Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to be angry about attendance charge from school

562 replies

HidingInTheBathroom · 07/02/2014 15:36

I am very upset at the minute. Received my fine today for taking my children out of school four days before they break up for Christmas.

Me and my husband have received a £60 fine for each child for each parent.

We are being charged more for being a couple. Which I think is wrong. The last week of school they only watch films and went to a pantomime. Oh and had a school disco. The holiday was far more educational than watching films and family time is hard to come by with work.

When I have requested a meeting with the head teacher I have just got a mouthful of abusive from the receptionist.

OP posts:
ShadowOfTheDay · 07/02/2014 20:58

I think the fines are there to do precisely what they are doing... make MC families think twice about going on holidays in school term time... because lately many have been doing just that and it is disruptive ...

When my eldest was in Y5 there seemed to be 3 or 4 away every week - as a last chance to fit in a cheap trip abroad before Sats year - seemed to be seen as a right to take at least a week out in the term between Easter and summer. If it stops the mass exodus from the "naice" primary schools, with the TAs playing constant catch up for the 12 whole weeks before summer, then it is not that bad a thing....

Fairenuff · 07/02/2014 20:59

How about huge numbers of people all taking their children out of school for a day at once and all refusing to pay the fines? How would the courts cope?

The courts would cope just fine. At the moment it's a very straightforward process. Everyone would be fined. What possible defence could they offer?

If you want to change things, you need to get in touch with your MP. Have you done that Clock? Or anyone else who disagrees with the fines?

MaryWestmacott · 07/02/2014 21:00

Stevie - I think the point is to stop people taking their DCs out of school during term time, or at least massively limit it.

Right now, a lot of people will do it to save a couple of hundred quid on a holiday, but if you have 2DCs in school, with both parents being charged £60 per child per day, taking your DCs out for one day would be £240, start looking at a week, and suddenly it's not a cheaper holiday.

There will always be those who can't get time off in the school holidays, or need to take their DCs out for special family events (which won't get a fine) but for the most, it seems price is the factor - this is removing that factor.

CaurnieBred · 07/02/2014 21:01

We took DD out of school for 7 days at the end of the Christmas term as we were going to Australia. We haven't heard anything from LEA yet but are expecting to be fined. We had booked the flights/holiday before the fines were announced (last January).

We have already booked to go skiing January 2015 and have factored in the fine as part of the holiday cost.

I was taken out of school as a child as my mother was a nurse and she could only request holiday: the shifts were handed out and more often than not she was not successful in getting them during school holidays. It never affected my education and I never take sickies from work.

ClockWatchingLady · 07/02/2014 21:03

Haven't really thought it through, Juggling, but I'm sure there's SOMETHING to do that's better than my own approach of apathetic whinging Grin

jack, maybe you're right, I have no idea. I doubt the people who put the rules in place have any idea, either.

ChocolateWombat · 07/02/2014 21:04

Amimagic, I have only been on Mumsnet for 2 weeks, so think you must be confusing me with someone else.

The reason I am posting is because I value education highly. The education that the nations children receive has an effect on us all. They are the workforce and the citizens of the future. The decisions of indiviuals add up and have a bigger effect.

The other reason I post is because these kind of threads reveal a refusal in people to take personal responsibility for their actions. Any kinds of negative consequence is always blamed on someone else, or the authorities, but never accepted as bei g the result of an individuals actions.

I also find lots of people on here illogical in their arguments to be honest. People get side tracked by lots of red herrings, and an enjoy a bit of debate and trying to clarify what the key issues are.

I recognise people have different views. I am fine with that. If they can't give a clear reason for them though, I find it hard to accept them as valid.

Sorry if it upsets you. More people who commented to me directly on this post have agreed with the principles I raise.

ClockWatchingLady · 07/02/2014 21:05

(and writing to my MP - yes, Faire, I have done this. It will, of course, have no effect on anyone whatsoever)

Stevie77 · 07/02/2014 21:08

I understand the purpose of a fine, thanks for the patronising explanation.

