Term time holiday fine question.

FBaby

It's a new regulation imposed on the schools by the government.

I understand this does not affect school with academy status. Thankfully, my DD school is one (and only one more year and will be my son too) and we have received no notification of fines.

Are holidays ever "exceptional circumstances"?

Holidays are not the only reason for taking a child off school. I had to take my children off one day because we had to travel to London to renew their passport (not English) and we had no choice but to go on the day and time provided. This was authorised by both schools.

Some councils take this very seriously -

Will councils be liable to inform the public how that additional money will be spent...I can see number of FOIs increasing...

Lunar_Eclipse

chickenpants wrote: »

I hope you don't say that to your child's teacher :eek:

It's a well known fact that supportive homes are the biggest influencer in children's academic achievement.

Do these new mandatory fines apply to Academies? Our local schools are Academies and we've only been wished a 'wonderful trip' on the 2 occasions we've taken our children out of school. Once was for a 2 day trip to Disneyland Paris which I still can't believe I did since that doesn't remotely qualify as a worthy holiday to miss school to me (no idea what I was thinking!) No-one was concerned though and it was 6 weeks before the end of year exams in which DD1 was placed on the G&T register.

Whilst I always thought I wouldn't take my children out of school during term time, life has taught me that schooling is only one aspect of education. Family time is invaluable, there are learning opportunities around every corner and a whole world out there to explore. I also accept responsibility for my children's education; I'm not blindly relying on the government to do it and thus by the same token will not be held to ransom by them for how I choose to raise and educate my children.

Guest101

Fines are issued by the court, these ar not fines.

Guest101

Think parents should remember they are the legal guardians of their children, and are at sole discretion as to what their children do and where they go (unless ordered by a court to do otherwise).

The schools are not all mighty and all powerful...

Spendless

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

Do these new mandatory fines apply to Academies?

Yes they do. Son's school is an Academy.

blackandwhitebunny

Bluemeanie wrote: »

Can't you just say the kids were ill?? Won't this just encourage people to lie?

I'm not sure about primary children but I wouldn't try this with teenagers. I find a simple query about not having seen X for a few days will lead to a list of information as to where he's gone, who with, which travel company, how long for and the weight of their luggage. Best friend has a very different meaning when you're in maths and they're in Disneyland. These cases are always investigated and I have never known it to prove untrue.

Guest101 wrote: »

Think parents should remember they are the legal guardians of their children, and are at sole discretion as to what their children do and where they go (unless ordered by a court to do otherwise).

The schools are not all mighty and all powerful...

Its not schools its the Government, those people who set the legislation enforced by the courts. They also (and I know this might be seen as controversial) contribute financially to the upbringing of the vast majority of children so have a right to set some rules too, for the children's benefit.

EmmaBridgewater wrote: »

Taking children out for weeks on end just to avoid the inflated holiday prices is a wholly different matter though.

In my opinion school should never come in the way of illness, bereavement, weddings. These are things which you need time time to deal with or enjoy.

Unfortunately cheap prices are the main reason, many parents will take their children out twice in a year so they can have two holidays as this is the same cost as taking one in peak holiday time.

I have never known any school I have taught in to refuse pupils time off in the case of bereavement or illness, however most do not regard weddings as a reason for time off as the date is determined in advance.

There are many examples in this thread of people who were taken out of school in term time to no ill effect, what comes through though is that these were cases when the parents actually thought about when they were taking them out. As a teacher I agree that many children's education would not suffer much if they missed the last two weeks in July (its no longer all fun and games but it would be consolidation and revision work rather than new learning) or the week before Christmas (when pupils, even 15yr old ones, are so excited little real learning takes place). We always authorised these holidays as long as the pupils had good attendance and no coursework etc outstanding. However for some reason a proportion of parents think that the week when their child is completing Controlled assessment work or writing a modular exam is a good time to go to Turkey. They then often expect that the schol will bend over backwards to enable their child to catch up, often involving staff having to organise extra sessions or the school having to pay two lots of exam fees.

Finally my husband and I could not go on holiday together or even spend time at home together for the first five years of our marriage. He worked for a company that only allowed a set number of staff to be on leave at one time, as we don't have children he was always given non-school holiday time. I did ask if I could have two weeks off school as the pupils do and even offered to pay the fine or make up the time in the holidays (possibly with pupils who had missed time for holidays) and guess what... I got no sympathy.

peachyprice

Guest101 wrote: »

Fines are issued by the court, these ar not fines.

Yes, they are. Courts can give entites status to be able to issue fines, such as the police can. LEA's have been granted this status.

PENALTY NOTICES FOR PARENTS OF TRUANTS
ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR ACT 2003 SECTION 23

Legislation
The Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003 inserts into the Education Act 1996 Section 444A and Section 444B enabling authorised personnel to issue penalty notices as an alternative to prosecution under Section 444 and enable parents to discharge potential liability for conviction for that offence by paying a penalty.

FBaby

Spendless wrote: »

Yes they do. Son's school is an Academy.

I was told differently as they are not accountable to the council any longer.

Spendless

FBaby wrote: »

I was told differently as they are not accountable to the council any longer.

I had exactly the same letter from son's academy about it as I did from daughter's Junior school (foundation school). The ruling is from the Government not the council. The only difference was daughter's school said 'we have new rules from Sept and they apply with immediate effect. This was April/May time. Son's school sent out the same letter several weeks after and said if you apply for a hol within the next so long (10 days-ish) we will apply our current rules to it for a hol taken in the next academic year.

Spendless

This isn't my childrens schools but is an academy and they are referring to same thing.

http://www.queensmead.net/news_detail.asp?Section=8&Ref=178