Term time holiday - really worried

[Nowanextraone]

Our daughter was due to start a local independent special school (for autistic children) this term, but sadly it closed down before she could start 😢 She's y6 BTW.

When she was accepted at the special school, we booked our summer holiday based on the fact her new school would end term earlier than her current school. I was quite happy it was cheaper 😬

Obviously now that's not happening and she'll be missing a week of school right near the end of year 6🙄

I've read Essex term time holidays and it's really scary saying they might not send a fine, they might just go straight to court where we could get a £2500 fine each and a prison sentence 🤯

She hasn't missed a day of school this year (so far).

What should I do? It would cost a fortune to change our holiday, but obviously I'd rather not go to prison for it

You are not going to go to prison for a week’s holiday.

Request authorised holiday formally of the school. Obviously I’m not sure how it works everywhere, but in our area you can have a certain amount.

In England holiday will not be authorised.

However given she is leaving the school and presumably going elsewhere it's unlikely you will be fined especially as when you booked it it was in the school holidays.

I am going to be taking mine out for a week and a half in year six. The fine is still
cheaper than we would pay if we kept them
in school and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity where we are going.

Are you worried at all about it going straight to court and getting a £2500 fine each instead? That's my main worry.

Should I maybe speak to the head?

@Nowanextraone , the court system and prisons would be overflowing if this was the case! Expect a fine of around £60 per day for the 5 days which equals 10 sessions. If you go over 10 sessions it becomes more serious.

Yeah they struggle to put rapists and murderers in prison, never mind a couple of parents jollying off to Spain. It's really more of a brutish tactic hoping to scare enough people that they won't take the kids out of school.

We had to move house a few years ago, ended up changing schools but holidays were different. I had to send proof of when I booked holiday along with proof of old schools holidays and it was authorised.

They won't take you to court. Believe me, people take holidays in term-time all the time - the polite ones ask for the time off, which the school usually cannot authorise (schools come under scrutiny if the authorise too much leave) but they know why people do it and quite often wish they actually could authorise.

Don't let it stop you from going though, if they can't authorise. I remember asking my child's headteacher for a Monday and Friday off, and she ticked 'unauthorised' on the form but put a sticky note on it saying "Have a nice break!".

Lots of parents don't even bother to ask - they just say their kids are sick. You would be surprised how many children get tummy bugs towards the start of the summer holidays. 😉 Lots are also ill after New Year.

But I think do what @Teacakesontheside did - you booked it in good faith when you expected to be at a different school with different holidays. Hopefully the new head will be understanding. But if not, go anyway and take the fine. It won't be court.

I'd explain to the head what happened

If they didn't authorise it I'd phone in sick anyway

Our school would authorise it though. Though they'd possibly hint at preferring you to phone in sick.

It's a very good state school and very multicultural, also with children with dual nationality and parents with jobs that involve a lot of travel so it's definitely something that comes up a lot. I know not all schools are so understanding though.

I think you should speak to the head. I definitely don’t think we will end up in court. Imagine they did that to every parent who took their child out of school in term time- they would be so overwhelmed by the amount of cases.