How should I tell school about taking my child on holiday?

[iphammer]

Going on holiday towards the end of next week with my partner and our 2 boys aged 2 and 8.

My 8-year-old will miss a few days off school ( We fly back late afternoon Thursday 4th June)

This will be our first holiday abroad as a family of 4 and the first time I'm taking my 8-year-old out of school for a holiday

What do people usually do when it comes to notifying the school? I was thinking of emailing them this week to let them know he won't be back until the 8th ( some have told me to call in on the day to say he is sick)

Just send an email. Don’t pretend to be sick.

And enjoy your holiday. The government likes
to hide the research that shows children whose main absence is for family
holidays have some of the best results. They started fining people to try to stop kids playing truant and really persistent offenders and now it’s turned into fining parents for holidays abroad.

The goverment aren't concerened; all they're thinking about is how they can make the most money out of a child / future adult or the parents. The aim is for kids to eventually go to Uni and get themselves into thousands of pounds of debt.

What a ridiculous comment. Obviously hit a nerve there.

Is it ridiculous though? I'd never take my child out of school for a term-time holiday, so no aggravated nerves here, but I do think local authorities use this as a money spinner.

I'm afraid that just isn't the case at all, it's sad that you believe that. I do hope you have a lovely holiday either way.

If it was about making money the fine would be a lot more than £80 per parent / carer per child.

It's a deterent, not an income stream as school attendance is dire - children are missing large amounts school for various reasons. The penslty notice doesn't just apply to holidays, it can be an accumulation of any unautorised absences.

To be honest councils should bring back attendance and wefare officers thst take over when schools have done their part as the fines and subsequet action is piled on to schools when there is usually a much bigger picture for poor attedance than a school is equipped to deal with.

But it's not a deterrent when the fine is far less than the difference between a term time holiday vs school holidays. That's exactly why I believe it is a revenue source for the LA - because people will still do it and such up the fine.

I don't personally agree with term time holidays - I think they're disruptive and unfair to teachers who are already under pressure.

It's also not my experience that school attendance is dire. My Dc's school publish weekly and YTD attendance on a weekly basis and whole school attendance is at 96%. I know that's lower than they'd like but it's hardly dire! Obviously, that's completely annecdotal, but saying attendance is 'dire' is rather a sweeping statement.

LAs are making money from this.

This. Don't tell your child to lie.

Maybe I am missing something, but if you are back on the 4th June, why aren't they going back to school on the 5th?

All data and research points to lower educational outcomes linked to attendance.
And @PersephonePomegranate
LA’s are not making money from this. The DfE under the Conservative government added lots of responsibility around attendance to the LA. This was at the same time as the same government were making millions of pounds of cuts to LA’s.

Initially, to meet the new additions to LA’s statutory duties, put in place with no warning, some LA staff had the responsibility for attendance added to their role. Since and as attendance continues to be an issue a staff have had to be appointed to meet the statutory duty for attendance. This costs more than any fine.

LA’s are also under pressure from other services, particularly the police, because (mainly secondary but also upper primary) pupils not in school are often those creating antisocial behaviour and offending in the community.

The whole focus on attendance includes holidays because it is about creating positive attitudes to being at school, that this is an expectation and not a choice if you have a school place. It is about trends, patterns, attitudes and being accountable.

OP says they fly afternoon of the 4th. Depending on how long a flight and how far it is from the airport back home they might not be back till the early hours of the 5th so knackered. 8th is next working day.

But OP could still send child in the afternoon and miss one fewer session. We got caught up in the Easyjet cancellations 4 years ago when DC1 was in year 1. We were due to fly home on a Sunday with the Monday being an inset day. Didn't actually manage to get a flight till Wednesday but late so we didn't get into bed till 4.30 am on the Thursday. I let him sleep as long as he wanted then sent him in around 11.30. Making it 5 sessions unauthorised rather than 6.

It's also not my experience that school attendance is dire. My Dc's school publish weekly and YTD attendance on a weekly basis and whole school attendance is at 96%.

National data says otherwise!

The school you mention sits just below average for primary attendance.

Last week:
4.5% absence rates for primary
8.5% absence rates for secondary
12.5% absence rate for special
Persistent absence (those who are absent more than 10% of the time) is 17.9%
(Photo)

That is a lot of missed school days, missed learning, and children out of school.

Full data sets as reported by schools weekly to the DfE.
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools/2026-week-18

You canf lie. Kids share everything. I've lied before but only if the holidag is at the end of a term / start of the holiday. That way when my kid says they have been away It could have been during the actual break. I have said D & V because they have to be off 48 hours after the last period of sickness.

This is laughable nonsense 😂😂

If you tag the “sickness” onto the start or end of the holiday (the actual holiday) you don’t need the kids to lie, they can still say they’ve been on holiday - just what a shame they were unwell for a few days before / after they went! How inconvenient, what a coincidence! (Done this many times, no issues).

And when the teacher asks “are you feeling better, mummy said you were ill yesterday?”

I'm a governor at a primary school and sit on the committee which looks at attendance. I also work at a university and have been involved in recruitment and admissions for 20 years.

This is not true.

Of, FFS,

Did you yourself miss a lot of school for holidays?

Depending on the school policies they may impose a fine. I would go with the sick route. Becomes a problem if child returns to class telling mates about their holday.

It’s not up to the school. It’s down to the local authority who are implementing a government led policy.

It’s better to tell the truth rather than ask your child to lie.

I live in Scotland so different rules here. I had friends coming over from Ireland when my son as 7 with their kids. I thought it would be good for my son to spend a day with them. So took him out of school. My husband wanted me to say he was ill but I knew he’d be in the next day telling them all about his trip to the zoo and his meal out etc so just told the truth. They emailed back saying to have a nice time! It was his first day off school since he started. Things are a lot more reasonable here. Although if attendance reaches a certain percentage they do take action. I think taking them out of school I primary school is not such a big deal - a holiday can be a learning thing too - different languages, different money, different foods. Hope you all enjoy your holiday

I've emailed the school and been upfront with them. It's pointless to lie. A lot of parents I know close to me call the school and tell them their child is sick when, in fact, they're on holiday. I don't understand that either way; an absence is an absence.

You get fined.

Don't claim he's off sick. He will be telling all the class about his holiday when he gets back.

@Sparrowsandbudgies I bet the school know