Would we get this day off authorised, what do you think?

[TwistedMelon]

DS is 11 and in Y6. We have just been told that some surprise celebrations have been arranged for a family member (a close family member) who is 70 in a few weeks. There is to be a meal on a friday evening and a day out on the saturday, with as much of the extended family as possible gathered. Many of the family live in the same city and those who don't are fairly nearby and also childfree, so not a problem for most of them to get there! Some other relatives who live abroad are flying over - DS has only met them twice, both times at funerals. They will be staying arriving thursday and leaving sunday morning. The city this will all take place in is 4 hours away from us, plus another hour getting across the city to the area they live in.

I want to take DS down to London for the weekend, leaving friday morning. The family that are flying over are rarely in the country and I want DS to get to meet them under better circumstances than at a funeral! So am planning to ask the head if she will authorise the day off - but, is this likely? Or would I be better off saying nothing and calling him in sick that day? The weekend in question is right before SATs week so worrying that this will affect head's decision...

If your DS was in my Y6 class I'd suggest that you collect him at 12pm i.e. after maths and Literacy lessons but before we do guided reading. That way he won't need to worry about having missed something crucial (not that I'm suddenly going to reveal a vital piece of information that I've so far held back!) and can enjoy his family weekend.

Taking the whole Friday off would be a pain, not so much because we'll be going through test papers but because 11-year-olds can worry about things and, no matter how many times I tell them that the tests are more about judging the school than there are about the children, there are always some that will fret. It would be a shame for a child who has worked hard all year to worry that he was going to get into trouble/get his parents into trouble/disappoint his teacher/miss out on secret information etc. by taking the day off.

Speak to your DS about the timetable in his class on a Friday before approaching the headteacher. That way you can explain that you've planned the travel so as to avoid missing maths and Literacy (assuming those subjects are taught in the morning) and that you will do some extra grammar/spelling/whatever DS needs to work on during the train journey. Chances are, the afternoon absence won't be authorised but the headteacher will probably appreciate your DS not being out for the full day.

Oh, and please let his teacher know ASAP - I find it incredibly frustrating when the first I know about a child being collected early from class/having a pre-arranged absence, is when a member of the office staff appears in the classroom to collect them. I'm not a fan of setting extra work but will always make an effort to dig out some bits and pieces for children who want to take something with them.

Check the School's "Absence Policy and Procedures". I needed to stay with family members after a small operation and we didn't get into trouble after three days of absence just before the end of term. I had to call the Absence line every day though... updating them about the situation. At my DS's school fines are applied ONLY after the child's attendance falls within the YELLOW ZONE=85%-94.9% ="Cause of Concern" (At risk zone). If your child has NEVER taken days-off from school education and if he won't be missing any Tests I don't think this will be 'the end of the world'. Make sure your child will be able to complete all the class-work tasks the children had to complete in your child's absence by asking the teachers for the class hand-outs and tasks. Good luck.

Since you can't afford to chance it, OP, I think you have no choice but to ring him in sick.

"Being off means your child misses work. It also means the teacher has to spend more time with them at a later date catching up"

Does that really happen, especially in primary? Could any teachers please comment?

When/where i grew up it was normal for every kid to have some time off in term time for holidays (up to a week typically) I never had special tuition to catch up; I wasn't aware of anyone else receiving it.

I've never heard of extra tuition for time off due to illness, either, except long term chronic type illness that goes on for months. DS has a mate who missed most of yr8 due to glandular fever & I think his extra tuition from school was extremely minimal, too.

ps: when we've taken DC out for 2-3 weeks before, to go abroad, no teacher has set any work, they haven't had any catchup sessions. I've even asked for possible work & had the DC keep diaries of activity (including writing activity/appropriate for age). Their teachers had zero interest in any of it. This time we have AA from the primary school for 2 DC, but I expect their teachers will also set no work even if we ask.

As a teacher, yes I need to spend one-to-one time with a child that has missed the prior learning that they missed so they can access the current session's learning. It takes place during a lesson so other children miss out on my attention. Hopefully it doesn't take too long!

HolidayCriminal, you say you've asked for work in the past, but as a teacher why should I provide work for you to take away on holiday to catch up with the missed learning? It is not just bunging them a few worksheets! There is no guarantee exactly what I'll be teaching while you are away as my teaching is reactive depending on how the children have achieved in the previous day's session. Creating lesson plans and resources for you to take away takes up lots of time and needs enough detail for you to understand my learning objectives and to avoid misconceptions so it takes far longer than lessons I'm actually going to teach myself. So although it is annoying having spend time catching the individual child up it is better use of my time to do it than be expected to provide all the work to do at home /on holiday.

Our school's policy is that if parents are so concerned that they are asking for work they shouldn't be taking them out of school for a term-time holiday!

Our H/T has given really useful guidelines about what they can and can't authorise:

www.prestonhedges.northants.sch.uk/general/absence/

You also mention catch up sessions - when would any teacher have time to run a session? Time in main lessons, as I mentioned in my previous post, yes. Maybe a few minutes before a child goes to lunch, if I'm not on lunch duty, but full sessions - just not possible.

I'd ask for the day off and make it clear I'd take the day off regardless of the answer. I've taken my DS out of school in term time 4 times in his whole primary career, once for 2 days and twice for 1 day. I think there are events that are more important than school attendance , examples are illnesses, meeting relatives who live overseas or a long way away, weddings, there are probably lots more. I did get the 2 single days authorised, but not the 2 day break.

I realise how ad hoc last minute lesson planning is (Am not saying that at all critically, I'm very impressed by how well teachers improvise.)

I thought it was very weird when HT in letter giving AA suggested that teachers would give work during the time away. So I won't push it, I didn't think that idea would work, either.

Don't want to hijack OP's thread, I've plenty of ideas how to fill the time for DC in educational ways :).

The circumstances for the OP are somewhat complicated by the timing; her DS is in Y6, the day she wants him to be absent is the final teaching day before the KS2 tests. There will be no opportunity for any catching up before the tests start on Monday!

I do have to find time for children to catch up with learning they've missed when absent; unless it's the last day of term and it's a 'tying up loose ends' sort of a day, if it's not necessary for them to catch up then it suggests that I'm not pitching my lessons at the right level I may have been vocal about this when my own child had a day of authorised absence for a faraway dance exam but teacher said DD would catch up so didn't take me up on my offer to cover whatever she would miss. DD caught up within lesson next day without input and teacher emailed me to tell me . As TheGruffalo2 mentioned, more often than not, helping a child catch up with missed learning means less input for the rest of the class.

The timing of the OP's requested day off is the issue here.

I think many of the responses in the thread are being over dramatic and holier-than-thou just for the sake of it.

I would just call in sick. As long as you're not a repeat offender, and your son isn't lagging way behind at school it's not really a huge deal.