Getting married abroad in term-time.....eek!

Becles

My eldest's school is very strict on term time holidays. You have to send in a letter explaining exactly why you cannot go away in school holidays and the headmaster makes a decision based on your reasons. I would think a wedding would be classed as exceptional circumstances and he would agree to a holiday for that.

Cazza

You mentioned about the wedding possibly clashing with SATs and that you would change the date of the wedding if that were the case. When are you planning to book, and for your Brother and SIL to book? It's likely the school won't know the SAT dates until the beginning of the 2010/11 academic year, you could be hit with significant cancellation charges if you have to change dates after you have booked up. It might be worth looking into this and seeing if booking in half term is cheaper than any cancellation fees people would have to pay for cancellation. Also, with you Nephew, is he going to be in Year 10? Will he have any GCSE modular exams or coursework due in at that time?

HRV

One of the previous threads mentioned being allowed 2 weeks off- im pretty sure this is not correct. I think it is the case that by taking 2 weeks off unauthorised it takes you to the percentage where the Education Welfare Officer becomes involved. So as long as your child has NO other days off inc. sick then your safe from the EWO on the percentage and therefore you are not at risk of fine/other proceeding

Our school sends a letter stating to parents that there is no entitlement and that it is entirely the head teacher's discretion

Having thought about this again though- most schools wouldnt authorise a few weeks before Y6 SATS- why don't you try for a date after half term when SATs will definately be over?

BrownBear

My SIL has just informed me they can give her the 'week' they will be doing the SATS, so we will just have to steer clear of that particular week. We are planning to book next summer, hopefully cancellation fees etc won't come into it but I suppose thats the risk with any holiday booked in advance! Nphew will be at the end of Year 9, he'll probably have some sort of work to do obviously but they are only coming for a week, then it'll be half term. SIL said she thinks the school will be ok, its just a worry for us