Do i need to ask permission to take my 4 yo out of school for holiday?

[gemmiegoatlegs]

My dd is in reception, not 5 til summer hols. We are planning on missing the last 2 days of the school year to go on hols as dh can't get any of the other holidays off work. Obv I am planning on being polite and letting the=m know, but am I legally obliged to send her to school - could the LEA fine us?

my ds is in reception and we are required to fill in holiday form not sure about legalities but you'll be giving them plenty of notice

I think you are completely within your legal rights to do this as your DC is not if school starting age.

I imagine the school may want to flex some muscle in getting you to 'get official permission' and you'll get some bollox about the critical importance of full attendance at school (as long as it's not an inset day/snow/boiler broke etc... in which case it's FINE for the DC not to be at school!) but the reality is many schools seem to do nothing but play for the last 2 weeks of most terms, esp autumn and summer!

I'd write a polite letter stating that you will be taking DD out then, and see what happens.

At our school you just have to see the school secretary and ask for a holiday form. I think that generally speaking, so long as attendance is usually good, there is no problem as long as it's not for longer than 2 weeks.

We're also planning to do this and dd will just have turned 5. I'm just assuming it will be OK if I send a letter explaining. We ARE going though - and that's that. If they are inclined to fine me, I will drag the argument out so far and so long they will wish they had never bothered

Most schools won't like it but probably won't force the point seeing as your child is not yet 5 yrs old.

Our 4 yr old DS just missed the first week of term (in reception) because we were away. I informed his teacher verbally and put it in writing to her and the headteacher. His teacher told me (a bit sniffily) that the school 'didn't like term time absences' but that the Headteacher would overlook it this time snd give her permission. We'd already booked the trip and were going regardless, but I just gritted my teeth and flashed a fake smile.

TBH I can't imagine the school making a fuss about this for any child on the last two days of the school year!

It's not as if pupils of any age would be missing anything crucial at that time of year! (Unless playing games, watching DVDs and tidying up could be deemed as crucial!)

By law, children have to be in full-time education by the start of the term following their fifth birthday.

Headteachers have discretion to grant 10 days authorised absence for a main family holiday - and it is head's discretion, not an automatic right although it's often widely seen as a right. In practice most heads do agree and I can't imagine that you'll have a problem.

If I were you I would get a request form and then wait for it to be authorised, which it almost certainly will be, rather than just write in telling them, as this can get the backs up of school staff. If it is refused and you go anyway it will be coded as 'unauthorised absence' but for 2 days no-one will bat an eyelid, councils employ education welfare officers to deal with unauthorised absence but they concentrate on kids who have missed weeks/months of school.

Have a good holiday

Just make sure you're not under Essex LEA, as they have gone all draconian and allow NO term-time holidays now, and rather enjoy fining the parents who take their children anyway...(My friend had this last summer with her August born DD, took her out for the last 3 days as she wasn't statutory school age, had sent a letter to HT, promptly came back from holiday to find a £100 fine on her doormat!)

Well no-one can tell you that you can't take yiour DC out ,it's a case of whether they record it as authorised or unauthorised.
Your child is not of statutory school age so legally she doesn't have to be there and so of course they can't fine you.

We are taking DD 7- out for 3 days at end of this term for flights we booked ages ago when living abroad on different school holiday dates. I wrote to the head and then got a form to fill out. Don't think you will get a fine if you go throught the proper channels. IMO they don't do much on the last couple of days anyway- DH and I both teachers!!