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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

unauthorised absence advice please.

33 replies

notmorejunk · 19/07/2010 22:10

Last year dd (year1) has 1 weeks unauthorised absense for a close relatives milestone birthday. Big family holiday. It was verbally approved but when I formally applied it was declined as rules had now change and HT no longer allowed to agree it.

At the time we were told that a Penalty Warning Letter could be issued which would mean we could be fined if it happened again. Although up till now I have not been issued with anything.

Now MIL has milestone birthday this year and dh and rest family keen to go on holiday for a week to celebrate it. I was concerned that if we were to do this we could be fined.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

AnnoyingOrange · 19/07/2010 22:11

mummyofexcitedprincesses · 19/07/2010 22:18

I am shocked that they would not authorise this- have you tried leaving the word holiday off your form.

It annoys me that they will authorise funeral visits but not those to see the living.

I would complain then still go. Looks worse on the school than you.

Goober · 19/07/2010 22:19

Will she be in yr 2?
SATS?

Original poster

notmorejunk · 19/07/2010 22:34

Yes Goober. Forgot about that. Do you know when they do them?

OP posts:

bosch · 19/07/2010 22:37

Yr 2 sats are Mayish. HT will have a complete fit if you want to go shortly before or during them.

I wonder if you're allowed to break the law once a (school) year? You're going to have to ask the head or the local education authority.

bosch · 19/07/2010 22:38

(God, sorry, wrote that without thinking, it's in v bad taste. Am mortified and will never write/say that again.)

Original poster

notmorejunk · 19/07/2010 22:47

Its after Sats. Personally I feel wary reqesting it as I feel it will be declined. However, it is tricky as last time it happened it was for my family. Now its dh's and he is keen to go. Doesn't really help that dd not done anthing like work for the last week.

However, I really don't want to be in a position whereby things become difficult with school (EWO)

OP posts:

tikkapots · 20/07/2010 10:07

We are taking DS out this March for 2 weeks, he will be in Y2 and have SATs coming up in May.

We have never done this before but it is for a family occasion and also a great opportunity for the kids to go overseas free of charge (reles are paying for us). Our school does not approve ANY holiday and you have to go unauthorised.

Am very wary about contacting the school. But how difficult can they become? Surely our children will not lose their place at the school and the worst that can happen is a fine from the authority??

compo · 20/07/2010 10:09

Why can't the holiday be in school holidays?

grumpypants · 20/07/2010 10:11

Why a week? Can't you go for a weekend? Personally, I think you sould try to play by the rules, and if holiday is refused, don't go. They can use discretion to authorise up to 10 days holiday per year, but what about other absences/lates? Is the record pretty good apart from last year?

scurryfunge · 20/07/2010 10:14

I would take the fine, probably still cheaper than peak time holidays.

Iloveponies · 20/07/2010 10:24

I have done this, and it was during SATS week as well.

Permission was declined but I wrote a letter to say that I understood that permission could not be given but we had,with much deliberation decided to go.

I didn't get fined

I think it may be at the heads discretion whether the fine is implemented or not. She gave you verbal approval last time but could not officially condone it. Just be up front about it, unless your children miss a lot of school I dont think it's a big deal.

HappyMummyOfOne · 20/07/2010 10:36

If its after SATS then cant you tie it in with the summer hols as they follow not long after or just go for the weekend instead.

Feenie · 20/07/2010 11:00

Y2 SATs are often in May, but can be completed any time during the school year.

ILovePlayingDarts · 20/07/2010 12:44

We had a week off, with school permission, during term time, but I made an effort to fit it into a week that did not have a special event happening.

Our head teacher makes it clear that she considers the whole child when deciding on these applications, and sees no reason to deny a child a good experience if the child is doing well in school.

And before anyone grumbles about taking holdidays during school holidays, I would prefer to do just that, but this is difficult as DP's employers are difficult about when holiday can be taken, and certainly not during any week with a Bank holiday!, Which just about covers every school holiday, and other restrictions cover other times, which seriously reduces when we can go away. It's a real nightmare every year.

mnistooaddictive · 20/07/2010 15:00

EWO's are over worked and are normal people. The ones I have worked with have all been lovely. They can quickly tell the difference between feckless parents who don't make any effort to get their children to school and responsible parents who are taking a week off for a genuinely good reason. They are too busy to deal with the latter! Go, some things are more important than a week of school. In 10 years time what will they remember more and what will have the greatest effect on them? Older relatives are important and will not be around for ever. And yes, I am a teacher!

Original poster

notmorejunk · 20/07/2010 15:10

Thank you everyone. DD's attendance last year was 95% including that holiday and snow closures.

The problem we seem to have is that a formal agreement seems to have been set up between EWO and all schools in area. As a result no ht appears to be able to approve any holiday. Unless armed forces or bereavement.

Agree though I could try and persuade inlaws to delay hol till school hols although i do also understand why it would be nice to do it on birthday. Yes I guess other option is to just go for weekend.

OP posts:

mrz · 20/07/2010 16:40

Snow closures wouldn't impact on attendance figures and as Feenie said Y2 SATs can be at any time in the school year Y6 has a set week in May (9th next year)

judytzuke · 21/07/2010 18:48

Schools are under a lot of pressure to meet attendance targets that's why some schools can't authorise holiday because it would make them miss their target. Attendance is an Ofsted criteria that is being really pushed at the moment, so schools and HTs don't have much choice as they have to be seen to be doing something to improve attendance: not authorising your holiday shows they don't condone your child's absence and are sending a message that attendance at school is important. It does have an impact when children are away for avoidable reasons -teachers hacve to go back over work your child has missed thus holding up everyone else in the class.

BerkshireMum · 26/07/2010 16:12

This is a tough one. I have a niece who is now 16 and just done GCSEs. Her mum has taken her out of school for a big holiday, or just the odd Friday here and there all her school life. Not actually that much time, and never enough to get a fine or anything like that but a regular drip, drip. When it came to GCSE revision, she simply refused to see that she needed to moderate socialising to revise - she'd always been taught that school was important, but not that importants.

However, two or three occasions througout an entire school career, backed up by a strict approach to time off the rest of the time is very different IMO.

Year 2 SATS are still likely to be late May.

HTH

RedArsedBaboon · 26/07/2010 16:21

why worry about SATS anyway? They are not for your child, but the school

If you want youf dc to sit them, then avoid May but in your shoes, I would go and enjoy the holiday. I would even pay the fine rather than miss out on a family holiday.

SandStorm · 26/07/2010 16:52

This gets me every time I read about it. The school year is 38 weeks. Are you seriously telling me that you can't celebrate during the 14 weeks of holidays? I'm sorry - but it's the start of a slippery slope. A milestone here, a milestone there. Where does it end?

RedArsedBaboon · 26/07/2010 17:27

Taking a week out of school is not the end of the world SandStorm. You make it sound like if children do not attend school 100% then they will never pass exams or have a decent job, which is rubbish.

When I was growing up we used to have holidays during term time, it wasn't detrimental to my future. Honestly, the child is only about 7 years old.

MaamRuby · 26/07/2010 17:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SandStorm · 26/07/2010 17:44

It's not just one week though, is it? It was one week last year, another week this year. What's the excuse for yr 3 or yr 4 or yr 5?

What is the child learning from this other than 'the rules don't apply to me'?

Why should the whole class be disrupted upon the child's return while he/she is diverting the attention of the teacher and/or TA to catch up with missed work? Because that's what will happen.

I don't mean to sound harsh but this is something that really gets my goat every time. The holidays are long enough and it's not like this milestone crept up on anyone unannounced. Surely things could have been planned to coincide with the school break.

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