To keep my son off school the whole day for an afternoon appointment?

[Beehatsatdawn]

Son is in year 11. He has a college interview at 3pm on Tuesday.
He has 100% attendance and has had for the last two years so no concerns there.
I informed school I would collect him in the afternoon earlier than school finishes in order to take him his interview at a college. They have said that it needs to be approved by the attendance officer and I should wait for their reply.
It's for college!

Maybe I should just keep him off the whole day then there are no such issues!

So send them a copy of the interview letter and then pick him up as planned.

Surely you can’t be shocked that a school is careful about attendance? Especially for older pupils!

Missing a full day unnecessarily in year 11 is just silly. There will be people who can and can't approve absence, just wait for their reply it's not really a big deal, they aren't exactly going to say no under those circumstances.

Do what Sirzy suggested.

I've done that Sirzy. I've submitted to the year head.
That's when the debate about it being approved started.

If my dd has appointments I just send her in with a letter on the day with time of pick up.
I have also checked about college interviews and been told to let them know before and note on the day as usual.
If they haven't got back you then I would just pick him up as if they had.If they want to make an issue of unauthorised absence they are going to look foolish in this case.
Good luck to your son.

Ime any time out of school has to be authorised as a matter of procedure. I have never been denied. Unless there is something very important going on for DS I very much doubt you will be denied either.

Unless you think they're literally going to bar him from leaving the school I don't see the issue. If he's marked down temporarily as "unauthorised" it won't affect him or you so just ignore it.

Don’t worry about it, at all. They are not going to say no, and if for some strange and absurd reason they do take him regardless. Good luck to him!!!

Is it not just that they are finding out if it can be an approved abscence that won't affect his attendance?

They can't actually say "no you can't take him".

It’s because the Head of Year can’t authorise this but someone else can-the reply to you would be informing you it has been passed onto the person who can authorise it. There is no ‘debate’ or issue to stress over, here. This does smack a little bit of ‘throwing your toys out the pram’.