School asking for flight details after unauthorised term-time absence abroad

[PersonalData]

We went abroad mon-thu last week, ds (10) was in school the week before and went back on Friday. We let them know and obviously knew it would be unauthorised. As it was 8 sessions we don’t qualify for a fine. His attendance is usually 100%.

They asked on friday before and after for us to provide proof of the flights and other details for ‘safeguarding’ but he was back in school and clearly fine ?? We declined as this is private personal data. They replied back that we must submit the evidence by the end of tomorrow?

Is this usual ?

What proof does HMRC accept?

School is being stupid and overstepping. They can do one.

OK so you think schools should be asking people where they are going before their holiday?7

Maybe so but it's still going to be pretty difficult to suggest the child is at risk of FGM and safeguard against it before it happens. Amazing if they could but I expect the family would just say that they are going on holiday to see relatives and it's pretty difficult to prove otherwise. Can't really prosecute a crime before it happens without evidence which would be extremely difficult to get without breaching the families right to a private family life etc.

It's a false equivalence. You're not handing over custody of your children to the binmen all day every day are you.

I’m an attendance & safeguarding lead. Sometimes parents apply for Mon-Thurs off and then phone in sick on the Friday (when clearly still on holiday) to avoid a fine. This is when I ask for flight details. To prove they came back on the Thursday. But in this case your son was back so I have no idea why they’re asking if proof of flights. What if you’d been on holiday in the UK? Would they want proof of accommodation? It’s very strange and there are no safeguarding reasons why they want proof of your flights or where you have been. It’s actually none of their business. There is absolutely no Social services in the country that would take any notice of your being on holiday for four days and not proving where you have been! I can’t believe they said it wasn’t a choice! 😂

No they don't.

They might want it, but they don't need it.

If they do investigate they start asking to see stuff like bank records (so they can see where you've used cards) and similar...they're won't take flight info on it's own as proof.

There have been cases of young girls taken abroad for fgm which is another reason, I suspect there are others. I think this is one of those we ask everyone to jump through hoops so that when we ask people who are in at risk situations it doesnt sound racist/ bigoted/ stereotyping.

Exactly. There's lots of things at school that didn't exist when you were there (anyone who went to school more than 25 years ago probably didn't have any concerns about photo sharing, there weren't the same allergy rules, relatively few children had ECHPs etc) but things are as they are, and it's less hassle to go along with it unless there's a really good reason to cause more bother to school staff-they say kids missing school for holidays causes them enough extra work, most of which parents don't understand/care about. Some people don't like the way things are now, so homeschool, which is an option if you're really unhappy with the way things are.

Sadly they can absolutely ask for this data for safeguarding

im hearing of it more and more.

shouldn’t be able too but they might take you up on it or they might not,

Attendance as a whole is important. Repeated absences could lead to a safeguarding referral.

But four days off, regardless of reason, is in itself not a red flag. Providing flight information adds absolutely nothing. So what if it is a genuine holiday. The parents could still be putting the child at risk. They may be visiting an abuser. They may not even have taken the holiday and the child is at risk at home. AI could easily mock up a fake flight confirmation anyway. It is far better to assess each family on its own and identify risk on a case by case basis.

I mean that’s what they’ll likely do which is contact social services which if you’re ok with that just do that.

I really don’t understand why you are being so combative to the low paid public servants trying to educate and keep children safe.

Does it matter? You could have emailed them over in the time it took you to post on this thread.

and social services will do nothing.

How far in advance were the school made aware of the child’s absence? Seems an unusual request.

If you’ve got nothing to hide, then just show it. They’re just trying to do their job. Unless you were on airforce 1, I doubt your flight information is interesting to anyone.

It isn’t about if they give a shit about it or not, though.

That applies to most things that are considered private. I doubt anyone is remotely interested in the fact I spend too much at Amazon, that my last visit to the doctor was to discuss a lump in my breast (thankfully fine) and that my underwear has holes in it. It doesn’t matter if they care or not.

Obviously flight details aren’t the same as medical records, private parts of the body or bank statements but the OP isn’t comfortable with sharing it and shouldn’t feel she has to.

At first I was inclined to think that the school were massively overstepping but just give them what they want for the sake of positive relationships. I’ve actually changed my mind. I think they need to be told in no uncertain terms to back off. No adult should be in a position of having to prove what they say unless it’s a court of law, frankly.

Quite.

You refusing it actually making you look like you’re hiding something…

Well you could ask them which law it's a requirement under.

(I suspect there isn't one and they are making it up to make a point)

However, maybe use one of the 13 non-school weeks available in the year for a holiday next time. September is a particularly bad time to take term-time leave.

If it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t ask!

Not really.

It's a bit like when schools demand proof of illnesses which people won't have because GPs don't want to waste time providing that proof.

Perhaps they think it matters, but this doesn’t supersede the OPs wish not to share this information. If there are other, broader concerns about the child they need to share them. If not, they need to step back.

And do they ask for details of every holiday taken during school vacations? For heaven’s sake, more children are at risk of FGM, child marriage or abuse during holidays when they’re taken overseas.

The deep interference in families’ private lives on the grounds of arse-covering safeguarding is beyond a joke. Far too many kids are not showing up to school at all, so why spend so much effort on this?