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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Can I be fined - has anyone actually been fined?

221 replies

Weathergames · 27/05/2014 20:51

Hi, I want to take my 3 kids away in July - meaning they would miss the last 3 days of term when all they do is watch films DS1 will have left by then anyway.

Can the school actually fine me? Has anyone been fined for taking their kids out for a few days (kids have 100% attendance).

I work for the LA (not the same as where kids are at school) in attendance and I know the LA I work for would not spend money prosecuting me for 3 days absence.

OP posts:
TalkinPeace · 27/05/2014 22:21

The holiday companies LOSE MONEY in term times and break even through the holidays
its entirely possble to get decent overseas holidays in holiday time without breaking the bank or the rules

I know how little the schools can guide the kids : it was always thus and was even worse at the private schools I attended
BUT
its about teaching self discipline and awareness
threads like this are the opposite

clam · 27/05/2014 22:22

So, tiggy, if a parent phones their child in sick and the school strongly suspects them of lying, do they mark it as authorised or unauthorised?

Wickeddevil · 27/05/2014 22:24

Our LA has an exceptions policy on the council website. having otherwise good attendance is relevant as they are more likely to fine if the leave takes the attendance below their allowed %.

Might be worth a google?

feathermucker · 27/05/2014 22:25

Talkinpeace

Christ, overreacting much?!

Yes, the OPs son will be permanently damaged as a result of this heinous rule-breaking.

OP, you sound eminently sensible. Go for it......enjoy :-)

TalkinPeace · 27/05/2014 22:27

just expressing an opinion
I do not actually give a ... what OP does as this thread will not change her opinion

ILoveCoreyHaim · 27/05/2014 22:28

Thanks tiggy. Yes not the LA, down to the law change. I know I keep getting vouchers for Hayes travel from the school about getting money off for a booking in the school holiday's

Original poster
Weathergames · 27/05/2014 22:28

They can't mark it unauthorised on a suspicion.

OP posts:
Original poster
Weathergames · 27/05/2014 22:29

Although a lot of kids leave their FB wide open and school admin will have a look if they can to see what the kids are up to when "ill" and it's admissible evidence.

OP posts:
OwlCapone · 27/05/2014 22:33

Can you be fined? Yes.

Has anyone been fined? Yes, JohnWorf and at least 50,000 others.

I'm not sure why you are asking since you have clearly made your mind up.

chesterberry · 27/05/2014 22:33

Yes - that's right. The Head isn't allowed to authorise holidays now. That isn't the LA's fault either though. It was a change in the law last September.

The headteacher in the school where I teach definitely still authorises holidays and does so at her discretion (I haven't seen her refuse one yet but we are an SEN school so the reasons given for not being able to go in holiday time (crowds, availability of specific holiday home familiar to child, only time family can get time off to help support etc) are usually valid). The holidays which have been authorised are looked at by governors in their meetings but as far as I know not the LA. If a parent requests a holiday they fill in a form detailing it and the head approves it the same day - definitely no time for it to be going through the LA. Perhaps my LA have given the responsibility to the headteachers as for the LA to review holiday requests from students in all schools across the LA would be a massive undertaking.

Original poster
Weathergames · 27/05/2014 22:40

Think Specialist Schools have more leeway.

OP posts:
MaryWestmacott · 27/05/2014 22:44

Op, you'll find the differences on holiday prices even greater this year as the holiday companies are having to factor in the fines and so cut their prices for term term holidays even more to make it worth your while. Those holiday bargains are a bargain for a reason this year.

Check your council website, or google "[council name] school holiday fines" and your bound to find out what your council does. Or tell us the LEA name, without that, this thread can't help you, it'll just turn into people telling you that you are all that is wrong with society for wanting a term time holiday or people whinging about having to pay fines that they knew they'd get.

It's all rather like speeding motorists, they are always perfectly safe drivers who've never had a crash, and it's always the fault of the speed camera sneakiness, never considering that perhaps they should drive slower, or that some people aren't great drivers, and that's why we have the cameras to slow people down.

balenciaga · 27/05/2014 22:49

As others have said op

Just ring and say dc have d+v

And Fgs make sure you / and / or your dc don't put anything incriminating on FB, just in case either the school check or someone dobs you in

(I took mine out last summer and doing it again this year, can't wait. No way am I being dictated how to parent my kids or be ripped off for a holiday)

cantbelievethisishppening · 27/05/2014 22:56

(I took mine out last summer and doing it again this year, can't wait. No way am I being dictated how to parent my kids or be ripped off for a holiday)

You sound delightful.

tiggytape · 27/05/2014 22:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Whathaveiforgottentoday · 27/05/2014 23:18

I know somebody who was fined. In fact they ignored the fine at first and ended up being taken to court. I don't know them well (relative of a friend) so I can't remember how much but I know she had to borrow money to pay the fine as she couldn't afford it.

