"Exceptional circumstances?" holiday in term time - need advice what to tell school!

[DoodleNoo]

My DCs school has always had a relatively relaxed policy towards holidays in term time (within reason) and has been quite happy to authorize up to 10 days away. However for whatever reason, this year they have tightened up considerably and recently sent home a rather fierce letter stating that they would only authorize leave of absence in "exceptional circumstances", and only if the child's attendance (through their entire time at school to date) was above 95%.

My problem is an annual trip, with extended family, which is a lifetime tradition for me (30+ years) - as well as now my kids too - based around a particular public event which happens to fall in term time. It?s a really special time for us & more important in our family than spending Christmas together. Always in the past, throughout my own education and my children?s, we?ve been and it's not been a problem. I bend over backwards for the rest of the year to support the head and school in every other way: we?re never late, we support all the school events, I volunteer, DCs always do their homework beautifully, and are doing well in class - in many ways we are the model parents: I know that, and the head knows it too. We would never choose to break the rules or go against school policy - but I now just don't know what to do about this year?s holiday (especially in view of the fact the problem is going to arise again in subsequent years).

Frankly, there?s no question of us not going for a truncated week (4 days off school - though had hoped to take 6 or 7 before this change of policy came up) - for that I will willingly run the risk of fines and Education Welfare officer visits (not that these have been threatened, but I?m aware that this is the usual route in some other schools). Other than this regular annual period of absence, DCs attendance is excellent - faultless this last calendar year - but illness / this same trip in previous years means that at least child won?t hit the magic 95% attendance required by the school before they will even consider granting my request.

So:
Should I write and explain what I feel are the exceptional circumstances and see if they?ll grant me 4 - or more? - days leave? But then my intention is all in writing and evidence against me in anything else that I subsequently do.

Or should I talk to the Head first? (problem is that I?m feeling very emotional about it and am liable to bust into tears!).

Or should I do nothing and just phone in both children sick when the time comes - which will be very see-through as the head will know where we really are, I am sure - it?s a small school and she?s not stupid - but if I send them back with sick notes after a nasty dose of ?chickenpox?, what could she do?

And, if I do ask, don?t get and still take them anyway - when & what do I tell the school?

Be really grateful for your thoughts / opinions. FYI, DCs are Y4 and Y1.

Star Trek Convention?
Studland Bay Naturist Arts Festival?
Alien Abduction Week, all volunteers needed to be removed to flying saucer and probed.
L Ron Hubbard calls the Martian Bishops together, summons the intergalactic walrus and has an annual street party outside Goodge st Tube?
Hartlepool Fur and Feather Society Sumer Fayre

You could possibly claim time off to celebrate religious festivals for some of these.

DDs best friend in school is Chinese and she and her family always go away for Chinaese New Year to stay with family - as far as I know the school are fine with it - it's an important part of her cultural heritage

Have you thought about the adverse consequences for your DC? Missed school may mean missed concepts/learning they may never confidently catch up with. Fitting back into school can also present some emotional and social challenges.

Just a thought to balance the 'go, they have nothing to lose' or 'it's just presure fom the LA/Ofsted on schools' arguments.

Is it a religious pilgrimage?
because my friend always went to India every fall to visit family in the autumn term

I bet it's one of those Disneyworld family trips - you see whole families ranging from great granddad to new baby going round in team t-shirts "The Johnson Family Reunion May 2011"

I'd go and speak to the head teacher and politely but firmly explain that they are your children, it's one holiday a year or whatever and you are not going to let statist dictat get in the way of your family traditions.

If pupils have an otherwise good attendance record then I think interference from any part of the state is an absolute disgrace.

Tell them to fuck off basically, or if you want a more diplomatic approach tell them your DH is a farmer who'll be combining all summer holidays (my friend was in this situation) so you can't take holiday in July/August.

I'd be inclined to use the polite approach i.e. ask for the time giving reasons and referring to my dcs excellent attendance record rather than presenting it as a fait accompli.

The worst they can do is say no. I can't imagine that pissing them off would be helpful in getting your own way Prannie.

