... school not authorising absence- WWYD?

[Llanali]

Just had a letter to say the school will not authorise absence for DD (reception class) for the week before half term in February. This is after the school office advised we would get permission as she’s only in reception.

We tried to go away last year before she started school, to see DD grandparent in Aus but I had a second trimester miscarriage so we had to cancel the trip as I wasn’t allowed to fly following haemorrhage and surgery. This grandparent is the only living one she has.

We can’t go over Christmas as my husband cannot get leave. We can’t go over Easter as he can’t get leave and I can’t have holidays over the summer.

Any ideas? What would you do here? I’m really disappointed they wouldn’t grant us 5 days.

School is threatening prosecution if we take her anyway.

Surely the easiest thing to do is go without your husband?

I didn’t realise a week of sickness would be counted an unauthorized?

It won't be unauthorised usually.
But it is still absence and still counts int he normal absence count.
So your DC's unauthorised record at present is 0%, but their overall absence is 92%.
This would change after our holiday to include both authorised (illness) and unauthorised (holiday) absences, with the overall including both, which would be below the LEA's target.

Just go, write a letter to the school explaining why you are going and leave it at that. You might be fined but no education authority would prosecute in these circumstances.It would be political suicide.

The Head will have been instructed by the LA that they must not authorise holidays in term time. It does not mean they don't agree with your decision but they are just not allowed to authorise absence for holidays. Blame Michael Gove.

I would just go.
I think your mistake is writing so far in advance asking for time off. I have taken my dc to Australia the last two years, and both times I have phoned the school advising them he will not be in and the reason why. I wasn’t asking for time off, they are never going to authorise it

OnePotato2Potato Mon 03-Dec-18 18:36:18
I don't wish to hijack the thread but can someone clarify is the fine £60 per parent so £120 in total regardless of number of days taken? I thought that it was £120 per day!?

Depends on your LEA.
Sheffield LEA is £60 per parent, per holiday. Fine starts on day 5.

The Gov website simply states:

Fine
Your local council can give you a fine of £60, which rises to £120 if you don’t pay within 21 days. If you don’t pay the fine after 28 days you may be prosecuted for your child’s absence from school.

The moneysaving website states:

It's the LEA that can fine parents £60 for taking their child on holiday without permission. The fine's per child, per absence (and in theory each parent can be fined, though it varies).

Pretty much all LEAs from what I can gather fine PER ABSENCE PERIOD, not PER SESSION/DAY. Some do fine per parent though.

Just go. The school is being very unreasonable not to authorise it.

The school cannot prosecute. Only the Local authority can.
Check your LA rules for absence too as where i am we get fined after 10 days of unauthorised absence, not 5 days.
Just go and enjoy your holiday!

We had the same as BlueJava. Wrote a letter stating it was the only time we could go away as a family. Had a letter back saying we cannot authorise absence and to enjoy our holiday confused

They cannot authorise it. I don’t understand why people bother writing letters or having meetings about how special their holiday is. It won’t be authorised, but that doesn’t mean the Head actually cares and knows you’ll go anyway!

Ah I see, thank you Aragog.
never thought I would be thanking a massive spider

I totally agree with you nothisispatrick, why don't people understand that the school can't authorise holiday, can't stop you going and so you should budget for a fine and he happy if you don't get one.

Deregistering and then applying after the holiday a ridiculous solution to the issue and a waste of the schools time and resources, the policy has been around for years now, why does it seen to be so hard to grasp.

They are very unlikely to fine you for taking a child out of reception. I've had two families charged in my class but I teach year 6! I would ignore school and go.

As it is, I'm taking my year six daughter out of school in March (shock horror!) for a day as she is singing in a festival. It won't be authorised but I will stare down that head teacher if he suggests fining me! As it is, I might hoik her out of school the week before to come and sing in assembly at my school for the practice and for the enjoyment of my kids at school. (She's in a quartet with kids from my school - I'm not just a massive show off!!!)

DCs old school only authorised 1 day for DF's funeral . We had requested 2 on the basis that the funeral was 100 miles away and at 9.30am due to the crematorium being super busy! Honestly I was so cross!

Anyway, I digress. Our LA (Birmingham) fines after 10 sessions (5 days). The deputy head told me that a very few parents take their kids out for 6-8 weeks at a time (high Asian population so likely to Pakistan or India). I had been worrying over 2 days (this time holiday, unauthorised). No fine.

