Taking kids out of school for a term

[Whenthechipshitthefan]

Possibly the wrong place to post- if so sorry!
Has anyone had any success in taking their kids (legally!) out of school for a term or even a half term. I want to take 2 x DDs (Yr 4, Reception) to my mums country for a long stay. They don't know the culture and I'm aware that we are all losing that connection. The flights are expensive, and it takes at least 24hrs to get there. Its a big country so that if we go over I want them to see a lot, experience a lot and see everyone.

Has anyone applied and been successful? Is it just headteacher opinion that matters? What can I promise to keep their place and not get taken to court. Happy to pay a fine!

There's the theory and there's real life. OP, your family are your family and need to see your children. You want your children to know your culture and place of birth.

UK schools are working in an incredibly bureaucratic system driven by targets. You won't get any sympathy from school or teachers who again are measured against checkboxes and targets but just do it anyway - declare yourself to be homeschooling, try to keep them up to speed. Put them back in school the following year.
If your children could attend school in your country - even better.

What a load of codswallop. What about all the Traveller children who move around and dip in and out of education.

Have you looked at the stats for kids of travellers, some of the worst educational outcomes in the whole country. Last time I looked over 60% over 16 had no qualifications (nearly 3x the rest of the population!). I’m not sure this is the model the OP should be following (and yes I know her kids are younger but if you’re saying you can just miss as much school
as you want with no consequence this is clearly not the case).

Since we are guess location I’m going rural South America which becomes hard/impossible to travel due to it being winter there.

Ņothing to add school wise it has already been covered.

If you have settled status you can legally live out of the UK for a whole 5 years and still come back I think without losing your status.

Also this!

They can go
You can keep up with some learning books paper pen local school
But they will not a school place open for them

Max id take them out is a week either side of Easter or Christmas so you have a month.

I hope you don't expect their teachers to help them catch up.

all you can do is ask OP. It may be a non issue and they can come off roll for 6 weeks and back when you return, but I doubt they’ll be able to guarantee it. I’d imagine they’d give an honest answer.
having worked in schools and know the pressure from above on attendance, I think it would be unfair to just take them away for 6 weeks whilst on roll. I think the trip is a great idea but the price of that may be risking their place.

I know someone who took their children out for half a term to travel and when they got back, there was still a place for one child at the school, but not for the other in a different year group. They ended up having to go to another school on the other side of town and leave their class friendship group. It was also very inconvenient for the family trying to get two primary age children to school for 8.45am in different directions.

A small school would more than likely keep them on roll due to the census.

Education is much more than going to school.
Hope you manage to go, OP. It would be wonderful for your children.

Not up to the head, you'll get deregister so then will have to choose from schools which have spaces on your return.

I was actually hoping that OP and her family are penguins and were avoiding going home during the antarctic winter (our summer).

Awww, it really sounds like you need to spend time in your home country and it's so important for your little ones to see their grandparents and know their heritage etc.

I'd be completely up front with the school and ask them if it's something that can be done? Perhaps they could commit to doing some curriculum work while away so they don't fall too far behind.

I think you are being selfish and irresponsible in taking your children out of school for this, irrespective of how long it's been since they have seen your family or if they have never seen them. The absence will impact on your children, their teachers and other pupils.

Just take them our de register from the school and reapply when you come back

you can always just move schools worst case 🤷‍♀️

I know a couple of families who took children out of school for a long stint to travel/ live abroad. I think one went on a sailing expedition for 6 months. In both cases, they left the state primary they were in and went back to a private school.

Hi OP,
I can imagine a few countries in South America or the pacific islands which wouldn't be ideal in Uk summertime.
A lot will depend on your head, you can ask the head if it would be better to off-roll your kids or if they would consider an authorised absence. I wouldn't worry too much about off rolling, unless the primary is over subscribed, you can ask the head how many on current roll or look at the school ofsted report which will give you the numbers, any you may have to go on a waiting list, but I wouldn't let that put you off.
Your kids will learn so much, education doesn't have to be in a formal setting, and if you're worried about keeping the education going, there are lots of resources available online.

This is inconceivable to me - year 4? She is in primary school and still learning key skills. Amazed that people are saying go for it.

I’m a secondary school teacher and attendance is monitored with scrutiny. At worst she will be unenrolled - at best, outside educational welfare officer will be in and you will get a fine.

Don’t expect school to provide resources etc - not their problem.

to add - this would never be authorised. No head in their right mind would allow it.

One of my parents is from a "25 hours to get there because no direct flights etc etc" country, when I was a child they would take me out of school for half a term at a time to go there and experience the culture/meet relatives. They're some of the best memories of my childhood. If you can find a way I would do it.

You could take them out and home school them, you could then reapply to the school when you're back. But under current guidelines they aren't allowed to keep the places open.

When I was young I got my school work given to me and everything, so I never fell behind! But that's a thing of the past.

To poster saying why don't they come and visit you, I'll bet money it's a proportionately rich vs proportionately small issue and just not realistic.

There's nothing to support. As of September, all schools have to link up in real time with the DfE and that level of unauthorised absence would absolutely destroy the attendance data. It's not going to be authorised, so you will have to leave and then hope you get lucky on your return.

The OP is suggesting going at Christmas or Easter. The Autumn Census is the one that determines funding.

There is a national times tables test in the simmer term of year 4, so if you do go make sure you use timestablesrockstars or a similar app for daily practise so your child keeps up upon their return.
What phonics scheme do the school use? Most scheme introduce 2sounds a day for reception children Autumn and spring terms, then consolidate in Summer 1 and 2, so again the academic impact on your child depends on when u travel but homeschool accordingly, I'd recommend going in summer term when all you'd have to do is consolidate existing sounds rather than teach new ones from scratch, unless you are a qualified teacher, as 2 sounds per day for 6 weeks is a massive gap in learning for your child otherwise, and this will impact their confidence with reading and writing when you get back. The school would have to teach the missing sounds when you got back so of course your child would then miss out on significant peer to peer playing time, which would be a shame.

Ultimately it's up to you, whether you feel family time is worth it, but of course it will impact your children's academic and general friendships etc. In the short term upon your return to the u.k.

I'd also think about their ages in terms of travel logistics and whether they'd remember the trip, I personally wouldn't do it in term time but if I did would do it when they're in Year 1 and 5, as reception is such a vital time in school and an older child would be more likely to remember the experience with your wider family.

I doubt you’ll have any luck just asking for the time off for a holiday to visit relatives despite the cultural importance to you, given a half day off for religious observance wasn’t approved. I think, even if approved, these absences would still count against the school.

My understanding (and I’m not an expert so others may be able to correct me) is that schools can approve absences for a child to be educated off-site without it counting against them. This is most often used for children who are long term sick and have work provided, but also for circumstances like children who do child acting where the school is supportive. I believe this does not count

Could you perhaps try proposing that you educate them off site while away, and providing the scheme of work/online school/other resources you would use? I imagine you’d need to try and have them closely match the school’s curriculum.

If you are in England then there isn’t really any concept of you having a case or an application, it’s not something that can be authorised so more a case of you deciding whether or not to go and if you are going then you notifying the Head. As other have said the rules are strict on this and if taking your children out of school for more than a couple of weeks they will lose their places, there isn’t any way around that or anything for you to apply to that will change that