To take my kids out of school for three weeks

Yes I 100% would

I know they learn at school, but they are 5. They will be fine. My 5 year old is growing up in a different country, he doesn’t even start school until next year when he’s 6. He can already do basic reading and maths and hasn’t ever been to school, just from day to day life. He’s at nursery part time but in a completely different language and they don’t teach them to read, so he definitely didn’t learn to read in English there.

Im taking him for 6 weeks this spring to Asia and he will have a blast ( we can’t travel summer and Xmas due to it being our busiest season work wise)

I will carry on taking him out when he’s school age on occasion if needed

As long as you don’t inconvenience the teacher who will have carefully planned lessons for the 5 year old then crack on.

5 days absence requires the school to notify the LA - they will then investigate whether the children are ‘missing’ or being educated elsewhere. In this case they will know that the children are overseas on holiday. The LA will then, having confirmed that the children are neither missing nor receiving an education elsewhere, will deregister them (and initiate court proceedings).

So no, it’s not just a fine - the OP risks returning from her lifetime trip and her children having no school places. She will have to home school and apply via the LA to local schools, and may not get a place at the same school or any school she would be happy for her children to attend. Having homeschooled myself, I know that getting another school place at an equivalent quality state school within catchment area is often impossible in the short-term. We had to go private.

She needs to weigh up if she is willing to risk that.

OP could get more than a fine, she could get a court appearance and a criminal record.
Whatever anyone thinks the fact is that thinghs have now changed and its not just always a case of pay the fine, there can be more serious consequences and OP neds to be fully aware of all of them before making a decision

It's a national attendance policy for England now, schools have no discretion it's automatic and managed by local authorities. I've taken my primary aged children out for holidays a couple of times but won't do it again. The thread linked by pp demonstrates how quickly the policy jumps to prosecution, which is important if you have a professional or regulated role. I would check with your school and local authority how they would count your planned absence before making a final decision.

Remember that even if you only get the first two stages of fine this time it's another 3 years until the clock resets and you go back to a stage 1 fine meaning you will need to be careful about future absences. You say it's a once in a lifetime but think carefully about the timing as you will only get to do such a long trip once or twice during their entire school time.

Can I ask why you can't fit this into the school holidays? Genuine question.

Be interested to know this once in a lifetime trip.
Probably not as educational as , let me think... school.

YANBU - 4 and 5 year olds having to be in school full time is ridiculous imo, when plenty of the rest of the world doesn’t start full time education until age 6 or 7 and their kids do as well (if not better). Taking your kids out for 3 weeks at such a young age is not going to do them any harm at all imo. My only hesitancy might be if the weeks they were missing were at the beginning of September when it can be important settling in/making friendships time in the new term. Otherwise no issue (apart from paying the stupid fine!).

It would be unauthorised.

Perhaps - I know my DH and I have lovely memories - but the point I was making (and slightly diverted from) is that you shouldn’t take them out of school in expectation of ‘once in a lifetime memories’ as really it is just us, as parents, who get to have those. And my DCs were just has happy with trips to a seaside hotel or camping in the UK in terms of fun and bonding.

But yes, holidays (out of term time) are very valuable for bonding. As it stands we are planning to take the kids - at 18 and 21 - to Japan next year. We love travelling and hanging out together [even though my DDs SEN profile makes it a challenge some days…]. I think the temptation to take them at 4 and 5 is that is it sooooo much cheaper (flights and free hotel places etc) - and it really is about the parents wanting to do these things, not the kids. I think we kid ourselves that the DCs get something more out of it, that we are giving them an enhanced experience, but really it’s our own selfishness [not quite the right word] - whether that’s motivated by wanting to fulfil a fantasy of family life or just wanting to get an exotic trip in before it becomes to expensive to take them and you are forced to wait until they’ve left home to do it as a couple!

Whilst I agree that the rules are archaic and unnecessary, an absence of that long will likely automatically trigger court proceedings. Think very hard about whether your careers require CRB checks!

Sounds amazing. On the face of it I think go for it. Part of me thinks the 5 year old will miss quite a bit but the 4 year old won’t be doing much. But if they’re the kind of kids who will catch up
easily then I reckon go for it. YOLO

All any of us can do is answer based on what the OP has said. She said it's an 'incredible opportunity for a once on a lifetime trip'.

