Term Time Holiday

[Ahmawa]

So here is my situation.

Son attends a free school just started reception 2 weeks ago, he turns 5 this term.

We would like to go to the US for family reasons.

I would like to take my son out for about 2-3 weeks - is this possible or will the head say no? Will the council then issue a fine or a court summons?

I have no issue with paying a fine but I don't want to go to court. Has anyone been through this?

Your son is not yet of compulsory school age so you cannot be fined or summonsed for taking him out of school for a term time holiday. He will not reach compulsory school age until the start of term in January. The head may not like it but doesn't have any say in the matter in this situation. You can take your son regardless of whether or not the absence is authorised. Even if the absence is unauthorised, the school cannot remove your son from the register unless he is absent for at least 20 days.

That is brilliant news. Will I be able to confirm this with the council? Is that 20 school days absence so 4 weeks.

The school will not be able to authorise the absense and I would be cautious to be honest. Yes, your son is not yet school compulsory age but by enrolling him you have agreed to the school's rules. A month off school is an extremely long amount of time and may be flagged up for safeguarding reasons even if you are not fined or prosectued. You will also be seriously harming your son's learning. It will not go down well with the school or it's staff, and remember, your son is persumably going to be at this school for another six years.

3 weeks in one go is an awful lot to miss even in reception. Can you possibly link it in with a School holiday?

No need to confirm with the council. That is the law. The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 set out the circumstances in which a pupil can be taken off the roll.

Jamieson90 - At this stage some Reception pupils will be attending part time. Some won't join the school at all until later in the year even though they are on the roll (and will remain on the roll despite their continued absence) because the parents have chosen to defer entry. The school has no say in any of this. Until the child is of compulsory school age, the parents have the sole right to determine whether or not the child can attend school full time or even at all. It will not be flagged up for safeguarding reasons. It is not, in any way, a safeguarding issue. It will not seriously harm the OP's son's learning - no more than those children who won't be starting until January or after Easter. And if the school staff get upset about this, how do they feel about the parents who choose to send their child part time or defer entry?

Does it have any bearing that it is a Free School and this is the first year of its opening and the class is 18 kids? As far as I know there are no deferred entry.

Free schools have to follow the same rules as everyone else. They do have deferred entry. The Admissions Code is clear that parents can defer entry until the start of term following their child's fifth birthday and the school must hold their place open for them until the start of the summer term. The school has no choice. Some school's like to pretend otherwise (similarly with part time attendance) but they have to comply.

Legalities aside, that's a huge amount of time to miss at a time when friendships are being made and children are bonding. My kids would have hated to have so much time off the first term in reception. Is it really the right thing to do for your child, rather than the right thing for you?

Unless it's for a very serious reason, I would be careful about taking him out for this long in this particular year (and this from a parent that has no issues with taking term time holidays). As above, this is the time to adjust, bond, make friend, get used to things. I wouldn't be worried about the learning itself but about feeling excluded and missing out on so much time when the kids are forming connections. My son is also in receptions and I wouldn't think of this at this stage, not when they are just starting out.

I would also be concerned if this might have a negative effect on teachers perceptions of my son...