New fines for missing school - how can they prove child not sick?

zagfles

Another option - find a better value holiday. Center Parcs are hideously overpriced even outside the school holidays.

It always worth looking around for holidays which are different in different parts of the country. For instance this Easter our holidays are a week later than in the south, so the second week of our Easter break is quite cheap.

meer53

Kids will ALWAYS tell the truth. If not to the teaching staff then to their friends.

So the answer is, no she won't get away with it. You don't have to go away to enjoy a holiday, it can be done at home. Sometimes it's more stressful to go away !

claret_mike

Can't you or family financially assist, even if it means she pays you back (or treat it as birthday/xmas presents to them)

If I was in that position, I would value the lifetime of memories of a well deserved family break in comparison to presents that are often less remembered.

Philippa36

I would think the school could request a GP letter to confirm illness although highly unlikely 3 children would all succumb to an illness together.

I would suggest either going somewhere cheaper as already suggested or talking to the school rather than getting to get away with a horribly obvious lie.

Moto2

Philippa36 wrote: »

....... although highly unlikely 3 children would all succumb to an illness together.

Oh, I dunno - I can vividly remember our 3 going down with the same puking and $***ing bug at the same time! even my wife got it.
The smell of dettol still haunts me

jacques_chirac

Philippa36 wrote: »

I would think the school could request a GP letter to confirm illness although highly unlikely 3 children would all succumb to an illness together.

I would suggest either going somewhere cheaper as already suggested or talking to the school rather than getting to get away with a horribly obvious lie.

If someone is willing to lie to the school, are they also willing to lie to their GP? Could end up very messy!

For those moaning about high prices in the holidays, remember you won't have school age children forever - you'll benefit from the lower prices in years to come.

I don't see any grounds for exceptional circumstances due to the low income, indeed if they are claiming their full entitlement they will not be on a low income.

Valli

emmamc252 wrote: »

Like they do have to have proof don't they?

Apparently not.

I have been told that if it is believed the children's absence was unauthorised then the fines may still be imposed.

Philippa36

Yes but if you're asking your GP to write a letter saying that your 3 children are ill then they would need to be seen to be ill!

Both my children are at Uni and we now benefit from cheaper holidays within term time as they both went to school during term times and we went on holiday during the school holidays..

laurel7172

To my mind, the biggest moral issue is the effect the liars have on people with real emergencies.

I know of a head who was taken in by a family of liars when dad came in *in tears* to say that a family member was dying and they needed to leave straight away. The kids' cousins (who shared the allegedly dying grandparent) dobbed them in less than two hours later.

As this distasteful wheeze had worked once, it wasn't long before somebody else tried it. But the next family to claim a dying relative was asked to provide proof that the plane tickets had, as they claimed, been booked that morning...it wasn't forthcoming.

My point is that these dishonest families have made life harder for the next family with a genuinely dying granny...and why should a family in that position have to face extra stress at a difficult time?

becominganobsessivesaver

I think the fine kicks in after 10 sessions (half days) so one week. If I remember rightly Centerparcs breaks are usually Monday to Friday. The easiest thing to do is send them to school for half a day on the Monday morning, pick them up at lunch time then drive over to start the holiday. Only 9 sessions missed, so no fine, no need to lie and only a couple of hours of holiday lost!