Absence during term time

[tamzin12]

I have just received a fine for taking my child out of school for 6 days during term time ( last week of school). I am a travel agent and dont believe fines should be given if parents dont take the mickey. My child has a 98 % attendence and has just acheived level 5 to go to high school in Sept. I have done a bit of research and it seems East Sussex Coounty council have no lee way and just fine - and dont give the 10 days absence as most of the other councils seem to do in the rest of the country. I did not sign the offical form or hand one in. I just gave in a typed letter stating family commentements. Is this fine legal. as I have not signed anything in the first place.? I would be grateful of some comments, and whether to take this further and refuse to pay- as per my comments above. thanks

ByTheWay1. It sounds like a great holiday, but you've given no reason why it had to take place during a school term?

'we never make any pretence about "cultural" education when away, but it is very simplistic to say it does not happen.'

It's a matter of numbers. For every child squeaking 'Hola' at an enchanted grannie, there are two dozen who can't tell you anything about Spain other than it was hot.
We do cultural education on holiday, because that's what my children are interested in, although they have very different interests. But to pretend that is the norm, or even a significant number of holidays is simplistic.

Ahh - the Florida one had to take place in a school term since hubby was away for 9 months with the forces and gets limited leave even when home

ok theoretically we should take the hit and not have holidays together unless magic happens and his leave coincides with school hols, but the school said yes so we tagged a week on to October half term, same weeks as my family in Scotland got anyhow - and made a big trip of it - so not much cheaper than during holiday time anyhow.

( The Disney Paris one we were lucky, he was home and had leave in May half term...)

Our school won't authorise but they won't fine. HT thinks it is madness not being able to authorise as we are a community made up of farming, tourism and armed forces.

ByTheWay forces leave would count as very compelling reason IMO - I would be asking the school to explain to my DC why it was that they were never ever allowed to have a holiday with Daddy as well as Mummy coming along. There's improving attendance, and then there's heartlessness.

ByTheWay1 - I have seen many people holiday abroad and the limit of their cultural exploration, beyond the boundary of their hotel, is finding the nearest British cafe/ McDonalds. So no, it is not simplistic to suggest that, for some people, there is no cultural exploration or learning/mastering of a foreign language.

I speak from experience - I am half Greek Cypriot and I know people who have visited Cyprus many, many times and they haven't ventured off the tourist tracks, but they and their kids can say Yiasou, parakalo or efharisto - but that does not mean they've explored the Greek Cypriot culture or immersed themselves in the Greek language! Just because you, myself and others explore the local culture, language and go off the 'beaten track' on holiday, doesn't mean it is necessarily the norm...

I also think that, as your DH is serving in the forces, it would be a very mean HT that refused to authorise your holidays.

Fallen - I think that would be a very interesting exercise. One of DD's friends has just come back from Greece and, when I asked her what she did, she said 'We went to the waterpark, and had Pizza Hut and McDonalds!'

The latest Government documents on the Military Covenant explicitly encourage heads to grant authorised leave to Forces children, especially after a parent returns from an operational tour. So any heads refusing would not only be mean, they would also be departing from Govt-mandated best practice.

fallen, your last post sort of proves my point about the 'tar with the same brush' policy. I actually find it quite contemptuous that the government look at the stats suggesting that some children are missing too much school and decide that the way to address it is to ban all term time holidays. Do they really think that will stop what, at the school I teach in we call, EOM (every other Monday) syndrome?
What the government need to do is to stop fannying around and come out and say, 'some parents are crap and allowing their children to miss too much school.' We need a system where these parents cannot just keep their kids at home once or twice a week and bring them in when they get out of bed at 10.30 on the other mornings. That is unacceptable and yet can go on for a year at least before anything is really done about it and even then it's not much. Yet the parent whose child attends faithfully the rest of the year yet misses the last week of term to go on a family holiday is instantly fined...

How is this allowed to happen? Until the government stop basing education policy on the lowest common denominator then I will continue to opt for the private sector.