Term time leave request advice

ps124

Hi All,


My sister is getting married abroad in March. Unfortunately, the wedding dates available fall during school term time. She has tried (and is still trying) to move dates so the wedding falls in a half term or Easter but the its not working out for various reasons at the moment - venue unavailability, religious dates etc.



I don't want to miss her wedding, and obviously don't want my kids to miss school, but if she is not able to move the dates, I will have to approach the school and request leave citing 'exceptional circumstances' as per their process.



What are the chances they will grant leave? If they say no, but me and my wife decide to go ahead with the leave, what are the consequences? Are we talking about a fine only or will this have further repercussions on my children's 'record' that may disadvantage them in some way?



One child is in Year 4, and the other is in Reception and under the age of 5.



Thanks.

jackieblack

How long are you intending to take the children out of school for? And where ‘abroad’ is the wedding?
‘Exceptional circumstances’ are at the discretion of the headteacher but there is no authority for a holiday. Our local primary has in the past generally authorised a day for a wedding of a close family member (usually a parent or sibling of the child, not sure whether an aunt would be considered close) and possibly a day or two half days for travelling, depending on the destination. Anything more than that is a holiday so unauthorised.

silvercar

It won't damage their "record".

My understanding was that children under 5 are not of compulsory school age, so can't be penalised for non-attendance.

Valli

Presumably, by next March, the children will be in Y5 and Y1.

If their attendance is otherwise good, and this is a one-off request, it may well be authorised, if it's an LA school.

System

They'll probably not grant leave, then you go anyway, then you pay the fine. As long as you're not doing this a lot, it'll be fine.

LandyAndy

Maybe if you asked the head teacher and gave them the full details of the trip, destination, length of time etc. you would get a definitive answer as to what their attitude is?

It's certainly going to be a more accurate guide than you will get from asking randoms on the internet who only have half a story.

peachyprice

How long do you intend to take them out of school for. You'll need to check your LEA for when fines kick in, mine for example state:

The Code of Conduct for Penalty Notices has recently been updated and changes came into effect on 1st October 2017. Parents should be aware of the main changes below:

A penalty notice may be issued if 10 unauthorised absence sessions have occurred during a 10 week period (N.B. Each school day is made up of 2 sessions)
A penalty notice may be issued if there are 6 or more unauthorised sessions due to a holiday taken during the first two weeks of September (this will apply for holidays taken during September 2018 onwards)

Check your LEA website, it may well be that if you take a long weekend you won't be fined.

ps124

Hi All,


Thanks for all the responses. To answer some of the questions:
My daughter will be in Year 4 and my son in Reception when the wedding comes round. The one is reception will be under 5 so not expecting any fines for him
As I said in my first post, I'll need to take 5 days (Mon - Friday) out of school. If my sister can't move the wedding date to fall during a school holiday, her preference will be the week after the Feb half term. So I'll have to take the half term week, and then the Mon-Fri following half term. The wedding is in Goa so the kids will need probably miss that whole week as they need a day or two to recover from the flight

Attendance records are really good for both my kids - and we've not had any unauthorized leave
I am going to ask the headteacher but I wanted some general guidance from people who may have come across this situation and know what evidence may be requested/what I could offer to increase the chances of approval


So are the fines per day, per child, I miss or for the whole period?

duchy

Basically you are in the hands of the headteacher and the LEA with your older child.
Even if the headteacher is fine with it most are unable to authorize holiday so your child will just be marked as absent and that is it - however the head can choose not to recommend fining to the LEA (although some LEAs insist on fining regardless). There is no one answer and its probably worth chatting to other parents to find out their experiences with this particular school (the parent school gate !!!!! does have its uses)
With your younger child you can't be fined (we actually got a letter from the school saying all three kids would be fined for but when it went to the LEA they only issued fimes for the older two .....however be aware fines are not just per child but per parent per child !!
May not be relevant but academies' tend to be tougher

sheramber

You have already had experience of this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5446188/school-holidays-help#topofpage

System

sheramber wrote: »

You have already had experience of this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5446188/school-holidays-help#topofpage

Ahh yes, so there's previous form of you doing this OP! Well, you'll still be okay, however the fine increases the more times you do this. The LEA will start to look deeper if it continues.



Looking at the last absence and considering this planned absence and your kid's ages, the chances are you'll be doing it again. Careful now OP.