To invoke the ‘otherwise’ option for school absence?

[KuanKaKu]

AIBU to send this letter in and request temporary de-registration?
WWYD if you are a Headteacher and received this?
Dear Headteacher,
I am writing to inform you that for the period xxx 2026 to xxx 2026 inclusive, my children, [Child’s Name(s)], will be receiving their education otherwise than at school, in accordance with Section 7 of the Education Act 1996, which places the legal duty for securing a suitable education on me as the parent.
Section 7 states that:
“The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude, and to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.”
During this period I will be exercising the “otherwise” option. As such, my children will not be attending school between these dates. You may therefore treat them as temporarily deregistered for this period, as their education is being lawfully provided by me.
This is not a permanent withdrawal. My intention is for them to return to school-based provision on xxx 2026.
For clarity:
Parents are the duty-holders under Education Act 1996 s.7 with the right to elect for education “otherwise”.
Elective Home Education does not require the school’s permission (DfE Elective Home Education Guidance, 2019).
Temporary periods of home education are legally valid where the parent is providing suitable education under s.7.
Compulsory school attendance requirements under s.444 apply only where the parent is relying on school attendance to discharge the s.7 duty, which is not the case during this period.
Please confirm receipt of this notification for your records.

I've read it. I stand by my response to the pp.

Ah, I think I see the issue. When I said "finally someone has seen through the OP's ruse" I was being sarcastic.

There is no legal provision for a temporary deregistration of school. And nor should there be. What are you planning to do OP when the school refuses your request? Take them on legally?

This is peak mad individualism. It's all well and good parents believing that their family ski trip is somehow a legitimate human right, but try being a teacher with 200+ students across multiple years who are all taking different ten days off throughout the school calendar. Do you know how difficult it is to catch up even one student who's missed a couple of days? And that's with the other 29 in the class all being there, but with very different abilities and needs.

Issues with trying to keep classes ticking along the curriculum are hard enough as it is - if parents really think their family holiday is more important than the needs of the student(s), they should probably home school permanently and stop considering free education as a burdensome freebie. A handful of vocal parents want this because they've lost the ability to balance rights against responsibilities, and, like toddlers, their wants supersede considerations for the many. Very silly.

They'll soon learn that they have no choice in the matter, which is part of growing up. You might ant to try it.

We all know that there has been a huge shift into home ed over the past few years - so it's interesting to consider other ways that schools could work or be more flexible.

It would be impossible for LAs to manage something like this. If you de register your child then the space would be offered if there was a wait list. That's how things currently stand. If even a small percentage of parents decided to de register their child for several weeks or months each year with the hope of re-registering them then this could seriously affect the funding for the school. Every penny is accounted for so this would cause all sorts of issues on that level. Of course on a classroom level it would also be very disruptive to have a number of children coming and going for several weeks (potentially) at a time.

A pp said about private schools which are of course more flexible as you are paying for the space and as long as you pay it then you can take your children out of the school.

I haven't even started on the impact on children either - it would be very unsettling for them and to miss big chunks of a school curriculum would not be ideal. Socially they would also suffer, being away from friends etc.

There are other options like home ed, which often have great support networks, there is a big group in my local town and virtual schools which are becoming more popular. If you really disagree with the antiquated system the UK has for schooling then why don't you try one of those instead?

Not how it works I'm afraid.

You can't 'hold' a place until you want it/want it back.

If your children are de-registered, the place is no longer yours. If the school is oversubscribed and/or has a waiting list, the place will be filled.

You will have to re-apply to the school to return your child to it and you may be turned down.

I've seen it happen in our school for a variety of reasons; there are no guarantees you'll get your child back in when you feel like it. Find another way to take what is likely 'a holiday' if you don't want to risk your child's school place.

Pretty much everyone normal accepts that once you have children in education your freedom is curtailed somewhat. Thems the breaks with parenting. It’s not in their best interests to be chopping and changing either. I know I would have hated that as a child.

Until reforms bring the policy into line with real life, it is therefore very possible for families to rely on the lawful option that Section 7 provides and on the practical 10 day window in which the school still holds the place. It is not misuse. It is a rational response to a system that has not kept pace with society.

Reform is a disaster idea and I seriously hope the right wakes up and sees that. Elite looking out for themselves pretending to care about the average UK citizen. They don't. At all. Especially Farage.

It is misuse. Declare the holiday and accept the fine, which is what this is clearly really about. Or de-register your child and take your chances of getting them back into school a few weeks after you're back from you holiday and you have to follow the procedures and local authority time lines of requesting and being offered a new school place.

So it can be done

OP is probably one of those people who always say "but what is normal?" as if "normal" is a dirty word.

They are often dual-registered and the travelling community rules will not be extended to OP's whimsical holidays. Why? Because it's about trying to get the generally disadvantaged and not well off traveller children an education and some chances in life which there lifestyle actually harms generally if they can't maintain school places. Every traveller child that is or ever has been on our books is in receipt of pupil premium, a very telling statistic about how disadvantaged they are going in.

