To take my kids out of school for three weeks

Yes, and the issue was the impact on her job, having a criminal conviction.

At those ages I would 100% do it (please give us a hint at this once in a lifetime opportunity!) and I would suck up the fine.

I have normally been against taking dc out of school for holidays (never did with mine) but having seen the little work they do (at the ages your dc are) in the last week of term then I wouldn’t hesitate. Just reread OP. Are these mid year term holidays that your trip would cover? For some reason I was assuming end of school year in July

Go for it!!

Real life experiences are just as important as in class education.

As long as it’s not at the beginning of September or impacts GCSEs etc which yours isn’t then it’s fine.

I remember this one too - her attitude was awful. I think the attendance issue was more than the three weeks if IRC?

Umm, ok, cool 👍

I’d do it with DC that age definitely. Would probably consider if you can come back a week early though so they just miss one week of the start of term - or even better miss the last 2 weeks of term instead (when not as much happens) and then be back for the start of the next one.
School probably won’t be thrilled but does it matter really, it’ll be unauthorised absence, as long as you don’t make a habit of it it won’t affect your DC much.
You also might have to pay a fine, so just budget that into your trip.

Just to add I’m saying this as someone who has never taken my DC out of school for a holiday, I just think a once in a lifetime trip for DC that young will be better life experience than 3 weeks in school especially when one week is the end of term.

Just pay the fine. I absolutely would do it. You have 1 life. Live it. It's hardly going to affect their future career path at age 4 and 5

YABU,
It may be the experience of a lifetime for you, but at the ages of 4 and 5, will your children even take it all in or remember all of it.
Can you not go for a shorter time? At that age, I would be far more concerned about the children missing out on friendship groupings in September when they go back to school.

Whats the point of taking them on holiday for so long at this age as they won’t remember it.
Then in the next breath
And they will miss so much crucial lesson time in school they can’t ever catch up!

A few of us have said that our now older kids cant remember much if any of their holidays when they were very young. I think at that age holidays where mainly a change of scenery for parents.They were for me anyway! I just never took them out of school abd this was before fines were introduced.
I did all the 'its a cultural expierence, they will learn loads,' well they probably did at the time but like most things if it's not used or remembered regularly a lot gets forgotten.

OP, do what you want,this is always going to be a controversial subject on MN

'trip of a lifetime' often depressingly means Orlando so I hope it's not that... People have depressingly low aspirations for their children if they think that is the trip of a lifetime. Agree with posters who say they're unlikely to remember much of the trip at that age vs the educational impact at a key stage. But I'm against taking children out of mandatory education generally.

Ex teacher. I've done it, though my children did some work every morning. To me, it depends on the children, the type of trip and how confident you are working with them (or employing a tutor if needed) to make sure learning isn't missed.

The school aren't allowed to authorise it. It's not their decision.

Not really lucky, our school is just using common sense. We have a lot of immigrant parents in our school who get approval to go back to India/Pakistan for a couple of weeks - as long as the children are performing well academically, have good behaviour, and attending school otherwise there really isn’t an issue. Thankfully our school thinks outside the box and doesn’t tarnish everyone with the same brush.

School wont authorise it but meh, go for it 😃 they'll be fine

I work in a school. I’d never take students out in exam years at ks4/5, but otherwise I’d definitely take them when I could. The fine will just have to be accounted for in the total.

"my children are unlikely to ever get this opportunity again"

From experience, they won't remember any of it. That's not a reason not to go but it's a once in a lifetime experience for the adults. For the kids, not so much.

I don't think there's any harm in taking the kids out of school for 3 weeks. People saying they be at a disadvantage because of it are just being dramatic.

But, they are only 4 and 5. Its not going to be a life changing trip for them at that age - the likely wont even remember most of it. So its mostly for you that you will be going (which is fine).

You really think missing 40% of school time has had no effect?
It’s a wonder you bother sending him at all 🤔

I did it, youngest was 6. They were fine.

I don't think they will go for it. You could deregister them if the year groups aren't full and then just re-register when they come back. But you are taking a chance that the spaces will go.

Yes it's definitely not what teachers generally say! And as a fair few PPs have said, four and five year olds won't actually remember this once in a lifetime experience.

So you had approval? Different scenario, then? It was an authorised absence. If your HT chose to withhold approval, you would be subject to an LA investigation and the same risks would apply.

In State Schools the OP will not get an authorised absence - the LA will not allow HTs to provide it.

Tbh, you were very lucky - our private school absolutely refused to give authorised absences for travel for more than a day at either end of a term/half term. And even then there had to be a very very good reason why we couldn’t travel a day later.

It’s okay, we don’t need your pity as we won’t get fined and our kids will be in school to learn.

Not quite sure how you can work in attendance and promote kids missing 30 sessions of school for a holiday so lightheartedly? Surely you’d be surrounded by the pressure to keep attendance up?

Do check how they will tally it up in your local area - more than two fines in a three year period can trigger a prosecution now, and one week is enough for a fine, so if they were to count it as three separate fines (I don't know if they would or not and I think it can be LA dependent) you could have to go to court.

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/08/fines-for-parents-for-taking-children-out-of-school-what-you-need-to-know/

You call in sick for the last week of term. You apply (and get denied) the first two weeks of the next term as holiday. You duck up the fine and don't do it again for at least three years. Kids will be absolutely fine xx