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!

I knew a parent who wanted to take their kids out for a few weeks. The school actually took them off the register for that time so it's wasn't flagged up.

This smacks of middle class entitlement. You took them out of school for a lengthy period of time and you now have to face the consequences. It doesn’t matter if they were having great life experiences or sitting on the sofa all day.

What you’ve got to realise is that schools are trying to keep an eye on kids who are missing in education. Some children who don’t attend school are being abused. Schools try to safeguard children. You taking your children out for three weeks creates paperwork. Rightly they need to be checking up on what is going on with your children.

Genuinely we could not afford the prices which is why we have only gone this year. We assumed the fine would be sent and we would pay it, and yet it would still be cheaper than full price summer tickets… of course it may be a different story now with a higher fine!

also, I was a teacher too and the lack of flexibility is one reason why I switched jobs. I know teachers have it extremely difficult which is why I left that role. Other jobs are also equally difficult and restrictive, sadly.

I’m really happy the council is taking action OP!

I don’t see that you can do anything other than plead guilty and accept the consequences.

The LA and courts won’t distinguish between three weeks mid term and three weeks at the end of term. There is no school that spends the last three weeks avoiding work so please don’t think you will be able to use that as a defence.

Did you not see this bit at the top of the page: "You can be given one or more of these but the council does not have to do this before prosecuting you."

The 'guidance' is just explaining the different things the council can do. What that bit about your child being off three times is saying is that you will automatically be taken to court rather than fined a third time. It doesn't mean they won't take you to court for other instances - and i would assume that the council deems three weeks to be serious enough to go straight to court.

I find this shocking and I have zero sympathy for you. It’s an idiot move and yes you deserve to be held to account in court.

And run the risk that their places are allocated to someone off the waiting list.

also I was a teacher too

love it when an op throws that in later on in the thread when hasn’t got the responses she wants 😆

So they are 6 and 8 and have already missed a total of 5 weeks of school for holidays?

That's disruptive to their own education and also disruptive to the rest of their classes to have kids in and out all the time during term

Three weeks IS taking the piss, though.

You should have taken legal advice before doing this. 3 weeks is a lot of state school
education to miss, especially after Covid.

Each child’s record shows they were a no show for at least 30 sessions in the academic year. Plus any other leave and sickness, you are well over the threshold at which the LA will take an interest.

did you get the leave authorised? Or did the school say it was unauthorised?

At that point you should have taken legal advice.

now you have no choice but to plead guilty, promise not to do it again and pay a fine.

fines usually start at £60 per parent, per child, per day. So I hope it was worth missing 30 school days. That’s almost £4k.

Could you have de registered and gone back on roll in September? Or is the school oversubscribed?

If it was visiting relatives, you could have gone during school holidays then.

In Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 the Head Teacher is not allowed to give you permission, in the past ive told them but then again we visited Knossos Palace and a Museum while in Crete

Imagine being shocked that there are consequences for taking your kids out of school for 3 weeks.

You can make it as flowery as you want with talk of good attendance and no work happens but come on you cannot be surprised.

Honestly.

In some LA’s there is an automatic removal from role (three week absence).

On returning new school places need to be applied for. There is no guarantee that the school the DC’s attended will still have places as these may have been allocated to another family.

Three weeks off is quite long time. I'm surprised that you're surprised tbh. It's obvious that they will take action in situations like this.

I am very pleased they are taking this seriously. Fed up with the entitlement of 'educarion doesn't matter, holidays are sooo important '. Great lesson to be teaching your kids - not.

So while you didn’t actually ask the teachers for work you did expect them to provide you with an overview of their lesson plans for the last few weeks of term . And let’s face it, you wouldn’t have done any of the work if it had involved anything more complicated than colouring in.

You took your kids on holiday, they had a lovely time, now you are going to be fined. That’s the way it goes.

No offense but I'm glad to see this kind of attitude has actual consequences

I was a teacher too

Absolute bullshit. You were a teacher and yet believe:
A) all schools watch films and colour in for a full three weeks at the end of term
and B) that taking your kids out for an extended period of unauthorised absences won’t have serious consequences.
Not even slightly believable.

£4k?? Blimey.
Fully deserved though.

I’d love to have the nerve to do a three week term time holiday. I would not have the nerve.

You're getting a very hard time here. School gave the impression that it was ok for you to go, so then being hit with a possible £2500 fine, or a prison sentence seems extreme in the least.

Oh the faux surprise, you didn't think anything would happen if you took your kids out of school for 3 weeks unauthorised, and you used to be a teacher? yeah right