However, if you can afford the fine, then as a teacher I wouldn't be overly bothered if students missed the last 3 days especially as the 3rd day will be a early finish so it only really 2 1/2 days. In all 4 schools I've worked in, we have rarely done anything important in the last 2 days. Now, if you were planning to miss the last 10 days, I wouldn't be happy at all.

gobbin · 27/05/2014 23:30

They can't mark it unauthorised on a suspicion

They can where I teach. They decide the status of an absence based on whether a call or note explaining it was made, the child's attendance record, past history/pattern of absence, reasons given etc. The Education Welfare Office will also be sent to investigate, and when attendance drops below a certain percentage then ALL absence is unauthorised, whatever the reason given.

Original poster
Weathergames · 27/05/2014 23:34

gobbin then that isn't a suspicion it's based on evidence?

OP posts:
HolidayCriminal · 28/05/2014 00:44

Someone told me that absence in the last 1/2 term of summer term never gets counted as UA; something to do with the monitoring regime. So fines least likely to be applied then.

Oh, and mine definitely get 1-2 days of mostly films at end of term. They will come home mentioning how much of which Harry Potter or the Lego movie they've seen, and then another half film on some other day. Even in high school those who haven't been in trouble get a full day of some lark event; could be ice-skating or bowling, but they chose to have movies & popcorn end of one term.

SoonToBeSix · 28/05/2014 00:52

You only get fined if you miss ten sessions( so five days) or more of school per term.

merlehaggard · 28/05/2014 07:22

I don't know anyone who agrees with fining. As I've previously said, I do not take children out of school as in secondary school I feel that they miss too much. However, I hate being told what to do with my children and have no problem with breaking rules I don't agree with and teach my children the same. All my friends laugh at me thinking rules don't apply to me. It has done my children any harm, my eldest left school with A*AAB at A level and now studying law. She regularly lost some time from primary attached to the May half term to go on holiday. This was before fining (10 + years ago) when it was acceptable to do so. As soon as she reached secondary school, we stopped this. However, 3 days at the end of term, I think, should be completely fine. This is why I don't like the fining system. OP has made a judgment call and decided that it would not harm her children's education, and of course it won't. I think it is completely mad to suggest otherwise. I will be asking my daughter on the last 3 days of term what she has been doing. I very much doubt that any real work will be taking place - just like every other year.

Summerblaze · 28/05/2014 07:45

I took my 2 older DC out of school the last 3 days of the term before Easter. It wasnt authorised but the school do not have to send a notice to the LA unless it exceeds 4 and a half days. This may not be the case in all LA's but i have known lots of people who have not been fined for under a weeks absence.

hamptoncourt · 28/05/2014 07:50

Not only can you be fined, but at my local village primary, two siblings were permanently excluded when their mother took them out of school for a holiday again after a final warning.

Awful for the girls concerned as they now have to travel a long way to school and had to make new friends etc. Mother obviously didn't believe school would go through with it or didn't give a shit.

MaryWestmacott · 28/05/2014 07:54

Merle, that attitude is possibly why when accepting ds's primary school place this month, I had to sign an agreement that I would abide by the school rules, including sending him in the correct uniform, not taking him late and not keeping him off school for reasons other than sickness. The clear implication being "if you want to state educate your child, here's what you are agreeing to". Lots of people around here agree with you that they shouldn't be told what to do with their own child, so they home educate.

State school places come with conditions, it's only compulsory to educate your child, not compulsory to use the state system, if you don't like the rules, don't use the school.

Ledkr · 28/05/2014 07:56

They definitely do watch films in my dds school in the last few days. She has to take one in, they all do.

The week before they have activity week where the rich kids get to go to numerous theme parks and the poor ones do "knitting workshops with miss smith" or suchlike.

But you still can't take them on holiday if your income is low.

Weird.

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