Holiday in term time not authorised, will I be fined?

wannabehermit

Thanks for the replies. I think I will just send the school a letter the week beforehand reminding them that there is holiday booked and while it is unauthorised by them I am unable to change it as it was booked before I knew about the change of dates.

I hadn't realised about the Jubilee, I tend not to take much notice so I expect I've switched off when anything has been mentioned about Jubilees and extra BHs. That's worked out quite well though, we get to go on holiday and DH has an extra few days off before he has to go back to work .

It's just a Haven caravan in Great Yarmouth, so I don't think there'll be any tans . The price came up as £700+ reduced to £302 so I didn't think anything of it, just thought it was cheap as I was booking early. Also had quotes from private owners for £600 & £650 so obviously they weren't aware of the change of dates either otherwise I expect they'd have been quoting less.

I'm surprised at the figures in the telegraph article so I suppose if that many are doing it and this is a one-off for my boys the LEA are unlikely to fine us, that's good to know.

wannabehermit

onlyroz wrote: »

How old are your children? I'm struggling to believe that somebody could book a holiday for "half term" without checking the dates.

They are 5 & 10 (yrs 1 & 5). Neither in years where SATS take place. As I've already said half term & May BH is always at the same time (as confirmed by Newly retired), I was unaware of the Jubilee (as someone who is not even vaguely interested by the Royal Family I don't listen to any news about them) so had no reason to suspect this had changed for one year.

sunshinetours

wannabehermit wrote: »

We managed to book a pretty cheap holiday for the last week of May next year (traditionally May half term). When we go away it always tends to be this week as it is much cheaper than going in Summer and booking early enough gets a pretty good deal. May half term is always the last week of May - the same week as the last bank holiday Monday in May.

So we book it, then at the end of last term we are given the term dates. The bank holiday has been moved to the beginning of June as has half term. Holiday has already been booked. On the 1st day of term I fill in a holiday request form stating that if half term and the bank holiday hadn't been moved then it wouldn't be a problem. Not my fault that half term has been changed. As far as I'm aware Bank Hols in May have always been first Monday & last Monday of the month. God only knows why they've decided to randomly change it next year.

Yes, I know that school term dates are available for 2 years so had I looked on the LA website I would have seen that it had been changed this school year, but as it's always been that week I didn't expect them to change it now. Likewise I wouldn't expect a bank holiday to change (except at Easter).

DS2 had the reply back today saying that it has not been authorised and I cannot take him out of school. Well I will be as it's booked and I'm not changing it. It's not as though I've deliberately booked it during term time, they only have to look at his and ds1s record and see that they have never had absences apart from health reasons and ds1 has had most years with 100% attendance so it's not exactly as though I make a habit of it. I haven't yet had the reply for ds1 but as it's the junior part of ds2s infant with the same head I would imagine the answer will be the same.

I remember reading some time ago about parents being fined (quite a significant amount if iirc) if they took their children out of school for a holiday, was this scaremongering or does it really happen? WOuld I be able to appeal it if they did fine me as they changed the term dates?

Having just looked on website, 2012-13 half term is back to last week of May.

Chances are you won't get fined but school cannot authorise it as its a holiday booked for reasons that don't qualify under their guidance. As your children have great attendance records probably no real issues

To be honest the bit that peed me off about your post was the attitude - how come its not your fault exactly??? Just accept you've messed up and take any consequences (of which there probably won't be any)

balletshoes

kingfisherblue wrote: »

What happens when a child goes to visit a family abroad for several months? I know one child who went in July and won't return until November.

It depends - if the school has been informed in advance and they are not an oversubscribed school, they may leave the child's place open for them to return. But the school is within its rights to refuse to keep a childs place open for months because they are abroad, and they'd have good reason to do so if they were a regularly oversubscribed school.

One of my daughter's friends has had almost a whole school year abroad, twice in her primary school years. Luckily in both those years, neither her nor her little sister's years were oversubscribed, so they were able to return to school (they were both educated at international schools the whole time they were with family abroad).

gemmalouanna

The school where I work sent letters to parents saying they won't fine as they understand why parents book holidays in term time to save money but holidays will go down as unauthorised absence on the registers.

I don't see a problem unless the kid is in year 10 or 11 in which case the parents are idiots! Just do without a holiday for 2 years if it is too expensive in school holidays...

wannabehermit

sunshinetours wrote: »

Chances are you won't get fined but school cannot authorise it as its a holiday booked for reasons that don't qualify under their guidance. As your children have great attendance records probably no real issues

To be honest the bit that peed me off about your post was the attitude - how come its not your fault exactly??? Just accept you've messed up and take any consequences (of which there probably won't be any)

It didn't mean to come across as 'attitude'. Simply fact stating, it isn't my fault, it's not my Jubilee That's the one half term holiday that ime doesn't change dates whereas Feb & Oct ones do from time to time as does Easter hols depending on when it falls. If we usually took our holidays in one of those then I would have checked the dates. As other posters have said probably nothing will happen which is a relief, so hopefully it won't, it would be very unfair if it did under these circumstances and I would hope that the LEA would take into acount that the one regular half term holiday had moved for this year.

thatgirlsam

The school can TRY and fine you, but as far as I am aware they cannot enforce that you pay it

It depends how cheeky you want to be to the school - you can either cough up the money or tell them that they will have to take you to court as they cannot enforce a fine

It will definitley be an unauthorised absense but that is for the schools records, it won't affect your child/ren

jackieblack

thatgirlsam wrote: »

The school can TRY and fine you, but as far as I am aware they cannot enforce that you pay it

It depends how cheeky you want to be to the school - you can either cough up the money or tell them that they will have to take you to court as they cannot enforce a fine

It will definitley be an unauthorised absense but that is for the schools records, it won't affect your child/ren

You could be issued with a penalty notice if your child is absent from school without permission. Penalty notices can be issued by:

• local councils
  
• headteachers (including deputy and assistant heads authorised by them)
  
• the police

This can include parents who take their children on holiday during term time without getting authorisation from the school. The penalty is £50, rising to £100 if not paid within 28 days. If you fail to pay a penalty fine within 42 days you will be prosecuted

from
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/SchoolLife/DG_4016103

Spendless

jackieblack wrote: »

You could be issued with a penalty notice if your child is absent from school without permission. Penalty notices can be issued by:

• local councils
  
• headteachers (including deputy and assistant heads authorised by them)
  
• the police

This can include parents who take their children on holiday during term time without getting authorisation from the school. The penalty is £50, rising to £100 if not paid within 28 days. If you fail to pay a penalty fine within 42 days you will be prosecuted

from
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/SchoolLife/DG_4016103

and if you still don't pay it, the fine goes up further. That;s how I know my area fines. The stories hit the headlines of the locals when the fines ran into £100s.

sunshinetours

wannabehermit wrote: »

It didn't mean to come across as 'attitude'. Simply fact stating, it isn't my fault, it's not my Jubilee That's the one half term holiday that ime doesn't change dates whereas Feb & Oct ones do from time to time as does Easter hols depending on when it falls. If we usually took our holidays in one of those then I would have checked the dates. As other posters have said probably nothing will happen which is a relief, so hopefully it won't, it would be very unfair if it did under these circumstances and I would hope that the LEA would take into acount that the one regular half term holiday had moved for this year.

As you said you are going anyway whatever happened, hence my comment re the "attitude" of your post. You know you messed up but just don't want any comback on it now you have been "caught".

You see posts all over this forum like that in all areas