Holidays In Term Time

[adam030380]

Hi All

I have a query about some new legislation coming in from the 01/09/13. Where heads cannot authorise the usual 10 days anymore. Anyway i booked a holiday last year for this coming december for the week before xmas and was oblivious to this new legislation they holiday is for 7 days but would only take my children out for 5 days but they have excellent attendance. My questions are can i still take them out, will i get fined, should i cancel the holiday or should i just say we're going whatever.

HTs can still authorise absence. All that is vanishing is the explicit wording that mentions holidays.

It's entirely at HT's discretion, and many don't authorise holidays anyhow already. Do you know what your HT's attitude is?

You can take them anyhow, if you want. It'll go down as unauthorised, and if you're unlucky you could be fined. I wouldn't go if DCs would be missing anything important at school, but really it's your call based on what they do in the last days in term and whether you can afford a fine if that happens.

IME (maybe it varies from LA to LA?) HTs haven't been able to authorise holidays in term time for quite some years.
If your dc have otherwise excellent attendance, it would be very unlikely you get taken to court or fined or whatever, but it just seems a shame for the dc to miss all the lovely stuff that goes on at Christmas, (if they are still Primary age ?).
That said, if you've already booked it, I guess you've already made that decision.

The head at theyre school has always authorised previous years holidays whether that is because they have good attendance anyway i dont know, i get what you mean about what goes on for xmas before school but tbh they never seem to do much educational work anyway thats more the reason i booked it then and as a little christmas/birthday treat. I have heard now it has to be exceptional circumstances as of the 01/09/13

What did your head teacher say about the holiday when you booked it at time and presumably got authorisation? If Youvebooked it, you might as well go. The fine of £50/100 isn't going to change anything.

Link.

More here.

Ho hum, I think there's still wiggle room in that; I would have thought booking before the new rules is "special circumstances".

At our school it is supposedly "exceptional circumstances". Doesn't stop lots of people going on holiday in term time though.

So what are the new rules. We have a holiday booked for sept as dp cannot get time off in the school holidays. School are aware of this and have always authorised it in the past. I havent told the school.about this holiday yey, i got the form for requesting time off the other day and need to fill it in.

Is it true the fine is per child? We have four at school so that coukd be expensive and its not our fault dp cant get time off in school holidays, i would be bloody pissed if they tried to fine us!

check my links 5MT, but they don't explain how schools will interpret "exceptional".

It seems very vague ' special circumstances/exceptional.circumstances' could mean anything!

yup, agreed it's vague, I don't think it will change much.

If they fine you, it is per child per session.

Not much has changed. It's still HT's discretion. Some do, some don't.

We have just been through this to get 4 days off for our dc, it is exceptional circumstances but I believe some schools have a blanket no policy as well.

Best you can do is fill in the form and write your exceptional circumstances on it, some of these being, can't get any other time off work due to nature of your job, family member seriously Ill, I suggest you google them and maybe look on your local councils website at the set "rules" for your area.

I read the fine can be per child, per adult in some places.

I am budgeting £1000 for fines next year. Just in case.

Yes our lea guidance stated 'parents cant get leave from work in holidays' as one of the circumstances they would permit a holiday. They can ask for a lwtter from your employer to confirm this, but tgats not a problem i will get the letter if i have to but they have never asked for it before.

I am going to check the lea website to see if its changed, the primary have always been fairly flexible and the high school less so but still understanding given dps job.

The law says it's up to the HT. LA can issue all the guidance it likes, but a HT can ignore the whole lot if so minded.

According to the legislation the fine is £60 if paid in 28days or £120 if you dont pay in the 28days. It doesnt mention fines owr child or per session missed etc.

Is there any legislation clarifying fines or is it up to ths individual lea?

I would refuse to pay if we are fined and they could bloody well take me to court and i would fight it on the grounds its unfair for parents who genuinely cant get time off work in school holidays.

Well if its up to ht we should be fine as we have spoken to them and they understand the restrictions due to dps job and they know we arent taking the piss etc and have authorised it in the past so am assuming they will again.

Fines are per child - legislation is Education Act 1996 (for the 10 days authorisation etc) and Anti-social Behaviour Act 2093 (which amended the 1996 Act and introduced fines), plus various later Regulations (eg 2007) which set the level of the fine.

2093 - some posters may wish! 2003

I have a query - I have a child not due to start school until next year.
My DH and I have no immediate family other than our children.
Our family are split between NZ and Oz and we have not been able to afford to visit them for a long time.

I would probably look to take them to Australasia on an out of school to visit.

The thing is I remember growing up that when children in NZ needed to visit their relatives in Asia or the UK it was not a problem when it was due term time and was seen as educational.

I also remember it as a learning experience - so a friend who went to HK was always given work to do but then when she came back into class she would tell us something about HK and there would be a lesson on it.
It was a real thrill for me to be exposed to her culture by hearing about her visiting her grand mother etc etc.

I also think - because I have not lived in the UK all my life. That travelling in Europe is such a fantastic opportunity of learning.

I have also heard of a family in our neighbourhood and the only way they can afford to go on an overseas holiday is to do it outside school term time and they are going to somehow lie to do this?

I just can't really get my head around all this - if you as a parent make sure your kids keep up - then what really is the problem.

It just seems to me that it is hard enough for people out there and from my memories as a child I genuinely think I would have learned more if I had travelled more?

Looking back on my schooling I wish I had missed some classes and gone travelling - I mean you don't learn every day at school and variety is the spice of life.

Am I really bonkers to think this?

Really terribly worded post - but in short:

What would happen if I took my child to visit family in Australia and NZ during term time in the first few years of school??

Don't know until you ask, Snuffle; you hear all sorts of stories on here. Anything could happen.

FWIW, HT has been fine so far allowing us to take the kids to California which means they miss 2-3 weeks. I only do this once every 4 years. You hear so many stories about kids taken off to Nigeria or Bangladesh or similar for months at a time. Next time I ask to take them out, I will be asking 3 different HTs, could be interesting?!

Thanks - it is just that I would really like my children to see Grandparents in flesh but would also ensure they kept up with any learning.

Good luck with asking 3 diff HTs.

My older child makes up a fantastic amount of stories about relatives to the point that they are hero worshipped!

Are these fines per day i.e 5 days off is £300 or is it one instance