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Original poster

school knew about holiday before starting and didn’t mention any fines?

26 replies

km1996 · 11/03/2025 22:32

my daughter started reception September just gone, and during the information signing last August before starting I mentioned a holiday for a week 9 months beforehand and I quote deputy said ‘that’s completely fine’
now have been told 2 months before the holiday i might possible be getting a fine for going on a holiday for a week ‘mon-sun’ (school days Mon-Fri).
im a mum of one and didn’t know about not being able to take my child on holiday due to being able to take her during nursery, and didn’t mention it to me at the time either, so didn’t have any notice to change holiday date before it was too late.
Is there anything I can do? or just deal with the fine that could be coming my way?

OP posts:
TooManyNiblings · 11/03/2025 22:34

You will have to pay the fine if you are issued one. As for your voting: it's not up to the headteacher, it's the LEA (or whatever it's called nowadays) and what exactly do you mean by take action, ignorance of the law is no defence.

ClearFruit · 11/03/2025 22:35

Just pay it. Everyone else has to.

Mareleine · 11/03/2025 22:36

How old is she OP? If she's not 5 by the time of the holiday, then they can't fine you. It's only once education is compulsory. For that reason if she's 4 I'd flag it up to the headteacher because they might not have checked this.

Muchtoomuchtodo · 11/03/2025 22:36

Go on holiday

Pay the fine if one is issued

Make a fully informed decision in the future.

JoyousEagle · 11/03/2025 22:40

Mareleine · 11/03/2025 22:36

How old is she OP? If she's not 5 by the time of the holiday, then they can't fine you. It's only once education is compulsory. For that reason if she's 4 I'd flag it up to the headteacher because they might not have checked this.

Edited

Yes, and it's from the term after she turns 5. My DD has a summer term birthday so we couldn't have been fined for any holidays taken in reception (we didn't take any anyway).

Original poster
km1996 · 11/03/2025 22:40

I totally get where you are coming from, ignorance isn’t a defence.
what I mean by that was I had been told it was fine by the deputy, no mention of a fine or not able to make her where as the reception and nursery class is merged together and had no issues taking her last year.. had been told face to face it wasn’t going to be an issue at all by the deputy head, where as if I had known i could of changed to date nine months ago when it had been freshly booked :)

OP posts:
Thewholeplaceglitters · 11/03/2025 22:40

It’s only £80 - insignificant compared to cost saving on a term time holiday. If they fine, they fine. Not worth giving it a moment of thought. There is no way under the new rules you will get it authorised.

TooFancyNancy · 11/03/2025 22:41

go on holiday and take the fine. Don’t even worry about it!
its not the schools decision to fine or not, if your dc is compulsory school age (over 5) then it’s the local authority that automatically issue the fine so there is nothing you can do.

Original poster
km1996 · 11/03/2025 22:45

Mareleine · 11/03/2025 22:36

How old is she OP? If she's not 5 by the time of the holiday, then they can't fine you. It's only once education is compulsory. For that reason if she's 4 I'd flag it up to the headteacher because they might not have checked this.

Edited

she turned 5 in December, so I know a fine will be coming, just a little sad due to the deputy saying to me nine months prior it was no issue then a different story 7 months later :)

OP posts:
Original poster
km1996 · 11/03/2025 22:47

TooFancyNancy · 11/03/2025 22:41

go on holiday and take the fine. Don’t even worry about it!
its not the schools decision to fine or not, if your dc is compulsory school age (over 5) then it’s the local authority that automatically issue the fine so there is nothing you can do.

she turned 5 December so she’s the child who’s birthdays before everyone else (so most children are still 4 in her class)
my daughters school never really mentioned much to me (I’m a mum of one, so no one had talked to me about all of this) and the school itself said it was fine, but yeah.. looks like a fine it is, which is a shame cus I could’ve changed the dates and avoided this seven months ago :(

OP posts:
JaynaJae · 11/03/2025 22:50

km1996 · 11/03/2025 22:40

I totally get where you are coming from, ignorance isn’t a defence.
what I mean by that was I had been told it was fine by the deputy, no mention of a fine or not able to make her where as the reception and nursery class is merged together and had no issues taking her last year.. had been told face to face it wasn’t going to be an issue at all by the deputy head, where as if I had known i could of changed to date nine months ago when it had been freshly booked :)

TBF to the school, the DfE guidance documents were only updated at the end of August, the message to schools and LA’s strengthened from September onwards.
I'd be very surprised if the school newsletter has not flagged up attendance messages all year, unless of course your school has attendancevabove national averages.

Workingtogethertoimproveschoolattendance-August2024 DfE

caringcarer · 11/03/2025 22:51

In law ignorance is not a defence. I thought everyone in the UK would have known the amount of publicity it's been given.

Original poster
km1996 · 11/03/2025 22:51

Muchtoomuchtodo · 11/03/2025 22:36

Go on holiday

Pay the fine if one is issued

Make a fully informed decision in the future.

