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Original poster

School says I have "No right to take my child out of school during term time"

197 replies

Easy · 24/06/2004 11:42

Okay, first I understand that school is important, and I don't necessarily intend to take my ds on holiday during term time but .....

We have just received the bumf from school regarding ds's first term next Sept.

In amongst it is a section on absences which says "You do not have the automatic right to take children on holidays during term time. The school must agree to this beforehand"

Now I feel that the school does not have a "right" to tell me when I can have access to my own child, I find the wording somewhat heavy handed, to say the least.

I'm not disagreeing with the principle involved, I just feel that the way it's being done is wrong. Is it just me who feels the 'Nanny state' interfering here.

OP posts:
codswallop · 24/06/2004 11:43

this is true actually. there are a loit of lyths about htis but you are required to send your kid to school or do home ed.

codswallop · 24/06/2004 11:44

I think thats fair enough

woudl you like it if your kiods techer swanned off soemwhere?

beetroot · 24/06/2004 11:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

LIZS · 24/06/2004 11:48

It is probably a reaction to parents taking their kids out at no notice and for longer than the discretionary 10 days. Agree it could be worded better though and doesn't give new parents a very good impression. It is a statutory obligation to have your child educated once they turn five, be it at school or home.

Blu · 24/06/2004 11:48

Go Easy, Easy!
I think schools have been having a lot of problems with 'unauthorised absences' in the past few years, and many parents assuming it is their 'right' to take children out of school as and when it suits them.
Don't know about the 'nanny state' but no, we don't have 'access' to our children in the way you describe it (unless we are home educators) because it is the law that our children go to school. So the statement is simply a factual statment informing you of the situation. Sounds like formal language rather than heavy handed language - and every single school brochure we have been given for primary schools round here says exactly the same thing in the same words.
Haven't got time to get worked up about it!

Original poster
Easy · 24/06/2004 11:49

Beety yes, that's exactly how I feel. And coddy, the teachers do that anyway. DS's nursery teacher (connected to the same school) was away all last week, having taken an extra week after half term (and don't even start me on the subject of inset days).

OP posts:
codswallop · 24/06/2004 11:50

Ditto blu
I feel so strongly about this I am opting out as it really gets my goat.

busybee123 · 24/06/2004 11:50

well the way i see it is they can be off school for a week with a 'virus'!?!?!

codswallop · 24/06/2004 11:51

( bit before I leave........................... Inset days are DAYS OFF THE TEACHERS HOLIDAYS THAT WAS AGREED INT HE 1980S)

[ANGRY]

IF ITS SO EASY BEING A TECHER WHY DONT YOU ALL RETRAIN?

Original poster
Easy · 24/06/2004 11:53

Have I caught you on a bad day Coddy?

I would, but can't afford to

And don't bl**dy shout at me

OP posts:
Toothache · 24/06/2004 11:55

Ooooh Coddy! This rrrrrreally annoys you doesn't it?

I do understand where you're coming from Easy. The wording is a bit heavy handed.

Busybee123 - LOL.... so sneaky.

Twinkie · 24/06/2004 11:56

Agree with Blu - DD is at nursery attatched to the school and even for that they have to have permission to have holiday in term time - I metioned to DP the other night that 2 of DDs friends were on hols at the moment and that it didn't even cross my mind that we could or would take her out during term time even in nursery and he agreed.

Doesn't unauthorised absences effect league tables and all sorts of stuff - I would prefer DDs school not to allow them at all TBH - I don't think any school should but I do think that holidays should be staggered more and more done to stop travel agents increasing prices so drastically.

Twinkie · 24/06/2004 11:57

I don't even think that the wording is heavy - they are just saying that you can;t ake your kid out of school when you want and if you want to you will need their permission - nothing to do with access to your own child at all really??

Toothache · 24/06/2004 11:59

Twinkie - I think the point it if you went to the school and walked into the classroom to take your child with you (for whatever reason) the school couldn't really stop you, could they? Could they actually physically restrain you from taking your child home?
Once your child is in the classroom does this mean you can't even just speak to them without asking permission?????? That's ludicrous!

