AIBU? DS was ill and the school have marked it as an unauthorised holiday and are threatening to fine me!

[WeAreEternal]

A couple of weeks ago DS (7) had an upset stomach, he D&V over night and most of the next day.
First thing in the morning (a Thursday) I called the school and let them know he was ill.
He was feeling better by the evening but as he had D&V school policy is 24 hours off, so I kept him off Friday too.

I received a letter from to school yesterday saying that those days have been marked as an unauthoried holiday as "although we received a phone call from you stating that (DS) was ill, we are led to believe that DS was in fact on a holiday to XXXX on these two dates"

The letter goes on to say that if he was genuinely ill they expect me to provide evidence such as a doctors appointment card, a prescription, a medication receipt or something simmilar that can "verify my version of events".

I am a medical professional, I know when when my DS needs medication or to see a GP or when he just has a bit of a stomach bug and needs rest and fluids.
Who would take a child to the GP or buy medication for D&V anyway?

How on earth can I prove that DS was ill?
And why are they even querying this?
AIBU to think this is bloody ridiculous?

Anyone have any ideas?

Working9. It's utterly ridiculous but fairly typical of this society. Attack the easy targets who will just comply with penalties and ignore those flouting totally, because they are more difficult and time consuming to deal with

I see it all the time in many areas.

Hope you get a satisfactory response soon OP and it is sorted out. It is beyond ridiculous to go off speculation, because that is all they can have done!

DS1 school always say they want proof of any illness otherwise it will go down as unauthorised and therefore lead to fines. So far they haven't gone through with it. The only time I do provide proof is when he does need medication and I take him in to the doctors, and then I take the medication in to the school. No way am I paying for sick notes, or wasting doctors time if not needed! It is getting beyond ridiculous.

Lurking to see if they get back to you OP. Interestingly,our HT has just authorised a term time holiday for the dds for next year,as has the HT at the school my sister works at.They are academies though and none in the county are fining.It seems that some LEAs are interpreting the rules differently.

I'm sorry you haven't heard anything yet OP.

I'll just say thanks to the people who understood where I was coming from - which was to give some factual information and another view of the situation based on years of experience.
For those who seem to think I'm some sort of demon doctor's receptionist unsympathetic know-it-all. DILLIGAF?

p.s. I have been involved in education for many years and the thing I care most passionately is the children and the young people that we are there to serve. If you're looking at the impact of an attendance issue it's a big picture. How many hours total has that child lost in the last year? How are they doing in school? Are they making expected progress or better? What have they been missing out on? For example, why would the parent of any child that is being supported by intervention work take them out of school in term time? The school is investing time and money to help that child as an individual, but parents take them out of school for holidays all the time.
Bottom line is, yes upset, offended and wrongly accused parents are important, and schools must deal with them properly or face consequences. I just don't think this particular instance, bad as it might be, would justify sad face articles in the local press or stirring up an MP. That can damage the reputation of the school, and I personally would have to have much more reason than this to do so. School governors can be very effective in dealing with matters like this, so why not let them have the chance.

peeking - I have a query for you?
What would you suggest if a school refuses to send a copy of their complaints policy?
When you do complain to Governors, it takes 4 weeks to get a response that then refuses to address the concerns. Instead you are told that they will refuse to discuss the matter and threaten you with legal action if you raise the matter with anyone else.
What would you recommend in that case?

Oh,and also, if a school wrongly recorded over 200 absences but when queried said it was simply 'a mistake' what do you do?

For example, why would the parent of any child that is being supported by intervention work take them out of school in term time?

A good question that we asked many, many times

Sorrysaga - Have a look at the link I posted earlier. I'd probably take the complaint to the last stage and contact the DfE. You've attempted to have the complaint dealt with through school procedure and they haven't responded to your satisfaction.
Be very organised and sure of your information. Be ready to say what you want to happen to resolve your complaint.

sorrysaga Our school policies are available online, are yours?

I used to work in a school with a lot of children whose parents came from Pakistan and who went on long trips there. It would be interesting to see the effect this policy had on those trips.

Sorry, I meant to re-post the link www.education.gov.uk/a0060895/complaints-procedure-toolkit
Schools are legally required to have a complaints procedure or policy, and legally required to publish it. So if that's not the case it's worth pointing out isn't it?

Nanny No- policies can only be issued to parents with the approval of the Head.

Ridiculous! Our school is strict on holidays in term time. The only time my children were granted holidays during term time was for:
A family wedding on a friday which i had to show the invitation for proof and when i gave birth to DS3, i went into the office the day before he was born, as i was experiencing pain and was in slow labour, told school the boys were staying with my mum who lived 30+ miles away and would not be in school on the Friday or Monday. They went back to school on the Tuesday after DS3 was born. Looking at the boys school reports these were granted as Family Holiday and Other Family Occasion

I wouold not be happy with the letter you have received from school. It unacceptable that they havent replied to you either.

sorrysaga It's been a while since I was a governor, but I thought all policies had to be available to anyone that wanted to see them, by law.

I haven't checked back on Peekingduck's link (which I am sure is accurate), so I don't know if I'm copying.

