School fine unjust?

[Mooster84]

Firstly if any teachers could help with this would be good, my partner works in a school and both my children went tonthe same school so we had no problems with holidays until this year, my oldest started at high school and hos holidays are completely different not just a few days but weeks, so primary were my youngest and partner are was 2 week in october 2023, the day he went back to school was the day my oldest broke up. He ended up having 9 days off school, i asked the headteacher and explained that as my partner works in a school he has to have school holidays no exception it is in his contract, so to be able to go on holiday i had to take him out, it wasnt cheaper as was school holidays in most of uk so wasnt to save money. She literally wrote back 3 words No Family Holidays, today i have received a fine.

So my question is, am i just going to have to pay a fine every year for the next 5 years as the holidays are also different this year. Any teachers had kids at different schools with different holidays?

Thank you

We've got the same this year.
Feb half term I'm decorating, then the kids are sitting at home while DH wfh.
Easter, I get a week alone, we will spend the next week together, then I think DH is looking at taking the kids away on his own.

Some of the holidays align. Use those to go on holiday, or split the trips if you have more flexibility with dates.

The fine is valid, imo.

So my question is, am i just going to have to pay a fine every year for the next 5 years as the holidays are also different this year

No. You have the option of going on holiday at a different time of year and not paying a fine. You still have 11 weeks available to you.

Thank you for the couple of normal people who responded in a kind courteous manner, we was only checking as my partner started job recently so we wasnt sure how holiday clashes work so thanks for the nice replies.

Amazing when people are behind their phones and Screens just how mean and horrible you can be, thanks for making me cry and feel like rubbish on a monday morning hope your all kinder in person to people. Keyboard warriors 😪

Annoying but a valid reason for a fine.

Taking him out for two weeks was pushing your luck really!

If you'd have only taken him out for 4 days you'd probably have got away with it.

It's worse when your children are in different schools and those holidays don't match so you have to take two weeks off to cover what would be a one week holiday and your not even going away can't have days out as you need to be back for 3.
You need to remember most people just don't have that much holiday so it's hard to see you have a problem.

Nobody is entitled to a holiday. You should have waited for a time when the days coincide.
You couldn't just take time out of work unauthorised without expecting consequences - why should school be any different.

cheer up , it's not worth crying and feeling rubbish over Mumsnet replies , just plan holidays accordingly now and everything will be okay Xx

Pay the fine for the next 5 years? Is October your only option? Can you not find a single time when the dates coincide, like the summer holidays?

It's incredible rude to refer to some posters as "normal people" and categorising others as "keyboard warriors" for not agreeing with you.

As for crying over some posters stating that you should be able able to find some common time and not to take your kid out for 9 days - that's not really a balanced response. And I'm not being snarky - but are you OK?

Why would you let strangers on the internet make you cry?

The fine is crappy but valid.

Its not the schools decision, its the LA. So yes you'll have to pay the fines, your husband probably should have checked this when he was job hunting

I take it your DH is not a teacher? But support staff of some kind. All school staff are expected to be at work when school is operational. The only exceptions I can think of might be some types of office or maintenance staff and only in big schools where there maybe more than one person doing the same job.
Does the secondary operate the 6 term pattern? It’s annoying but even without this I have found myself on different holidays to my Dd who go to school in the next county. If your child has more than the allowed days off you will be fined. Your situation is not unique or a good enough reason to allow in term holiday.

I take it your DH is not a teacher? But support staff of some kind. All school staff are expected to be at work when school is operational. The only exceptions I can think of might be some types of office or maintenance staff and only in big schools where there maybe more than one person doing the same job.
Does the secondary operate the 6 term pattern? It’s annoying but even without this I have found myself on different holidays to my Dd who go to school in the next county. If your child has more than the allowed days off you will be fined. Your situation is not unique or a good enough reason to allow in term holiday.

Although there are special circumstances that I think is unfair for a school to issue a penalty notice, I am not sure you are one of them. I think that there must be holidays (summer, Easter, Christmas) when you get sufficient days together to go away.Two weeks off school in a row is a big deal - what if your child then gets ill, misses another couple weeks, plus the regular colds/flu/stomach bugs - in no time your child will have missed 20% of their time in class. It really does matter, in terms of their results but also their routine in the school.