Will attending his dad's wedding on a school day count as absence and result in a fine?

[Saralocky28]

My sons dad is getting married in a month and it falls on a school day. If I send an absence form into school I'm guessing it will be authorized but does this still count as a day they use against you if you've taken them out for family holidays?

We've just returned from holiday and DS had 2 missed school days unauthorized but they were aware it was for a holiday.

Do I just say he's sick as it's one day? We are planning taking him out 2 days in October too for a family trip. So if we include all of these he will have missed 10 sessions. Likely will result in a fine.....

Not sure whether to be fully honest or not as I feel you have to work the school system these days!

For one day, I'd probably just call in sick to be honest, but a wedding is different because he's bound to talk about it isn't he.

Let your son's Dad manage it?

We didn’t get a fine but it went down as an unauthorised absence. Kids missed 3 days of school for mine and their dads wedding

My DC at secondary had their uncles wedding authorised. I was asked to send a pic of the invite. It was abroad on a Saturday and we traveled on the Friday.

Definitely be honest about his dad's wedding. That's entirely reasonable, even if the school don't authorise it.

The issue you've got is that you've also chosen to take 2x 2 days out for holidays. Those are the decisions you ought to be reconsidering if you're worried about a fine.

The school is likely to authorise 1 day for a wedding.

The amount of days is cumulative over a rolling 3 month period.
The clock will reset in September, so you'll be fine

Not your issue to manage.

Your son’s father needs to be contacting the school.

But as someone with parental responsibility she will still be fined

Who’s to say this day would be the straw to break the camels back so to say when it came to a fine. The OP has already stated she’s pulled her child out of school on multiple days and plans to again.

So you can take him out for 4 days for a holiday but moan about his dad taking him for 1 for his wedding. Maybe reconsider yours days if you don’t want the fine!

A wedding is a one-off event, don't lie about it.

If the school then fine you for the October holiday, so be it.

I work in school attendance in a primary school. One day off for a parent's wedding would definitely be an authorised absence in our school. To get a fine, you need to have had 10 sessions of unauthorised absence within a 10 week rolling period.

I think a dad's wedding would be authorised. Do try not yo keep making him miss school though, there are plenty of holidays available and he will miss a lot for each day he's not there.

Don’t lie to the school which in turn means your Ds would also have to lie. That’s terrible parenting!

Well you’re taking him out of school, whereas the dad’s wedding is his one day. So surely your time out of school would be what’s causing any fine.

Don't call in sick it's just embarrassing when you are caught out. I got authorised absence for my wedding.

Wedding of a parent is accepted as a reason for authorised absence under the government guidelines

A parent's wedding is one of the rare things I've known to be put through as authorised absence in a couple of different schools I've worked in.

I find it incredible how blasé British parents are about taking their children out of school in term time. It really is quite an unusual attitude to the importance of school attendance!

I work in a school, this would be authorised.

It's within any 10-week period so the October one won't count. It'll just be 6 sessions for now.

That's if they don't authorise it anyway because it's a wedding but don't count on that.

Agreed!

The wedding is reasonable and likely to be authorised (although I will say it’s not hugely in the schools control and they aren’t the ones who fine you either, it’s actually the local authority).

If you’re concerned about fines or too much time off then I’d be reconsidering the second family holiday and trying to get that down to one or no days off school.

Either way don’t lie, it sets a bad example for your kid and they’ll probably drop you in it anyway.

Should be authorised so definitely request it. You don’t want to be caught out (and I’ve heard of parents dobbing other parents in if they see posts on social media). I got authorisation for my two to attend OHs graduation when they were at primary school. And they attended two funerals in 3 weeks at secondary school, one of which required two days off as we had to travel 200 miles.

Its a religious event (Weddings certainly can be )

Tell the truth

Be honest. Do not teach your child to lie . He's going to tell his friends that he was at his dad's weddimg anyway but it's really shit parenting to teach any child to lie if you pretend sickness to the school.

Tell DS's dad that if there is any fine due to the wedding, it will be his responsibility to pay it and he can figure it into the budget for his wedding day (he will be saving thousands by having the event on a weekday instead of a weekend, so he can afford it.)

Stop taking your child out of school for trups and holidays. Statistically, children who miss school for trips and holidays end up with GCSE grades that are several steps below those sho don't. Although this could be correlation not causation, it is likely that the real factor is what you teach your child about the value of education and if you spend a child's formative years effectively teaching them that school isn't that important, and having fun times is a higher priority than learning, don't be surpised if in their later teenage years they live by that and don't end up with grades that reflect their potential.