AIBU to be angry about attendance charge from school

[HidingInTheBathroom]

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.

Maryz - I didn't say it leaves them far behind, just that the evidence suggests they frequently don't catch up. The research says that 17 missed days a year leads to all subjects being down by a single GCSE grade. So a child who should get C grades across the board can be expected to get D grades across the board if they miss that much school. If absence rates are lower the effect will be lower - the research has not found a threshold below which there is no effect but that doesn't mean there isn't one. And of course what research says happens in general does not necessarily apply to a particular child.

parents have a right do they?
So FGM is acceptable regardless of the law. Yes an extreme case, but who decides which laws can be broken at will?

wait... how did we get to FGM?

ha! Only the parents who can afford to pay, or who don't get anxious at the thought, get to exercise the right. And the parents who are truly feckless & truly don't have the money won't end up paying I imagine, or maybe they could pretend the child was merely truanting not on holidays. So yet another way the whole thing is socially divisive.

My apologies for starting a red herring. I agreed the parental rights to bring up children as they see fit providing they remain within the law (I thought, wrongly, the thread had stayed sufficiently on-topic of education that it did not need expansion to cover wider possibilities).

The relevant law in this instance says that children must be educated. It do not say that children must go to a state-controlled school and therefore obey all statutory rules about attendance there. In terms of education, parents can do as they see fit, and if state-controlled schools are unacceptable, they are free to make other provision.

So it could be all about the targets?

Its cute that some people are gullible enough to believe these fines were introduced out of any sort of concern for missed education.

Yanbu, although i agree with fines re repeat offenders (the types that cannot be bothered to get their kids to school often as they cba to get out of bed) i however do not agree in these rules for all as a one off.

I think these fines are to gain money, the more they rake in the better which is why they probably charge couples more, to rake in an extra £60 for the sake of it.

At the moment the choices are:

1. Opt out of state education
2. Do not take term time holidays
3. Take term time holidays and pay the fine
4. Lobby your MP for change

Which is the most practicable/sensible option will depend on each family's individual circumstances.

I haven't seen any campaigns to try and change the current system so I guess most people actually can't be arsed and just want to moan about it?

Change never came about by sitting doing nothing but complain.

It's insane to have a fine for taking your kids out of school for a few days O.o Should be the parents decision, schools should not be so controlling of parents at all. Huff! yanbu at all!

I don't think many people will campaign about this because

a) It doesn't really effect parents day to day.

b) Unauthorised absence doesn't get fined on an automatic basis.
Most parents will "get away" with a day or two here and there.

Which is of course is one of the reasons the Op can feel cross about being fined.

How the fuck do they charge couples more? it's already been stated on this thread and others that both parents get fined. Even the NR one IIRC. The lady that was concerned her dp would end up paying for her ex's frivolity was a prime example.

Some really odd suggestions creeping into this now ...

Kids being disadvantaged through absence actually shows it's the school which is rubbish? Words fail me, frankly

Rules have a disproportionate effect on the poor? Since education is a major benefit in escaping poverty, I'd have thought the poor would be even more keen to keep children in school

Parents should be free to raise children entirely as they see fit? What, even when it involves encouraging law breaking? Oh dear, oh dear

Once again it's only too clear that some will claim any excuse, no matter how ridiculous or ill thought out, to justify what they want. And they think this will produce balanced, responsible offspring?? As has been said, it's only too easy to see why some children behave the way they do ...

op. I hope that you are going to update us generally about whether there was a genuine reason for the other set of parents at your school not to receive a fine?

At some point I should have added.

She won't know Honey. If you had a genuine reason for absence would you want the head telling anyone who asked what it was?

I expect the OP has calmed down now and is feeling slightly foolish over insisting on seeing the head teacher over this. I would like to see her stick to her guns and take this to court but I suspect the chance of losing and being fined extra will dissuade her from that.

Will you think twice about taking term time holidays from now on OP, or will you accept the fine and just pay it in future?

If the OP has good reason to believe the other family did not have compelling reasons and their holiday was authorised anyway then she is absolutely right to question it!

It's somewhat ironic that the new system that has reduced headteachers discretion is unwelcome and it is argued that Heads should retain the ability to decide each case in its merits - and yet in the case of the other family at the OPs school, where discretion may well have been used for an exceptional reason that the OP is unaware of - it is considered unfair on the OP, who is apparently entitled to question it.

Perhaps, in the interests of fairness, all requests for term time holiday should be made on the understanding that the "exceptional circumstances" will be published to other parents? Thought not.

I think that she should question it, yes.
Whether she will get an answer is debatable.

I find myself a bit long in the tooth nowadays to just blindly accept that everything in life is above board and beyond questioning.

I think it's a great idea! All holiday request letters should be pinned up on a board outside the school gate for everyone to see - complete with details of the exceptional circumstances given - such as a parent being diagnosed with a terminal illness, death of an infant sibling, destruction of the family home.....these things shouldn't be kept private and personal if families want to disrupt their DCs education, should they?

Yes, I think much more questioning of a Headteachers judgment is needed by the school community.

Are you a teacher or Head or parent Frogby?

Any system without accountability is open to abuse. Are you suggesting head teachers are incapable of abusing a system?

honey a parent......definitely not a teacher

But surely there is a difference between accountability and air people's personal and private information for the world to see?

airing