyve had a week off because off the snow early in the year and odd days hear and there for teacher srikes or training day

 

[Surfer]

Strange that teachers can go on strike as and when they feel like it, but if you want to take yoru child out of school a day or two early, you have to jump through all sorts of hoops.

 

[coachmanamara1]

compleatly agree with you or they decide to shut because of a bit of snow

 

[NickinFrance]

Judging from some of the above replies, perhaps the children should attend all they can, that way they could help their parents with spelling & punctuation.
From http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/SchoolLife/DG_4016103Holidays during term time - what the law says
You should not normally take your child on holiday in term time - it can be disruptive both to your child's learning and to the school. Schools will only consider holidays in term time where both:

• the application is made to the headteacher in advance of the holiday by a parent the child normally lives with
• there are special reasons for needing to take the holiday, like the inflexibility of the parents’ holiday leave

 

[coachmanamara1]

thanks for the advice about spelling and punctuation. all my schooling was crap hence theyve now been knocked down and houses built on them i will be putting in a requset for my children to have time off when they go back to school in january ready for our holiday in june do you thats enough notice both

 

[Parksy]

Judging from some of the above replies, perhaps the children should attend all they can, that way they could help their parents with spelling & punctuation............

This is a caravan forum and grammatical prowess is not a condition of membership. Provided that those posting can make themselves understood the spelling and punctuation is not terribly important although 'text' speak is frowned upon.
From what I've seen of today's education system the old timers ought to offer some of the more inexperienced staff advice on grammar, spelling and punctuation so that they may be in a position to teach the children.

 

[Gafferbill]

From what I've seen of today's education system the old timers ought to offer some of the more inexperienced staff advice on grammar, spelling and punctuation so that they may be in a position to teach the children.

……..they would not have enough hours in the day!

They would be too busy swimming against the tide trying to keep 30+ youngsters disciplined, engaged and learning whilst in the classroom.
Outside the classroom they would be planning lessons, writing reports, doing paperwork attending meetings advising parents etc.
My wife, a recently retired primary school teacher of 40 years, tells me that most teachers are happy to loose pupils from the classroom in term time for reasons of a lighter workload.
Unfortunately they have to implement Government legislation.
　

 

[NickinFrance]

Provided that those posting can make themselves understood the spelling and punctuation is not terribly important

My comment was rather 'tongue in cheek' but I am slightly dyslexic & find sentences with mis-spelt words & incorrect punctuation difficult to read. I have to use a spell checker before posting & just wish everyone would.

 

[NickinFrance]

My wife, a recently retired primary school teacher of 40 years, tells me that most teachers are happy to loose pupils from the classroom in term time for reasons of a lighter workload.

My wife is a recently retired High School teacher & while she would agree with that, unfortunately, it's more than countered by the disruption & extra work entailed getting the children back 'up to speed' when they return to school, it's bad enough when they are off sick but does annoy when they are taken out of school so the parents can get cheaper holidays.
FWIW, in 35 years she never went on strike, nor would she now if she was still teaching.