Likelihood of pupil being given leave?

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Anybody know the likelihood of a student aged 12 being allowed a couple of days leave for attend a family wedding? I assume there is specific legislation concerning this? I don't have school age kids so I don't know how it all works. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me.

No, there is no specific legislation. The head can give leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. A family wedding is generally not classed as an exceptional circumstance. However, it is at the head's discretion. There may be some heads who would allow this. But if you are planning a wedding and want a 12-year old to attend, it is best to avoid dates that would require them to take days off school.

Having said that, if the 12-year old's attendance is otherwise good it is unlikely the parents would be fined. However, if it is unauthorised it may result in a fine and it would certainly increase the likelihood of a fine if the child has any further absences.

I think it depends on the school. Make feelers with the other parents.

Ds's school doesn't allow time off for anything, so you just lie and say that they're ill. It's less of a problem when they're older as you can explain why you're lying and tell them not to say anything.

Its absolutely ridiculous and just makes parents less supportive of the school

Our local authority categorically state that authorised leave would only be given in exceptional circumstances - bereavement and critical illness. Weddings don't count.

Our local authority categorically state that authorised leave would only be given in exceptional circumstances - bereavement and critical illness. Weddings don't count

So are you actually telling me that schools genuinely expect people To skip family weddings because absence has not been authorised? As much as I agree that children should be in school as much as they possibly can, this seems ridiculous!

But going back to the OP’s question - would it be authorised?: I would not expect it to be, to be honest. A close family member won’t care because they will want to be there, and the school is likely to turn a blind eye to a child with otherwise good attendance going unauthorised for a day or two.
But depending on your relationship with the child’s family and the parents’ attitude to missing school, asking them to miss school might put them in a difficult position.

"So are you actually telling me that schools genuinely expect people To skip family weddings because absence has not been authorised?"

Realistically no. I expect they would go anyway, but the absence just wouldn't be authorised.

My DD's school gave one day's authorised leave to attend my dad's funeral, the fact that he lived abroad and therefore she had to be away for 3 days was not not taken into account and therefore the other 2 days were unauthorized. I get it, but their stance didn't help a horrible situation at the time.

Thanks for taking time to respond You've all been very helpful.

If you're planning your wedding and have close family with school aged children you are putting them in an akward position if you choose a school day although I expect it will be cheaper for you, it's annoying for most people to have to take a day off work for a wedding!

I agree with Sittinonthefloor. Surely anyone who reads the news knows how difficult it is to take children out of school these days?

So are you actually telling me that schools genuinely expect people To skip family weddings because absence has not been authorised

No, they expect people to organise family weddings so that children don't have to take days off school, thereby disrupting both their own education and that of the other pupils in their class.

My daughter was given the afternoon of so we could attend my brother's wedding. She does have a good attendance record. This was a couple of years ago when she was in year 8. The teacher who emailed was fine about it.

Inchyragirl

So are you actually telling me that schools genuinely expect people To skip family weddings because absence has not been authorised?

It is a myth that schools do not allow people to go to weddings, funerals, holidays etc.

Schools have no power to stop people from doing those things, but they are not allowed to authorise the leave.

I think it depends on the school/council. It's a complete postcode lottery. Our school/council for example does not give fines for holidays. I do know they put holidays through as unautherised and funerals as autherised though. So maybe to be sure there could be a family bereavement around that time?

Depends where they are. We dint have the same rules in Wales, for example.

"It is a myth that schools do not allow people to go to weddings, funerals, holidays etc.
Schools have no power to stop people from doing those things, but they are not allowed to authorise the leave"

This^^

It's up to the HT to decide, the LA doesn't make the decision. You can take your child out if you want to. The absence will be authorised or unauthorised. If your child has otherwise good attendance it shouldn't be an issue either way. If your child already has some unauthorised absences then you could be fined by the LA or sent a penalty notice warning, where the attendance is monitored for a period of time.

My dd has been given an authorised day off for my wedding to her stepfather. I wrote to her ht and she agreed. She's primary aged.

Tbh I was surprised approval was given.

@Sittinonthefloor it's not actually my wedding. It's a member of my family. But I really enjoyed your snarky reply. That strike through! Ouch.

@LoniceraJaponica as I said I don't have school age children hence I asked this question.

Depends on the school and depends on how close the relationship is. Also how good the student's attendance record is.

For example, my children were granted three days authorised absence to attend their grandmother's funeral, due to the distance involved and the fact that I was organising the funeral. Clearly based on this thread other schools would not have granted this.

Weddings that are on days that require people to take multiple days off work and school are, however, a pain for lots of people. Not just school children.

Does approval depend on how good attendance is? That doesn't sound fair, exceptional circumstances should be the same for everyone shouldn't they? Would 2 children with identical reasons for asking for time off be treated differently if they have difference attendance records?

If it's a situation that's at the Head's discretion then yes it's quite likely that they'll take attendance record into account.

Sorry Gary, I'm still bitter about a close family member getting married on a Monday and happily telling everyone that it was great because it saved them 25%! Oblivious to the fact that this was basically paid by their guests having to take 2 days off work. I still feel cross at the thought and it's been 10 years! And they paid for extras like chair covers and a fancy car - but no free bar!

We took our dc out of school for two days for a culturally valid break, specifics linked to our family. We told the school and while we didn't expect authorization we got non authorized leave with no further issues.

My 2 DDs were given a days authorised leave from High School for their cousins weddding.