Fines for school

[Vict405]

Hi, not to start a debate but we looking at taking the children out of school for a long haul holiday. My question is we would be taking them out for 12 days (24 sessions) just trying to figure out the fines we would be facing…..online isn’t helpful.

I know it’s £80 per parent per child is this also per week? So we would be taking them out for 2 solid weeks at school then an additional 2 days the following week - would this be £480 per child??
TIA

Please see your local authorities guidelines. Its quite easy to find by council. They are in some cases going straight to prosecution

I agree with this. We also have a ‘ toy day’ and they just play with a toy and do absolutely bugger all learning. It is very very galling .

This week my (primary aged) children, in a very small state school have:

Monday: Performed/watched nativity
Tuesday: Local Panto in the school hall
Wednesday: Morning: made Christmas decorations for school tree and hall
Afternoon: Made placemats and party hat for Christmas lunch
Thursday: Morning: Christingle/carol Service in the village
Afternoon: Watched Elf
Today Morning: Had Santa (helpful volunteer Grandad!) visit and Christmas crafts/lunch
Afternoon: Watched The Star or did colouring/quiet reading

I have zero issue with this. They've had the most marvellous time with their friends. It's proper clichéd making memories stuff for them. I have no doubt at all that their teachers have been busying around sorting their classrooms and doing all of their jobs before the Christmas break whilst still supervising and helping with all of the above. Obviously putting on a nativity, for example, takes a lot of work especially as it was KS1 performing!

But I would be incredibly irritated as a parent to be fined if I'd have taken my children out of school this week. They've not been being educated, as such! For most of the week they've been supervised/kept busy and out of mischief whilst the teachers play catch up.

They've had a great time and I'm appreciative of the hard work the staff put in to make it so (which yes, I did express to their individual teachers and to the Headteacher when I saw her at last collection today). But my children's learning would not have been impacted one iota by not being present this entire week.

A party and a pantomime and nativity play are not comparable to watching five films in a week and more besides. Sitting like a plum and watching a film is nothing like watching a pantomime.

You don't have to take your children home early after events. The school can't enforce that. They can go back to the classroom with their teacher.

We deregistered our 7 year old to take her to see her ailing grandfather abroad, for just over a month, knowing she would easily get back in. I refuse to pay a fine when she gained so much more from travelling through several countries and being immersed in her father's culture. She was even able to converse in another language with her cousins by the time we left. This kind of trip wouldn't have been possible during the school holidays, for various reasons. Not all learning happens in schools.

It is per absence. So 10 absences = 5 says in a period of 10 weeks

Anything additional can be carried over to the next 10 week period.

If there is no addition time off in that 10 weeks then any additional like the two days extra will not matter.

The 10 weeks includes half term and end of term so 4 says in one term and 1 day in another term can count as 5 says and a fine imposed if within the same 10 weeks school time

The second fine starts at £160 per child without any reduction for early payments.

My ex took them out of school for two weeks without permission. I wrote to the school to say that I was not giving my permission but I couldn’t stop him taking them and in the end neither of us got a fine so that might be worth a go to half of the amount.

It’s 10 or more sessions.

You do realise a session is half a day. So 5 days is 10 sessions,

It says 10 or more
My sister recently took out hers for 2 weeks to visit their grandma abroad (wasn’t authorised)
Fine (if paid within 21 days) is £80 per child per parent for the whole absence.
She was fined £160 for both the children and so was my brother in law
So £320 in total.
We took mine out for 4.5 days - they went in on the Monday morning only - the week before half term to have a longer holiday. DHs school had 2 weeks half term but kids only had one. As it was 9 sessions we weren’t fined

This week your children have...

• learned about the nativity story
• developed drama skills / singing skills / built confidence
• practised oracy skills
• worked as a team for a shared goal
• learned different arts and crafts techniques, as well as developing their motor skills
• had experiences outside their normal everyday life, such as the pantomime.

They have been educated. Just because they haven't had maths or English lessons doesn't mean they aren't learning.

Most of these also took a lot of organisation from the staff.

I do take your point that there is less formal learning the last week of Christmas term/ school year. Taking children the last week of term has less impact on their learning than the rest of the year when they miss a huge chunk of a topic or unit of work.

Yes, and you're right also for my child who is in Y1 (age 6). All of the things you've said are, in their way, as valuable as the more formal learning they do the rest of the year and the social, emotional and more practical elements of what they've been doing this week are important skills.

My child in Y4 (aged 9), not so much. Regardless, she has had a lovely week and I'm glad she is at a school where the teachers make the effort to give them a bit of fun downtime (whilst no doubt also running around like blue arsed flies doing other stuff behind the scenes!).

What is the £128 for?

How will it be double? It's 14 sessions so will be charged at £80 per parent, per child. If it was 20 sessions it would still be £80 per parent, per child. The TPN referred to the period of absence of 10 consecutive sessions or more, it doesn't rise incrementally.

@WellThisIsStupid do you think they fine for 10 days but more than that just go sure why not?

After yesterday (last day if term), I'm insulted that anyone thinks my students just spent the day 'watching films'.

My y11s did some exam writing prep.

My y10s studied 'A Christmas Carol' this term, so we continued some work based on that. But considering the text, this was nice and easy to feel Christmassy. We did not watch 'A Christmas Carol', even though I would have been justified in showing it, as it we have just finished reading it, and it is a text for their GCSE exam next year. Most of them have already seen at least one film version of this story at some point, and so I didn't want to waste their time by only showing half a movie.

I had my y8s period 5 after lunch (no early finish for us). I had planned an activity lesson where Santa had been kidnapped. They had to read and make inferences from my clues to find him, and then wrote me a police report.
This lesson took ages for me to plan for what I expected to be a very lively class, after lunch, during the last lesson before the break. Yes, it was a Christmas themed lesson, and more relaxed than my usual lessons with them. But, it was still subject-related, all the students were still working and learning/using skills they need in my subject (English), and I got some very decent pieces of writing from some of my more disruptive and disengaged learners - they enjoyed finding, and writing about, Santa!

Not a film in sight. I don't know any colleague who did.

I really don't understand your point?

The fact is you get fined for 10 sessions or more, you don't get fined more for more sessions lost - you won't get fined double if you miss 20 sessions at the same time - it's a flat fee.

I'm really not sure how that is so hard for you to comprehend?

The fines are a flat fee per absence.

This is a fact laid down by government legislation not what I think, unlike your point!

Very surprised if that happens much now adays. Our school was doing lots of assessments and learning in the last week. There was one film at the end of the final day, but until then it was continuous learning. The curriculum is huge now and there simply isn't as much time for fun as there used to be.

What on earth is wrong with a couple of movies at the end of term?
The kids and teachers are frazzled. Also, it's nice for kids to watch a film together. Some won't have a nice home that puts on age appropriate films.

Its a stupid system. They have a week off, back in for a week, then another week off... Two fines.

Off for three weeks... one fine.

This would be the fine in my area.

There are different stages and can include prison time for parents (very rare). Different counties also differ. But clearly you’re the expert. You do realise you can “correct” someone without being insulting don’t you?

Where I am it will £80 per parent per child for the first week if paid with in 21 days or £160 per parent per child if paid within 28 days. The next week will then be straight to £160 per child per week. So total is £960 if 2 children for 2 weeks holiday and you paid within 21 days. Then any further absence of 5 days or more within the next 3 years will be straight to court

That’s simply not true. It’s not “the next week” it’s the next period of absence.