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AIBU?

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Original poster

School Abscense Fine - huge amount

955 replies

PMDD · 16/01/2014 08:08

If I am correct, if you take your child/ren out of school without prior agreement, there is an automatic fine of £60/day/child/parent?

So for us, a family with 3 children, a 2 week holiday in (say) June, would cost us £3600 - or double that if we don't pay within a certain amount of time!

Is it me to think that is totally unreasonable?!

That is a huge amount. The people who take their children out normally can't afford the hike in holiday prices, so how on earth would they afford the fine?

OP posts:
Coldlightofday · 16/01/2014 17:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

candycoatedwaterdrops · 16/01/2014 17:49

Oh FFS - people who can afford a holiday calling themselves 'the poor'! Grin

Worriedthistimearound · 16/01/2014 17:59

SATs are one of the top 3 reasons I chose independent schooling for my children. I taught in state schools both primary and secondary for many years and they are nothing other than a barometer for ofsted to measure schools by. Which is fine in itself but why should my chf ten bd subjected to sats practice day in, day out from feb half term until may?

Worriedthistimearound · 16/01/2014 18:00

Children be subjected that should say

tiggytape · 16/01/2014 18:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DownstairsMixUp · 16/01/2014 18:03

Oh FFS at people thinking those who can afford to go to butlins/haven or something but only in half term MUST be loaded and therefore should wait till the school holidays... :/

DownstairsMixUp · 16/01/2014 18:05

mummymeister I said that above, no one has replied. There's a lot of jobs you can't take half terms off or it's hard to as many others book the same holidays as they have kids. Apparently we knew this when we took the jobs so we are forbidden from ever having holidays with our children. HTH. Grin

Ubik1 · 16/01/2014 18:06

'poor people' do go on holiday

Perhaps this is something else IDS should put a stop to.

on behalf of the taxpayer

Ubik1 · 16/01/2014 18:07

Downstairs Grin

DownstairsMixUp · 16/01/2014 18:12

I went to Southend to stay in my grandad's caravan Ubik when my Dad lost his job after my Mum walked out. and in the half term We were clearly rolling in dosh though. Can't get better than sarrfend on sea. Smile

DownstairsMixUp · 16/01/2014 18:13

Sorry I meant term time. I failed all my GCSE's, SAT's and fell so behind in school I ended up busking on the end of my street to earn cash.

42andcounting · 16/01/2014 18:30

I'm going to try again now my phone's not playing up. .. to pick up on fortydoors point, the reason for the military "exceptional circumstances" is not respect for the job, it's to allow parents to spend time with their children when returning from deployment (which can mean they have been away for up to two years). In this case clearly they don't have the choice to do it only in school holidays.

JustGettingOnWithIt · 16/01/2014 18:30

NumptyNameChange
home schooling is not an option for single parents unless they are independently wealthy.

That's just not true.
Pisspot poor home educating LP here, and I know a fair few others.

3 of my DGC’s are also being home ed by a LP on a low income.

It's all a question of what you value most. We value education, educational outcomes, family happiness, and freedom, more than we value a lot of things others may put higher.

Dahlen · 16/01/2014 18:33

JustGettingOnWithIt - how do you/they manage that? I often wondered about home edding, but dismissed it partly because no way could I afford tutors.

JustGettingOnWithIt · 16/01/2014 18:50

Dahlen
You don't need tutors. I can't speak for the autonomous home edder's but for the structured, and semi structured, you need the ability to understand what learning is, the ability to understand the difference between an education and an exam syllabus, the ability to research, the ability to plan, and the ability to be prepared to look as stupid as it takes going out and finding out, if the subject matter is something you have absolutely no previous understanding of.

You also need to have the basic presence of mind to work out when exams will be, find out the costs, and do very basic maths to work out how much a week to put by for them.

TiffanyAtBreakfast · 16/01/2014 18:55

I feel like people have recently decided that holidays are some sort of human right. It's lovely to go, but if you can't go in term time it's just tough! Nothing will happen if you don't go on holiday.