I've managed to get a week in both yr6 and yr8 (last academic year) in pretty strict schools. I got the standard lecture in the reply but both weeks were authorised.

I wouldn't expect to get time off in Yr9 or above though.

I agree with other posters that you will need to re-think this as your dcs get older.

Without knowing a little more about the annual trip it's hard to say whether or not there might be another way of approaching it... like not requesting an authorised absence but requesting that your children be marked as 'educated off-site' for that time.

If it is a family 'jolly' that happens at the same time as a bigger event and is convenient because Great Uncle Wilf can get everyone a box or some such reason then I think the timing of this particular tradition may have to be reconsidered. Next year your eldest DC may have Y5 banding tests with SATs the year after etc. etc.

If there is some educational value to the trip then it might be worth asking for an alternative registration code to be recorded but you may have to accept that by removing your DCs from school in term-time it will probably be an unauthorised absence.

if this is something religious or cultural then you've got a reasonable chance i'd say.

are you american and go to the US for thanksgiving?

however, if you just 'go to the beach' on the third monday in may then i don't think you've got much of an argument really to comensate for the disruption of having a child out of the class missing stuff.

Doh! i've been waiting all day to find out what this 'trip' is!!! Don't tell me i'm going to have to wait until tomorrow now!? ;-))))

The Head of dd's school was rather when a parent insisted that her dcs had to have a week off school every May because that's when their timeshare in Majorca was for.

Hi, I am a KS2 Teacher and from my point of view taking kids out during term time is ok for a once off occurence (Not once a year, but once off.) I have had some truely once in a lifetime experiences granted that have added to children's lives. However these are few and far between, everyone else manages to fit their family lives into school holidays. I mean its not like you didnt know this would be a problem when you choose to have children. As a teacher i have resigned myself to that fact that i wil NEVER be able to have a cheap holiday or EVER go on a holiday that isn't crawling with families or kids.
It is so hard when children miss chunks of schooling as the national framework works on a cyclical structure which relies on children having the been present for the previous work which may have been 1 month, 3 months or even 6 months ago. It is impossible to predict the affects it will have on your child's ability to pick up new concepts.

In short holidays are for holidays and and school is for learning.

One-off, not once off
Truly, not truely
It's not like ..., not its not like
Didn't, not didnt
Chose to have children, not choose

Are you really a KS2 teacher LauraSmurf?

Bugger off tubsywubsy there's a dear, or should that be rudeywudey? Fast typing on the internet is not the same as teaching in a classroom. So take your corrections and shove them in your whatever!

I am indeed a teacher, a good one at that, not arrogance, confirmed by 5 seperate OFSTED's. I am not 'on duty' right now. But you do bring up the classic parent thing, that spelling is the be all and end all. It is something that teachers laugh at. It is such a minute part of teaching and learning at school. Thank you sparkle for the support and understanding. Proof to me that most parents are reasonable understanding people!

Hi all. Wanted to apologise for killing this thread. Also wanted to say sorry for being a bit prickly yesterday. Had a really bad day and spoke a little more forcefully than i intended. Many apologies. Hope you are all having a good day!

Sorry to hijack thread but I am that a KS2 teacher can be so dismissive of something as important as spelling.

The ability to spell and punctuate is the cornerstone of one's ability to communicate effectively in writing. You may have some amazing ideas, but if you cannot translate the ideas to a written medium effectively, then that's a huge detriment.

Spelling and punctuation errors (as opposed to typos) immediately make the writer stand out as 'not very clever' or 'not very well educated' - neither of which I want for my DC.

Anyway, back to the OP. I think YABU and maybe it's time to start a new tradition during the school holidays?

Hmm.

We ahve ahd a similar situation: a family readition we are heavily involved in (kids perform at a major cultural event as have all our family for a few generations now).
New head set on refusing leave for anything: one kids refused permission to take part in represnenting UK at a sporting event. teahcer advised us to call sick which we did but next year we've decided to do th upfront route, much better. We will go whatever, and actually it's the last eyar (being moved to a Saturday after that anyway).

talk to them.