What I don't understand is who it is being targeted at. If it is people taking kids out of school for holiday purposes which amount to a handful of days per year, then it comes across as not only a money generating exercise but also a pointless one as those who can afford will just pay. If the aim is to get truants back into schools, then that's fine but I think it's implemented in an odd way.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 07/02/2014 21:10

I think there have been plenty of good arguments put forward as to why fines are problematic Wombat, at least as logical as your argument that it's like fines for speeding!

ClockWatchingLady · 07/02/2014 21:10

juggling, I agree that comparing this to things like driving and using mobiles is pointless.

My question: who is the victim of the crime of taking your child out of school? The authorities claim it is the child. I disagree (and don't trust their motives).

Misspixietrix · 07/02/2014 21:10

Instead of everyone organising Parental strikes et al (Oh the Irony!) How about focusing said energy on getting the holiday hosts to bring their price down?

ChocolateWombat · 07/02/2014 21:11

Clock, if you think it is fundamentally wrong, at least you have expressed your view though. I'm sure you put it really clearly. That, or protest more vigorously is all any of us can do if we disagree with something,isnt it.
Personally I think the government did need to take further steps to get kids into school, because just asking nicely wasnt working, but I respect your differing view on it. I would write too if I disagreed with something. I wouldn't go to the school to complain about the receptionist as a way to vent my anger.

Sallyingforth · 07/02/2014 21:13

Sorry but I have no sympathy for parents who teach their children that it's OK to break the law - or to lie and pretend they were sick, come to that.

echt · 07/02/2014 21:15

And what if the law is an unjust one?

ChocolateWombat · 07/02/2014 21:17

I didn't really see the OPs post as raising the issue of whether fines are right or not. For me, it raised the issue of people taking personal responsibility for their actions.
Early posts in the thread focused more on that. Not surprised it moved into a debate about whether the fines are justified though.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 07/02/2014 21:17

It isn't primarily about holiday costs for me though Misspixie more about our fundamental liberties, and about home-school partnership and mutual respect.

WhiskyTangoFoxtrot · 07/02/2014 21:18

"before the fines were announced (last January)."

This isn't quite right. The fines were introduced in 2003.

But an agreement to authorise a holiday made at the time of booking should still be honoured.

Sallyingforth · 07/02/2014 21:18

We live in a democracy. Laws are made by majority governments. If a law is 'unjust' in your opinion, you have the same way to change it as everyone else. But like everyone else, you still have to obey it until it is changed.

echt · 07/02/2014 21:19

What Juggling said.

ChocolateWombat · 07/02/2014 21:19

Echt, I take the view that we live under the law and are not free to pick and choose which suits us or is convenient for us. There are all kinds of laws people don't like, which would be problematic if they disobeyed them. I.m keen to teach my children that if we don't like rules, we can express our dislike, but need to still obey them.

Perhaps Im just not a free spirit.

ClockWatchingLady · 07/02/2014 21:20

Chocolate, it does feel cathartic, at least, to express a view to someone "in power". For me, though, I wonder if it makes me even less likely to try to do something really active about it. But then I'm fundamentally pretty lazy...

ChocolateWombat · 07/02/2014 21:21

I like what Sally said. Well put!

ChocolateWombat · 07/02/2014 21:25

Clock, I can see what you mean. You could go for a really major form of protest, but it would be a lot of effort. If you had certainty of huge support and people joining you and if you could see government could be persuaded it might be different. Makes me think of poll tax protest again.
I would write if I felt strongly, but don't think I would be bothered to go further though. Someone might!

ClockWatchingLady · 07/02/2014 21:25

The law-following thing is a tricky one, isn't it? It seems important to follow a code of conduct that other people follow, so we can all live together. But laws in themselves can make people behave badly, as well as well (sorry to bring the Nazis into this so crassly, but how would you feel about following their laws?). Also, are we capable of being humane and thoughtful without laws? Should we not take it on ourselves more to act in ways which aid others?

echt · 07/02/2014 21:25

Less of the snideness, ChocolateWombat. Engage with my views and opinions, not snippy, passive -aggressive projections of what you erroneously imagine me to be.

I regard this particular law as unjust. Those who break it will be faced with the consequences, but that doesn't make the law right.