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

SINBAD_2

Nothing will happen to you, but I can tell you as a teacher, your name will be mud in the staff room, and you will be viewed as the type of parent who puts going on holiday above your children's education.

....unless of course your kids are badly behaved, in which case the above will still apply, but their teachers will be relieved that they're out of class! It's also very true that the type of people -from any background- who think that a child can easily miss a week or so of school, are the people who have the worst behaved kids!

Bear in mind also that you are teaching your children that it is ok to break the law, just so long as 'you get away with it.'

thatgirlsam

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

Thanks, thats interesting, although the part about prosecution means that the school cannot make you pay it, but a court can... IF the school bothers to take it that far

thatgirlsam

SINBAD wrote: »

Nothing will happen to you, but I can tell you as a teacher, your name will be mud in the staff room, and you will be viewed as the type of parent who puts going on holiday above your children's education.

....unless of course your kids are badly behaved, in which case the above will still apply, but their teachers will be relieved that they're out of class! It's also very true that the type of people -from any background- who think that a child can easily miss a week or so of school, are the people who have the worst behaved kids!

Bear in mind also that you are teaching your children that it is ok to break the law, just so long as 'you get away with it.'

Good golly - I am sure all teachers are not quite as judgemental as you....

sassyblue

rachbc wrote: »

Maybe if your kids missed less school the could teach you the correct usage of too/ to...

Don't you mean they could teach... :rotfl:

thatgirlsam

sassyblue wrote: »

Don't you mean they could teach... :rotfl:

Its the law of the internet

If you mention a mistake that someone made, you HAVE to make one yourself

Its great, I love it

sassyblue

thatgirlsam wrote: »

Its the law of the internet

If you mention a mistake that someone made, you HAVE to make one yourself

Its great, I love it

I know, too much sanctimony.... it causes a blockage between the brain and fingertips.

sunshinetours

thatgirlsam wrote: »

Thanks, thats interesting, although the part about prosecution means that the school cannot make you pay it, but a court can... IF the school bothers to take it that far

Hopefully they wouldn't take it that far as that would take financial resources away from money spent on other aspects of a school and any decent parents would see that.

There again if that was true you wouldn't have parents suing schools when their kids trip over at sports days and injure themselves either would you (happended at one of our local junior schools who no longer have a competitive sports day)

wannabehermit

SINBAD wrote: »

Nothing will happen to you, but I can tell you as a teacher, your name will be mud in the staff room, and you will be viewed as the type of parent who puts going on holiday above your children's education.

....unless of course your kids are badly behaved, in which case the above will still apply, but their teachers will be relieved that they're out of class! It's also very true that the type of people -from any background- who think that a child can easily miss a week or so of school, are the people who have the worst behaved kids!

Bear in mind also that you are teaching your children that it is ok to break the law, just so long as 'you get away with it.'

I hope you're not one of the teachers at my ds' school. Lets see, you're talking to someone who wouldn't even take their son out of nursery/preschool whatever it happens to be called nowadays as I didn't want him to miss any 'school'. If I'd known that half term was a week later than usual then the holiday would have been booked for that week instead of the one that it is.

My ds1 has missed about 3 or 4 days throughout the whole of his school life. He is in year 5, working at year 9 level maths & english, so it's not like he's going to struggle to catch up to the other children when he gets back. I've never had to go in about his behaviour, he actually requests to work on his own in the corridor as he gets easily distracted by the behaviour of other children, so he's not in the naughty category that you've put the 2 children in just because I made a mistake with holiday dates.

ds2 has missed a bit more as he suffers with migraines. If the LEA were so concerned about him being at school they would allow him to keep medication in school. But the rule is that if it's not needed at least 4 times a day it can't be kept in school, so if I can't get there quickly enough to give him the medication when a migraine starts then he will miss a few days of school while he has the migraine and is recovering aferwards. If they were to allow it to be kept in school then he could have it when it starts, I could collect him, he may miss the rest of the day but if it's caught early enough that would be it. And as for his behaviour, apparently he's one of the sensible ones, very quiet, gets on with things and causes the teachers no bother at all. In fact they have a 'happy face', 'sad face' and 'warning triangle'. In the whole of reception he didn't even go onto the warning triangle. SO he must be very good at hiding his bad behaviour from the teachers.

So according to you because my children are accidentally going to miss one week of school then that points to the fact that they are obviously the badly behaved children of the school and the teachers will be glad to get rid of them for a week. I think you need to rethink your logic.

sunshinetours

wannabehermit wrote: »

just because I made a mistake with holiday dates......


...So according to you because my children are accidentally going to miss one week of school then that points to the fact that they are obviously the badly behaved children of the school and the teachers will be glad to get rid of them for a week. I think you need to rethink your logic.

What did the holiday company say when you tried to call them and move your week after your mistake . I've found Haven's and such quite helpful previously when I had to move a week. I would guess it will be more expensive but obviously that isn't relevant to thsi argument

I also agree that your kids behaviour should not be in question here as only you and the teachers know the truth on that

Bumpmakesfour

SINBAD wrote: »

Nothing will happen to you, but I can tell you as a teacher, your name will be mud in the staff room, and you will be viewed as the type of parent who puts going on holiday above your children's education.

....unless of course your kids are badly behaved, in which case the above will still apply, but their teachers will be relieved that they're out of class! It's also very true that the type of people -from any background- who think that a child can easily miss a week or so of school, are the people who have the worst behaved kids!

Bear in mind also that you are teaching your children that it is ok to break the law, just so long as 'you get away with it.'

Wow it really is very reassuring to know the kids at schools today are being taught by judgemental people like you
At my kids school right up till last term the head would authorise up to 10 days if you could show valid reasons but now it's a straight out no.We didn't take any term time off when it was "allowed" but now we do need a week it's automatically unauthorised.
Even so I'm taking my DS out for a week as he has aspergers and really struggles to cope with crowds/noise so going peak times would be a nightmare.He's working at a year 6/7 level but is in yr 4,been free reading since beginning of year 2 etc so I'm not concerned about him catching up once he returns.If my name is "mud" I really couldn't care less tbh.He's 8,it's not like he's doing his A levels and a holiday is a learning experience in itself.DS has had 100% attendance most terms with the odd day off with sickness bugs and we will catch up on any work he misses.
We're making the decision based on what's best for us as a family..or at least I THOUGHT we were...how silly of us not to take staffroom gossip into consideration :rotfl: