Skaross I'd love if you could link to that DFE info. Especially given that it varies so much not only around the country but even from school to school.
I'm looking and I can find nothing except that schools or councils CAN invoke certain sanctions, nothing to say they HAVE to and certainly nothing with a set amount of days where you MUST report.
As with most legislation there's wording like 'schools must ensure regular attendance' 'school must ensure safeguarding of pupils' and that absence MAY indicate safeguarding issues.
But nothing prescriptive.
I'm glad there's
"No fines in Scotland" - I took dd out for a relatives overseas wedding once for a week, but head was OK about it anyway.
I can understanding instigating a procedure leading to fines for 'repeat offenders' where the child is frequently out of school for spurious reasons, but for once in a blue moon where the child usually has good attendance and keeps up with schoolwork? Nah - petty bureaucracy. And I think most headteachers are more than capable of knowing their pupils well enough, discussing with class or form teacher and deciding on a case by case basis.
"If they need to be sick they go to the bathroom." Lovely - you know that's a great way to spread illness round a whole school and their families inc pregnant mum's, immunocompromised kids & adults, elderly & frail relatives - not to mention the teachers! Unnecessary presenteeism and selfish. Rather smacks of you using the school as childcare so you don't have to care for a sick child!
If the govt were genuinely concerned about this they'd deal with the holiday companies & airlines pricing structures!
While dd was educated in Scotland I was educated in England mostly (army brat, also went to school in Scotland and Germany). It was rare for parents to take children out of school but if they did, for weddings, funerals (army kids so most living far from extended family), sometimes for a particular holiday there wasn't all this angst from the schools. Also leave could be hard to get during school holiday time for some or families would feel it necessary to take time to connect when the serving parent returned from deployment.
I've lots of friends with children that have/are being educated in England, some of them have taken kids out of school (particularly the army brats who've ended up settling away from 'home') again for family reasons or the occasional holiday. None have been fined to my knowledge.
If there's anyone reading this in the know - where does the fine money go?
"Sorry 5 days is our LA rules, I assumed it was the same for everyone. Apologies" but you said it was dfe rules.
"Why do we all accept that mess, I haven't found one person - head teacher included - who believe the current system is ok." Same. I've also a number of friends & 1 relative teaching in England. They all say that it's just extra headache for them and doesn't actually improve attendance.
In addition most schools seem to do sod all the last week of term, which is when many parents who do this time it, especially the last week before summer break, so they're not actually missing anything.
Yes school/education is important - it's not the ONLY important thing in a child's life.
"But it's a choice to work in the leisure industry." Yea cos jobs arec SO easy to come by right now 🙄 especially in parts of the country mainly reliant on tourist income.