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

halibut2209

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

Don't you mean "It's"?

flutterby_lil

I was unaware of the bank holiday changes and I work in a school!!!

wannabehermit

sunshinetours wrote: »

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

Haven ime are about the most unflexible company going. I've tried to make changes to holidays with them in the past and faced massive brick walls all the way up to management.

thatgirlsam

halibut2209 wrote: »

Don't you mean "It's"?

:rotfl::rotfl:

See! Works every time

thatgirlsam

sunshinetours wrote: »

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)

I am sure that the vast majority of schools wouldn't take it that far

My children had one day unauthorised absense this year, we travelled a 5 hour journey to attend my Grandfathers 90th birthday party and I didn't want to drive through the night to get them back for school on the Monday morning

The school didn't mention a fine but if they had.. Well they would have had to take me to court to get the money I'm afraid

If that makes me an 'indecent' parent in your eyes, or anyone elses so be it, I can live with that

sunshinetours

wannabehermit wrote: »

Haven ime are about the most unflexible company going. I've tried to make changes to holidays with them in the past and faced massive brick walls all the way up to management.

So they actually stopped you transferring from an off peak week to a peak week???

I don't like Bourne Leisure or Havens's sharp practices either but I have never known them against encouraging people to spend more money.

My guess is you tried the school first to see the reaction and then on here and now realise you may get away with it?

Fair play if you have, they are your children - noone elses, but I would at least admit it rather than blaming everyone else but you.

sunshinetours

thatgirlsam wrote: »

I am sure that the vast majority of schools wouldn't take it that far

My children had one day unauthorised absense this year, we travelled a 5 hour journey to attend my Grandfathers 90th birthday party and I didn't want to drive through the night to get them back for school on the Monday morning

The school didn't mention a fine but if they had.. Well they would have had to take me to court to get the money I'm afraid

If that makes me an 'indecent' parent in your eyes, or anyone elses so be it, I can live with that

So am I, but your scenario took 1 plus 1 and came up with 3 didn't it ?!

Fines may be appropriate where parents are choosing to book cheaper holidays in term time or persistent offenders rather than an odd day here and there

Wasn't remotely suggesting anyone here was "indecent"

thatgirlsam

sunshinetours wrote: »

So am I, but your scenario took 1 plus 1 and came up with 3 didn't it ?!

Fines may be appropriate where parents are choosing to book cheaper holidays in term time

Well my scenario may be different but it is still an unauthorised absence and I suppose in theory the school could have fined me?

I wouldn't like to judge anyone elses particular situation so wouldn't like to say wether fines would be appropriate or not - I don't know what they would acheive, presumably it would still make financial sense for the holiday to be taken term time even with the fine

wannabehermit

sunshinetours wrote: »

So they actually stopped you transferring from an off peak week to a peak week???

I don't like Bourne Leisure or Havens's sharp practices either but I have never known them against encouraging people to spend more money.

My guess is you tried the school first to see the reaction and then on here and now realise you may get away with it?

Fair play if you have, they are your children - noone elses, but I would at least admit it rather than blaming everyone else but you.

It was a mistake pure and simple. I'm not the only one who was unaware of the change of BH next year, as flutterby_lil says she was unaware too (sorry don't know how to quote more than one post) I'm sure there'll be others.

Holiday was booked earlier this year. At the end of last term ds' had a newsletter with term dates on that I filed away until the end of hols. I the put the term date calendar on my noticeboard and had a look at the term dates when I realised half term had moved. They went back to school I applied for a holiday hoping that they would understand it was a genuine mistake. It was not authorised. I remembered reading or hearing sometime ago about fines being brought in to stop parents taking children out of school without permission. I googled it but couldn't find anything so asked on here as I wasn't sure whether the fines were a myth or not. I asked so that I could be prepared for the fine and knew how much it would be, I didn't know it was discretionary dependant on the LEA. I haven't tried anything on, I haven't tried to cover my !!!! anywhere, I've just asked for advice and information.

As it happens I had a letter from the head today saying that they do not authorise family holidays as they can't have one rule for one and one for another so it is a sweeping no holidays across the board but it has been noted in the diary that the ds' won't be there that week and will have to be recorded as an 'unauthorised family holiday'. She also enclosed an attendance report for the 2 boys, ds2s was 97.8% last year which considering he had a few bouts of tonsilitis and a couple of migraines is pretty good. ds1s was 98.8% last year and 99.5% the year before. I'm really not your usual hey lets skive the kids off for a week type of parent.

Dave101t

my sister paid £50 when we went to china, i told her not to but she did it to save the hassle. depends how much stress you want....