To ask how does unauthorised absence work?

[PaperWhiteDaisy]

My DC has recently started school (reception). I’m planning to take some holiday out of term time (after they have turned age 5). Having read the school policies, it will be unauthorised absence, as they say they never approve holiday requests.

In that case, do you just email the school office on the first day and advise that DC will be away for 2 weeks? Did you receive the fine by post? The council website says £60/120 per parent, so I assume maybe it’s £60 per parent per week of absence?

My DH thinks we should tell the school in advance, but I’m not sure they need to know if it isn’t going to be approved, so is there any point getting a rejection in advance and then ignoring it?

Schools require you to fill on a form of absence. There's no courtesy about it OP you are required to fill it in.

Why do posters sprout out utter tosh in here

If unauthorised and the school give the council the information (many don’t) you may get fined up to £240 if in a couple and 2 weeks off.

Many heads in my area don’t authorise the holiday however also don’t pass the information to the LEA, as they believe it discriminates against families of lower incomes and those families who have no choice to go on annual leave outside of term times.

I used to work in a school office and deal with absences.

Please let the school know in advance by completing the form. It saves the school office lots of work, otherwise the admin staff will have to call everyone on your contacts list everyday.

The head will probably decline to authorise but only because they have to be consistent. IME they don’t mind people having an occasional holiday.
Fines only come into play IF the child gets referred to the EWO, as they are the people who issue the fine. Schools only refer if it’s a persistent non attender.
A one off holiday would likely get ignored but if we hadn’t heard in advance and didn’t know Why the child was absent we’d be more likely to refer.

I've done a week at a time - emailed a couple of days before hand and they sent me a request form which I never filled in and no one asked for it again.
Someone who worked in a school office told me they need to send your request form off to action the fine, so without the form filled in they might not bother as it's a hassle... I've never been fined anyway.

Do you really need to have the holiday out of term? Is it to visit an elderly relative, for example?

In term time I meant.

Grinning at the suggestion there are schools charging parents two grand for missing some days

There's a lot of misinformation on this thread.

The TPN would be £120 per parent per absence, but reduced to £60 if paid within 28days.

The head teacher decides whether to refer to the local authority for a TPN to be issued. Though many claim it's not their responsibility. Legally it is, though I expect they are heavily pressured and told to refer almost all absences.

The threshold for issuing is often 10 sessions but this varies according to the Local Authority policy. There is no national, standardised requirement. Some counties threaten they'll send TPNs for 1 session.

They have 6 months to do it!

Inform the school and offer to cover anything work his teacher feels he would miss during that time. They will probably make you fill out a holiday form. There's no requirement to do it. As long as you've told them when he'll be absent and when he'll be back, you have given all the information they need.