Have you taken dc out of school for a holiday

[sunsunpleasecomeout]

Dc 1 in primary and one in year 7 secondary and pricing up holidays and it's looking close to £1000 cheaper to take them out of school for 6 days.

Am I guaranteed a fine? How much would it be? Could I say they are unwell for the week?

Fined here if you miss 9.5 sessions.

We're taking them out for a holiday soon. If it's £1000 cheaper to take them in term time may as well take the fine? Here it's £60 per parent per child so we're looking at £240.

I have taken mine out several times when at primary school and dd1 in y7. All for a week.

I didn’t lie and I didn’t get fined. Luckily we had sensible schools that didn’t pursue fines as long as general attendance was good. I wouldn’t take them out later than y7 though, so I’ve sucked up the school holiday prices for years now. We usually go the last week as it tends to be a lot cheaper.

Every year apart from during GCSEs, they’ve seen so much of the world and I’ve never given it a second thought. A few of their teachers encouraged it, asked where we were off to next, etc. I would never lie though, be straight up about it and email the school to inform them of the dates they’ll be off and why.

@HaveANiceFuckingDay I think I would actually move schools if ours had done that, bloody hell.

No, I'd not want to take a Year 7 child out of school, particularly because they missed so much because of Covid. However £1k is a lot of difference in price. The fine would be £120 per child.

Yes, but in Scotland, so no fines, no lying.

Yes. Fine is much cheaper out holiday was 2k cheaper.. Fine ( 60 pw per parent x 2 weeks =240)
Don't lie. Just go

No it's for the whole duration of the holiday. They can also go straight to court but that's if your child already has bad attendance.

Yes.
fined £60 per parent per child.

We wrote to ask permission, gave what I thought was a valid reason but no, still got the fine and permission denied.

Was a cracking, well needed holiday so worth it.

We've done it. We tell the school the truth so the kids don't need to hide the holiday from teachers/friends. Their teachers have always wished them well.

You can check on your local authority website how many sessions they can miss, ours is 10 - 5 days.

I take my kids out every year, sometimes twice a year. Had 1 fine. 1 in primary and 1 in seniors. Check your LEA for how long you can take them out without a fine.

Yup every year. And will continue to except for year 10 and 11 (and 12-13 if applicable).

We don't lie though. I'm big on not lying so wouldn't ask the kids to lie.

Yes, lots of times but usually only for a couple of days.
He’s at independent school and they are fine with it.
i won’t be doing it in year 7 or above.

This was the exact same for us at Christmas for center parcs.
My DD was only 5, so could never have hid it, but I wouldn't have asked her to lie anyway for moral reasons.

I definitely wouldn't lie about them being unwell but would be up front about the holiday and say you accept you will be fined etc

The council don't usually send fines for less than 5 days off school. It's £60 per parent.

I've never had a fine yet but I am expecting one as I will be taking DS in a couple of weeks. For the sake of £120 or spending double what I've already paid which would be over £1000 it's a no brained for me.

We did it once, for two days. Both schools (primary and secondary) ok'd it due to exceptional circumstances - one child had been through serious illness and this was a special holiday, so no fine for us. There was no option for us to get the holiday to fit within the school holidays.

As long as you don’t expect the teacher to give up their evenings/weekends/break/lunch to try and catch up the work the child missed. And as long as you are aware that if they miss a key concept in maths etc it can mean difficulties in their understanding of that topic in the future, then go ahead.
It sounds a mega expensive holiday you are doing. Are you going abroad? You could have a more affordable one in this country instead.

Not all schools have this policy. Many schools have something online where you report your child off sick. You don't speak to anybody at all, if you have general good attendance I think you will be fine as long as you are not really taking the mick.

I wouldn't lie but have done it before usually the last few days of term so haven't been fined as haven't missed a full week (10 sessions).

Yes I’ve done it many times. Did it last week adding 3 days onto the Easter holidays for my yr10, 6 & 3 children. They otherwise had 100% attendance so no worries at all. I’ve always told the truth and never done it for longer than a week. The schools have been fine with it even though it wasn’t authorised.

Could I say they are unwell for the week?

Teachers aren't stupid. Please don't insult them by doing this.

I have taken DD out of school a few times when she was at primary school, but never at secondary school. Unless your year 7 child has very good friends at school they might struggle with missing a week's worth of subjects like maths because the teachers will not give your child missing work to catch up on.

I can only afford to go on holiday if I take them out of school. Maximum I've taken out at a time is ten days. At primary school level school weren't bothered but at secondary level I would get a generic email about it being against school policy and it would be marked as an unauthorised absence. It never stopped me though.

Of course I wouldn't expect teachers to give them catch up work. I mean they have already missed so much time with strike days another week won't make much difference

Just tell them you are going and take the fine.

Asking your child to lie