To not feel sympathy for this mum?

[imreadytodive]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-school-holiday-criminal-record-37163490.amp

a mum has been given a criminal record after taking her daughter out of school for two weeks to “see her sick grandmother” and refusing to pay the fine

Surely she realises nobody buys that excuse? If her grandmother was that unwell why wouldn’t she travel to Turkey in the 6 week school holidays leading up to September? I’m

So you don't think the woman in your OP was wrong for doing like your sister and taking her DD out of school for two weeks and denying her part of her education, but you do think she was wrong for not paying the fine?

I understand the point re not paying the fine being stupid, but you have some messed up priorities @imreadytodive.

Yeah, I do. She was aware of the fact she would be fined. She opted to do it anyway and then ignore the consequences

I don't know why you're arguing with me on this instead of just Googling it.

How the Pay Structure Works
Annual Salary vs. Holiday Pay: Teachers aren't paid extra to sit at home. Instead, your total working year is calculated (e.g., 39 weeks of teaching plus a statutory annual leave entitlement) and that total is spread across 12 equal monthly payments.
Summer Pay: You still receive your regular monthly paychecks during the summer holidays. This is not a bonus or extra pay; it is the rest of the money you earned during the school year. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Most people get 5.5 weeks of paid holiday. It's calculated differently for teachers and the summer holiday is unpaid leave.

The October holiday I have booked for £2400 would cost £800 if we went two weeks later (outside of school holiday period). It’s not just “saving a bit of money”, it’s the difference for some families between being able to go and not. Presumably if this woman hadn’t managed to go home for so many years she won’t be very well off.

Holidays aren’t a right but they broaden kids horizons, give them quality time with family and take them out of their everyday little bubble for a week or two! Missing a week or two here and there, especially when they’re little, really doesn’t need to be a big deal as long as you take the time to catch up youre or on your return. My parents always took us on term time holidays and I got nothing but all As at GCSE and A level 🤓 💅

Meh. The way to stop this is to regulate the tourist industry. If prices weren’t hiked up to unreasonable levels during the school holidays then people wouldn’t even think to do this in the first place. Similarly, if so many people hadn’t started booking holidays outside school holidays the fines would never have been introduced.

But a lot of us don’t have to operate on the school holiday timetable? I’d much rather go away outside of holidays because it means I don’t have to put up with kids on planes!

Yeah but you can do that at home too. Realistically they aren’t going to get any sort of experience from an all inclusive abroad.

Whatever I think of the fines as a matter of policy, she’s a total idiot. And not content with being a total idiot, she thinks it’s a good idea
for her idiocy to be reported in the national news. Double idiot.

IMHO the sentence is OTT: 12 months suspended! Poor girl must be worried if her mum’s a lone parent and at risk of prison. I also think the school should’ve agreed to time off (a few days) if her attendance was exemplary and it was to see her dad again and grandma when very ill.

But the mum

• could’ve taken her in summer hols (if she gave 20 days’ notice for a Sept trip) or for a long weekend;
• should’ve pushed for a quick decision from the school/LEA (or sought advice from local councillor or CAB) if the grandma was likely to deteriorate or die quickly;
• shouldn’t have assumed the school would agree before booking flights/setting off and
• should’ve paid the £80 fine and then appealed.

Her version is she wasn’t aware she’d be fined. She applied to school for authorisation, didn’t get a reply. Called school and was told by an employee it would be fine so went away. On return there’s a letter on mat from school rejecting her request for authorisation. Then a fine arrives by post.
If the mum was adamant exceptional circumstances applied then her only option at that stage was to challenge in court. But it sounds like she was naive and woefully unprepared.

we don't know how long she waited cos it doesn't say when the Dad called. she could have found out Sept 1st, filled in the paperwork Sept 2nd and flew out 22nd.

agree with majority. fines are ridiculous but that's life. if you refuse, fine, stand by your principles but accept the consequences.

Also adding visiting close relatives who live abroad and are sick isn’t a ‘holiday’.

Most kids visit very sick close relatives, e.g. grandparents. Kids shouldn’t be penalised because their close relatives live so far away that making a return trip over a weekend is too impractical or costly.

