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?

Take it this has died a death ! Dissapointing !!!

sorry, sorry, sorry.

I've been busy with other things and I still don't have anything to update with.

I received a letter back from the governors basically saying thanks for your letter we will look into it, nothing else.
No response from the LEA.
And still nothing from the school. I did call them back about the trip, only because I couldn't find part of the form and I wanted them to put another one in his backpack. I did ask if they had received a letter that I had sent but the receptionist said she didn't know.
I also asked them to put a copy of the complaints procedure in his backpack, as I couldn't find anything on their website, she said 'oh, I'll see if I can find something' but I'm still waiting for that.

I do feel awful that I am leaving you all waiting for a conclusion to this, but I don't know if there will be one, I suspect, as poster have suggested, that they are hoping it will all go away if they ignore it.
Either that or I'm just going to get a fine in a few months.

Poor you, that is shit :(

I hope they get their bloody act together; if not we could organise a Mumsnet Flash Mob for you. That would teach them, the gits.

Thanks for updating, please don't feel you have to x

Wow just seen this thread. I'm appalled! OP keep at it. The situation is utterly ridiculous. Other options - maybe MP? No idea. I know mine doesn't do anything but that's the difficulty isn't it. You write to the relevant people and they all ignore you. What then?

What would I do?

Bitch to all the other parents (petty but effective and stress-relieving - I don't do school run now but I could find a way ;)
Book a chat with the head

In really shocked that the school haven't contacted you at all about the issue.

Thanks for the update. The heads srategy of
'say nothing , do nothing' and the bs will go away is obviously going to work . Where does the OP go from here? The whole thing makes me furious, they can say and do what they want with no evidence and you have no recourse!! What a disgrace!!!!

Email for a copy of their compliments procedure. Give a date of 10 working days for decision by governors. Ditto LEA.

Fuck it. Go straight to your MP by email. Copy the silly twats in.

They hope you will go away, excalate to cog. Next time hand in the letter get the person who received it to sign a receipt, time, date, name signature

I haven't actually mentioned it to any other parents.
I'm still quite paranoid about the possibility that one of my friends or someone I know made the malicious call in the first place.

I would see the head.

Their inability to follow processes would be of concern to me as a parent. I would also want to see the head. All your activity seems futile when it is being obstinately ignored by them. And you really need that complaints policy.

If all else fails, tell us the name of the school.

I'm beginning to wonder if we're at the same school, OP. This is exactly how my school operates. I asked weeks ago for copies of certain policies (policies that by law they are required to publish on their website) Nothing. Not one thing. I have waited nearly 4 weeks for a phone call from them over something. Nothing. Nadda. Zip. Sorry you're dealing with a shit school.

Does your school's website have an OFSTED link? Might be worth putting your comments there too.

OK, that's progress actually, and "the school" haven't ignored it because the governors are part of "the school" and if they are looking into it then you won't hear from the Headteacher meanwhile.
So now write a letter addressed confidential and for the personal attention of the Chair of Governors and say this:

Thank you for your letter dated...

I am pleased to hear that you will look into my formal complaint and look forward to your response. I understand that the usual response time in these circumstances would be within 3 weeks, however as we are fast approaching the Christmas break I would appreciate it if you could at least update me in writing on progress before the end of term.

Meanwhile, as you know the governing body is legally obliged to have a complaint's policy in place and this is a statutory policy. Please could you post me a copy of this within the next 5 days.

You should be aware that I feel that so far I have been largely ignored by the school in this matter. I will follow the complaints process through until I have a satisfactory outcome. The allegation that I lied about my child's absence is untrue, and as resolution I want to have this acknowledged in writing with an apology from the Headteacher.

Note - it's not a legal requirement for them to put the complaints policy on the website, so don't take any notice of anyone here telling you it is.

Also, don't take any notice of anyone telling you to contact the Local Authority. They have no part to play and no interest. You could contact your MP but in my (extensive) experience they will not be interested in spending time on it unless you have completed the complaints process. That includes going through the formal process of a governor panel hearing and if not satisfied on to the DfE.

If you follow this through you will get an answer. However, there is no point being goaded by people on a forum getting excited about how long the process is taking. That's just the way it is. Once you enter the formal stage things won't happen overnight, nobody will jump up and down trying to respond quickly, and most relevant to some of the comments here - the Headteacher should not contact you while a governing body investigation is under way.

