Holiday fines?

[frozen1234]

Hi.

Im after some advice.

We have been on holiday and took our son in september. We paid the fine.

We have another holiday in march and wondered what the process is? Would we get another fine or do they take you to court for the second time you do it. Out of curiosity can you keep having hols each year and paying the fine? Or will they eventually take you to court?

Thanks for any answers on the above questions..

There is no definitive answer to your questions OP because it depends entirely on where you live, what the HT policy is, what the LEA's policy is and what your attendance has been over the year. there are too many variables. I am not in favour at all of the restrictions on leave in term time because my work circumstances and many others means that taking time off in school hols is impossible and yes, I do give a shit about education - the kind of education that takes place both inside and outside of the classroom. HOWEVER, even I think two absences in one year is taking the biscuit. fair enough one holiday which I think everyone should be entitled to but not two. I would sooner see the rules changed. no leave given unless 95% attendance and then only 5 days per year at most. anyone who takes more than 5 should be fined a lot more than £60 per parent per child. carrot and stick.

Twice in a school year could trigger a prosecution, I'd have thought.

tiggytape - lies, damned lies and statistics. nothing has been done to deal with the serial offender parents whose kids are off one day a week. these figures mask the fact that the real issue of kids whose parents don't give a monkeys and keep them off for many more than a few days a year hasn't changed. what has changed is that reasonable and responsible parents aren't taking their kids any more in term time.

can I go off thread and throw this in?? Just heard from our dentist. they are inundated with parents who are now signing their kids off of the practice because the practice only offers one evening a week when they are open beyond 5pm. whereas in the past kids would come in during the day, parents cant get leave authorised for dental visits, cant get an appointment so are basically stopping going. well done Mr Gove. 100% school attendance but rotten teeth.

You're right lecherrs it can vary.

But it's so easy for the OP to google their local authority's stance on it.

Just wondering what is so important that your child needs to be taken out of school in term time?

hereas in the past kids would come in during the day, parents cant get leave authorised for dental visits, cant get an appointment so are basically stopping going

But no one has locked the DCs up or are preventing parents from taking them to Medical appointments!
Are parents really that lacking in common sense confidence that they need to be authorised to take their DCs to the dentist?

angelos02 spending time away from my business with my family. that's important to me. I can only do this during term time and not in school holidays because I am self employed in a business that only works in school holidays. neither can any of my staff take time. there are lots and lots of people in this situation. the issue is doing it to be the least disruptive that you can.

Mummymeister - surely the issue there is with the dentist not meeting the needs of it's clients rather than schools being so fussy in expecting pupils to be in school?

Some appointments can't be arranged for out of school hours. Non urgent dental appointments can generally and dental practices should surely look at how they can meet the needs of their clients best - most people can't take time off work for non urgent appointments either.

mummymeister when do you suppose teachers can spend time with their children?

Re the dentist thing - with the exception of having my wisdom teeth taken out under General Anesthetic - I have always had appointments for my dentist out of school hours - I have been every six months since I had teeth. I have had a brace as well so did go through a stage of lots of additional appointments.

I am now a teacher and also have to make my appointments out of school hours.

I book six months in advance when I have previous appointment and never had an issue and mine do one late night a week and work till 5:30 and I normally have an appointment around 5ish.

Doctors are a different matter but .....

and you and your DP continue to not give a shit............only on Mumsnet!

I had not problem with absences for my DDs Orthodontics appointments (and he school has never authorised holidays as a general rule). But maybe that is because by definition 90% or more of an Orthodontist's patients are of school age, so organising all appointments outside school hours would be impossible.

I have never had issues with medical appointments and taking children out of school.

I don't see why anyone needs two term time holidays in one academic year - and yes children can miss a lot even in 1 week off in Reception.

One week long term time holiday is reasonable in my opinion as long as your children are there for the rest of the time and are achieving well.

More than that is taking the mickey.

My guess would be that if you talk to the head teacher, they would very much be against it. You will need to check the specific policy for the area in which your dc's school is to get an accurate answer to your question OP.

angelos02. teachers can spend 1 week at February half term, 2 weeks at Easter, 6 weeks in the summer, 1 week in October and 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year. and yes, I know that this is a glib answer, that you have the hardest job in the world and lots of your holiday time is spent planning but not all of it. teachers have a job when they can only take holiday in school holidays. I and many others have a job when we can only take holidays in term time. will lobby my dentist open longer and make more appointments available out of the usual 9 - 5 hours now I know others have done it.

I think it's a fucking cheek to consider taking your kids out of school for two holidays in one year. They are going to miss lessons and the teachers will have to try and fill in the gaps. It disrupts the classes.
And your only worry is how much you might be fined. :(

I work for admissions in my local LA. We fine after 10 school days in one go or near to eachother (not overall) providing the school informs us (it is ultimately up to the school to prompt us into this action) it goes to court if the fine is unpaid.

I don't believe, to date, we've ever taken a parent to court over term time holidays (to prosecute, rather than fine), certainly not directly from my department. We just involve other services to give support to the family. We do remove children from school roll if they are out of school for an extended period of time and refer this then to children missing education.

There are so many referrals and pathways to go through, criminal charges are not our top priority as an LA, the children are.

So technically, a week (or two) off each year would not necessarily involve anything more than a fine each time. In our LA.

Just to wade in- my DD sees a special dentist as she has extreme anxiety. This dentist sees children like DD just one day a week, so they have to use all of the day to make appointments. They could not just give after school appointments because they would be twiddling their thumbs all day until 3.30pm. So she has time out of school for regular check-ups every three months. The school has never commented, but just to mention it to posters on here who think you can always get after school appointments for your children.

this whole policy really bugs me (and I know I am different to most of mumsnet on this) but really kids spend so much time hanging around, waiting in line, watching films at the end of term etc etc) I hate the government control and interference and the presumption that they know better.

On a lighter note mine are generally top of the class, spend heaps of time learning very little and I loath the school run so I would welcome advice as to how to skip the criminal record bit but get the targeted one to one teaching and the support worker to pick them up and take them to school referred to earlier in the thread

Oh and I am not sure lobbying the dentist will work, what are they going to do for childcare outside of 'normal' hours!!!

For parents with the OP's apparent mindset I'd like to see fines massively increased and/ or school places withdrawn.

Well, I expect the OP's very much appreciating being "set right" in this inimitable MN way. After she simply asked a pragmatic question, and ( ) is making some decisions of her own about what's best for her kids.

Have a , OP, and enjoy your holiday, safe in the knowledge that you almost certainly know and love your children more than Michael Gove does.

Out of curiosity can you keep having hols each year and paying the fine?

I think that one sentence tells us everything we need to know

No doubt all the usual "holidays are educational / they do nothing that week anyway / they close for boiler breakdowns / family time is just as important / they'll take work to do when away" excuses will appear in due course ...

It sounded as though she was making decisions about what's best for her pocket and enquiring about the possibility of having to go to court to me.