Sorry but this has been bugging me for a while!

Euthah · 16/01/2014 18:57

TiffanyAtBreakfast similarly, nothing will happen that's to the detriment of the child's education if you do miss a week or two every few years.

What's your point?

hamptoncourt · 16/01/2014 18:58

My kids went to a c of e junior school and the head actually permanently excluded two siblings because the parents kept taking them out of school in term time.
He warned them he would do it if they persistently did this and the mother went straight out and booked two weeks in Fuerteventura.
Such a shame for the kids to have such pratts as parents.
If you don't want to pay the fine don't take your DC out of school in term time. I don't know why parents think it is OK to do this. If you can't afford to go in school holidays then you can't go or you adjust your holiday to suit the budget you have.

Dahlen · 16/01/2014 18:58

What about time? Presumably you don't need the same amount of time as a full-length school day because of the lack of other children. How long would you say is an average learning day?

As a lone parent I have to work, so I'd have to fit it in teaching around that. Which I'm happy to do if DC have an alternative lifestyle (e.g. later nights because they don't have to get up to go to school), but I'd still have to pay for childcare while I'm at work, which is where it gets prohibitive for me. Sad

mummymeister · 16/01/2014 19:00

downstairs - shame on your parents for allowing you to miss that one week of school and now you are busking. how dare they show some sensitivity to the crap that was going on in your personal life. next you are going to tell me that they were the sort of rubbish parents who cared about your homework and made you go to school every day. That week off - its just the slippery slope isn't it. its not about the money its about the principle. I am the parent. I do everything right. I don't break the law. I send them to school in the right uniform - no order marks between them for bad behaviour. they work hard. I go to the PTA. I make bloody cakes to sell for next to nothing. I help out at the prom. I volunteer. I go to every bloody concert, speech day you name it. why? because I thought educating my children was a partnership. well it isn't is it so that's the end of my involvement with their schools.

mummymeister · 16/01/2014 19:04

Argghhhhh Hampton Court and Tiffany. read the thread. I will say it again. I cannot ever take holidays in school holidays. I can only take them in term time. it isn't about the cost its about the job that I do. neither can my team take time off. of course its a bloody human right to spend time with your family. Neither of you ever go on holiday then. ever. not even a weekend (when incidentally I also have to work as the schools are also closed then as well) what bugs me is people thinking we all live in the same little world with the same little jobs and we can all conform. well we cant. it isn't about the bloody fine. its a criminal offence. just like speeding. just like stealing.

hamptoncourt · 16/01/2014 19:24

mummymeister I think it is very strange for someone who considers it a "human right" to have holidays with their DC to take a job that does not allow them time off in school holidays.
Just sayin'.

mummymeister · 16/01/2014 19:33

hamptoncourt - hmm take a job. no I am self employed run my own business and employ other people. under the old rules I could take my children out with mutual consent. circumstances have changed. taking a holiday is not a human right spending time with your family is. perhaps I just ought to sack all of my staff, sell my business and go on the dole. then I could take them out in school holidays. be reasonable Hampton. there are loads of people in work where they cant take school hols or there is an office lottery for holidays.

Euthah · 16/01/2014 19:35

The new rules say you can take your kids out with consent, mummymeister.

DownstairsMixUp · 16/01/2014 19:35

Pahaha mummymeister I blame my Dad for everything now. DAMN him and taking me on holidays once a year. If it wasn't for that I would of been a consultant or something by now. Hmm

hampton yawn. i have already said that. Not all of us have a CHOICE. Unless you have no knowledge, there are more unemployed people than jobs at the moment, yet alone people who want to switch careers applying. It's tough. And for some people, jobs like caring, are a passion, and they are the sort of people we need in them jobs. You often get restricted when you can take holidays then to and that's that. Some people work in retail because they have no other choice. To make it sound as easy as you do is quite frankly ridiculous. Wouldn't we all love a job where we could work 9-3, monday to friday, weekends off, no bank holiday work and NO restrictions on when we take annual leave? I sometimes think people live on another planet to me I really do.