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!

Honestly, your take on this is just a bit sad. You seem happy to deny yourself and your kids experiences. And for what? To adhere to 'policy' that doesn't even exist in many countries and will likely change here in the fullness of time - and you'll have missed out. On adventure and family and experiences.

I understand the law as it is at this time, it's sad that so many people are so willing to just accept it at the expense of themselves. Life is short, you never know what's round the corner.

So you’d put the decision on the teacher? Seems like a safe thing to do…

Does anyone in RL know about this OP? Aside from obviously your husband

💯 agree!!

Why on earth would you do that?

Extra work on the teachers to catch them up, for a start

All the more reason for you to be fully clued up in current legislation and practice then.

I am absolutely appalled that people are supporting OP! Formal education provided by the LA is NOT free. We all contribute towards it for the good of society. Education for all was strived for throughout history. It should be a prized gift and treated as such by everyone.

It's worth contacting the local authority and checking that this is the first letter they've sent out. It doesn't normally escalate to a court order straight away. New rules about coding absences have come in and the DfE expect schools to report unauthorized absences immediately. That wouldn't have been so in 2022, particularly if your children were below statutory school age. Any correspondence about this would come from your local authority pupil entitlement team. They are normally more than happy to talk you through why this has been done like this and it may be that a 'step' has been missed out or not delivered to the correct address. For 3 weeks you're looking at a large fine minimum. There's no point me telling you that it would have been a good idea not to go away for 3 weeks, read the paperwork carefully, respond in the time frame given and contact the pupil entitlement team if there's anything that needs explaining.

You do realise you are going to receive a criminal conviction even if you plead guilty? You're being prosecuted in court – there's no wriggling out if it beforehand now. You will most likely be handed down a fine, which can be up to £1k, but it will be a criminal conviction even if you admit the offence.

Edited to add: I agree with @Lightuptheroom – do check with the LEA that a letter regarding the fine wasn't sent out first to the wrong address.

Anyone else think this is complete bollox?

My first thought was 3 weeks is ridiculous.

However reading that it was the end of term before summer I now don’t think it’s ridiculous.

Kids do NOTHING for the last 3 weeks of school leading up to summer. Or at least where I live they don’t.

A teacher is a perfectly reasonable person to raise concerns about a child’s wellbeing especially if it’s because they are missing school. So yes, if a teacher thinks a child is missing school for reasons that are not good then they should be listened to.
Those are exactly the parents who need investigating and fining, not the ones who are volunteering information as to their kids whereabouts over the next few weeks while they take a family holiday.

You can't tell whether a kid is going off on holiday with tutors arranged etc, or whether he's simply going off on a holiday where the family thinks it amusing to allow him to get inebriated* - not until the child is back at school and chatting to his friends and so on.

*This does happen, unfortunately.

That's really shocking 😲 can't believe you have to court! Is it worth contacting a solicitor? Perhaps they can put your mind at rest? I hope that it all goes smoothly for you and that they don't be excessive with you.

You’ve not really thought this one through, have you?

What happens when the parent of the child who’s holiday is deemed not worthy by the teacher, wants to pop in and have ‘a chat’ with the teacher? Teachers put up with enough shit without being put in danger by making them the decision makers of who gets a fine or not.

Inebriated at the ages of 6 and 8….?

I think you could use your discretion on a case by case basis.

I’m team op. Schools have way too much power now. Yes, absenteeism must be addressed but time off school for holidays which are both educational and good for relationship development are in no way the same as a child that simply rarely attends school, particularly in primary.
And yes, when I was in primary school (admittedly, some time ago!) the last couple of weeks were all colouring and watching films and tidying. My parents took me out for a week or so a couple of times a year, I turned out just fine. I did the same for my DD (and yes it was still colouring and time filling) and she’s fine too. She and we have also done the same for my DGD (still colouring and films) and she’s now thriving at university.
A criminal conviction for this is frankly, criminal and a total waste of resources. You cannot get the police to come if you are burgled but we spend public funds prosecuting people for this? Ridiculous.

If you live in England I can assure you they do work in some of the three weeks before end of term. There is so much curriculum to get through and boxes to tick for the teachers they can't just mess about for 3 weeks!

Oh. So all parents should be treated the same then because there are bad parents?

Any absence is bad and needs fining and a possible criminal record. You have got to be kidding me.

I believe that the OP pays for language lessons for her children.

We must be lucky, our school allows 10 days of authorised absence in term time for holidays.. We live in Wales.
3 weeks is a very long chunk to be missing mind, we split our 5 days each over 2 terms so our ds didn't miss too much.
If you don't want to abide by their rules take them out and home educate.

You're seriously advocating that it should be on teachers to decide which kids can have extra time off or not? I can just imagine the uproar now on the class WA groups!

A lesson learned OP. It’s likely you will be prosecuted. If you’re worried you could contact a solicitor for advice. Some parents take one to Court with them. Three weeks is a long time to take off school. As for making memories being more important (as someone said) I took my children on what I thought were brilliant holidays at that age, and now as adults they have no recollection of them at all.

Not yet!

”authorised absence”

well yes, if an absence is authorised then of course it will be “allowed”