Reception this September - under 5's holiday leave, does it still apply?

[Holdingoutforholidays]

Hi guys, what are the rules for under fives starting September 2024? My son is starting reception in England in Sept. My family is in Ireland and we go home every few months to see them, we can’t afford the Friday night - Sunday flights so was hoping before my son turns 5 next September to have a few trips back say thurs morning - Sunday. We will still get fined? I've been told by multiple friends if they are under 5 you can do what you like, is this true? Thanks

Normally they don't have to start until they are five, but if you do start school you are bound to the same rules as everyone else.

However, your DC seems to be starting school before they even turn 4, so I don't know if it's a bit different.

Thanks for your message. Sorry my post wasn't clear, he's currently 4.5, starting reception in Sept and turns 5 in December. I was hoping we could have a could of missed Friday's between Sept - Dec so we can visit my family in Ireland. Thanks

Regulations which allow the fines don't kick in until the child turns 5 (I looked it up as I couldn't understand why I got such an arsey email from the school, but it turned out it was their blanket response to leave requests). Whether or not your school/teacher will have a problem with it is a different matter. DS1's teacher didn't have an issue, but there wasn't lots of occasions we did it and he had no prolonged absences for illness or anything.