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.

from a google search... this is from a gov. website

Government guidance says a pupil can be absent “on a day exclusively set aside for religious observance by the religious body to which the parent belongs”.

Please note that no more than one day in any term will be authorised for an individual occasion of religious observance and no more than three days in any academic year.

I would argue the have to give you the main day of Diwali off... even if thats only 1 day that then means the only missed 4 days which isn't fineable.

(also side note how crap is it people can only take one per term... Christians automatically get 2 in Easter (Good Friday & easter Monday) because obviously things often line up)

So pay the fine
Or home school

Did the tickets to India cost less than they would have done if you had travelled during the school holidays?

This

We have the same type of multicultural primary and we can't afford the floodgates this would open for those children either.

Pay the fine.

You took your children away in term time, so you will have to pay the fine! Same as the rest of us! 🙄

The problem is that in the UK, Diwali is commonly celebrated from Sunday 12th to Thursday 16th November this year. Your children attend school in the UK, which is a ‘Christian’ country and school holidays are mainly based around Christian festivals. The guidance issued to schools regarding celebrations for other religions is clear and unambiguous. Interestingly, schools in India dont even seem to close over Diwali this year.

No they didn’t - they tend not to fluctuate in line with school holidays as I think there’s lots of other factors that affect supply and demand on the route around this season (our outbound flight was in school holidays anyway)

The OP’ children were off over half term, all of this week and next Monday. So they will miss 6 days of school.

Only Good Friday is for religious observation - Easter Monday is a bank holiday (unless you're in scotland)

YANBU to have gone, and it was a great experience for the, but YABU to not pay the fine. The rules are clear, so if you choose to take your child out of school then you need to pay the fine. It is the Local Authority who set the fine, so it is them that you need to contact if you think that there should be some exemption on religious grounds.

I took my DD out of school for 5 days in 2019 to go to DLP as it was so much cheaper. I didn't get fined, I got a letter telling me that they although I should be fined, they couldn't fine me as they hadn't warned me that I could be fined if I took DD out. Another family had the same.

So it is worth looking into the fact that you had no acknowledgement or warning that you would be fined. The other issue as a PP mentioned, is that if you are entitled to 1 day for Diwali, then you only had 4 unauthorised, this might be a loophole that works for you.

(also side note how crap is it people can only take one per term... Christians automatically get 2 in Easter (Good Friday & easter Monday) because obviously things often line up)

only Good Friday is a religious festival. Easter Monday is just a bank holiday with no religious significance

There is a way to “appeal.” You have your day in court and make your point there.

YABU.

You took your children out of school on holiday, on an unauthorised absence, so you need to pay the fine.

Many people, myself included, have religious holidays that don't match up with local school holidays. It can be frustrating but there are ways to celebrate without unauthorised absences from school, or, if you feel that it's important enough to take your children out for those days, then you need to factor the fine in to your budgeting.

One of my friends is in a slightly similar position which I would say is more compelling than yours (taking children overseas to grandparents' home for Christmas, one grandparent unwell, can't get back in a sensible/proportionate way before start of term) and their absence hasn't been authorised either. She's just paying the fine. I would also just pay the fine.

YANBU Op. I always have the same issue regarding Eid if it falls on a weekday as my family live in Lancashire and I’m in London.
Yes, I can celebrate at home but it’s just not the same without the rest of my family.

Its literally celebrated and recognized by christian worldwide... the bank holiday even references 'Easter' which is a christian celebrations. There's no way to claim its not related.

Just pay the fine - no point risking prosecution and a criminal record over a matter of principle. Once the fine is issued, it is out of the school’s hands - fines and prosecution notices come from the Local Authority. It is ridiculous to go through the stress and expense of arguing it out in court and appealing the result of that, imvho, and the last family which took this point of principle all the way to the Supreme Court lost their case.

Pay the fine, if you can afford to take them overseas then you should factor in the fine.

We all get treated the same if we take the kids out in term time.

You obviously booked ahead knowing the risk.

My mother is a Sikh so im fully aware of the cultural significance.

Unfortunately Diwali is on a Sunday, or you might have persuaded the head to put the day itself down as religious observance.

I think the best thing to do is just see the fine as one of the incurred costs of the trip and pay up. Challenging it in court is an option, but I don't think there's any guarantee of success.

And to add to this, unless they are lucky enough to be married to another teacher there is no guarantee they can have a holiday in those 10 weeks. I would love to take my two abroad to experience cultures, celebrations and my heritage. Unfortunately several of my husband's co-workers have booked all the holiday in half terms/summer hols this year and next. The same co-workers who did it last year as well... so we are stuck unless I want to holiday alone for the foreseeable future.

And most importantly a lot of teachers don't even agree with the fines, let alone set them!

OP: the rules apply to you in the same way they do to the rest of us.

You took your children out of school in full knowledge of the risks and consequences. Did you expect the fine to be less or something?

Just quit bleating and pay it.

Agree, teachers aren't the ones to blame for this bad policy. That would be the government who introduced it.

You get taken to court…

The school can't authorise it. They don't have the power to authorise what is essentially a family holiday.

We home educate for those exact reasons.

we can go on holiday. We take our kids travelling quite a bit because education for us is culture and languages.