There is a lot of misinformation on this thread OP, so you really need to look up your local council's code of conduct, in regard to absence and term-time holidays. If you cannot find one (some councils do hide them), then email the council and ask for an up to date code of conduct; they are legally obliged to have and show one.

Only your local council's code of conduct and procedures matter OP, whatever the rules are for anyone else do not matter.

For clarity, if referred the council can proceed straight to prosecution for an authorised absence. There is no law that states the council have to issue a TPN first.

Magistrates would not laugh if the council prosecuted. It is a strict liablity offence; you will either plead guilty or not guilty to failing to ensure your child attended school during the dates they allege, and if you took your child away you can only be guilty.

Most councils do issue TPNs rather than prosecution, and will issue them time and again to repeat offenders; again it depends on your LA, some will only issue one in two years, and if it happens again, then it is straight to court, again only your LA's code of conduct will give you this info.

It's also perfectly possible for a headteacher to mark the absence as unauthorised, but agree to not refer you. That will mean you'll have no risk of penalty notices or legal action.

In your position, I'd check your LA's code of conduct, then ask (beg) the headteacher to agree to not refer you, even if they can't authorise.

This thread is crackers! The school won’t authorise absence in this circumstance so they then advise you that they will have to refer to local authority who may issue a fine etc .... if your attendance is less than 96. Something percent worst case scenario is you’ll get a fine. Agree with a pp that you probs made mistake of telling them too soon - and asking for permission! Just let them know that she won’t be here from this date to this date due to family holiday/visiting relatives etc. And get yourselves off - don’t worry about it and stop thinking about it.
You’ve got a lot on your plate at the moment and probs feeling upset and anxious already - this is making you over anxious about a problem that’s not a problem. Just look forward to your hols and don’t worry about prosecution it will never happen in a million years.

My DS went to a very Catholic school in Surrey, we asked for a Friday to take him back to Dublin for a First Communion, the typed letter came back from the HT stating that she could not possibly authorise the requested leave.

Written in her own hand as a PS was, have great time and say a prayer for me.

Point being she had a letter on file that said no.

To the person saying it is ridiculous to suggest deregistering, and a waste of time and resources: I am angry about this absurd policy, which criminalises parents, and adds huge stress to people's lives. I am not willing to accept it as normal and right.

If you are worried call the council to check the process - fine at most. Relatives also in Aus - I have a few unauthorised...

Your best bet is to speak to other parents at the school rather than to the school itself. Schools are pretty much duty bound to threaten prosecution in order to deter people taking kids out, however it really does vary as to whether they actually enforce it. The school I work at, for instance, wouldn't authorise a family holiday but wouldn't take any action unless it was more than a week out of school or it was more than once in an academic year. We are an academy though, so have a bit more autonomy, no idea whether LA schools are more rigid.

Other parents will have a better idea of you're likely to actually be issued with a FPN rather than just threatened with one.

Good luck, I'd take her fwiw.

“You see as far as far this government are concerned. Working class kids aren't allowed holidays. They're only for the upper and middle classes. Who can afford extra thousands of pounds”

That is such a silly statement. Holidays aren’t an entitlement. And the cost of holidays is down to supply and demand. Where do you draw the line about other things that people can or can't afford?

OP, under the circumstances I would just book and go. By all means explain the circumstances to the school, but tell them, don’t ask, that you are going anyway.

Holidays aren't a entitlement.

No only for the middle class.

How has holly got away with taking her kids to Australia for 3/4 weeks without being prosecuted

I would hazard a guess that Holly's kids are in private school. Not sure if the rules are different. They are getting schooling/tutoring in oz.

"Holidays aren't a entitlement.

No only for the middle class."

They aren't an entitlement for anyone
Get that chip off your shoulder

Loopylou6

Maybe it has been authorised due to her working day from home, and it being classed as exceptional.

If state school, maybe it is unauthorised and she is just paying the fine - just like 100s of parents do up and down the country.

If independent school - they have their own rules; DD's school never fined anyone for holidays for example.

Friendproblem - aren't you forgetting the role of the CPS in this? They need to be convinced it's in the public interest to prosecute and i doubt this would happen with 1 unauthorised holiday....