Holidays in term time

littlestar1981

Sorry, couldn't find a existing thread!

Mum's friend has booked a holiday in term time for September, she asked the head for the time off, he said no, so she is going to write him a letter to say she is going anyway.

What can you really write in a letter like that and what are the implications of taking unauthorised time out of school?

Juliep

OUr school allows two weeks per year holiday. We had our two weeks then got a free holiday to Pontins so i asked for another week, the head teacher could not authorise this, but kind of implied that if i phoned up sick for them on the Monday morning that everything would be fine. That is what I did and nobody seemed to mind.

Julie

paula65

Our school will allow two weeks off if your child has 95% attendence (government guidelines) . Obviously in September its the start of the school year so % attendence levels will be low, so they have to say no. Agree with the 'off sick'. I did it last year with all 4 of mine for a week as there was no way those % scores were going to be high enough.

DaisyFlower

littlestar1981 wrote: »

Sorry, couldn't find a existing thread!

Mum's friend has booked a holiday in term time for September, she asked the head for the time off, he said no, so she is going to write him a letter to say she is going anyway.

What can you really write in a letter like that and what are the implications of taking unauthorised time out of school?

Have no idea re the letter, the "authority" has said no and the person is choosing to ignore the person and do it anyway. Not the best example to set to children.

As for implications, she does risk a fine for unathourised absence if the school chooses to pursue it.

Raksha

paula65 wrote: »

Our school will allow two weeks off if your child has 95% attendence (government guidelines) . Obviously in September its the start of the school year so % attendence levels will be low, so they have to say no. Agree with the 'off sick'. I did it last year with all 4 of mine for a week as there was no way those % scores were going to be high enough.

Sorry but the time of year has no bearing over % attendance - if the school has only been open 2 days, and the child has been there both days, that is 100% attendance!

andyrules

I'm not surprised she was turned down - after exam week September is about the worst time to take off.

Here is the link to the other thread on this subject.

Savvy_Sue

I'm unclear, is mum's friend a member of staff, or a parent taking her child out of school? The advice given seems to relate to a parent, if she's a member of staff then clearly she's at risk of losing her job!

andyrules

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I'm unclear, is mum's friend a member of staff, or a parent taking her child out of school? The advice given seems to relate to a parent, if she's a member of staff then clearly she's at risk of losing her job!

Good point, Sue, it doesn't actually mention a child.
However, I can't imagine a teacher asking for time off in September, as you say, they would be risking their job.

candygirl

It will just go down as an unauthorised abscence if the HT doesn't give permission.Nothing else will happen, I have 3 in my form on holiday without the HT's permission at the moment, one's gone to India for a month!!!![strike]lucky boy[/strike]

Smashing

No wonder kids have no respect for authority with parents setting such fabulous examples.

pinkshoes

Personally I really think it depends on what the holiday is. If they're going to some tacky tourist resort abroad with just beaches, hotel pool, and "entertainment" stuff, then I think she should reconsider taking her kids out of term time. Kids miss out on stuff, kids form new friendship groups, and it can cause all sorts of problems.

If it's a cultural holiday, where you'll be staying in "local" accomodation, experiencing a very different culture, visiting markets, historical sights etc... every day, then I think this is fantastic for kids, as they'll learn alot. In this case, I would write to the school highlighting the educational benefits, letting them know that the children will be keeping an educational diary throughout the holiday, and that can the children present their "educational trip" to their class when they get back?