Can I take ds out of school for the pm and if so how

[whattodo56]

Name changed for this as appreciate its controversial. Ds is in reception but over 5.

I have an important family event coming up which I want to attend but family is a 5 hour drive away. I would like to take ds out of school early to get to the event on the Friday night. If we leave after school we will probably miss the event or be very very late. I don't think school will approve if I request it as it's not really exceptional circumstances and I don't really want to lie or put ds in that position. I thought I could say he had an appointment but they will require evidence ...which I don't have.

What would you do?

A few people in DD's class have done this on occasion (train trip up north for example) - have just mentioned it to class teacher and they've been picked up at some point after afternoon registration.

I took mine out of school on Monday because we had been in London for the Marathon and had got back very late.
I told the truth and the head agreed to authorise it

Head might be unable to aithorise it, but just either take the child after registration or keep them off all day if you prefer. Just be honest about it.

Teachers are not stupid and usually know when a child is lying. You should not encourage your child to lie to teachers anyway. (I'm a teacher btw and I would just ask child if they had nice time when they got back).

We did this last yr when my son was in Y1, it was a family occasion and if we'd left after school, Friday traffic would have meant getting there really late. The school actually suggested to me taking him out at 1.05 so he had been registered. Teachers honestly won't care at all, it's just the attendance thing that makes schools get twitchy.

Just be honest. At worst, it isn't authorised but it is only an afternoon so unless they've had lots of other unauthorised days off, there won't be any comeback.

You can't be fined for missing an afternoon.
Just let them know that you will be picking him up after afternoon registration. There will be no problem.

Put in a written request for exceptional leave, with the info of the family event. You can get template letters for it online. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t grant it. Lying is not the way to go with this. If his attendance is generally good, they shouldn’t have an issue with this. In fact I’ve requested half a day absense on fri for a very similar thing (ferry to catch for a trip over weekend) and have had the permissions back within a few days all granted.

We were in similar situation, had a wedding (ceremony was at 1730pm). School was allowing us to take our dc out early bit would be classed as unauthorised. However, teacher said if i picked up dc after pm registration dc wouldn't be marked as off so we picked up dc at 1315. I will need to do this again in autumn as we have to be at the airport at 1730 to check in . We always go on holiday when schools are off.

I've done this before for a camping trip. The school didn't mind as long as it was after registration. They just muck around on Friday afternoons anyway.

Do not lie, because Monday morning the teacher will say 'did anyone get up to anything exciting over the weekend?' and DS will tell everyone where he went. It happens a lot. Just tell the teacher you are picking him up at whatever time, they may tell you it will go down as unauthorised but won't tell you you can't pick him up and won't try to fine you for one afternoon unless his attendance is bad.