Need advise about school fine on term time holiday

[Sarahpennoxx]

Hi just wondering if I can have any advise I have a little boy who's just turned 5 due to go into year 1, I am going on holiday in August and won't be back till the 7th of September, this holiday was booked as a surprise and I had no input in the dates. My son is due to start year 1 on the 3rd of September meaning he will miss 4 days but the 2nd of September is a inset day so ino this will be classed as 5 days an I could get fined. Its my first time doing this but I just wanted the best way to go about it and any advise, I was going to ring the school tomorrow to let them know as I don't want them thinking he just hasn't turned up, but not really sure what to do and say. If anyone could advise me on this that's would be great thanks.

I think most of the hyperbole is coming from the posters saying the child will never have any friends because he is missing the first 4 days of year 1.

oh i missed that

will go back and try to find!

Phone the school, just tell them you are going on holiday and the date he will be back. You don't need to say any more or try to make excuses (such as blaming someone else for booking the dates, you are choosing to go, they don't care about the rest).

If you get fined pay the fine.

Don't lie or ask the child to lie about being ill.

i presume you’re referring to this one?

whilst i disagree with the “new boy for months”

i do agree that he will very much feel like an outsider and groups will have been established (ebb and flow and will still be tricky for him)

They are a group he has already been with throughout Reception and the OP says he also has established friendships with those same children outside of school. They are not a new group of children.

If anything there'll be a little excitement at his return and then everyone completely forgetting he went!

Enjoy the holiday!

‘littlery’

sounds like your son will need the education more than the trip to Egypt

I have emailed the school and told them he won't be in the first 4 days. The school our grateful I've told them and fine with it, I am also not gettin fined. Thank you for the people who genuinely comment advice and well wishes. My son will be completely fine as for the 100th time he knows everyone in his class inside and OUTSIDE of school. Next time keep your unwarranted parent advise and insults to yourself. Have a gorgeous day (sorry if my spelling an punctuation isn't up to people's standards 😒😂) my son will be in school as he always is on time for the rest of the year. Many thanks.

We (governors) have just signed off the new absence policy and a chunk has been lifted from DfE, so it may well be national - it says if they miss ten sessions (half days) in ten weeks they would meet the threshold for a fine. You should be fine as you'd be on eight, but be careful about the ten weeks that follow, that said I think illness is a different type of absence anyway, so no weddings in term time etc.

Yes, this is a concise version of the DfE Guidance from September 2024 that a school has produced and shared. Absence does include INSET days too.

How would they know that you’re away on an inset day though, unless it falls in the middle of a longer holiday period?
The first 3 days of our Autumn term are inset days this year. If we went away on those days, the school would have no clue.

Ah ok I’ve just read and it says ‘where there is intent to be absent for term time leave’. In general though I’m not sure how they could prove this. In the OP’s situation, they will not know which day she has taken them on holiday.

It's a nice thought but I wouldn't let my son miss the first few days of school. It's where they get used to their new classroom, teachers, procedures, subjects, where they sit and put their things etc. They're often really nice days, and not ones to miss.

I'm not against missing school for holidays generally, depending on circumstances, but the beginning and end of year, or the end of Christmas term, nope.

Even if it was the only holiday you were going to get all year and it was a gift from your generous father?

you sound like you really need a holiday

You won't get fined as 4 days so 8 sessions

It's 5 days or 10 sessions you get fined at

I have no idea why they’re suddenly including inset days or how they’ll police that. It’s ridiculous to say they’re school days because if you tried to drop your kid at school on that day they’d turn you away!! There has never been any expectation that primary age children do any school work on those days and most people use them for a term time jolly!! Bizarre guidance.

Bizarre guidance

Written by the Department for Education, under the previous Conservative Gov.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f1b048133c22b8eecd38f7/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance__applies_from_19_August_2024_.pdf

Oh I know. It wasn’t a criticism of the poster, a criticism of the policy! I’ve booked to go away and get back the day before term starts, which is an inset day. Does this now count as an absence?!? Even though no one is in school?

Well no, obviously not, because how would they even know? Come on, apply some common sense. It’s very clearly to stop people using the 5 day rule and an inset day as a loop hole to take a week off

It’s not me who needs to apply common sense, it’s the policy writers. As you say, how would they know? How can they fine a child for being on holiday on a day they’re not required in school?! I can’t see how it closes a loop hole at all. If 5 days missed is the threshold for a fine, it should be 5 days missed that triggers the fine, not 4 days and a day no one is required to be in.

oh dear

i think you need to read the guidance

Inset training days are school days and can be included in the 5 or more consecutive days where there was intent to be absent for term time leave.

@modgepodge

and you are a…. teacher??!

Yes, though in a school which won’t have to apply this policy. I haven’t read the 90 page guidance. I’ll admit I missed that the inset day ‘absence’ had to be consecutive to the absence go count as an absence.

Have I now understood this correctly?

Being on holiday during school holidays, including an inset day at the start of term (no days of school missed): no fine, obviously.

Being on holiday for the first 4 days of term only, missing 4 days of school: no fine.

Being on holiday for the first 4 days of term, and the day before that, designated an inset day, so missing 4 days of school: fine issued.