Anyone challenged a term time holiday judgement?

stewdaviesuk

Having booked last year a holiday at Christmas, to run between the published term times, I received a letter in July, like many, explaining the new rules and exceptional circumstances. My letter also explained that the term times published on the school website (which is simply a copy of the county council one) are not the times the school will be using, it has chosen to extend the term by 1 day at Christmas effectively meaning we have to take our child out of school.

The school advised waiting for the new term to start before discussing this with them as the head-teacher was being replaced and the new one needed time to get up to speed with such issues.

Having now seen the new head, he is sympathetic but cannot see anywhere in the guidelines where he can approve the absence, he felt it wasn't exceptional as defined by his guidance notes. I imagine i will now be fined unless I appeal, but is it worth it? Can losing an appeal end up costing a lot more?

Cheers

balletshoes

can you not wait until you receive a notice of the fine, and then appeal?

stewdaviesuk

Yes, in fact we not sure of the process and neither was he. We have known him for years as he was a teacher before the new appointment. We were also thinking that if we were going to be fined for the 1 day infringement (its a Thursday), we may as well end his term even earlier and get a longer break. He is only 8 and still plays games in the last short week before christmas so its not a big educational loss as far as we can see.

Lunar_Eclipse

I wouldn't challenge the decision, but for the sake of 1 day I would be tempted to ask the school how they would like it recorded. Would they prefer it to be recorded as unauthorised absence for holiday purposes, or for you to phone in saying you have a medical appointment that day (or sick) so it is recorded as authorised?

I don't agree with lying, so I'd probably write a letter saying they are going to be absent that day and leave it at that. You made an honest mistake and it's one day off school, so I wouldn't make it a big deal.

Spendless

Hi, when we received our letter notifying us of the changes, it was around late April/May time and our schools said in it they had sought guidance from our LA over what is considered 'exceptional cirs'. My LA gave a few examples but also added 'anything else that could be considered exceptional circs but does not come under the examples given to be referred to the LA for guidance'

I would say that the new head could contact your own LA and put the situation to them?

jellyhead

I think that if you can prove the holiday was booked inside the published term times before you were told of the change, it would be unfair to fine you.

I'd appeal. Would the price still go up to £120 during the appeal process?

spacey2012

Tell them you are members of the pixie god religion and plan a pilgrimage day for your religious needs .

stewdaviesuk

Lunar Eclipse, I am not sure I made any kind of mistake to be fair. If the school does not tell parents that it does not intend sticking to the LA term time calendar even though it is shown on the school website as the only source of such information, then almost off handedly in a news letter 5 months before mentions its wrong, and still don't change the calendar, I would be more inclined to feel they are the ones making the mistake.

As far as I know the head has now passed all this on to the LA so we have no option to change our approach by using subterfuge had we wanted to.

I guess we just sit it out and see what happens, but as yet out LA has not fined anybody and we don't know how long the process takes before they contact us, if at all.

stewdaviesuk

Jellyhead - The new head knows what we have done as he asked for the booking form to show we did this before the changes and he has a copy of it. We imagine he sends all this along with our explanation to the LA who make a ruling on it. I have no idea about the appeal process and subsequent fine changes. May have to take it on the chin which is why if they came back soon enough I would be tempted to say sod it we will take him out for the entire week if you won't accept the mistake was not ours.

becominganobsessivesaver

Not sure if I've misread the OP but I thought the fine only applied if there were 5 or more consecutive days of unauthorised absence.

stewdaviesuk

becominganobsessivesaver - if thats true it would be welcome news. We have been given nothing other than a notice about being fined, no proper guidelines, but the LA states on its website

"Only the headteacher can decide if the reason given for absence is acceptable. If the head teacher decides that the reason given for absence is unacceptable, the absence will remain unauthorised."

He won't give it.