Taking children out of school a week before summer hols as I am disabled.

leosayer39

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

leosayer - can you please tell is what happened regarding the holiday.
At the moment, nothing.
Its up to my grandchildrens parents to decide if they want to take on the school......

If the school have said we will fine you, send them a letter asking to see the the LEA's local code of conduct regarding fining - tell them you want a reply IN WRITING. Send the letter recorded delivery. And then wait for a reply.

If they tell you they will fine you then go to the LEA and ask them for their code of practice for all school in the area.
Thanks for the information...my children (ie the parents of my grandchildren) are following this thread closely.

And then take the children on holiday and refuse to pay the fine.

Very naughty of the school. I can tell you something now, those parents will NOT have got their holidays authorised - however, they obviously know that they can fine all they want but the LEA does not follow the fines up.

Before you get taken to court you end up with a parenting contract which means you have to send your kids to school etc.... they will not do that for just 5 days.
Not too sure it my children will wish to have that on their head??

On another note - if the school are fining themselves then this is a serious breach of the rules and needs reporting to the LEA, it is the LEA that collects the fines and it should be in place for all school - however, some can choose not to implement it. This is just a very snidey way to this head to stop parents taking their children on holiday in term times.
I have learned, from reading this thread, that as you say, the school cannot fine. We didnt know that till a few days ago

Because we are taking the children on a respite break for disabled children and their families - in the US as they do not offer these holidays here, however, they operate in US holiday and they are obviously different - I have been finding out a lot of information about this.

What is more, the fining policy was due to be bought in as compulsary but the Government have backtracked on it. You can find information on this on Google, it is the kids bathtime, I will post it later if no-one else does.
Thanks for that

leosayer39

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

I put my comments in red, I hope that helps explain things more.

Ritchie, for me it is more than that, it is the tone of the letter I received with the nonsense it spouted. To be honest, I'd probably pay a fine and be done with it, if the truancy person comes a calling I will show them everything. There are 150 spaces available so we have booked it now to ensure we have a space - however, the school was very good and with no main head teacher the school is rapidly going downhill.

Lots of children are leaving and this speaks for itself in all honestly. While my children do like going there, it is going downhill FAST.

Last term when the SAT's were on my daughter did no work at all, they spent a week making one 'jubilee art' picture as they were not allowed to make a noise. I could have taken them on holiday instead of making one A4 picture of the London Eye for the entire school week. That in itself is a joke!!

My son's class spent several weeks without a teacher as she was sick and there was no-one to fill in. Same as the year before.

My son (with Special Needs) has been kept in after school for not finishing his colouring in. I turned up to get him and they said no, he was not coming out yet as he had not finished his work. I wish I had known then what I know now however.....
Why?
Is this illegal ?

leosayer39

annie1975 wrote: »

But that almost half of a year they are off people cant afford to go on holiday,as they are charged more than double for their holidays...Some might say well dont go away then,but when you work hard all year round your entitled to an holiday..
Like with our school a few years back they decided 4 weeks before summer holidays school will be closing 1 week early,and then will be going back a week later ,so they had just over 8 weeks off school.But it was ok for them to do that..Not thinking people had to get childcare last minute..
Can only agree with you here

I know you shouldn't take kids out of school,but sometimes needs must Im afraid.
VERY true

