Kids missed 3wks school, council taking me to court!

[Questionairballoon]

Hi all,

I am very unsure about what to do.

DC aged 6 and 8. I took them on holiday this summer. missed the last 3 weeks of school (July 2025).

For context, their attendance is always good. Only time they ever miss school is when poorly. They enjoy going. Last time we took them on holiday they were 3 and 5 and they missed maybe 2 weeks of nursery/school.

Before we left this time, I emailed the head teacher and spoke with the staff partly to apologise and also to find out what they might miss for the last 3 weeks so I could cover with them if needed. For what it’s worth, both kids do well in school. Teachers wished us happy hols and we left on a positive note.

The holiday was 2 weeks in Europe and 2 weeks in America. They had some fantastic experiences and got to meet relatives who live abroad. We were back in August, they had almost a month to recoup and then back to school business as usual!

We expected a fine but got nothing. This week, I’ve received a court order telling me to expect paperwork where I’ll be “pleading guilty or not guilty”.

I’m gobsmacked tbh. Has anyone been in this situation? Any advice at all? I don’t even know what to say!

School is designed for every child and parent to follow rules, yes school is important but it is creating a robotic system, all kids must do this, all parents must do that, my children love school but there are times I’ve looked when I’ve been in the school and thought to myself school is a real tick box exercise and we must all comply, this starts from such a young age.
I don’t think it’s showing the kids a bad example that OP has had a one off long holiday they’re young kids! They aren’t sitting important tests I’m sure OP wouldn’t do again now knowing the process fully. But people suggesting we must comply we must do this like we are robots we also have to make memories that’s not entitled that’s showing the kids there’s a big world out there.
each to our own but let’s not make out your a bad parent for it

Both.

If one child takes three weeks off in a class of thirty they miss things. This means when the subject comes back around the teacher has to go through all the stuff they've missed possibly at disruption to all the other kids in the class.

It's not fair on the teacher, the other kids or the child that's out of school.

DS is currently having to go to a bunch of hospital appointments. This is driving me mad as he's missing so much and we are likely to get school whinging at us for his absence. This is on top of the NHS messing us about in the first fucking place.

You're not supposed to miss ANY time for holidays - there's no entitlement to two weeks per year!

Ironically the only parents who worry about the fines are the parents who generally care for the wellbeing of their children.

The amount of effort it takes to fine and summons a parent such as the OP you would think they would be able to address the genuine cases of neglect for a child’s education on a case by case basis.

Contact a solicitor . Also ignore the people moaning about 3 weeks off school, your kids probably learned more those 3 weeks than the last weeks if school .
Im glad I live in Scotland !

I see someone has beat me to the comment about the DBS. I hope it won’t affect your future employment prospects or the employment if you DH OP.

Seems you should have checked a bit more thoroughly.

I’m bitter as fuck because I got fined way back when and I wasn’t the one that took them away it was my ex husband. I think it was £50 or £60 quid though it wasn’t thousands.

@Questionairballoon Well, I genuinely feel sorry for you OP simply because this can't be a nice position to be in (and I'm no fan of schadenfreude), but why on earth did you assume things instead of checking?
You have committed a criminal offence under the Education Act 1996. The .gov website states:

"Fine
Your local council can give each parent a fine of £80, rising to £160 if you do not pay within 21 days.
From the 2024 to 2025 school year, each parent will only get up to 2 fines for the same child in a 3-year period.
If you get a second fine in 3 years it will be £160. If you do not pay the fine in 28 days you may be taken to court for keeping your child out of school.
If your child is off school 3 or more times within the 3 years you will not be fined but may be taken to court.
Check your local council’s rules on when you can be fined and how to pay a fine.
If you’re taken to court
You could get a fine of up to £2,500, a community order or a jail sentence up to 3 months. The court could also give you a Parenting Order."

It took me less than 2 minutes to find this information OP, so you really don't have any defence (and I don't think your previous employment as a teacher will work well for you in court either) so all you can do is plead guilty and hope the judge isn't too harsh. The irony is that your fine could be almost as much as what you saved by not taking your DC on holiday during the holidays, but then I suppose that's why they set the fines this high and take this punitive action - to discourage parents from doing what you did.
I do hope the fine is at the lighter end OP, but I also hope you've learned a lesson yourself - never "assume" anything.

