Unauthorised absence from primary school

[Hoofhearted69]

I know that generally speaking it's frowned upon to take your kids out of school, however I am taking my two boys home to NZ as my mum has been very poorly and is in her 80s. They are y4 and y6. We had planned to go next august so we could take the boys skiing and have a winter holiday, but have decided to go now, have flights booked today to depart end of November. This will mean my boys will miss 15 days of school and I'm worried about them losing their place and of course falling behind, although am happy to regularly email their work to their teachers, continue to read with them etc. has anyone else had similar experience and are we likely to be penalised...it's now a done deal so will have to take what comes but I want my boys to see their nana one last time (not been home for 4 years).

mrz I can't access ds's school website to cut and paste this term's curriculum statement. I know from that what he will be covering in each subject. I appreciate that the class may not complete this term's curriculum but surely the teacher must have some idea about the subject matter they intend to teach?

Of course a teacher knows the curriculum content but that doesn't mean that they know exactly what they will be teaching in each subject every day. Sometimes new concepts take much longer to teach or children may grasp things quickly and are ready to move on earlier than expected and a teacher needs to respond appropriately.
It definitely isn't anything to do with some children not knowing times tables or fractions. It's about teaching rather than curriculum by numbers.

You are right to take your DCs to see your mum and don't ever doubt that OP. I hope your school shows some compassion and common sense and I hope they do not cause you any further stress.

I believe most teachers have a general plan for each subject and should at be able to say 'over the next few weeks I plan to cover x,y,z'. If they are not willing to supply work for your trip you can buy some workbooks to use on the trip. Time spent with you each day one to one might actually be very beneficial.

One of my parents lives in NZ. I once took my DCs out of school to visit them (2 weeks, one each side of a 1/2 term). I am a teacher (although I was not when we went to NZ last).

I would not hesitate to do what you are doing OP if I was in your position.

If your DCs were in my class I would support you fully. I couldn't set precise work, for reason that others have explained, but I could easily let you know that we were planning to cover diary writing / instructions / apostrophes and speech marks (or whatever!) in Literacy, while telling the time then looking at 3D shapes in maths.

Seeing dying or very ill mum/gran, possibly for the ladt time

OR

Missing three weeks of school and risking cheesing head/teacher off....hmmm, now, let me see.....

Course yoy should go but be preparedcfor the riskbof fines if the leave's unauthorised :(

It would be a very hard hearted head or LEA who imposed a fine under the circumstances

Exactly Ihatespiders I am sure that is all OP needs just a general guide not a detailed daily lesson plan.

It would... don't think it is likely at all. Imagine the papers....

Go just go.
Children would be doing an hr of literacy a day, ok take books and tell them to read for an hr a day,
They would be doing an hr of numeracy a day, so get some math books or subscribe to an on line math thing, I believe there are some.
Ask what the projects will be, Romans, Vikings, plants whatever, give the children access to a liberty and google.
Don't see the problem.
Just course the teacher will not know the lesson plan tell 2 days before will not effect you children, they will not be on par with class anyway.
So they will have slightly different gaps in there knowledge compared to the class. But I bet the class will not all remember the same stuff anyway.

On a more positive note, we have had to book a similar trip missing 15 days in December and our head has authorised the absence, she spoke to the education Welfare Officer, the council, the teachers involved and they have no problem with it. We have work to do whilst we are away and have been asked to keep a journal. The school have put in place a system to send/receive video messages between DD and her class.

I can't believe any compassionate person would think 15 days of school for a 10 and 8 year old is more important than them being able to see their grandmother before she dies, and their mum being able to see her mum. It saddens me to think we live in a society that could even question that. Go, do what you can to make sure the kids don't miss anything essential, but more importantly make the most of your time with your mum.

Wow, Good news from Blueberry!! :)

In my experience there's relatively little academic to miss in December (yes I have had DC out for the whole of December in past, also have family on other side of the world).

DC going to miss most of May 2014 for very similar reasons (my 89yo grandmother). I've been planning this since last trip (4 yrs ago, we can't afford to go more often & I won't have DC out of GCSE yrs again until 2026). I had to plan far ahead to find a yr with minimal disruption to all 4 DC ed.

In my experience, no matter what work you take the school will take no interest in checking up on you. So do what you think is appropriate & will keep them ticking over. Scrapbooks good for little ones.