Why not just declare a period of unauthorised absence? Seems a nuch simpler option.
If you wish to have longer school holidays consider private school, or permenant home schooling. When you register a child at a school you agree to their policies. At your job, you wouldn't just declare 'I'm not turning up for next couple weeks, you havent agreed to my time off but I'm going anyway' and expect to walk back into your job! By all means deregister your child. But you aren't guaranteed a place at same school on your return, just a place at a school.

If you feel your circumstances are exceptional enough that this trip is essential and not a choice, ask for authorised leave. It does get granted occasionally - we have had it granted twice for a couple days each time.

I took my DC out of school for five months over summer holidays ten years ago, we went campervanning to Morocco and across Europe. I had to lose their school place, but in my case i could apply for it back a half term in advance, so i took them out on the last day of the spring term, then applied for their place back the first day of the next term, ie a week and a bit later. Had there been a waiting list for DS's class, I'd have lost his place, but he'd have had a couple of terms at a different primary then he'd have met up with all his friends again at high school. DD's class had loads of space. Bit different to two weeks off though, and i really did home school them. Teachers said they hadn't lost ground at all when they got back.

I work in attendance. If you take them off roll they lose their place. If it's a state school which has spaces and you are in the catchment area they have to take them back but you have to reapply.

They do this to ensure the travellers children have access to education, as they haven't much historically due to their movements. Because the community continues to travel and won't stay for a kids education then this is the best way for this tiny minority of kids accessing schools to gain some education. If the government said no you have to remain in one place while the children are at school and the parents then kept travelling (the parents who often didn't get an education so travel for seasonal work etc too) then you're seeing another generation in same boat.

Thats a simplistic reason but still, its not an example to use as to why the majority can't pick up a school place and drop it with no consequence. You can take your kid out of school, you can home educate them reapply for a school place, nothing stopping you. You'd just rather know that abfine won't come your way for a term time break and that you have a guaruanteed first choice place for when you want them reenrolled.

Are you the OP on another username?

Travellers are recognised as an ethnicity and are therefore protected from discrimination under the EA. That's why LAs have an obligation to provide them with a place in mainstream schools.

Wanting to go on holiday is not a protected characteristic.

Travellers children have wildly lower average literacy and numeracy rates, and exam pass rates. I would imagine that slotting in as best as they can in different schools every time they move, knowing each time that they won't be staying for long has something to do with that. Do you think that every school covers the same topics in the same order every term or something? Because that's not how the national curriculum works.

Travellers children moving around state schools is a best attempt to provide those children with as decent an education as the state can manage, in a world where the system is set up for the majority of children, who live at one fixed abode. It is not a system to aspire to.

fair enough, sorry I did miss that!

Seriously why take a child out of their school environment & friends they've got used to, foor a set period. And then send them back to the school they were at again afterwards?

My neice is a child actor, and it hasn't been an option for her. Twice now she's been on tour with a big show (once in Asia and once the European tour), and both times she was required to fully de-register and reapply when she got back. The first time, she was lucky and her primary school had her straight back with no issues because nobody had taken up the place; the second time, she ended up being home educated for over 6 months after she got home because her secondary school was oversubscribed and her place had gone.

No worries - I'm too deadpan for my own good sometimes 😜

Just send the kids to school. They get more than enough holidays. It is their best interests to be in school.

No, not unless there is some very specific reason why your child needs to be out of school, like they are on medical treatment. It is legal to home school your child for as short or as long a time as you want, but by doing so you give up your child's school place unless there is an agreement from the school that says otherwise. My dad used to work in HE/SEN sectors, and LAs/schools would sometimes agree to it, if there was a very clear reason why mixed education was required, but otherwise the schools would have the obligation to take a child from the waiting list who wanted to be there.

Your post reveals all the reasons why you cn't reliably use AI to compose legal arguments. It's missed the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 which provide, amongst other matters, that one if the circumstances when a child may be taken off a school roll is when "a parent of the pupil has told the proprietor in writing that the pupil will no longer attend the school after a certain day and will receive education otherwise than at school and—
(i) that day has passed; and
(ii) there is no school attendance order naming the school in force in relation to the pupil"

What is significant here is that there is no requirement for a cooling off period or for giving the child any sort of priority if they apply to rejoin the school. So you can certainly take your child out for the purposes of home schooling, but you can't assume the school will take them back whenever you choose to send them.

Children need structure - sorry don't have chatGPT - if they are missing a chunk of time out from school I would say it could be harmful for their self development and social skills regardless of how good the home schooling is. Coming back into a class after even a week, many friendship groups move on. It may be something to look at as society has changed working and living patterns but the fact remains that it hasn't yet. Ask the children if they want to be at home or at school, unless they are on some extended trip, then I expect they would want to be in school the same as their peers.