Take the school fine or ring in sick for a week?

[mariasgotabrandnewbag]

Just asking as I’m honestly in 2 minds what to do.

it’s only a week but school have made it clear they will fine us for taking our 6 year old out on holiday.

I hate being told when I can and can’t go on holiday, feel like there should be a law against price hikes in school holidays if that’s the case.

What would you do?

Tell the truth and pay fine. I don’t exspect my kids to lie to them or even hold it up. They couldn’t tbh. I let them know where my kids were going and the fact we were on holiday and the women in reception said that she hoped they had a nice time and would see them when we arrived back. My kids have really good attendance so it wouldn’t even fall close to the margin line that would concern them. They seem to appreciate honesty at my kids school plus it doesn’t stress kids out upholding a lie.

The school will have put a code in the register to mark his non attendance.

If they had used a code for absence due to sickness the teacher might have said “Hello Little forthistimeonly, are you feeling better?” At which point your child would have had to lie “Yes thank you Miss, I’m better now. “ or look puzzled and say they were on holiday.

But I expect they just coded his absence as an unauthorised absence, because schools always know, if you check back on his report for that year it will probably tell you on the attendance print out. 🙂

Bit awkward for parents, including teaching parents, whose children are in different schools.

And can you imagine keeping track of those random five days “Right, Jeremy has all his five days left, but Jemima only has four because she went to stay with Granny so she could be a bridesmaid for cousin Lou, and we will need to save a day for both of them so they can go to Jenny’s graduation in the Autumn, and if we are planning on trying for Glastonbury next summer we will need to be checking those dates too.”

I think there is a reason they haven’t called you into the Education Department to sort out this issue! 😃

Allowing 5 days authorised absence per child would be pretty straightforward to keep track of. For most families wanting to take advantage it would just be a case of booking a one week holiday.

Don't teach your child to lie.

There are no price hikes in school holidays. There as DISCOUNTS for the times that are LESS POPULAR because of it being termtime so only families with no children, or families where parents don't care about education, want to go.

Pay the fine. You're still getting an overall cost that's less than you'd pay for the popular time.

It's not actually the holiday that causes the lower academic outcomes for children whose parents take them out of school for termtime holidays. There's a strong correlation but the damage is done by having parents that don't prioritise education and who communicate to their children in a myriad of ways that the time spent at school isn't valuable. The children get the message.

If you get caught out the school could demand evidence for every future absence.

Even simple illnesses can be recorded as unauthorised absences,, without proof, if the school reasonably believe you may be lying, which is likely if caught.

Yeah, just teach them it's ok to skive off instead 🤣

I would totally say they are sick. I live in Northern Ireland and love meeting the English fams on holidays at the end of June. My kids both are done next Friday. I met this lady from Liverpool a few years ago and she totally braised it out even when school rang her and she was panicking about the foreign ring tone on her phone. She said they had chickenpox’s! If kids are attending school consistently at all other times and are doing well then a week away with their family will do them no harm.

I was going to mention safeguarding visits. They will possibly send someone out for a week's absence.

Yes, it's not fair on school time and resources having to do a safeguarding visit to your house to check for illness. It's usually two members of staff at a time too.

Be honest, take the fine and make the schools life a bit easier.

A pate t at our school kept taking their kids out for holidays but didn't hit the trigger so no fine but then was sick for a week, hit the trigger and got fined.

I agree with not lying. I also think there is no point in saying you're taking the children on holiday as an "educational experience". That's just bollocks.

personal I don't agree with taking kids out of school for a cheap holiday. This week one has taken their kids out for 2 weeks and they've missed their school leavers book photo and quote. No idea what they will do for her but how sad for the child to miss this stuff.

Cancel the holiday avoid the fine.
Go have a holiday and deal with the fine later.
Ring school tell them your going be honest your child your life.

I dont like schools so i know what id be doing packing and going.
And have a fantastic time.
Fine me if you want my last f*ck is flying across the sky.

Im so pleased schools are a thing of the past for me.

You chose to send your child to school, no one made you.
Think of it like choosing to join the leisure centre. If you join you have to obey the rules. If you don't want to obey the rules, you don't join.
If you don't follow their rules there are consequences, in this case a fine. You pay with good grace.
If you want to avoid paying in the future you make some other arrangements for your childs education.

In other posts you’ve said your son is 21 and your daughter 26. So they were 6 years old 15 and 20 years ago. Fines for term time absence were only introduced 12 years ago.

Get your stories straight!

I'd book a holiday I could afford during the school holidays, even if that was a staycation, but then I value my child's education and want him to have the best start in life possible.

You want the free education, you follow the rules or accept the fine when you break them.

If you hate following the rules that get your child a free education, take your child out for good and fund it yourself then you can set the terms.

Tell the truth. Don't expect your child to lie.