Mum taken to court over son's 'term-time holiday'

morganb

I'm a teacher and was on half-term last week; my son, however, is on half-term this week! And, the school that his Primary feeds to was on half-term last week, so parents with children in both schools had two half-terms to cover.

How ridiculous is that????

johnmoney05

ridiculous!ridiculous!ridiculous!ridiculous!ridiculous!

A week!?
I am speechless, it seems we are so controlled these days. Why not just put us in a "Big Brother" house? So we would do whatever we were told?!

Finishrich

Because of the job my mum and dad did I was always kept off school and it didn't do me any harm.

I've also got a bee in my bonnet because when I was at school the teachers were on strike so we missed days of school because of the stikes so I can't see why taking time off for holidays makes any difference. I guess common sense comes into play a bit in that if you kids had been off school thru illness and missed alot of schooling then you're probably not going to keep them of more than is necessary for holidays.

One of the first things I asked when I enrolled my son for school 2 years ago was the policy for keeping them off. And basically the head teacher said there were a number of steps that come into effect before it would go as far as being fined or anything. She did say though that it would be noted as and unauthorised abscence. So now I don't ask permission to take him of, I just send a letter saying he will be absent from school due to family holiday. That's 4 times he's been off on holiday in the 2 years he's been at school and I haven't had a problem.

When I was at school you used to get work to take away with you. But they don't do that now. When my son returned to school after the first holiday, he'd been off for 2 weeks and he came home to say he had caught up with his group within 2 days of being back

alijolly

I've read the article again carefully and she isn't being prosecuted over the Disneyland holiday at all she is being prosecuted over attendance between Sept 05 and May 06. She didn't take the disney holiday until Sept 06 and I am guessing that the holiday was unauthorised as there were already serious concerns about the childs attendance.

frank_potter

I had problems with this last year. I found that my older daughter’s new school had a policy of not allowing term time holidays. The head teacher was not even prepared to discuss the matter with me even though a retired deputy head teacher friend was offering to give private tuition to make up any shortfall in my daughter’s education.

My retired deputy head teacher friend also tells me that this has very little (if anything) to do with a child’s education and is all about political correctness.

By law a head teacher can allow up to 10 days holiday in the year (at the individual head’s discretion). So far as I remember the term "year" means calendar year (as opposed to school year) The government’s politically correct guidelines however advise heads not to allow term time holidays.

My own solution to this was to simply change my child’s school – In our case I found that two neighbouring schools of a similar standard had differing policies on term time holidays – one was prepared to be sensible whereas the other appeared to be obsessed by a dogmatic politically correct approach. I realize that for some parents this might not be a viable option.

Another solution is home education – we still have the common law right to educate our kids at home if we wish.

Anyone who is effectively forced into paying high half term prices for holidays may also consider withholding voluntary contributions from the school in order to claw back the extra cost. I.e. if the school wishes to exercise its legal rights to the full then an affected parent may wish to do the same. Schools do not always make clear to parents which contributions are voluntary and which are mandatory. Information on charging for school activities can be found at:
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/atoz/c/chargingforactivities/index.cfm?code=main
Head teachers need to realize that goodwill is a two way street!

o_t_e

When I read this I immediately thought of the many weeks I had off from Junior school due to the teachers strike - two degrees later it didn't seem to do me any harm.

As far as I'm aware the requirement is that you ensure that your child receives an education - there is no stipulation as to times, dates, location, etc so with Frank Potter's post in mind I wonder what happens if you take a child out of school to go on holiday and arrange alternate education facilities - what can the school do apart from send a letter of rebuke? I don't have kids so I'm just curious as to what power these head teachers actually have.

GirlRacer_2

This is interesting reading. Can a parent then take a school to court for not giving the schooling expected. My son has been having difficulty with his maths. He has been given extra lessons by the school. These lessons started in Spetember. To date the teacher has only turned up twice!!!!!

martindow

Another issue here is that if holidays taken end up by being listed as unauthorised absence these figures get published as a measure of the level of truancy in the school. Schools are not surprisingly keen to keep these figures down as low as possible.

Happy_saver_4

Children should be in school in term time !!!!

I take my holidays during 'term time' to try and get away from screaming kids. I enjoyed my children but I don't see why I'm expected to enjoy other folks kids. Keep 'em in school :j

I've child proofed the house - but they're still getting in :rotfl: :rotfl:

angel

This muddles me a bit. I took my son on holiday last year for a week. In his end of year report his attendance was 99%. How did they manage that?