School Term Time Fines

MidlandsMum

Oh, I agree, I wouldnt lie. Years ago when my eldest lad was 5 and in reception I requested a friday off in April as we were going to Disneyland Paris. The day was refused by the head teacher. I asked the reception teacher what I was supposed to do. She said "Go and enjoy your weekend". This year the form will go in as usual. I'll make a point that the Grandparents booked and paid for the trip and there will be no chance of cancellation and I'll enjoy my time with my lovely boys that I really don't see enough of.

How are these "fines" collected, anyway? Would they go as far as the county courts? If so how could they be enforced. I've not signed any contract that I know of.

covlass

I have taken my children out of school and have never had a problem. I always make an appointment to see the head. Give them the dates and ask if there is anything of real importance that my children will be missing during this time. For my eldest DD ( my youngest attends a sld school so no homework) I request that all home work is given to my daughters best friend along with any printed sheets given out. Then I ensure to the head that my daughter will catch up on all home work upon her return. Not to the delight of my daughter I may add : ) works for us

tismemick

ok maybe someone can answer me this.

We all know what the law says in that parents dont have the right to take out a child from school, But what law is this, there has got to be more to the law than just that, what is the exact wording etc, or maybe someone can point me in the right diretion to get a copy of this law.

spaceman5

Zziggi wrote: »

It is £50 per child, per parent, per week. So 2 kids with 2 parents with a fortnight out would be £400. I make no comment on whether it is a good idea to take kids out or not.

What i don't understand is, how can the school fine you if you ring up and say the child is ill. Then if they ask for a sicknote you just tell them that your child did not have an illness that required a GP appointment so you cannot produce a sicknote and you stick to your story that the child was ill. How does LEA prove you took them away?

if that is the case you could half it, because i believe the op states that 1 of the weeks is half term, so it would be £200, i know what i would do;), Dave

pulliptears

While we were on holiday in August last year my Mum in Law took it upon herself to book a week in South Wales for the whole family. We literally landed in the UK from Los Angeles on the Wednesday to be told we were going to Wales on the Saturday.........

All well and good, but the kids started back to school on the Monday!! MIL hadnt realised. We decided to go, and on the monday morning I instructed OH to call the school and explain what had happened, however he called the school and said DD was ill. Knowing that my DD just wouldnt be able to keep her mouth shut I was annoyed with OH and made him call the school back and tell the truth!

DD's teacher was highly amused, firstly that we had literally set foot off a plane from paradise and ended up in wet, windy and flippin cold Tenby and secondly that I had made OH tell the truth. She said most parents lie and the school appreciated the honesty. That was that.

MIL tried to take the kids to Egypt with her in March, but I have said no to that one as DD will be mid SATs and DS GCSE's.

covlass

tismemick wrote: »

ok maybe someone can answer me this.

We all know what the law says in that parents dont have the right to take out a child from school, But what law is this, there has got to be more to the law than just that, what is the exact wording etc, or maybe someone can point me in the right diretion to get a copy of this law.

I've been looking also so it would be intresting.
I did find this http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article738664.ece
but this is extreme and not just a family asking for an extra weeks holiday.

I've also check my council web site & found the following:

Holidays during term-time

Schools recognise that pupil absence during term time can seriously disrupt a pupils continuity of learning. Parents are therefore strongly urged to avoid booking a family holiday in term time. In certain circumstances, at the discretion of the head teacher, the head teacher may choose to grant leave of absence of up to 10 days in any calendar year. In exceptional circumstances it may be appropriate to allow a longer planned absence. In all such cases a return date must be agreed by the head teacher, as any child who is absent longer than 10 days after the agreed time can legally be removed from the school roll.
All holiday requests should be discussed with the head teacher. An absence for holiday that has not been agreed by the head teacher will be recorded as unauthorised.
The head teacher would not normally consent to holidays taken during SAT's testing weeks.

Doesnt mention the law

*Jane*

I must be lucky i have taken my son out of school for 2 weeks every year from him starting school. I have never been refused. I write a letter to the school saying that i know it is not ideal taking him out of school but due to cost and holidays at work it is the only time we can go. Last year i thought they would refuse with him being at high school but they wrote back and authorised it. I do try and make sure he never has any other time off during the year maybe the odd day but he has to be very ill for me not to send him. I wonder if it is where you live to whether they authorise it. I will pay the fine if i have to but i do think it is wrong that two parent families have to pay double.

Moonchild

I find this all quite interesting as I never went abroad when I was at school (in the 90's!) because my parents couldn't afford holiday prices in the holiday times.

That was it, certainly no consideration of taking time off during the term time when it might have been affordable, it certainly wasn't a consideration at any point. This was confirmed by lots of other people my own age. Only the families went abroad because they could afford it!

I believe that overseas travel is often more beneficial to a kids education than school.

However, I do not believe that overseas travel should be a 'right'. This seems to be such a new way of thinking. School should always prioritise over holidays, always. If all parents took the belief that 'I should be able to take my kids out for 10 days during term time' it would cause massive disruption to teaching and schools.

Quite simply if you cannot afford to go away during the school holidays, I do not think you should be allowed to take time off. Why should you have the right to disrupt the status quo? Why does everyone go on about 'they just watch DVD's and have supply teachers' etc - this is just trying to justify to themselves something which is fundamentally wrong. Go to the Lakes or the Peak District instead.

Time off school to go to Disney Land? It's actually an absurd and selfish proposition.

RedCanadaHat

I can't believe you get fined these days for taking your own children out of school.

When I was in school my parents took me out of school twice (6 weeks in 1990 and another 6 weeks in 1994) to do a world trip. i learnt more about life in those two trips than i have in my entire life. My mum is a primary school teacher and she'd make my sister and I write a journal every day and collect brouchures and ticket stubs to glue in the journal. (I still do this haha)

Over at the Glastonbury Festival forums there's a similar debate going on about whether to take kids out of school for the festival or not. If it were me i'd risk the fine and go for it. Also, when I have children of my own I'll also be taking them on frequest trips overseas.

pulliptears

Moonchild wrote: »

Time off school to go to Disney Land? It's actually an absurd and selfish proposition.

Thats where I disagree, given that the locations for Disneyland are Los Angeles, Florida, Paris and Japan I feel there is much to be gained from visiting these countries.
Different cultures, currencies and food are all educational.