From the DFE website:
We hope that you will be able to resolve any complaint concerning the school using local complaints procedures. All schools in England are required to have a complaints procedure and to publicise such a procedure. Some local authorities may also have a complaints procedure available. You can check on your local authority’s website to see if they offer this service. Making a complaint to the Department for Education should only happen after other routes have been followed. The exception to this may include such matters as child protection, or where a child is missing education.

I thought they had to be available too. They used to have a policy of issuing them but then changed it for some reason

I'm just another posting expressing my appreciation for Peeking, friday16 and others in providing considered and informed opinions. They provide real advice that help to resolve a problem and assist the OP to get the best result. It would be very said if their voices are drowned out or hounded away.

If I recall correctly Peeking did say that if she had received the letter she would have hit the roof and responded formally straight away. Her posts didn't read to me as someone who brushed off the little people but were measured and aimed to get the best result for the OP.

I hope / think that most schools would act sensibly and this case wouldn't have arisen in the first place. My DS's school has all the policies - complaints, G&T, behaviour etc published on the website and so far it has acted in a very open and fair manner. Maybe the two go hand in hand.

Good luck OP and keep calm, easier said than done but think rationally and act calmly. DH is a commercial lawyer and his approach is to make it win / win for each side and not back someone into a corner (however much they deserve and you would love for it to happen) so that they have the option to back down gracefully. Remember your son is going to be there for a number of years, get the result that you want whilst keeping it professional on both sides.

That should read sad not said.

Sorrysaga, it is not up to the Head whether or not parents get policies. You are entitled to see them by law. That alone is grounds for a complaint, and I'd work through the escalation of that very quickly and in writing. If they won't give you the policy just use the suggested model that I've linked to earlier - Head, Chair of Governors including a panel of governors to hear the complaint, DfE
Thank you to those who appreciate where I was coming from. Things can get very complicated when the relationship between schools and parents break down, but generally there is a clear process to follow and doing that makes it easier. As I've said before, I feel that's better than doing something drastic to drastically affect the public perception of the school.
Re published information - one of the first places that Ofsted look when preparing for a visit is the school website. There are now legal requirements regarding what must be on that site. This is a nice neat summary www.segfl.org.uk/newsevents/news/statutory_requirements_for_school_websites/
So as you can see, it's not a legal requirement for the complaints policy to be published there, but it has to be publicised somewhere. And it has to be handed out if requested.

Oh, something that's a bit "back door" that is sometimes helpful - not always! If the school is an LA school (not Academy, Independant or Free School), they are likely to have a Governor Support department at the LA who give them guidance on governance. It would be unusual for a parent to ring them for advice, but I've had some line management of those people in the past and suspect that if they got a call from a parent they would give simple advice on the law.
"Hi, I'm a parent at xyz school. I know you don't normally speak to parents but I wonder if you could spare me a couple of minutes? I'm trying to make a complaint, but it's difficult because they are refusing to give me their complaints procedure or even consider what I'm saying. What can I do?".
That might have some interesting repercussions for sure.

OrlandoWoolf. there is a religious exemption built in to the rules. if you want to have time off for religious reasons then it will be granted. not sure why it isn't ok to take your child out for one day to go to a funeral but is to take them off for a month on a pilgrimage. surely the latter is more damaging to someones education to have a month off. OUr LEA will authorise nothing - they are taking a very tough line. However a girl in Yr10 has just applied for and got 4 weeks out (she goes for the same 4 weeks every year) on religious grounds which has been granted and many of the parents are actually being quite nasty and racist about it. As for policies, both the schools my kids attend say "pending" on the school website. thanks for the info peeking and friday16.

peeking I agree you should go through the normal channels i.e Governors but it's the CoG that's issuing the threats and refusing to discuss the issue. There has been no 'complaint panel' convened at all but who knows what the policy on complaints is if they don't let anyone see it! The LA don't want to get involved as it's a 'school matter'. DofE say speak to LA but when told the LA won't help it's 'try the LGO'. The LGO say 'it's a school matter' and so it goes on with no-one actually willing to get involved.

Take it up with your MP? Raise it formally with the DofE as a complaint? Talk to the LGO and explain the runaround you're getting and ask for their advice as to your next step?

I know when my dad was getting the runaround on a particular issue, the Ombudsman was very helpful and although he wouldn't get directly involved initially, a letter from him helped kick-start the process.

The LGO no longer has any role to play in school complaints, so I'm confused about that. When that part of legislation changed all the schools had to review their complaints procedures and take it out. That layer was replaced by the DfE. Sorrysaga have you looked at the link I posted up thread?

Read this page www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/governance/becomingagovernor/rolesandresponsibilities/a0060898/complaints-an-overview That is the DfE guidance, you might find other useful information on other pages in that area.

So in your case I might be inclined to print the relevant pages from the DfE guidance and then submit your formal complaint in writing to them with a copy. Quote it, highlight and number various useful paragraphs to refer to in your complaint to evidence why you have contacted them and why you cannot first take the complaint to the school. Documentation and proof of the failures to deal with their statutory responsibilities re handling complaints, and to deal with your initial complaint whatever that was.

It could be a bit time consuming I'm afraid!