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 ?

This does seem to make sense.

It matters because parents less scrupulous than you use “holidays” as a reason to remove a child from education until bruises and scars fade. Just give them the information and thank God they are proactive for any children not as lucky as yours.

DS is visibly more tanned too (despite factor 50!) they will definitely know we were away just by that !

Exactly

it is so daft to think like this. This school won’t be asking this to spite the Op. the school won’t be asking for this just for shits and giggles.

They clearly need the information either to document it as such to demonstrate that they made enquiries in to the validity of what the parents were saying the reason for an unauthorised absence was for

It could, and if your aunt had a willy she'd be your uncle. With no bruises seen, no disclosure from child, no other safeguarding concerns and no unusual behaviour from the child it's a purely imaginary concern and not something any school safeguarding lead has any reason to suspect. Safeguarding isn't based on what might be happening with zero evidence of it!

It does feel like you are prepared to torpedo your previously good relationship with the school in order to protect your private information. What are you so keen to hide from them? They already know roughly when you travelled and where to and could probably make a reasonable guess about who you travelled with, so what might the additional details reveal? That you travelled first class? were guests of a secretive celebrity?
If I were you, I would think carefully before standing on this particular hill.

Yes!

I think they're being a bit crazy and you need to be firm.

"I won't be providing the flight details, please don't ask again."

Any further requests, ignore them.

They do and the guidance says to request it to confirm the reasons given for absence are accurate.

It's very definitely safeguarding that the child wasn't injured or abused and kept hidden.

Fairly confident the people on here saying the school and guidance is OTT are the same people who would blame the school if a child was repeatedly absent and then murdered by a parent.

Yes, literally nothing. That was my point.

But they don't know they were away without proof. All they know is that the OP says they were away

The hell reason the child wasn't in school was because they were on holiday. The parents haven't lied. There's precisely no reason for the school to investigate anything.

You wouldn’t say that if in a fortnight times a child has been killed by a step father who only a few months earlier had beaten her senseless and then told the school she was on holiday for a week whilst she recovered

From the school's perspective, they have a child who missed school for 4 days in a row. They would normally be carrying out a home visit during that time t check that everything was okay. This wasn't possible because no one was in.

The flight details are evidence that there was a reason for DS not being in school or at home.

Evidence of what exactly? Even if you gave them the flight details and tickets, it wouldn’t prove that your DC was on the flight!

There are children being flown abroad for genital mutilation and for marriages. They need to record locations for every child so that they can spot there ones who may have been subject to practices which are illegal in this country.

It may well be overkill in your son's case but they can't make exceptions as that would look racist.

Hence confirmation of flights booked and paid for!!

No it doesn't
With no other evidence of child abuse you think it's reasonable for schools to demand parents aren't abusing their children?

And that is how children (like Sara Sharif mentioned upthread) end up dead.
Sorry but I think the school in within their rights to ask for proof.

I’ve never experienced this and I am known to take a term time holiday. We have family abroad and my dc are dual nationals, so we sometimes have to take time off to go to the embassy to do things like renew passports and such. I’ve never had to submit proof of travel, but I do have to fill out a form that asks for details about why we need the unauthorised days off.

Honestly though, I can completely understand where they are coming from. You pulled your dc out for a cheeky holiday. But there are other parents who pull them out because they got a black eye and they need 4 days for it to start to fade. Not everyone is as genuine as you. I would send it to them. Why not? It’s not personal data from a GDPR perspective. It’s just a flight booking. I would want the school to know that everything was above board.

Some children would be kept off school for several days until visible bruising had reduced.

Schools don't ask for this information for shits and giggles!!

I know people imagine school administrators have enough time on their hands to be nosy and pester parents for seemingly innocuous reasons but they are actually really busy and ask for this information for a reason!!

Ahhhh good point. Isn’t it awful that there are people like that in the world and that schools have to keep that in mind.