Need more mums eat advise re. Unauthorised absence.

[Lukethe3]

Ds1 just started reception. Dad is French and only speaks French at home to the children. Ds1 is quite shy about speaking French but improves very quickly when we are with the French family and friends.
I have asked for 1 day of leave next week as we have family over for the week and the reason I gave was so ds1 can talk French all day with his family. The request has been refused. Where do I go from here? I can understand where the head is coming from but I 100% think that it is better for ds to spend a day with the family than go to reception for a day.
Do I take him off anyway? Do I phone him in sick? Will I get a fine? Will it ruin my relationship with the head will my son suffer any consequences?
And in the future inevitably there will be other days when I will want him to have the odd day off for the same reason.
Bit confused about how to be a good parent to my son and to keep the school happy as well.

Thanks for the replies. I think I have the situation clearer in my head. It's just very frustrating from a selfish point of view because, as most parents do, I know what's best for my son and I know that it isn't spending a day playing in reception. But I also realise that schools have targets to meet and boxes to tick. Hopefully I'll talk to the head soon.

If your absence request has been turned down, I'd go for an honest chat with the Headteacher and be clear about your plans. Pretending to be sick is a silly idea. It will be obvious to the school and you are putting your child in a very difficult position. We had a child whose parents phoned in "sick" for a week and the child got to school and in circle time told all the other children about a super week in a holiday cottage. 4 year olds can't maintain adult secrets/lies.

Your head teacher is never going to approve this - it really isn't a pressing reason, just your opinion about your child. If HT made this call for every request, based on their judgement, it would be very unfair. There are guidelines for this reason, to make sure all request are dealt with consistently.

Having said this, take an unauthorised day. Nothing bad will happen, don't lie about sickness. Just don't send him in and send a note the following day to confirm Johnnie's absence on the previous day.

It's one day, not a week, month etc. Decide on the day what you're going to do.

Send a polite note to the HT along the lines of 'thanks for considering our request but I've decided it's in his best interests so I'm going to do it anyway and apologise for any inconvenience". Taking him out is absolutely the right thing to do imo.