School Term Time Fines

beyond_skint

I am taking my child out of school for a week and a day in Feb.
I had a miscarriage and my baby was due then, I am very low in myself and we desperately need this, so I'm sorry but this is more of a need for us right now. If there's a problem I'll get a doctors letter, but I don't think there will be, it's a very good school.

I don't think there's much harm in taking primary kids out of school for hols. Whats the big to do about? It's only once or twice a year, if your regular other times what's the odds?

simongregson

A lot of the time the school will be under pressure from ofsted/the LEA etc. to improve attendance, so it is not just the head! Most schools will agree to holidays if the pupil in question's attendance for the rest of the year is high enough and there are no exams, but obviously this is discouraged.

With many GCSE exams being modular there are now exams throughout the year. You need to check thoroughly as missing them will enormously reduce their chances of getting good grades - they will have to remember material from much longer ago and because no-one else is taking the exam they are on their own as far as revising is concerned.

Zziggi

dwileflunker wrote: »

Living in an area with a high Asian community (mainly from Pakistan and Bangladesh) it annoys me intensely that their children are allowed out of school for a number of weeks (never just 1 or 2) to return to the country of their parents birth without ever falling foul of the authorities who never seem to question it or inflict fines. Yet anyone who's family has been indiginous in this country for many generations and tries to take their children on holiday in school time are hounded by these educational Nazis. It's obviously racism in reverse.

I thought there was a law that said you could take your children out of school for up to 2 weeks per year. I accept that it should be avoided at exam times etc. but if the child is on top of his/her work there shouldn't be any problems.

The "law" says it is at the Head's discression, up to 10 days. It was never a parent's right to have 10 days (according to the law). I have no idea how your LEA decides whether to fine or not fine parents. However there are things to consider. The school could technically deregister the child if they are away for more than 2 weeks without permission. I have known this happen when a family went off abroad for 4 weeks without following the procedure of holiday forms. However whether this would be advisable depends and i suppose it depends on whether the school is a "highly desirable" school with a pressure on places. How do you know that these parents who went off to Pakistan/Bangladesh DIDN'T get threatened with deregistration? How do you know these parents didn't have genuine good reasons for making an exceptional request for more than 2 weeks? How do you know these parents didn't get fined but kept it quiet?

As for it being racism - i think going to a country where your ancestors come from and where granny, grandad, aunts & uncles all live and wanting time to visit the relatives, attend a wedding/religious festivals is a tad different to wanting 3 weeks at disneyland. Rather than see it as white indigenous people being discriminated against, why not see how lucky the white indigenous people are to have their granny, grandad, aunts uncles and a familial support network close enough to drive to (even if they are at the other end of the country). I do.

I suppose you also object to letting kids have time off for religious festivals whilst you get christmas day off every year?:rolleyes:

Zziggi

simongregson wrote: »

A lot of the time the school will be under pressure from ofsted/the LEA etc. to improve attendance, so it is not just the head! Most schools will agree to holidays if the pupil in question's attendance for the rest of the year is high enough and there are no exams, but obviously this is discouraged.

This is something which annoys me. If you manage to get your child into a good school which has an exceptionally good attendance rate (say 97% overall) but yet you will get OFSTED/LEA still setting the school attendance targets for them to improve on. This results in the school having to try to shave off a touch more absences and TBH they can't stop illnesses so the only thing a school can do to shave off absences is become more hardlined on school holidays. So you can find that your child goes to a good school with an exceptionally good attendance level which refuses ALL term-time holiday requests, regardless of the family's personal circumstances. Just down the road you'll have an average school with a much poorer attendance level which has a problem with truancy. So this school may allow time off for term-time holidays if the kid is a generally good attender and the school devotes its attention and effort in reducing absences due to truancy in order to improve their attendance level.

It's much easier to improve on a 50% attendance level than on a 97% level.

spiro

Zziggi wrote: »

The "law" says it is at the Head's discression, up to 10 days. It was never a parent's right to have 10 days (according to the law). I have no idea how your LEA decides whether to fine or not fine parents. However there are things to consider. The school could technically deregister the child if they are away for more than 2 weeks without permission. I have known this happen when a family went off abroad for 4 weeks without following the procedure of holiday forms. However whether this would be advisable depends and i suppose it depends on whether the school is a "highly desirable" school with a pressure on places. How do you know that these parents who went off to Pakistan/Bangladesh DIDN'T get threatened with deregistration? How do you know these parents didn't have genuine good reasons for making an exceptional request for more than 2 weeks? How do you know these parents didn't get fined but kept it quiet?

As for it being racism - i think going to a country where your ancestors come from and where granny, grandad, aunts & uncles all live and wanting time to visit the relatives, attend a wedding/religious festivals is a tad different to wanting 3 weeks at disneyland. Rather than see it as white indigenous people being discriminated against, why not see how lucky the white indigenous people are to have their granny, grandad, aunts uncles and a familial support network close enough to drive to (even if they are at the other end of the country). I do.

I suppose you also object to letting kids have time off for religious festivals whilst you get christmas day off every year?:rolleyes:

Regardless of were their family live they have chosen to reside in the UK and therefore should be subject to the same rules. If I had children at a school that operated such a blatant double standard I would be writing to the school, LEA and Racial Equality to point out that the rules should be the same regardless of race. It gets thrown at the 'native' poluation often enough so why should we not use the rules designed to protect them to protect ourselves. And before anyone asks I have friends of various ethnic backgrounds.

shandypants5

shimmershelly wrote: »

Good point, yes they are both doing well, no problems there. We would have to make sure to do things like Ripley's Believe It Or Not, I'm sure that must be educational somehow

Shimmershelly, we went to Florida last october, just as you are intending.

The temperature is perfect, the parks are quite quiet if you choose your days carefully, and it rarely rains.

We went to Wonderworks and our kids 9 and 11, spent hours trying out large experiments and learning stuff that they would probrably never see at school.

We asked for permission to go and also asked for some homework to take, well when I say asked, we made it clear politely that we were going anyway, but would make sure that the kids caught up on any missed education.

I would go for it, better holiday/cheaper price/nicer weather.

Besides, do the kids ACTUALLY learn anything in the week before half term?

MidlandsMum

We're lucky enough to be going away for whit week and the week after all paid for by my parents. There will be 13 of us going to a tiny greek village to enjoy time together. The LA can charge what they want.They'll just have a job getting the cash from me. I'm a travel agent and get decent discounts, but I still cant afford to go school hol time.

Hannah2

Can I ask how you would all react if your children didnt have a teacher for 2 weeks because they had decided to take a holiday when it was cheaper? or cooler in Florida?

I am sure that you would not be happy.

It is not just parents/children that have to pay more to go on holiday during official school holidays.

And no, I am not a teacher myself.

MidlandsMum

In that case what about people who have set holidays inside term time? What if they want to go away with their children? There needs to be a flexibility.

Hannah2

MidlandsMum wrote: »

In that case what about people who have set holidays inside term time? What if they want to go away with their children? There needs to be a flexibility.

Then that would be the "case by case" basis that has been mentioned.

Lying about your (and I am not directing that at you MidlandsMum) children being ill just to get a cheaper holiday is plain wrong..... what is that teaching your children about lying and cheating to get what you want? Where is the respect in that?

There is such a thing as crying wolf, I am sure that there are many parents whose children are really ill and unable to attend school that would love for their children to be well enough to go to school, let alone go on holiday.

Sorry but totally disagree with lying to enable people to have an excuse to go on holiday. If you are going to do it, then do it, but be open and honest about it and then face any consequences that may occur.