leosayer39

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

leosayer39 wrote: »

~~~ REM ~~~

Everyone knows that to judge is wrong, in any society however we need a final judge, ie, someone to judge when two parties disagree. In this case even the Government don't judge they leave that to the school head.
Yes they do and from what i have read on this forum they should have a clear policy that applies to all

Racism or plain discrimination happens around us every day of our lives, people are blinded by religions and the discrimination it causes. People around the world are dying at the rate of many hundreds per minute as I write this missive because of racism and religious intolerance caused by prejudice [preconceived judgement or opinion].
I can only agree with you here

We should all be wary of words written in this forum by anyone with such an evangelical bent and a clearly expressed prejudice. Seeking to portray this perceived inverse inequality as a religion or race issue is a wrong thing to do.
I merely asked a very simple question.

You have a level playing field, exactly the same level playing field as anyone else - that's what 'level playing field means' ! The fact that some ask and get, and you ask and didn't get - does not make it unfair. The headteacher entirely at his / her discretion makes a judgement call and must satisfy his / herself that there are special circumstances which warrant the leave - that's what a decision maker is for, making decisions That derision maker on a case-by-case basis determined the circumstances you gave were not 'special' enough and refused to grant your grandchildren leave of absence for the purpose of family holidays during term time.
You make valid points, however the parents involved feel that they have been treated very unfairly
We need stronger decision makers who can apply a policy right across the board

Now I don't know what reasons your daughter gave, and I've no idea what the headteacher uses for criteria [the Education Department does not seek to prescribe what constitutes special circumstances .. .. this is for each school to decide] but, but the request did not reach the level of merit the head teacher required. and the request was refused. It seems to be the case that a loving granparent is only loving to the point where the holiday is cheap .. .. but not loving enough to pay the 'term time' full price to stay within the law.
Those final comments are very very unfair!
You do not know our personal circumstances and yes, if we see a cheap holiday upon which we can take our grandchildren then so be it.
If we cannot afford to take our grandchildren on holiday it DOES NOT mean that we love them any less.

The Hadj is October 24-29, 2012, Ramadan is somewhere between July 20, 2012 and August 19, 2012, and there are others. all these dates are not predictable in advance. The difference between this type of [your phrase] holiday and yours may be religious and from my point of view is as illegal under British law as your wish but the timings and time taken are different and understood.
I can only agree with you that both types of 'break' in a childs education may well be illegal under English law.
However, it appears that some headteachers are frightened of saying no to some parents and will not say yes to others

Prejudice will make any view dishonest and untruthful, you can have your own opinion, but you cant have your own truth. You're view that those from those of other religion and race get favourable treatment because of their religion is probably nothing more than performing the Muslim Hadj or any of the other different religious pilgrimage. As an example one persons itinerary for Hajj 2009.....

13 November 2009 Depart from UK, Arrive in Jeddah, proceed to Makkah, check-in to hotel and perform Umrah
18 November 2009 Proceed to Madinah, check-in to hotel
22 November 2009 Leave Madinah
23 November 2009 Arrive in Aziziyyah, perform Umrah and stay in Aziziyyah
25 November 2009 8th Dhul-Hijjah – Go to Mina, begin the rites of Hajj
26 November 2009 9th Dhul Hijjah – Arafat, Muzdalifah
27 November 2009 10th Dhul Hijjah – Mina
28 November 2009 11th Dhul Hijjah – Mina
29 November 2009 12th Dhul Hijjah – Mina
30 November 2009 13th Dhul Hijjah – Leave Mina and proceed to Makkah, perform farewell Tawaf and leave for Jeddah, check-in to hotel
02 December 2009 Check out of hotel in Jeddah and proceed to airport for flight back to UK
03 December 2009 Arrive in to the UK
Nice itinery!

Level playing field - become a politician and sort it out. Until then be a good grandparent and do what it takes for your bairns - pay the 'in term price' price or lumber your own child with a Fixed Penalty Notice costing up to £100 for each of your grandchildren.
That looks like being £100.00 per day for 2 children and can be laid against each parent.

As to the ' OneYorkshireLass' comment about a Pakistani without gender who arranged a [heresay] arranged marriage - so what ? - that too would be wrong, and an immoral reason to misuse the law. You at least are not arguing in faviour of breaking the law, many many others in this thread are arguing for a selective choice to break the law.
In our case, no one involved has broken the law (yet), and indeed may never actually break the law, if certain points are laid before the headteacher and this person changes their mind

mrs_sparrow

leosayer39 wrote: »

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

My son (with Special Needs) has been kept in after school for not finishing his colouring in. I turned up to get him and they said no, he was not coming out yet as he had not finished his work. I wish I had known then what I know now however.....
Why?
Is this illegal ?

Yes, for more than one reason too!! I wish I had known back then, some backside would have been kicked!! The things you can find out with Google on a wet rainy day!

mrs_sparrow