This is what schools legally have to publish on their website. Many choose to publish more, some have publication on the website included in certain policies, but this is the DfE guidance:

This will include for all schools:

• details of the school’s pupil premium allocation and plans to spend it in the current year; and, for the previous year, a statement of how the money was spent and the impact that it had on educational attainment of those pupils at the school in respect of whom grant funding was allocated;
• details of the school’s curriculum, content and approach, by academic year and by subject (including details of GCSE options and other qualifications offered at Key Stage 4 (for secondary schools), and approach to phonic and reading schemes (for primary schools));
• where applicable, details or links to the school’s admission arrangements, including its selection and oversubscription criteria, published admission number and the school’s process for applications through the local authority ;
• details of the school’s policies on behaviour, charging and SEN and disability provision;

• links to the school’s Ofsted reports and DfE School Performance Tables and details of the school’s latest Key Stage 2 and/or Key Stage 4 attainment and progress measures as presented in the School Performance Tables;
• a statement of the school’s ethos and values.

• All schools will need to ensure that they continue to comply with any separate requirements that apply in respect of developing specific policies and communicating them.

Daughter had a flu-like illness, a virus, she's in yr 2. She was being cared for by her gps.

Contacted school at 8.30am told them she'd be off sick.
At 1.30 I get a text from school asking where she is and that I should have rung in.
I was at work on my underground station, so had to get someone to cover me whilst I rang in again. The receptionist said, oh, sorry, and assured me she would fix things.
Next day, I rang in again to explain where Little Tubemole was. The policy says I have to call in every day.
Another text at lunchtime. More fudging off my employer whilst I call in again. .
I said I am getting fudged off now please tell me you received my phone call this morning. No record, she says. Well, I did, because unlike some parents I am not irresponsible about attendance. Fine, she says, and agreed the text was unnecessary.
Next day, Little Tubemole has recovered enough to return to school and wants to go anyway.
That afternoon after school Little Tubemole says, Mummy, the lady from the office interrupted my lesson today to give me this letter and said in front of my friends it was very important you got it. I looked inside to find they were complaining that dd had TWO DAYS UNAUTHORISED ABSENCE and I never contacted them PLUS they provided a copy of their absence policy which I already possessed at home. I went ape poo.
So I went to the school office and demanded to speak to the office manager. I told her, if she wants my phone bill she can have it, she can have a sworn statement in blood signed by me and my pil to say where dd was if it would stop this fudging harassment. Oh no, we are not harassing you, the OM says..well you during are because I kept my end of the deal and phoned you TWICE each day! Also how fudging dare you interrupt a lesson in full swing disrupting my child's learning and announce to the fudging class that we have a "naughty" letter to take home. The OM says oh, we have no record of these calls... and I said, you wait...
So I got the evidence and I also complained to the deputy head about everything and he assured me that the letter was rescinded and that the OM needed to run a tighter ship plus, the humiliation of passing letters to children mid-lesson will stop.

VICTORY! For now, until my next stupid battle with them (happens on a once a term basis).

Just to clarify - Op is not being ignored, but the situation is being handled badly.
"I received a letter back from the governors basically saying thanks for your letter we will look into it, nothing else.
No response from the LEA."

The governors have acknowledged the complaint, that is absolutely correct, but they should have included the complaints procedure.
It's too late to talk to the Head. The Head is accountable to the governing body and the process has been escalated to them.

A Freedom of Information Act request would be pointless at this stage. A process has been started to uncover the facts.
I would expect the Local Authority to eventually respond saying that Op should follow the school complaints procedure. But it's unlikely to be treated as a matter of urgency. And again - legally they have NO role to play in this.

Tubemole, I hope you've had all those assurances from the deputy head in writing, and that you've checked that these so called unauthorised absences aren't anywhere on dd's records. A school as incompetent as this is quite capable of "forgetting" again to record what has happened.

Oh no that is awful that you are worrying that a friend might have made the accusation, I can understand how uncomfortable that might make you feel.

They fine you?? For making a parental decision? That's ludicrous.

My dd has had days off for family holidays, illness and "mental health" days at my discretion. Her days off each year are reasonable (about 10 this year) I send a note. Our last holiday was with one of her teachers who is a family friend, she took a week off but took homework with her. Her grades are not affected.

Unless you have unreasonable time off (4 weeks a year, or more than 2 weeks at a time) you don't need permission, nor do they look into it. Better things for educators to worry about, like children who can't read or suffer abuse at home!

Pointless because the complaints procedure should be over well before 8 weeks, any information available will almost certainly come out anyway. At the moment this is a relatively straightforward matter.

It's been said before, your should make. Sar not fii request. There seems to be a widespread problem with schools not complying fully with sar's. They also don't have to make sure a child's file is factually correct or report colleagues for child abuse. They should be shaking that side of things up. Rather than bullying ill/disabled children's parents over attendance levels.