Taking children out of school for term time holiday?

[SAMX19]

I have a holiday booked which will mean DD (year 1) will need 4 days off school.

I have never taken her out of school for anything other than sickness. Can anyone tell me their personal experiences of doing this and whether there have been repercussions? We live in England. Thanks.

Totally depends on the school and teacher.

It will be unauthorised. They may or may not fine you.

Besides that nothing.

We haven't ever done it but are considering it. Ours would be classed as unauthorised and a fine, but only if the kids are off school for 5 or more days in our area.

You'll need a holiday/absence form from your child's school. Fill it in and hand it into the office. Every absence type has a different code. It will most likely not be approved and will be logged on the register as "holiday - not approved".

Whether you will get fined or not will depend on your local authority and how fines are administered so nobody can say either way.

As a general rule, missing 4 days isn't the end of the world and probably won't come to anything as long as their attendance is good (95% and higher is good, over 90% would be less clear cut).

Fill the form in, it’s very unlikely to be authorised
Go anyway, inform school a week or so before that your child won’t be in on x dates due to a holiday
If you get a fine pay without complaint
That’s it basically

So is it best to get the form & fill it in as soon as possible?

I’m generally a bit of a stickler for rules so it’s all stressing me out a bit. We haven’t had a holiday for a few years and the kids have been asking us constantly but the prices are just so expensive in holidays. It’s only a UK break but we just couldn’t afford to do it unless in term time.

It varies depending on your local authority so you would get a better idea of the consequences for your particular school by asking fellow parents or local Facebook groups for your area.

Our area is pretty strict. Any absence over 4.5 days is unauthorised and goes straight to the council who then fine £60 per parent, per child. That being said our head teacher doesn't actually care, even wished us a good holiday, but their hands are tied and so they have to pass it on.

It'll be unauthorised.

That's it. And maybe a fine.

So much ridiculous pressure on attendance it's crazy. Especially when they're still so little.

It's not as though an interviewer for a job when these kids are aged 25 is going to say, so , how was your attendance at primary school??

It's bull shit and sorry for derailing thread but primary school attendance drives me nuts.

I’ve done it

We were fined but it still cheaper than going out of term.

Dd was not in an important year (I would never do it during GCSE year), and she caught up on her work quickly so suffered no long lasting effect.

I had to pay £120

Don’t regret it to the point where I might even do it again this year with two children. Yes the fine will be £220 but that is still £500 cheaper than out of term time

Your school should have a procedure in place for this. Go to the school office and request the form. They like to have a months notice, but even if you were to fill it out and hand it in the day before there's nothing they can do. They can't stop you going. If it warrants a fine they'll advise the local authority and then they will isue the fine once you have returned (they like to make sure you return when you say you will before issuing it.) think our fine came through 3 weeks after we returned.

And don't stress about it! In my experience the schools themselves don't even agree with the policy. Our head teacher wished us a good time.

If it’s just 4 days I doubt you will get fined, I thought 5 days absence issued a fine, but I not entirely sure of this. Enjoy your holiday and try not to worry.

I took DS out for 3 days in Year 1. It was unauthorised but no further action was taken.

4 days absence you should be under the threshold and not be fined.

If they are under 5 do you still get a fine? Seeing as they don't legally have to be in school until aged 5.

Just bloody do it. My children are much older now and when I look back I wish I'd done it. You might get a fine you might not.

I've done it a few times. Had no fine at all until last year. Was still cheaper then going in the school hols with the two fines I had.

The school my DD's attend don't have a form anymore for requesting absences you have to write to the head teacher directly with your reasons why you are asking for authorised time off school.

It is a large high performing secondary school. My 3 DC's were authorised 2 days each at the end of last term. I was amazed but the case by case basis makes sense to me.
I still can't believe he authorised it! (Still feeling smug, can you tell!!)

You won't get a fine for 4 days off, the fine is issued after 9.5 sessions absent, each morning and afternoon is counted as a session each.

In the past when we've taken days off for a holiday the teachers have just been genuinely interested in where we are off to and wished us safe travels. There really wasn't anymore to it.

Enjoy your holiday!

Yes we did this "cheap week" skiing holidays all the way through primary. Odd days in secondary. They are missing one day in Febuary to save £700 on flights, coming back on a monday.