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!

Yes I do understand this is the current law. I’m saying the current law is an ass and that this should be dealt with like any other safeguarding issue within schools. Others have said teachers can’t possibly be responsible for that and I’m saying I don’t understand why not but happy to have it explained.

Ah, so you don't know, you're just bluffing that you think you do. Well, because you're so hard of thinking, I'll explain it again. Courts decide whether or not an offence has been committed. OP took her kids out of school for an unauthorised absence, so yes, she is guilty. She can mitigate all she wants in her defence about tutors and enrichment, but it's not going to change the fact that, as a point of law, she did commit the offence. Not sure which bit of that you're not understanding.

Of all crimes MN has no sympathy for, bunking off school in term time is right up there along with parking in someone else’s driveway and running off with someone else’s husband.

I am mystified @Questionairballoon why you came on here for advice on avoiding a criminal record rather than just ringing an actual solicitor?

Get a solicitor. See if your home insurance covers you.

Well actually the LAs have a list of reasonable circumstances.

When my dad passed away abroad I wanted to take the kids for his funeral. I had to send in proof of tickets and the service. I didn't blame the school one bit. I believe it's a huge privilege to be in school.

Also a teacher but it would appear it's given me a very different view than the OP.

I’m guessing it’s classing it as 3 separate absences hence the court summons rather than a fine.
it will be a costly error I think it’s upto 1.5k.
you probably can’t justify it as the fact is you took them out unauthorised. The justifications you have wouldn’t be taken into consideration.

Because teachers are already responsible for so much already! They don't have the capacity to chase up parents who aren't sending their kids to school on top of everything else.

It's actually infuriating they waste efforts on this my son had no secondary school place last year because they messed up zero consequences for there negligence yet have the audacity to have a holiday and its guns blazing

I wonder whether the English experience with reference to SATs is similar to the situation when we had the 5-14 levels in Scotland? (The current CfE banding is so amorphous as to be practically worthless, in my view.)

Each year, I had to defend the levels for my S1 and 2 cohorts in the presence of an Education Officer. (I was a PTC.) If wee Jimmy hadn't progressed from his level at primary school P7, I had to give a good reason why. Yes - I was asked about individual pupils at the meeting and all circumstances were looked at, including attendance.

Said EO had to report back to the LA since the LA's results were inspected at an even higher level.

I'm now retired, but even now the mantra here is "If a child isn't in the classroom, then he can't learn." [No, I'm not debating home education and experiences outside the school environment - simply stating what schools and teachers are told by the LA. It's also given as a reason for not excluding children.]

wtf are you talking about?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I’ve appreciated all the genuine responses, advice, links, solicitor tips etc.

the only things I’ve (sometimes) responded to harshly are the personal remarks.

So many people with poor comprehension skills on here, it baffles me.

I have phoned 5 law firms today and am waiting for callbacks.

Are you sure they didn’t send a fine first- get no reply and have now escalated it to court?

Do any of your jobs have a legal advice line under employee assistance?

Have you told your DH what's going on?

Omg I didn’t even think of this one! Yes my job does have free legal advice as part of the EA programme. Thank you! This is super helpful. X

Or maybe contrary to you she knows that will have no ill effect in a child because she sees things others don’t and u detained how ridiculous this is when there are children out there who are truly needing help and that court time

My partner is well aware. We read the court letters together. This was a joint decision.

I didn’t think it had been to Court yet, let alone ended in an Order or as a more recent post suggests a criminal record.

If you found teaching challenging, I would suggest you reconsider a career in Social work.

To answer your questions in your 20:55 post;
Yes, it can be ‘normal’ to go to Court,
You should get a solicitor, if you don’t feel confident in representing yourself, and go to Court,
As above.

You have broken rules/laws and if you feel you were justified you need to tell the Court why. You should have checked the rules/laws beforehand – not with teachers or remembrances, but on the .Gov website.

If you don’t agree with the rules/laws then campaign to get them changed.

If you have house insurance there may be a bit in there that you can get legal advice

Hopefully you can instruct a good lawyer to get the fines reduced at least. Good luck with it all.

That's a bit unfair. You can be a social worker and eg deal with adult social care.

But would they have to “chase up parents”? What happens with other safeguarding issues? Aren’t safeguarding concerns flagged with social services etc? Teachers aren’t going round checking on parents if they’re concerned a child isn’t being fed/is being abused/etc etc right? So if a child is absent and it’s a safeguarding cause for concern it gets reported and if it’s not a safeguarding concern - parent has spoken to school, child has no other red flags, attendance otherwise good - then it doesn’t get reported.

The current system just seems a very blunt, inaccurate and ineffective tool to deal with a particular type of safeguarding issue. I’m not sure who it benefits.

Perhaps you’re right it shouldn’t be on teachers, they’re already having to fill in too many gaps where other services have disappeared, but it definitely shouldn’t be going to the courts like this.

The thing is OP, that's not unreasonable that you didn't know. I didn't know it was a criminal thing until reading this thread. But, if I were planning on taking my kids out for 3 weeks and I was about to enter a regulated profession I would have made damn sure that I'd have done my homework about criminal v civil beforehand. I think that's what is surprising people, that you never bothered to check the worst case scenario.

Thread is nearly full now @Questionairballoon As I and several others have said, I think you should speak to a solicitor about this. You really shouldn't be having a crimimal record for this. A fine yes, a warning yes, but court, and a crimimal record? Ludicrous IMO! You're not a repeat offender who keeps your children off school for a few days every other week. It was a one-off, 3 week period of time off, to go away abroad.

Good luck. All the best. You don't deserve to have a criminal record, and I am sorry you have had such a hard time on here!

!

Wow OP

Seriously swearing at me?

Laughing.

I genuinely hope you don't go on to practice as a teacher or social worker. Your attitude is absolutely apprehensible.

Citing poor comprehension. That really is unbelievable. I'm sorry. You are the one that has broken the law, that is about education and the social work you have been apparently accepted to do. The two professions you claim to represent. You've failed to comprehend why people think your 3 weeks is excessive.

Being rude on top, sorry you deserve the fine.

Every crying 'its the LAW! It's the LAW! And resting on their laurels smug and vindicated, take a minute to think that just because something's a law currently, doesn't make it right or good. Think about abortion law in America, homosexuality and adultery laws in the middle east, modesty and homelessness laws even.

Then think about whether you stand behind a woman being criminally convicted and imprisoned for seeking an abortion, especially in the case of medical emergency. Think about whether you'd be so smug to see people stoned or imprisoned for 'adultery'. But it's the LAW!!! People knew what they were getting into. The LAW I tell you!!!!

IF (and that's a biiiiiiig if) this results in a criminal record for OP, her future career affected and people treating her like the atrocity people are so keen to paint her as - and you don't stand up and protest it for the infringement and absurdity it is, then you're fools.