unauthorised absence advice please.

[notmorejunk]

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.

One week per year is not alot. It is a ridiculous 'rule'. I doubt the child is even thinking 'the rules don't apply to me' though.

I know when i have taken mine out, they think of nothing but the great time they are having. As for the teacher being diverted to help catch up, that has never been the case that I am aware of. It would be my responsibility to ensure that my child catches up on anything missed as it was my choice to take them out. BUT at 7, a week? I can't see them missing much.

Agree with Judy. According to my HT (I'm a primary teacher)the problem seems to be that if attendance is an issue it is virtually impossible to get an 'outstanding' from Ofsted even if the teaching and learning is just that which is obviously ridiculous. That's why schools are getting so tough on the term time holiday issue. My DDs school (secondary) has just sent out a letter saying no holiday in term time will be authorised under any circumstances.I think that is the way it is going and secondaries are certainly taking a much harder line.
I would persuade your DH to move the family occasion to a weekend or a school holiday as you are certain to be refused a holiday request by the sound of things.

And sod everyone else SandStorm? After all, the child isn't usually the only person in the family. Everyone has commitments.

My (7yo) niece missed a big family wedding in Ireland last week, the first time the entire family has been together in about 10 years, oh, except her that is, because her HT wouldn't approve the days off required and my SIL is a scaredy cat. My niece was devastated, we all really missed her and she missed out on something which I consider more important than the last few days of the school year. Should the bride and groom have shifted it to accommodate her?

I can't see that you and I are ever going to agree on this one. From personal experience in my own classroom the catching up thing DOES happen and it does cause disruption to both staff and children.

But we seem to both have fixed opinions on this one (no bad thing) and I'm not going to fight you over this.

My 2 eldest are at grammar school and they have come up with a good compromise I think.They apply a policy of not authorising holidays in termtime, but accompany the refusal notice with a nice letter saying that although they are unable to authorise the time off ,they understand the reasons why parents sometimes want to have a holiday in term time and to have a good time!

I think the thing that annoys me is that rules are applied whether the child in 5 or 16. I would not dream of taking an older child out of school. However, I belive my 5 year old child benefited more from her early year 1 visit to the country of her heritage than she would have learnt at school that time. I am uneasy about taking them out the second time and I will insist on making it the 1st week of hols. Even though as far as I can make out my dd has not done anything constructive during the last week and a half of term.

We once took DS out for a long weekend but we realised it was our responsibility to contact all the teachers in advance, find out what work was scheduled and get him to complete it so he would return to school up to speed.

Milestone birthdays do not have to be celebrated by a week's holiday - you can have lovely family lunches or dinners, or even a weekend away.

Remember their next school may see their attendance record.

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