To unenrol my child to take them on holiday?

[NameChange547]

DC attends an undersubscribed, small village school. There are 17 children in the class, and they can take up to 30, so I’m not concerned about us losing our place. Is there anything legally to stop me unenroling my child from school, ‘home educating’ them for two weeks on holiday, and then re-enrolling them back in school, to avoid being fined?

DC is high achieving and I’m not concerned about the academic impact. They appear to spend a fair amount of the school day relearning things they already know like phonics (DC can read fluently).

Surely the school will lose funding. If it’s such a small school this would worry me!

Any reason why you don’t want to pay the fine ?

Why not just go on holiday during the holidays, like everyone else?

That way, your kid will also see that, in life, there are commitments to be adhered to.

Im always confused at this, surely if someone can afford a two week holiday, they can afford to add on a 60 pound cost for the fine ...

Having worked in a school you might find some members of staff treat your DC less favourably if you piss them about. Not right, but it happens.

Check local arrangements too.
Locally there is an agreed protocol beyond de registering, elective home Ed and re registering. Schools do not accept children on their roll until the next half term.
A parent, who moved her child everytime she didn't like the rules at one school, fell foul of this when she had no childcare and had to take unpaid leave to home educate her child until the start of the next half term.

Expectation and checks on home Ed have also increased under DfE guidance.

This

who could be arsed

What a stupid idea. The lengths some people will go to to avoid paying what they owe is beyond me.

This is not the big brain idea you think it is.

I think I'd be a bit embarrassed to do this. You look like a knob to everyone who works at the school, you're making extra work for them, and you still need to maintain a relationship for however many years until your children leave school.

I'd pay the fine, or choose a different date for my holidays.

As others have said, the issue is getting your child back into school. Although you likely wouldn't lose the place, it's very reasonable to assume it could take 2 weeks to a month for your child to get their place back depending on the process and who is doing the admin. Childcare for that period would surely cost as much as going away in the holidays, and definitely more than a fine?

I do think if you did this repeatedly, it would raise safeguarding red flags.

Technically depends on whether your school is oversubscribed or near to being full and how many children you have.

Oversubscribed, you'd be on the waiting list and offered a place at the next nearest school with places.
Over subscribed in some year groups, one of your children could be on a waiting list, when the other(S) have a place.
Even more risky with EY/KS1 children, due to infant class size regulations.

Can you imagine, school/classes nearly full and a family of five moves in while you are on your jollies!😆

Risky! ( for some)

That's pretty awful for families that need to move to the area, they clearly don't care about children getting an education.

They are ill for two weeks, sorted!

Has the school already said they won’t authorise it? If so, just pay the fine.

The reverse of this could be :
"I am a teacher, I want two weeks off in the middle of term . School numbers are low so rest of the staff could easily cover.
It's hard to get teachers in my little village so I will get my job back when I return" .
Does this sound reasonable to you OP ? , if not pay the fine or holiday in the school holiday .

The internet really is a very bonkers place.

not in the least, I do home Ed my son because there isn’t an appropriate school that can deal with his SEN and physical disability within an hour and a half of our home. I had to remove him, it wasn’t my first choice.

Im also widely derided in the local home ed community because I cooperate with the LA- I write their reports and have them to the house and have never had a negative experience with them.

Im also a social worker, and ‘safeguarding concerns’ are always being thrown around as some sort of magical powerful weapon that mean we can do things. They aren’t. A school can be as concerned as they like, we can be as concerned as we like, the police can be as concerned as they like, so can granny and the woman next door, but none of that means we can stop parents off rolling their kids.

My kids have never been so ill they've had to have two weeks off school but surely it would have to be something quite serious to be off that long? (Could be being really thick). What happens when the school ask for a doctors form or something to say they're actually ill?

Just pay the fine.

We are looking to move our daughter and live in an area where we are actually looking at schools in different local authorities. The school admissions office all have lengthy answer phone messages which basically say don't bother chasing up your application unless X time has passed. The shortest is 5 weeks. The longest would mean you are home educating till after Easter at the earliest. Might be worth checking your area or if your school does their own admissions.

Also check out the requirements for home education and what happens if you miss quality check visits

@AStrangeStateofMatter

Then I apologise for my slightly snarky response. It got very wearing explaining to EHE parents that I wasn't part of some sinister conspiracy, and I was actually trying to hold schools to account. And that safeguarding applies to all children, no matter where they may be educated and isn't a personal attack.

Schools can't authorise can they? I thought that was phased out years ago

Schools can authorise. DD had a day authorised last year so that we could visit family abroad. We did plead extenuating circumstances though.

No worries- I have the same frustrating arguments.

I’m still considered suspicious and I’m not registered and don’t work. But clearly having been something for 5 minutes, years ago, means I’m a threat to EHE 🤷‍♀️.

It sounds like a lot of messing around , unnecessary work and also risky just to avoid a £60 fine!

Also - how would you explain it to your child ? His teacher is going to think he’s leaving , there will be goodbyes etc, friends thinking he’s leaving . He’s going to know he’s going on holiday too so will likely mention it and then you’re going to tell him that actually he’s going back ? Or he knows what you are doing and has to lie and say fake goodbyes etc to his friends ? I personally really don’t see the point in it all just to avoid a relatively small fine !