to not lie to the school?

[NorthernGirlie]

We're taking ds out of school for a week at the end of term because we've booked a holiday - it was almost £900 cheaper to go then than when he broke up from school

I want to tell them why we're taking him out, DH wants to phone in sick for him.

We're both teachers but our holidays are different to ds' so we're able to take advantage of the price drop

Aibu, or is dh?

Just tell the truth and pay the fine.
School won't care.

@ArseholeCatIsABlackAndWhiteCat
Except if it's the last week of term , you need not even tell the kid you are going away until the weekend before, so you can rule out that.

It blows my mind that as a teacher your dh is dumb enough to think there is any purpose in lying.

You could tel them your child is in hospital in the verge of death and, the week before the summer holiday they won't believe you.

Just be honest. If it's 5 days, no fine anyway, and you don't get a reputation as that family who always has some sob story

Also, I have zero respect for families who do this. You are ADULTS, not 12 year old trying to get away with something. Ick.

I've taken my DD out for a couple of days twice now. I just applied for the time off. The first time it was authorised, the second time it wasn't but they unofficially said it was fine.

Take mine out every year and just submit holiday form, it's declined and then they know. Never had a fine and in y3.

Even if we did get a fine it's cheaper than the increased cost of holiday.

In my LA if child has over 95% at time of the holiday then you will not get fine.

My kid has never had a sick day luckily only ever one day off for our wedding & then an annual holiday.
It's getting stricter from September, but even so will just pay the fine if we get one.

Tell the truth, they probably won't fine you anyway. People do this all the time and are rarely fined.

Just pay the fine if you get one.

Never understand all this shit about lying to the school. The teachers aren’t stupid they’re going to know a week before summer holidays that you’re taking them out for holiday that they’re not sick.

Just own what you’re doing and be done with it.

The problem with breaking the rules - any rules - is that you have to accept that everyone else has the right to do exactly the same.Or are you special? So presumably, all the other teachers can also lie their way to holidays for the last week of term, yes? And that won't be a problem.

@Tagyoureit calm down. I didn't piss in your cornflakes (yet) so no reason to attack my kid. Who btw, has no reason to lie as we either told the truth or went in school hols.

I do work in a school and kids do spill the beans. Either themselves, or their friends do. Poor Sammy with her broken arm was actually in Morocco. Plenty give us updates on when exactly their mate will be back. That doesn't make them thick, it makes them kids.

I took the DC out of Primary a few times but never lied about it.
You are saving £900, which is less than the fine so just be honest.
You might not even get fined, I never did

Best to not have it on your conscience

I'm about to take DS out in his first term in reception class in October. It's not ideal, but he's one of the oldest ones so it's a few weeks before his birthday and after he's 5 we'll get fined, so I figured I'd make the most of it and hope it doesn't affect him settling in. Selfish? Possibly, but otherwise he and we won't get a holiday this year. I'm still going to tell the school straight - I don't want to ask him to lie, plus it will take the shine off it for him if he can't excitedly tell his friends. Teachers always know anyway - surely you can both tell when parents are being creative with the truth around this kind of thing with your own students?

If primary the school will know any way because the kid will tell them.

DH is a teacher and the other week he had a kid tell him 'I won't be in next week I'm going to be ill cause I'm going to Spain' this was funny enough but then his best mate pipped up with 'we're not meant to tell him!' Turns out they were going on holiday together 😁

This. International dialling tones are massive giveaways. My mum used to work in a school office and this used to give people away and as long as they took good notes for evidence etc. they were able to issue the fine. I honestly don’t see the point in lying just own it.

Email”Jonny won’t be in for the rest of this week” end.

Honestly, it's not the end of the world. Most teachers aren't that bothered anyway, unless it's an important year/time of year, the kids already have really low attendance or they are significantly behind.

They have to follow the rules (TBH it's not even them, it's the head and the office that send attendance lists) and can't give you permission or encourage it, but that's about it.

Absolutely don’t lie to the school. That’s ridiculous. They’ll respect you hugely more for being honest about it. It’s going to be ‘unauthorised’ anyway.

just write an email explaining, not apologising, for what you’re planning. Confirm that you Are aware that it will have to be recorded as an unauthorised absence + make plans to drop off books / pick up PE kit before you go.

you’ll get a strongly worded letter +’potentially a fine - but the school will still trust + respect you vs people that invent a sketchy last minute illness excuse

I always tell the truth. I’ve drummed it into my children so have no intentions of doing it myself.
Our school know us well. It’s just not worth it.

Do you really want to teach your son that it's ok to obtain a financial advantage by deception/lying? That is an actually bad thing to teach a child.

Tell the truth. Pay the fine. You have still made a financial gain by taking advantage of the discounted offer as the discount is greater than the fine.

Just let them know you are off on holidays. Don't lie and enjoy the build up to it which is often part of the fun of the big annual summer holiday. If your DC will miss the last week of term then they can say their goodbyes to the teacher and finish up properly for the summer . I know it's completely different in England but here in Ireland it's a perfectly normal thing to do in June. Out of a class of 24 in 11 year old DDs class I think there was only about 16 or 17 in last week before they broke up for the summer.

Totally BU to lie. Your child's school will find out. It will make it more difficult for them to trust you in the future and it's a terrible example for your child.

And as teachers, I'm surprised that you're doing this anyway. I know the very end of the summer term is not the most crucial, but it's still term time and it's still wearing for the school/class teacher. Plus your child will miss any fun/social end of year stuff.

I get it, my children are at independent schools and finish this coming week. We go straight off on holiday - but tbh it's not much cheaper than later on in July (UK and we either camp or rent a holiday house).

The rules are changing shortly and everyone will get a fine if your child is out for 5 days. The govt has changed the rules!!!

You can lie but everyone will know. It’s really obvious and very understandable. You’re not going to be pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes so you might as well just say. Then your child can say goodbye to his teacher and they can wish you a happy holiday and jobs a good one.

Best to tell the truth because if they know you're both teachers they'll also guess that you've gone away because they'll be able to see holiday dates for your schools.

Our school allowes holidays in July as there's not much learning going on anyway, might be worth checking?