Very obviously the fares would have pbeen dearer in August

I naturally wouldn't know what happened with this particular grandmother, but as an employer got very tired of the apparently inexhaustible supply of sick and dying grandparents who popped up whenever unauthorised leave was wanted ... I think the record was one guy who claimed seven over the years before he was stopped

THIS. 100x THIS.

I am always private school-bashing, but I have to admit the only good thing about a minor, struggling day school - I used to take out dc whenever, (I travel with work and it was cheaper for me to just pay for extra tickets as accommodation was taken care of by clients). I just said that 'it is for their benefit'. The school was a struggling one, I paid full fees, so they did not cause any trouble for us at all, they were hesitant to lose the fees.

The dad had 9 years to bring his daughter to Turkey to meet his family. He could have picked any school holiday, even left school a few days earlier (but not a week) to avoid an expensive flight out. The nan is not dead, just not very healthy right now. Me personally I’d wait until the holidays. If you can’t afford it during the holidays then just pay the fine.

It’s not a case of knowing best or children being property of anyone, but as it stands in almost every regard parents choose how to raise their children unless the children are deemed unsafe and are thus removed from their parents’ care. That includes parents who make many decisions which aren’t best for their children. If I choose to home educate my child then I have total free rein to do whatever I like for the duration of his childhood. If I privately educate my child then I’m also free to remove him from school to go on holiday. But somehow a state education criminalises parents who make that same decision. People can argue back and forth about the benefits and drawbacks of term time holidays, but it seems to me to be a parenting decision. It’s irrelevant whether the parents know best or not, but it is their decision to make.

i think a request for absence in these circumstances seems reasonable (this is a primary aged school child with otherwise excellent attendance whose grandmother has cancer and wants to see her, i don't think it matters that circumstances mean she hasnt seen her for most of her life considering the illness scenario) I don't understand why the absence wouldn't be granted.
However, when the the mother asked for permission for absence ,i dont think getting no response and going anyway was the right thing to do. The lack of response should have been followed up. If the receptionist word that its OK to go if you haven't had a response is ridiculous to rely on.
Im wondering why the request was declined
Im wondering why the response from the school was left until the day of departure.
Im wondering why the mother didnt follow up the lack of response.
I understand why the mother would feel the fine was unfair but i would have paid it and complained and asked for the refusal decision to be investigated and the late decision .
There may be other factors we arn't aware of in this story.
A trip in September with 20 days notice for ill health begs the question as to why the trip didnt take place in August during school holiday,perhaps that was the resaon for declining the request ....it seemed dodgy.

This is what I’m saying! She obviously saw a cheap holiday in the first couple of weeks of September and thought “sod it I’ll book it”. 20 days is plenty of time to get on a flight and go out there.

Realistically if they were so close that they had to dash out there, they’d be staying at a family members house, with clothes etc already there and only having to pay for the cost of the flights. It begs the question of why this didn’t happen.

I’d say it definitely wasn’t in best interests of girl to take her Mum to court.
She’ll be frightened to have any time off sick in case mum gets in trouble again. Worried what will happen if mum goes to prison - her dad is a stranger abroad, mum is an older mum at 51 there may not be a maternal gran to care for her so potentially would be foster care. Wouldn’t surprise me if she now has anxiety and not engaged with school having previously had good attendance. I can’t imagine she will speak to head teacher who gave evidence against mum in court.

It isn’t the schools who issue the fine, it’s the local authority. Schools and teachers might object to the notion that you are penalised for taking your child out of school during term time, but they are obliged to provide attendance figures and reasons for absence.

It’s very apparent now, that school for many families, is optional. There are clearly school aged children out and about every day, who are not in school. I assume they must be being home schooled.

So you’re saying children from wealthy families deserve holidays, but those from deprived families don’t?

It’s like anything in life. If you struggle to keep up with work, you have to work harder and longer.

My kids certainly always learnt hello, goodbye and thankyou and also some names of certain foods when abroad. My kids always tried some different foods when abroad. My eldest learnt to swim on holiday. We live nowhere near a beach they learnt beach safety, sun safety. That cars drive on the opposite side of the road, how to do a Greek dance, not to flush toilet roll. That other countries have different currency. Kids are like sponges their always learning even when you think they aren't.