SoupDragon · 24/06/2004 12:03

Sorry, I dont think the wording is at all heavy handed. The fact is that you don't have the automatic right to take your child out of school for holidays. You didn't when I was at school many years ago either - nothing has changed. You needed the school's permission then and you need it now.

Inset days are staff training days, not days for the teachers to swan off to a day spa or anything. Again, we had these when I was at school too.

Original poster
Easy · 24/06/2004 12:05

Toothache, That's the sort of thing I mean. If you read the text it seems to suggest that school has more 'right' to my child than I have.

If I feel my child is being mis-treated at school (e.g. a bullying problem not being addressed), then I believe I have the 'right' to protect my child, either by keeping him at home, or attending with him. I know this is an OTT example, but what I'm saying is he's MY child.
What's more I (and you) are paying for his education, I have a right to say what he does and when, just as much (if not more) than school.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 24/06/2004 12:05

I thought the problem was about taking holidays in term time rather than going in to take your child at any time you wish. The school isn't saying when you can or can't have access to your child.

frogs · 24/06/2004 12:06

Although you don't have a formal contract with the school (unless it's fee-paying) there is an unspoken contract in which they agree to educate your child appropriately to his/her ability, and you agree to do your best to support them in this (ie. send your child to school on time, don't get in fights with the teachers etc.)

Rules about taking your child out of school have to be seen in the light of the unbelievable cr*pness of lots of parents. A week-long holiday visiting classical ruins in Turkey may well be more educational for the kids than a week's worth of literacy hours, but there are countless families who keep their children home several days a week to go shopping or look after the babies, or take their kids out of school for months at a time to see family abroad and then demand one-to-one support because their child is behind.

People who do this kind of thing without the school's permission are harming the school as well as their own child, because it shows up on the school's absence figures as truancy, because it affects the progress of all the kids in the class, and because it makes the teacher's job much harder.

Presumably you chose the school because it has high standards and tries to do its best for all the kids, and can offer something that you wouldn't get by home educating. It's not really a case of nanny state to insist that if you do sign up for full-time school education you can't treat it as a drop-in centre to fit in with your holiday plans.

Having said all of that, whenever I've approached the school with a request for time off (my dh has a job which requires him to work during school holidays) they've always been very reasonable about it.

Twinkie · 24/06/2004 12:06

No Toothache and I wouldn;t have thuoght anyone would have read it that way - to even think it is IMO ludicrous!!

SoupDragon · 24/06/2004 12:06

Easy, they're not saying you can't do that - they are saying that you can't assume you are allowed to swan off on holiday in term time without getting the school's permission first. They aren't the same thing at all.

Original poster
Easy · 24/06/2004 12:08

Soupy, I'm not suggesting that inset days are days when the staff swan off. BUT I do think they are disruptive to school terms and the children, and their parents', and their parents' employers ......

I cannot see why they cannot be fitted into the existing school holiday structure, rather than picking out odd days mid term-time.

OP posts:
Tissy · 24/06/2004 12:10

The quote you have given us says,"You do not have the automatic right to take children on holidays during term time. The school must agree to this beforehand"
I don't think that's wrong, or limiting access to your child, it is a specific mention of the regulations regarding holidays. I'm sure any responsible parent would discuss it with the school in advance.

Original poster
Easy · 24/06/2004 12:10

See, I said don't start me off on inset days :0

OP posts:
Twinkie · 24/06/2004 12:10

DDs are always fitted on to the end of school holidays or the start of them.

TBH I do look at it a bit like - wow they get to educate DD, let her make lots of friends, let her play with great things and I don't have to pay for this (after paying £30 to a childminder everyday!!) a day off here and there isn't the be all and end all.

Original poster
Easy · 24/06/2004 12:14

Tissy,

I would certainly inform the school of my intentions, (if it were my intention). I'm not sure I would regard it as 'open to discussion'.

Sorry I'm not being deliberately awkward here, just feel that he is still MY child, I should still be allowed to make that decision if it is good for us as a family.

OP posts: