secondry school and term time holidays

[Elizarmit]

can anyone advise me on where i stand. i have written to my eldest school to inform them my son will be away from school for one week for a family holiday. The problem is his younger brother is autistic which means we can only go away at quiter times. My oldest sons school is going to fine me for taking a holiday in term time. Does anyone know if I can appeal or if its legal for schools to fine me. Thankyou

Don't know the answer, but someone will come along soon. Sounds very putitive, surely teh school will take your special circumstances into account - I assume they know the reason for the holiday in school time.

I am sorry I cannot help but will watch this thread with interest as I am wondering how frowned upon this is.

Last November I booked a holiday for this October assuming my youngest DD would remain at her current school (had no idea to think otherwise at the time).

DD has decided to stop boarding and will go to our local comp into year 7 in September. They have a different half term - the week after when our holiday is booked.

Eldest DD is also changing school but this will still be within her half term.

My dd's primary school have started this. They say it's enforced by the local education authority

It's all thanks to Michael Grove, educational secretary!

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9091213/Term-time-holidays-will-be-banned.html

Not sure I understand why your son being autistic means you have to go away during term time??

I'm sure it is legal, it's very common to fine for term time holidays now and they'd argue that places busy in high season wouldn't be much quieter in lower season. Could you stay in a quiet country cottage instead?

Actually, you can't blame Gove for this, as the review mentioned in it underway is underway and no changes have yet been made because of it.

The powers the head/LA is using are those introduced by Labour - who thought it a good idea to bring in both fines and possible imprisonment for unauthorised absences, and left term time holidays at head's discretion.

Fines for term time hols have been around for many years but it's up the each school to have their own policy. It's nothing to do with Mr Gove- the recent changes are about fines being enforced and increased as a deterent, as many guilty parents were not paying due to being on benefits- it was aimed more at parents of children who truant but holidays come under the same category.

As a former teacher I have to question though why you need hols in school terms- there are plenty of queit resorts and places in the UK where a child with learning/behavioural problems will be happy on holiday.

What is it that you are trying to achieve by going off-peak? And will this always be so when your older child is doing GCSEs etc from year 10?

It's not school's own policy round here. The local council has told them exactly what they are allowed to authorise and what they can't. The school can choose to go stricted, but not less strict.

It wouldn't be authorised round here, sorry, although I understand why you need the quieter times.

If you go during school holidays then the older child can't do things he wants to because the younger one will panic in the crowds-even if to us it isn't a big crowd. It's a hard one to resolve.

When is the week? In this area there are strictly no authorised holidays until after exam time (both in the secondary school and Yr6 of primary). Meaning that if "you must holiday in term time" (copied from school website ), requests will only be considered for weeks from late June onwards.

Also, what year is your DS in? Another local comp allows one week during years 7 & 8 but not from 9 onwards due to G.C.S.E coursework/exams etc.

No school heads in our area are allowed to authorise term time leave, but it is up to the education authority to generate the fine. This is automatic if absence is 5 days or more, ie a school week. You can appeal, though. Btw the fine is £50 per parent per child, so £200 if you take 2 kids away for a week.

My kids school has warned parents they will be finingthemfor term time holidays for now on, £50 per parent per day per pupil. Sorry but time lost at secondary is crucial. DCs school makes it clear that they will only grant leave of absence for exceptional circumstances (and for my experience the last half day of summer term to travel to wedding of a close relative is not good enough).

Agree mummytime, i cover stuff even with ks3 classes that may not be revisited again, but used as foundations for future work. The students that are taken out on holiday always do worse than they should, no matter how bright they are. you simply cannot afford to miss school at secondary level and expect success.