So we're answering based on that.

How awfully snobby… 5 weeks in Florida for many, many families would be an incredible, and oftentimes, once in a lifetime opportunity.

Personally, I consider anytime a child can spend with their family, away from the daily grind, experiencing new things and making memories an incredible opportunity.

What opportunity would you consider ‘worthy enough’ to take children out of school for?

I traveled a lot with my dc. Yes, by all means go, and it certainly won't have a negative effect on their education. The opposite, most likely.

The school will not be helpful. The fines are steep.

Be aware that this will not be the holiday of a lifetime for your dc ... they will have only vague memories of it later, if any, being so young. That's not an argument against going - I agree that you should, and you building memories with your dc, for you, is amazing. But in 5 years when you say, hey remember what a great time we had in X... your dc will be drawing a blank.

They will no doubt love it in the moment. So will you. And that's what counts.

I'm not disagreeing with you, you know your children and your finances best, but ...

You don't need to consciously remember something for it to have played a crucial role in your development. If they had fun on those holidays, had new experiences, met different people, tried new foods, experienced different cultures, had quality time with their parents etc that will all be in there, in the fabric of who they are. The fact they can't remember it doesn't take that away. Just like you can't consciously remember being breastfed or rocked to sleep or comforted when you were teething or carried round endlessly or played with as toddler, but all of that plays out throughout your whole life. Early experiences are crucial to who you become, it's not just about conscious memories.

Don't feel like you wasted your money, even if you would now do things differently.

(And that's not even taking into account that YOU remember it, and your memories are also important!).

Oh for gods sake people… they’re not saying the entirety of their early years education is a waste of time.

What people have pointed out is that few weeks at 5 years of age is not going to irreparably harm their children’s education in the grand scheme of things.

There’s no need to be so dramatic.

Oh the irony of Mumsnet!
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!

How will they remember what they have learnt in school if they can’t remember a once in a lifetime opportunity?

Bollocks the lot of it. Kids learn by repetition and long term exposure to each concept. At age 5 (or 6) they are not learning anything so crucial in school that will never be repeated in the next 10+ years of education. We are far too rigid with our education system nowadays. Too much focus on pointless statistics - like attendance - and no child focused approaches.

No one is disputing that your five year old will have learned a lot in the few months that he’s been at school! What I dispute is children being taken for opportunities outside of school are not just as important, life-moulding and educational.

In the year my child’s topic at primary school was the Vikings, we spent 18 days, in term time, touring Northern Norway - we visited a Viking museum in Gravdal in the Lofoten Islands, we were in the arctic circle looking at and touching Sami artefacts and then reading about them. Who do you think learned more about about that topic? The child immersed in it, or the child reading about it in a class room? And no, my son isn’t home schooled, I work full time and I value school, but I also value real life experiences just as much.

Do it just don't complain when you get a fine if your ok paying that then go for it 😊💕

How can you say this without knowing what the OP is planning - she could be planning 5 weeks in Florida or somewhere similar which can hardly be described as an incredible opportunity .

It's three as it's one per started week so there will definitely be a court summons and not the regular fines.

Same here - trip to Florida at 4/7yrs for my two, Jamiaca the following year, lots of trips to Italy and Spain. No memory of any of it at all. Knowing what I know now, I would always save travel for 10yrs plus as they DO remember those. First holiday they remember was Mexico at 9/12. They can still tell you about the Mayan calendar and what the temples have 18 steps.

Wish we’d saved our money, frankly

However, if the holiday is about building bonds with family - the fact that many of the holidays were with my InLaws to whom my kids are now very very close - there is a benefit. But probably not enough to justify school absences given there are 13 weeks a year to bond with family outside term times.

@notacooldad that's a good point. My kids are always annoyed that they went to all the cool places when they were too young to remember (7 and under). We went because we weren't tied to school holidays so it was cheaper of course. I can's see though how any holiday could be worth a possible criminal conviction. That in itself can make it difficult to visit many countries going forward not to mention the difficulty with mortgage applications and other credit related things.

I would be reading up on the new school attendance rules, you could be looking at court for three weeks of absence.

I would assume it would be counted as two periods of absence at least.