I will definitely pay the fine if one is issued :)
At the time it was fully informed (or thought it was) with the deputy who said it was okay to go ahead.
next year onwards it will be during school holidays, thankyou though :)

OP posts:
minnienono · 11/03/2025 22:55

The school don't get to choose, i suspect they thought you realised you would be fined

Sugargliderwombat · 11/03/2025 23:03

I think a staff member would say 'it's fine' to reassure you there's no judgement and your child won't be told off for going on holiday etc.

It's not really up to them if you get a fine, the deputy probably assumed you knew this. Not fantastic communication but there's a lot of talk around these fines so I think they'd assume everyone is aware.

lavenderlou · 11/03/2025 23:03

New attendance guidance came in at he start if this academic year so the deputy head may not have been fully aware of the changes when you spoke to them in August. The key thing to be aware if is that you will almost certainly be fined of your child misses 10 sessions (5 days) or more. If you take them out for this long three times then you are at risk of prosecution.

Livelaughlurgy · 11/03/2025 23:04

I assume she meant it's grand as in there's no consequences from the school, but I feel like the fines is well known, I'm Irish and I know. See also passports only valid for 10 years from issue date....

DarkForces · 11/03/2025 23:10

When they say it's fine they mean fine with the school. It's not up to the school whether you get fined. If you had known about the fine and changed the dates you'd have to pay the cost difference for a school holiday break. If you were shocked by the fine I would sit down before you look at the prices you'll be paying for an August trip away.

Original poster
km1996 · 11/03/2025 23:11

JaynaJae · 11/03/2025 22:50

TBF to the school, the DfE guidance documents were only updated at the end of August, the message to schools and LA’s strengthened from September onwards.
I'd be very surprised if the school newsletter has not flagged up attendance messages all year, unless of course your school has attendancevabove national averages.

Workingtogethertoimproveschoolattendance-August2024 DfE

Edited
Show quote history

yes they have once my daughter has started which I have no problem at all booking during the school holidays next year onwards :)
this was all before she had started and didn’t have the newsletter about it until a month ago which was too late to change my holiday date (which I would have gladly done), but had to been told it was okay to go ahead with it prior.
reception children are usually okay to go because they’re typically 4 years old (my daughter unfortunately has her birthday in December) which makes her 5 where as other children are 4 still and wouldn’t have an issue :)

im just asking is it best to take the fine or talk to the school regarding the unfortunate problem, thankyou for all the information aswell :)

OP posts:
surreygirl1987 · 11/03/2025 23:14

DarkForces · 11/03/2025 23:10

When they say it's fine they mean fine with the school. It's not up to the school whether you get fined. If you had known about the fine and changed the dates you'd have to pay the cost difference for a school holiday break. If you were shocked by the fine I would sit down before you look at the prices you'll be paying for an August trip away.

This. Surely you knew the term time dates and surely you are aware that parents are fined if they take their kids out during term time?

BlondiePortz · 11/03/2025 23:14

The same school does not deal with parents social calendars, pay the fine and move on

GreenPaint1 · 11/03/2025 23:24

I'd probably say it's fine if you'd told me....because I'd assume you'd be OK with the fine.
Not sure how you can nit have heard about only taking holidays in, er, school holidays

Just pay it and have a fab time

zeibesaffron · 11/03/2025 23:28

The deputy head probably meant it was fine for the holiday (they can’t stop you from going) and assumed you were aware there would be a fine!

School fines are hardly a secret, and have been around for some time now!!

Take the fine, there are no extenuating circumstances here for school to consider- you are going on holiday in school
time, and that comes with financial consequences.

JimmyGrimble · 11/03/2025 23:51

How much time has she had off unauthorised? We wouldn’t seek a PN for 5 days. We would if there were other unauthorised absences spread through the year to date. As PP say, schools got new guidance in September so things changed. Also, no member of school staff can authorise a holiday.

CarpetKnees · 12/03/2025 00:01

km1996 · 11/03/2025 23:11

yes they have once my daughter has started which I have no problem at all booking during the school holidays next year onwards :)
this was all before she had started and didn’t have the newsletter about it until a month ago which was too late to change my holiday date (which I would have gladly done), but had to been told it was okay to go ahead with it prior.
reception children are usually okay to go because they’re typically 4 years old (my daughter unfortunately has her birthday in December) which makes her 5 where as other children are 4 still and wouldn’t have an issue :)

im just asking is it best to take the fine or talk to the school regarding the unfortunate problem, thankyou for all the information aswell :)

Show quote history

You've been told several times already.

As far as the school are concerned, it is 'fine', but the fine comes from the local authority.

You keep saying you 'would have changed the holiday if you'd known', but if you did that, you'd end up paying FAR more than the cost of the June holiday plus fine.

Why do you want to "talk to the school regarding the unfortunate problem" ?
You have decided you are happy to let your dd miss a week of school, and school have said "fine". What do you want to talk about ? Confused