WIBU to request school absence?

[PaperBlueCornflower]

The last time I asked permission to take my child out of school was for a funeral and it was allowed.

A couple of years ago I moved area and rented out my home, short term. That arrangement ended just after my relationship broke down (totally separate events) and to cut a long story short I need to sell my home as soon as possible.

It's too far from where I live now to go for a weekend. Financially I need to sell as soon as reasonably possible and I spent half term getting it ready.

I estimate I could finish clearing out and do a handful of minor repairs in about a fortnight, perhaps less.

Is it even possible to ask permission for school absence and WIBU?

You can try.

I can't imagine that they'd authorise it for that reason, especially not for two weeks, no.

Can appreciate it might be difficult, but yes, taking your child out of school for two weeks for such a reason does seem pretty unreasonable to me.

Is there no other way? To remove your children from their education for 2 weeks will result in them missing substantial amounts of learning.

Could they stay with relatives or their father for the period you need to work on your house?

My children are in private school so no idea about fines, however think of your children's education.

Surely you won't be able to watch your child and do the work at the same time?

Depending on age of course.

It won’t be authorised for that reason.

your actions are up to you. Can’t imagine you’ll work very quickly with kids around.

I am so confused by the English obsession with school attendance. We just get a text and respond" sick" or "family reasons" or whatever. If a childs entire education is ruined by missing 2 weeks of school then I think things weren't going that well anyway.
What about all the Covid kids? And the fines are just odd.

Thank you.

I don't know how to make this work.

I wrote a longer reply and deleted it. I appreciate everyone's responses. I can't leave my child, I don't see how it's an allowable absence even for less time. I don't want my child to.miss school. I'm really worried about the financial implications of a long delay.

finish the work over Christmas, then market it in the new year. There’s very little movement in the housing market at this time of year anyway.

Just do it on the weekends? Likely to take 6 weeks instead of 2 but obviously you won’t get school absence for it.

If you do I would expect to be fined.

Will it really take 2 weeks to finish clearing it out? Could you pay someone to do it? Depends how old your child is, if they’re in upper primary or secondary I wouldn’t take them out of school, younger then maybe but 2 weeks is a long time to miss.

If you can go over the weekend and have your child miss the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, tell the school she has sickness and diarrhoea, you can get away with that and it'll give you 5 days to get started on it. Then finish it over the subsequent weekends. They won't authorise any absence for that reason.

I don’t think you can or should do this, no.

If you absolutely must, take absence on the Monday and Friday to give yourself a long weekend to get started. Is there anyone your child could stay with or anyone who could come and stay with your child?

If not I think you will have to pay for house clearing after doing what you can in a few weekends.

Can you start it over the next few weekends and then.finish in the Christmas holidays? That's only 6 weeks.away

If you need a fortnight, why not finish it over the school’s Christmas break and put it on the market in the spring?

You can’t take your child out of school for this.

There is no way it would be authorised. You’d probably be fined.
Only you can decide how important it is to go and do this. Will you be able to do the work and look after your child?
Don’t lie about sickness, the kids always tell.

Could you market it as it is and then spend the Christmas hols clearing it out? My neighbour suddenly developed dementia, disappeared in an ambulance and hasn't been back. His son lives 180 miles away and works full time so had done initial clear out (over a weekend) and has advertised and sold it (fingers crossed) as it is. He is spending the next weekends clearing it out so no rush.

Thank you all so much for a dose of sanity. I really am finding this so hard to deal with.
Unfortunately its an all day journey to get there so a lot of time and money for a weekend and less than a day's work.

(180 miles is tough but feasible for a weekend, this is a lot more and an awkward journey by any route)

How old is your child? If still primary school age just take them out and say they’re ill. If you really want to then find out what they’ll have missed and do some work at home. Kids catch up, they’ll be fine. We’re so programmed to toe the line these days and made to feel guilty for them missing even an hour for the dentist etc! If the situation with the house is stressing you out go get it sorted then you can spend quality stress free time helping your child catch up.