This rule harmed my daughter hugely, her SEN need weren't met even slightly at school and she became very seriously mentally ill. I often couldn't get her into school, I wanted a part time timetable for her (she wasn't learning anything anyway) to help her stay in school, but they couldn't or wouldn't help and under threats from the attendance team I pushed her to attend more than she could cope with and she became even more ill. I had no choice but to remove her for home education. I'm very glad that outlet still exists, I know many here would do away with it. She's slowly recovering, but it's taken years.

Indeed so!

Absolutely right - they will miss a lot. I'm currently working (I'm retired but do some volunteer teaching in a primary school) with a class where one child has missed the past two weeks of term as he's been taken on holiday. I taught his class for a while last year and this child really does need every bit of education he can get, to be brutally honest. What he's missed so far he will not "catch up", of that I'm certain.

If one child takes three weeks off in a class of thirty they miss things. This means when the subject comes back around the teacher has to go through all the stuff they've missed possibly at disruption to all the other kids in the class.

But the OP specifically asked if there was any stuff she should be doing with the children while they were away in order to avoid the teacher having to repeat! She was told no problem, just go and have a good trip ........

I have no idea how it works really.

We took both DC out of school last year in June for a week holiday (one in Primary year 4, one in secondary year 7) so they missed 5 days. We informed both schools and told it would be unauthorised.

However, no fine! They both had 100% attendance the rest of the time but I assumed if a week is marked unauthorised then you would automatically be fined by the LA.

To be fair, I'm actually surprised that you weren't just hit with a simple fine.
I really think the school holidays system needs overhauling in general. Shorter holidays but more frequently would potentially mean cheaper breaks particularly if schools in different areas broke up at different times. I know of course this would be difficult for working parents but the long 6 weeks break is tricky too.
Going back in September is a nightmare for my children with SEN. It's hard for teachers too. I was a secondary teacher and it's hard getting everybody back to where they were after that long a break.
Anyway, that's just my 2 pence.

I find this totally mad, if any child is lucky enough to have that opportunity here there would be no sanctions at all

And they are 6 and 8. Not exactly teenagers studying maths or science concepts that parents have no clue about.

Maybe people should work hard at school? Record low GCSEs this year. Maybe the students should be working harder.Doesn't bode well for the future.

@Questionairballoon You took them out of school and it was unauthorised absence. It doesn't even sound as though you had the courtesy to seek permission.

I support the LA here. There are 12 weeks of school holidays available for holidays abroad and you chose not to use them. What do you think that teaches your children about following the rules, fairness and respect for others? If you were paying for their education, you wouldn't chose not to send them

...generally good attendance... What is generally? I suspect it's more than you're letting on.
...never actually been fined before (not the first holiday) ... So you've taken previous holidays in school time, but got lucky with not being fined.

...could not afford the prices... You went on a 4-week / 2-continent holiday - you could have cut that a bit to afford it - so I don't believe this excuse. A 3 week holiday wasn't enough for you? Even 2 weeks like most people take? You would have saved a shit load! So money wasn't the reason!

The kids bringing down those numbers are not likely to be from families such as the OP.

@Digdongdoo

What's wrong with teaching kids that their/our needs are a priority sometimes? Why is that a problem?
It's a not regular thing. It's a one off. Sometimes we all should put ourselves first. I seriously don't get why you think that is wrong.

Taking a three week holiday during school time isn't a "need". It's a "want". How are kids supposed to learn the difference if their parents can't tell?

And its not a one-off. The OP by her own admission did this in 2022.

That sounds very stressful and expensive OP. You do seem to have been woefully naive. I also think it’s kind of disrespectful to the school and other kids. I hope they won’t charge you the max fine though. It seems a bit OTT to go straight for court really.

If you are a professional OP this makes me even more surprised that you didn’t look into this further. Given that you were a teacher I presume you have a role with an enhanced DBS check. If you are convicted the offence will show in your DBS check.

Nothing like a bit of state violence to get the blood pressure elevated. The LA is pissed because you broke the law by taking your babies our of school for three weeks. The school was fine with it, but they're a school, not a legal system. Seek legal counsel, pay any fines that come and consider homeschooling.

Couldn’t you have done 2 weeks this year (one week out of school, the other in the holidays) and 2 weeks in the different continent with the other side / other family the next year?

Search for ‘family law solicitors’ maybe your best bet right now.