To not pay school attendance fine?

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And what happens if I don’t. There is no statutory right to appeal.

i submitted an ‘exceptional leave request’ first week of September, requesting 5 days leave for my 6YO and 8YO daughters. We are in India this week participating in Diwali and the religious functions that lead up to it. It’s not the same in our area the U.K. and we wanted the kids to fully experience their cultural traditions at an age where they wouldn’t miss too much at school, with family and friends that live in India.

the head was meant to respond to let us know whether or not the absence would be authorised and give reasons. We didn’t hear anything and then chased up a few weeks before half term, but no response.

today we got the standard ‘why have your kids not in school email’, which I responded to and finally got confirmation that the absence has not been agreed and so will be unauthorised. No reason given other than they see it as a family holiday.

in our area it’s an automatic fine by the LA if we take kids out for 5 days. I’m a bit annoyed at the lack of communication from the school. We can’t control that Diwali is in term time, it’s only 5 days and this is really important to us as a family.

what would happen if I don’t pay the fines (it’s more the principle that I don’t think we should have to).

in terms of missing education - kids attendance is 100% otherwise and both are greater depth so I do think this week in India is a better experience for them than any impact of missing 5 days of primary school.

Yes, you can be prosecuted - whether you will be would depend on your local authority, but if you simply ignore the fine I suspect they will prosecute. The defences available are limited:

• The child could not attend because of sickness or ‘unavoidable cause’ in an emergency.
• The child was absent on a day exclusively set apart for religious observance.
• The school is outside of the statutory walking distance of the child’s home and the Local Authority has a duty to make travel arrangements in relation to the child under and has failed to discharge that duty.
• The child is not registered at the school and the parents are providing a suitable alternative education.
• The parents’ trade or business requires them to travel from place to place.

The religious observance one is presumably not going to work as other members of your religion will have been sending their children in to school.

The penalties for being found guilty on prosecution are likely to be a larger fine plus prosecution costs, but can include imprisonment.

I think it's wonderful that your children have experienced India during Diwali and I would also have taken my kids out to do so.
I would also pay the fine as this isn't the hill I'd choose to die on. I signed them up to school with those rules. I just couldn't be arsed with the back and forwards trying to fight it out, I'd rather just pay and forget it.

You might be able to google your LA and prosecutions for absences and see if they are court-happy or not.

If you go to court you may or may not win. but you're risking paying a lot more.

Don't blame teachers, they're not the ones making the rules or imposing fines etc.

But while you're making assumptions about teachers' working hours, bear in mind that most start work by 8 a.m., are lucky if they can grab 10 minutes for lunch, stay in school working well after your children have gone home, and are working late every evening and during weekends preparing lessons, marking, writing reports etc. Do you do that?

It was never going to be authorised.
Pay the fine or go to court (where your only argument will be that the rules shouldn't apply as you're special....good luck!)

Diwali is a moveable feast, so I suppose the thinking was that you should do the trip in the years it coincides with half term

If you do not pay the fixed penalty notice for unauthorised absence, then firstly it will increase, and if still not paid you can be taken to court for payment

I agree with you OP, it’s an important celebration in your family and religion and a wonderful opportunity for your children. I think for occasions like this (religious festivals) the fines shouldn’t be issued.

I would probably just pay the fine though as I wouldn’t want this to tarnish the memories of the trip and celebrations. But I do get why you’re pissed off.

But it’s not Diwali? That’s next week.
Admittedly, I don’t know much about the celebrations in India. Are they celebrating now? Because the festival isn’t until Sunday, and will then continue into next week, right?

So, why would it be an authorised absence? You haven’t taken them for a religious festival. You’ve taken them a week early for a holiday.

You probably would have been able to argue for an authorised absence if you had taken them for the weekend and just missed the start of next week to fly home, but you took them for a holiday before the religious festival.

Pay the fine.

Pay the fine and take your kids out if rhat institution,home educate and you are free to travel whenever wherever.

Not angry but if you go away in term time then you pay the fine. Every parent of state school kids know the rules. Diwali is celebrated in the UK too.

In your OP you mention that your LA issues an automatic fine. You knew the implications of your trip.
If you don't pay, you could end up in court.
You decided to take the children out of school, so you should be ready to deal with consequences.

What are you on about? The teachers don’t decide who should be fined, they didn’t come up with these rules. The local authorities issue the fines, not the schools themselves.

It's also widely celebrated in towns and cities across the UK - she could have just gone to the nearest place with a big population who celebrates..........

You might want to revise the administrative requirements for issuing valid fixed penalty notices. Anyone issuing a penalty notice must do so in compliance with the relevant code of conduct, otherwise the system is handing head teachers powers to levy FPNs (which we have been referring to as 'fines', but aren't) arbitrarily.

We wanted our kids to fully experience their cultural traditions of stock car racing, we didn't feel justified taking them out of school for five days though. Don't see why it's any different.

Head teachers (or nominated Deputy or Assistant heads) do 'decide who should be fined', in that they have discretion to authorise absences or not. Where I live it is also up to the school to request that the LA issues an FPN (this may vary in different parts of the UK).

Pay the fine

Presumably stock car racing isn’t a religion? Don’t be so disrespectful comparing your boring hobby to someone’s actual religion

If they had just missed school for the minimum days required for religious observance, then I would say you have a very good case for religious discrimination. If they missed additional days it would be a harder case to make

the bigger question is, do you want to fight that battle? Do you want to be the family that is held up as the test case? You could refuse to pay the fine and then protest the prosecution on grounds of discrimination. The case will likely end up taking all your attention and even if solicitors work for free, it will still end up being expensive for you.

so honestly, unless you think you are the perfect test case and want media scrutiny, I would pay the fine and move on with your lives. It may be unjust, but your energy would be better used campaigning to change the policy overall without the legal case.

Diwali is next week.

because we wanted to be with our parents, at their home, and other family members, not strangers.

First of all, its not up to the teachers whether to authorise absences or not.
Second, teachers aren’t stupid.
Third, everyone is entitled to 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year. Most people get more than this. My DH, on not much more than minimum wage, gets 6.5 week’s paid leave. Teachers get 6 week’s paid leave, the remaining weeks are unpaid. So in reality, my DH gets more paid holidays than I do.
Fourth, teachers cannot choose when they take their holidays. Ever.

If you don't pay the fine it will be doubled. I'd just pay it. Everybody knows if you take kids out of school during term time unless they are ill you get a fine. You got your own way regarding taking kids out of school during term time, now you got to pay the penalty.

I asked our Christian school for one extra day off after an Easter holiday for a Christian baptism in Australia on a Sunday - it takes 24hrs to get back to the UK from my Australian home town and we physically couldn't get back to the school for the Monday so asked to come in on the Tuesday.
Headmaster would not approve this one day and asked me why I didn't lie and just say my kids were sick for the day. Couldn't quite get their head around because I was going to the Christening to be the child's God mother and I had to promise to bring her up according to the faith of the church and lying about the journey didn't sit right with me. We had to get a high ranking church official to email this Christian school and ask if they would consider authorising one day of leave for my kids who were about 6 at the time.
Unfortunately, there is not an appreciation in the UK education system for kids who have extended family far away overseas.

They haven’t. Diwali is next week. It’s like saying a Christian gets to celebrate Easter a week before Easter actually happens.