Unauthorised absences and academies!

[StarlightMcKenzie]

Does anyone know what sanctions acadamies can use if a parent insists on taking their children out during term time?

If oversubscribed, can the child legally have their place removed?

Yes, around 20 parents a year are jailed. But it is usually the culmination of a very long process where the parent has been refusing to work with the school and the education welfare officer in getting the child to school. You are not going to be sent to jail for pulling your child out of school for an unauthorised holiday.

I will pm you their attendance policy (many things on their website seem heavy-handed tbh)

Thank you Hans.

Is there any route of appeal for unauthorised absences and fines for parents?

There is no appeal against the fine. The school should take back the penalty notice if it was issued incorrectly (e.g. your child was in school on the relevant date or it has been issued to the wrong person) but that is all. In theory you could go to judicial review but that would be expensive and very unlikely to succeed.

Okay. So there is no system for establishing whether the absence was 'reasonable'? It is completely down to the prejudices of the HT or otherwise?

The school's attendance policy should give an indication of what constitutes a reasonable absence in the eyes of the school. Within those criteria it is up to the headteacher to decide what s/he views as reasonable. Term time holiday is almost never viewed as reasonable unless there are major extenuating circumstances. The governing body makes the policy (usually adapting a model policy from the local authority) and the presumption is that in term time a child should be in school in the absence of a very good reason not to be.
What is the issue? Are you contemplating taking your children out of school for a holiday and worried about the fall out? If you have a good case for it you should go and talk to the headteacher and make the request in person and see if they will authorise it.

No, not for a holiday exactly. It is to travel every year to the states for my Ds to attend therapy for his ASD. The summer course I want him to do overlaps a bit with uk terms. Additionally his OT recommends a theme park trip at the end of each term to help him come down, but we can't do it in the hols because it is too busy for him to cope. Technically other kids don't have to come then, but that means they'll never be able to go.

Do you think the school is likely to cut up rough over it? I should have thought most schools were likely to be sympathetic to a request like that.

Also Ds is in a special school and his holidays aren't always the same as the state school for the other two.

I don't know. I live in a crazy competitive area with scary head teachers who say frequently and loudly 'I NEVER authorise absences'.

I suppose I wanted to be informed of the various ways this could go. I doubt the OT will put theme park attendance recommendation in writing and don't suppose we'll get professional endorsement for trip to states either.