Emailing school to say child is going on holiday, do I tell them or ask them?!

[Diddumms]

I mean I know I can't really 'ask' them because it's booked but I'm struggling with the wording

I've currently got a waffley email saying

Good morning. Due to the nature of our work (we run a holiday park) school holidays aren't available to us to go abroad, so we have booked to go away next week meaning Sons name won't be in until this date. We apologise for any disruption this may cause and will ensure we do reading and some cultural experiences whilst we are away. Please let me know if you need to discuss this further"

Husband thinks I'm mad and just need to factually say "Sons name won't be in school next week as we are on holiday, he will be back on this date"

He's only in reception so not actually compulsory school age, if that changes things

Enjoy your trip!

I won't read the thread before replying as I know exactly how MN responds to controversial Term Time Holidays!

I emailed first and explained my reasons and then followed up with a phone call to confirm and to show I was acting in good faith and allow them to give me a little telling off I don't ask, I inform but do explain and talk it out with them, just common courtesy really.

Either way is fine - or you could see if there’s an online form & complete that?

I just email the school that my children won't be attending on x dates due to a family holiday.

I'm in Scotland so no fines.

Usually get a reply wishing us a nice time

Just ask for a holiday form at the office, fill in and hand back. You’ll usually get a standard reply that it’s not authorised.

Pretty straightforward and you won’t be the only parents doing so over the school year. A fair few people do it at my DC primary and I’m considering it next year.

Enjoy your holiday!

I work in attendance at a school. We have much more respect for parents who say we are going on holiday and will be out of school on these dates. Rather than those who lie, pretend there is a family emergency or whatever. The result is the same whatever you say - a G code (unauthorised holiday) and a fine. (In my local authority you get fined for 5 consecutive days missed, others are different).

so just be honest. School cannot and won’t approve the holiday. If you are fined pay it quickly. If you don’t pay you will get taken to court and the cost will likely be higher

@Snippysocks no, nor did I expect them to.
I don't know if the work was necessary or not for the two weeks they missed each time.

Your email is fine but i wouldnt mention reading and culture.

Similar situation here (holiday park management). We took DS out last year as struggle for time off in school holidays, not to mention this was a holiday that was cancelled due to Covid before he even started school.

Anyway, we explained the fact that it was a pre covid holiday from before he started school and the work situation.

Still told wasn’t authorised and we went and got fined.

He was in year 1 though, which is different to reception

I imagine there’s a school policy in place whereby you have to complete a holiday form even if you don’t need permission.

Once he reaches compulsory school age it will be unauthorised and if it exceeds 5 school days (10 sessions) you’re at risk of a fine.

I am well aware of what you are saying, however at a recent LA training session it was confirmed that we were no longer to used code X as although below CSA, the parents had chosen to forego their right to delay entry and once enrolled in school family holiday (not agreed) code G must be used in all cases.

Another reason to split school holidays and do away with this ridiculous 6 week nonsense. My kids are not out in fields helping with the harvest!

why not, you’d get it done a lot quicker

My post was in reply to DragonFly98

I glad you got it sorted. I often end up making a big drama about things too. It’s really not that uncommon for kids to miss a little school esp when pre CSA.

my kids are missing 3 days before half term for a holiday and 3 days I January. I always email informing the school not requesting permission as I know they won’t /can’t grant permission for it. I always make sure I miss SATS periods etc and anything else significant on the school Callander. My children have good attendance the rest of the year.

My daughters school has an absence form - maybe ask the office if they have one?

You can’t be fined for kids under the age of 5 anyways so I wouldn’t worry too much about it!

Assuming your child isn’t yet 5, they aren’t legally required to be in school full time until the term after their 5th birthday. Essentially, you are free to take them out without even informing them you are on holiday. Obviously, you will need to inform them of his absence but that is all you need to do. They can’t make it unauthorised absence, no penalty.

We struggle with my dh work commitments over the summer to go abroad so I go with my parents for a few days uk hol and then we generally manage 10 days abroad over Oct ht if inset days are on our side. My personal opinion is that once it becomes a legal requirement that they should be in full time education I need to obey that…a week out in reception would a much easier to catch up on (when there’s lots of playing) than a week when they are working towards SATs or other goals. It’s so tricky though and everyone has their own opinion.

Glad it’s all sorted now OP. For what it’s worth, I liked your original email and didn’t think you sounded entitled or waffley!

Just fill in a leave of absence form and accept it'll go down as unauthorised.

I think your husband is right.

I got a leaflet sent home last week about asking “permission” to have holidays during term time… and I thought… fuck off hun… we don’t “co-parent”! They are MY children and I’ll be asking no one for permission. There’s a template on Ellie Greg’s page on Instagram of exactly what she said to the school when hit with a fine… very useful information on the “laws” surrounding it

Since it appears you've got a school that is perfectly sensible about these things at least in reception, and this issue will exist in years to come, a suggestion: Later in the year, when it seems appropriate, have a chat to the teacher(s) about whether there is a time of year/term that is least disruptive to be out of school for a few days, and at what year later in primary it would be a properly bad idea to arrange holidays this way. No guarantees but it will hopefully help you continue to work effectively with the school.

(we didn't have to agonise over this as my children were in independent schools. Pre-covid one of them may have missed a couple of days around the Christmas holidays despite being in lower 6th as we needed to visit their sick grandmother in Australia. Years earlier I'd taken them to Australia for 7 weeks over Christmas, with the absolute blessing of their schools - reception and year 2 - and also no difficulty getting permission from my post-grad supervisor for the time off)

I have never heard of this rule!
Why is there so much inconsistency in each schools absence policies?? - makes my blood boil.
Some schools on our patch report to country for unauthorized absence and other schools are like ‘ go ahead - have a lovely time as I understand your family have and a really rough time this year’
It is really unfair 😟

I emailed last year to tell them dd would miss 2 weeks of school for a holiday and they said because we don't work in an industry that's restricted with holidays it's unauthorised. However we work in events which means we can't go in summer holidays so I told them that. Funnily enough they didn't reply to that

So is it NOT a cultural/educational experience when I took my daughter to Greece for 5 nights where we explored the Acropolis and museums, visited cliff top monasteries, Delphi, and the Temple of Poseidon? Where we tried traditional Greek food, made sure to dress appropriately for the monasteries in dresses/skirts and practiced the language (albeit Greek is not my forte!)
Or when we visited Sweden and again practiced the language, visited museums like The Vasa and castles?
Next trip is to Italy to visit Pompeii and the Colosseum, Pisa and wherever else my daughter wants to visit. These have all been her requests as a young teen

I think it’s wrong for all sorts of reasons to go on holiday during term time, but, as many other posters have stated, if you must, just leave it to facts only.

If I had a pound for every moron parent who states Eurodisney ‘will improve their child’s French language skills’, I’d be rich by now.