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).

That’s bonkers! Just pay the £60
per week per parent if you want to go!

What the hell 🤣

We did an in year transfer, they had up to 6 weeks to respond to the application from memory. It’s not instant, there’s a lot of admin involved.
Literally just pay the fine and get over yourself.

They are ill for two weeks, sorted!

Until the child returns to school and tells all their friends they've been to Florida for two weeks.

This.

I doubt that the OP will be back.

Hassle for you
hassle for the school
hassle for the LEA

pay the fine! You might not even get one

Why would you want to cause unnecessary work for someone when they could be doing actual work? Why do you feel so important that you think that that is ok? No wonder this country is fucked!

Sounds like a good plan and maybe other parents might follow suit. 👍
The sooner they remove the pointless system of fining parents for absences, the better!

Just pay the fine I don't think they would accept her back anyway if you have already decided to take them out. Then decide you want them back in the school. It might not cost you anything but it does the school in admin costs.

I also know people who have done this, but for longer trips. It seemed to work perfectly well.

I think you should go away during the school holidays.

I don't believe in fining parents, I would have other ways to make holidays in term time unattractive. No child rate for package holidays could be put in place, for example.

You might find they wont let him start until the start of the next term or half term when you "join".

This would surely really piss off the school. If your dc is doing phonics I imagine they're going to be there for quite a few more years. Is it really worth it?

My word, how to make the school staff hate you and your kids for the rest of their time there! Really worth it for a holiday?

This it seems a lot of hassle for the sake of a fine tbh

Just what our under funded school system needs - someone trying to be clever to avoid a fine and instead wracking up hours worth of unnecessary admin for staff who are paid out of the underfunded funding!

Just one (very controversial) post with a name change...

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This is a selfish act- selfish putting your own wants ahead of your child, his class and the school. You are unreasonable and thoughtless.

Don't be a dick.

You're wanting to make an absolute mockery of our legal right to home educate, and people like you are part of the cause of them trying to tighten regulations on home education, despite those of us who actually do it not actually needing to be subjected to any restrictions because we take it seriously, and abide by our legal responsibilities.

YOU made a choice to enrol your child in a school, so YOU take responsibility for it, and stop trying to latch onto home education for your own convenient loophole.

The culture of individualism strikes again!

Be a bit selfish, wouldn't it?
Whole load of hassle for a whole load of people and a complete waste of scant resources to, possibly, save yourself a few tenners.

This sounds like a ridiculous amount of hassle for a two week holiday.

Plus, as pp have said, re-enrolling them may take longer than you’d thought.

We did an in-year transfer a few years ago, when my DC moved schools.
We had to apply via the LA, and it took about 2 weeks from the date of our application to get the offer of places at the new school.
And that’s fast. If the application goes in during peak times for the LA, or if it’s during school holidays, or the school’s office is inundated with other administrative stuff, then the whole thing can get delayed.

I’d just pay the fine for taking them out of school for a holiday, personally.

Just pay the fine - if you pay quickly (I think within 21 days?) they halve it don’t they?

We’ve always taken ours out for a week but i’ve kept the school onside with it. They always do their homework, doing very academically at school and I tell the school its a family holiday so they know they are not sat at home watching tv!

It sounds like your child is doing well at school so just tell them you’re having a family holiday and go enjoy it! Forget the un-enrolling hassle which will just be very annoying and more work for the staff there.

I really wouldn't