Have to admit though, I am confused, I thought the fine was £50 (going up to £60 soon) for having the week off. £50 per day is very new to me. However, it is a moot point if the LA do not chance the fines anyway you won't have to pay. It is not the school who chance them and prosecute, it is the LA. It might be worth asking around to see if anyone else has been in the same boat.

Put your LA into Google and look for unauthorised absence fines and see if anything comes up.

I know someone is going to tell me that it is wrong, etc.... but there is a whole board full of people telling others how not to pay parking fines and this is no different. If the school has no clear policy in place it cannot fine. End of.

Leosayer - I would just tell your children to write to the school AND the LA for a copy of their Local Code of Conduct and see what they come back with and go from there. There might not be any policy in place so all of this might be irrelevant, it might just be the efforts of one school to stop people taking time off.

annie1975_2

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

Have to admit though, I am confused, I thought the fine was £50 (going up to £60 soon) for having the week off. £50 per day is very new to me. However, it is a moot point if the LA do not chance the fines anyway you won't have to pay. It is not the school who chance them and prosecute, it is the LA. It might be worth asking around to see if anyone else has been in the same boat.

Put your LA into Google and look for unauthorised absence fines and see if anything comes up.

I know someone is going to tell me that it is wrong, etc.... but there is a whole board full of people telling others how not to pay parking fines and this is no different. If the school has no clear policy in place it cannot fine. End of.

Leosayer - I would just tell your children to write to the school AND the LA for a copy of their Local Code of Conduct and see what they come back with and go from there. There might not be any policy in place so all of this might be irrelevant, it might just be the efforts of one school to stop people taking time off.

To be honest I thought it was £50 per week per child.
As I have said before the travel company's put there prices up(by quite a lot) during school holidays,and this is the main reason for bringing kids out of school.When I asked why they do this they said "because people will pay it"..So until people say "Im not paying it",the prices wont drop..But we all know thats not going to happen...its cheaper just to pay the fine,than to pay for holiday during school hols...

mrs_sparrow

annie1975 wrote: »

To be honest I thought it was £50 per week per child.
As I have said before the travel company's put there prices up(by quite a lot) during school holidays,and this is the main reason for bringing kids out of school.When I asked why they do this they said "because people will pay it"..So until people say "Im not paying it",the prices wont drop..But we all know thats not going to happen...its cheaper just to pay the fine,than to pay for holiday during school hols...

I have asked on another forum I am on and people on there have been fined £50 for a week or two. £50 a day, per child, is just taking it to extremes. Especially when the LA does not fine either. I don't think the school should be lying about it.

I was chatting to a guy when we was last on holiday and there is a school in London with a massive waiting list and if you have one non-authorised day off your name is removed from the records that day and someone else takes your place. Scary that they can do this, what if your flight got delayed from holiday for example, would your place be gone by the time you get back into the UK??

leosayer39

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

Have to admit though, I am confused, I thought the fine was £50 (going up to £60 soon) for having the week off. £50 per day is very new to me.
Some schools are interpreting the £50.00 fine as a £50.00 per day, per parent fine.

However, it is a moot point if the LA do not chance the fines anyway you won't have to pay. It is not the school who chance them and prosecute, it is the LA. It might be worth asking around to see if anyone else has been in the same boat.

Put your LA into Google and look for unauthorised absence fines and see if anything comes up.
One fine....for a teacher who removed her daughter from school to go on holiday

I know someone is going to tell me that it is wrong, etc.... but there is a whole board full of people telling others how not to pay parking fines and this is no different. If the school has no clear policy in place it cannot fine. End of.
That ll do for me..I ll pass it on to the childrens parents

Leosayer - I would just tell your children to write to the school AND the LA for a copy of their Local Code of Conduct and see what they come back with and go from there. There might not be any policy in place so all of this might be irrelevant, it might just be the efforts of one school to stop people taking time off.
Actually, I might write to the local authority myself requesting a copy of their Code of Conduct and ask if they have a 'fining' policy in place

leosayer39

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

I have asked on another forum I am on and people on there have been fined £50 for a week or two. £50 a day, per child, is just taking it to extremes. Especially when the LA does not fine either. I don't think the school should be lying about it.
I think its a case of how the fine is determined

I was chatting to a guy when we was last on holiday and there is a school in London with a massive waiting list and if you have one non-authorised day off your name is removed from the records that day and someone else takes your place. Scary that they can do this, what if your flight got delayed from holiday for example, would your place be gone by the time you get back into the UK??
That does seem a bit harsh, doesnt it?