How to go about unauthorised absence

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I'm taking the DC's to visit my parents a 3 hour flight away this summer, they will miss the last two days of school.

Is it best to be polite about it, request absence, have it denied and tell them we're going anyway.

Or do I do nothing and just tell the schools they're off sick?

What would you do?

They won't believe you're off sick. Be honest. Hopefully they will also be honest and admit they're not doing any learning on those days and not chase it up. (Your kids might be sad to miss out on fun end of term stuff though!) Most places won't fine for less than 5 days anyway, assuming their attendance otherwise is good?

I don't condone lying but if it saves you a fine , they are sick.

Be honest. Take the fine if you have to. It's worse if you call in sick and then they check up and you're not there.

Give them as much to work with as possible. Is there a special event or reason that you need to be in the country with your parents on X date? If not could you be creative? Such as a family reunion where you could get them to make you an invite or program of events with the earlier date on it?

I wrote a polite letter explaining my sisters getting married abroad & we were all going. I explained that I understood their policy & am aware of the repercussions. But I'm still going so thought I'd just let the head know that I'm fully aware about what could happen. Still waiting to hear back. I know there have been parents fined st my children's school though so I've kind of fractured in the fine to pay. Goodluck OP

Ultimately though if your children have otherwise excellent attendance then you could contest and fine.

*any fine

My kids have missed 2 days school this year, 1 day to go to Lapland (once in a lifetime type trip) 1 day for my Brothers wedding. Told school both times both times they said it would have to go down as unauthorised. Never been contacted about a fine and as their attendance has been 100% apart from these occasions I don't think I will be. If your kids generally have good attendance I think you will avoid the fine but honesty is the best policy.

Please be honest, I can speak from experience as a primary headteacher that when parents don't tell the truth their children will invariably have excitedly told their teachers about their impending holiday. Of course it is not appropriate to swear young children to secrecy, and it doesn't usually work anyway. This has happened at my school a number of times and it leads to a lack of trust between school and parents. As long as attendance is generally very good (95% or above) the school cannot authorise but are unlikely to fine.

My ds took days off end of school year, due to illness. (genuine)
The last day of school, one of TA turned up to bring his books, get well soon cards,etc.
I'll be honest.

Please be honest. It is not fair on your children to expect them to keep a holiday secret or not to know when their last day is. My local authority only issues fines for 5 consecutive days unauthorised absence anyway.

Schools know when you are lying. It was amazing how many children were sick on the Thursday night before the last half term!!!!! When we checked with our partner junior school, surprise surprise the siblings had also been sick! It really damages the trust between the school and parents when you do this.

Write a letter to the head and request the time off.

Speaking from recent experience I wrote a very honest letter to head and came back from holiday to a letter saying that ds absence had been authorised!

On a separate note, I met a family on holiday, she was volunteering at her dc school and rang up on the Monday saying they had vomiting and diarrhoea. Head rang her back to ask if all ok ( 3 dc ) and was met with the foreign ring tone you get when ringing a mobile abroad and woman had to admit she had lied and the dc were in turkey.
Head told her not to bother coming back to volunteer as there were clearly trust issues, best to be honest :)

I would be honest. The school will probably be fine with it and there is this fear of being caught out. They probably won't be able to authorise but unlikely to take further for 2 days. My children have just missed 2 weeks from school - which was very much a one off event. Both schools (reception and year 9) were totally supportive but were unable to authorise.

I'd be honest, they may authorise anyway, and if attendance is good and there haven't been other unauthorised absences then you won't be fined.

Schools are very good at sussing when illness is actually a holiday, I've had two this week that said illness but had international dial tone when I phoned back.