Real life MMD: Should I ask the school for compensation?

Former_MSE_Debs

Money Moral Dilemma: Should I ask the school for compensation?

In February we booked a holiday to Tenerife for us and the kids in October half-term, and paid over £1,600. We have since received a letter from the school saying the half-term dates have changed and the week we booked is incorrect. The cancellation fee is almost the total cost of the holiday.

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Dragon_Mummy

My sons school has done the same thing. We are not cancelling our holiday because we've booked time off work to go and now it would be impossible to change those dates as other people have booked their holidays.
If the school decide to get funny with us we'll just remind them it was THEIR mistake in the first place.
Go on holiday and have a fab time. You can't be held responsible for the schools mistake.

emz118

Have you spoken to the school? I am a teacher and I think that this should be classed as exceptional circumstances, as your holiday was booked for the correct time on the original date given to you.

This would still mean your children would miss school, but it would go down as an authorised absence.

Obviously I believe that education is vital, however if I were you I wouldn't be cancelling having spent that amount of money!

Tigsteroonie

I suspect the school won't agree to paying any compensation that would allow you to cancel & re-book the holiday to suit the school vacation dates.

So personally I'd opt for taking the children out of school for that holiday. And I'd make the school aware that it's their fault (they changed the published dates) so the absence should not count against your children in terms of any attendance record.

wozza2k

Really? People value a holiday over education?

JSS

It depends on the age of your children and whether they are at primary school or secondary school - and whether vital exams are approaching. But in general I'd say take the holiday - £1600 is way too much money to throw away, and I don't believe the school is at all likely to pay you compensation even if you ask. And one week out of school isn't going to ruin your children's entire education - ask the school for homework if you're worried!

Shain

I'm sorry - that sounded much less sympathetic than it actually is. Speaking as a governor, the school will not have the funds to pay for your holiday, I assure you (unless you're very lucky and your children are at a very expensive public school with a great balance sheet!). £1600 is a massive amount of money for a school to try to find, let alone risk setting a precedent by compensating you. Oh yes, and the payment would be illegal as the school has no mechanism to pay such compensation...

However, it's entirely the school's fault that your holiday is booked at the wrong time, so you need to talk to the head immediately and explain the situation. There are no national exams in October, it's not the first month of term, so I certainly think you should go on the holiday, and you should argue the case very strongly that this booking was made in good faith and it's not your fault that the school have changed the date.

Enjoy your holiday!

scoobydoobydoo

wozza2k wrote: »

Really? People value a holiday over education?

Obviously not as the OP booked in what she thought was half term, but they will have to pay out twice the original amount to have the same holiday in the altered half term through no fault of their own!

I would not claim compo (what a stupid idea!) but I would inform school that the children would be out of school that week due to the schools mistake and that you therefore expect the abscence to be authorised.

Voyager2002

emz118 has given the most sensible answer: take the holiday you have booked, but write to the school explaining that you relied on their earlier letter giving holiday dates and cannot now change your holiday. You could also ask for extra homework that your children could take with them.

whitewing

Go on the holiday. It's an honest mistake. I can't imagine anyone who'd cancel the holiday in those circumstances, it's not a dilemma at all.

kerri_dfw

As others have said, go on the holiday but speak to the school first they will have processes in place for this sort of thing. Really you should be speaking to the school, not an internet forum, how are you meant to know what they will say unless you speak to them?