To panic about booked holiday and being fined?

[CreativeBee]

Our 10 year old has special needs and part of her medical condition is that she has little control of her body temperature which means going abroad during Easter/Summer holidays is out of the question so hubby has booked a family holiday for December but it means that our 17 year old DS and 10 year old DD will miss 2 days of the last week before the Christmas holidays. AIBU to panic about being fined? DH asked me last week before he put a deposit down and I said that as it was the last two days of the Christmas school week they'll be fine but I'm now seriously worried 😩

Many schools prefer that you just call in sick - better for their records. I would just do that, and have done it myself. Don't worry about it, really.

For 2 days, I'd just call in sick.

Just pay the fine out of the money you have saved by travelling in term time.

But you are BU about using your DDs medical condition to justify going on holiday in term time.

You could holiday in the UK or northern Europe any time you like. A 6 hour flight suggests Egypt, Cape Verde or perhaps the Canaries from Scotland, all of which could easily be 25 C+ even in December.

2 days -- sick. and tell kids not to brag. ignore 'holiday is not a right' brigade

@Railgunner1 why would you bother lying to school when she won't get fined anyway?

My dc's will miss a day each the day before half term. The school said it will be unauthorised but not fined. 're yr 12/13. I agree. I teach sixth form and we do teach every week, or we wouldn't do the syllabus. They did watch a harrowing documentary about the James Bulger killers as an Easter Holiday treat, but that's about it 😅.

You might get fined. These are unfortunately the rules and if you break them then there is a possibility of a fine. I think you need to factor in the cost of the fine to the holiday (I think it's £60 per parent, per child, so £240) and then if you don't get fined it's a bonus.

I'm not sure your situation would count as exceptional, unfortunately, although I do understand the issue with your child with medical needs and summer holidays, I think school would just suggest you take a shorter holiday (2 weeks is enough for a foreign sunny holiday I think) or just don't go abroad (I've never been abroad so am always jealous of people who can go abroad on hols!).

This is our system, like it or not, and we all have to abide by it or face the potential consequence of a fine. Just make your decision and own it, no need for anxiety, just prepare yourself for the fine then if it doesn't happen, happy days!

And enjoy your holiday :)

Just out of curiosity do you just email the scool and say you're going on holiday? We're taking 5yo Ds out in May and haven't told the school yet

Kids are old enough to pretend holiday starts on the Friday night, so I would probably just call them in sick for two days. And if challenged/ found out, just say husband booked the wrong day/ you got the term dates wrong.

I just write to school saying I'm taking 5 days unauthorised absence.

Yes Kitty articulated what i meant, every lesson counts, there are never any coasting lessons in sixth form, even on the last day of term, and so yes 3 lessons could mean missing a big chunk of something tricky. I neither plan deliberately to teach tricky stuff near the end of term, or to avoid it. We as a department split the spec into 2 sensible halves, each teacher teachers their half, in a suitable order.

Our local authority state on their website that you'll only be fined after a certain amount of absence (it works out as 5 days in a 10 week period). That means although we're taking DD out for 2 days this summer we've already been told that there won't be a fine.

Check your local authority website as your area may have different rules.

Thanks 2014

Spoke to DH today and we've decided that we're sending both DC in on the day of our flight, DC finish at 1pm on last day so technically will only miss half a day. Feel much better now thanks for the advice everyone