Our kids refused time off school during term time - please advice
Hi Folks
My wife and I are planning to go on a 2 week holiday to India with our twin children, in late October this year. The two weeks would be made up of the one week half term holiday plus the week after. So in reality, they would only be missing 5 school days. Going to India in late October is very popular and the travel agent advised us to book the holidays asap since it would have been very difficult to book a reservation after the month of May. We booked our tickets in mid May. We do know that it is difficult to get reservations for late October, if you inquire about them in June - so the travel agent wasn't telling us any false information.
Anyway, before booking, we rang the school, and the receptionist said there shouldn't be much of a problem with getting time off school, since it would only be 5 days. She said, when making the decision, the school mostly look at grades achieved so far and the attendance record of the child. Both our kids have satisfactory results in the school work and have almost 100% attendance record. She also stated that we need to give definite dates for our holidays, so both my wife and I decided to book the holidays before giving in the kids school holiday forms.
After booking and paying for the tickets, we gave in the holiday forms for the children to school. However, today we received a letter from the school stating that they would not allow the kids time off school !!
Both my wife and I are very upset about this, since we were hoping that our kids would be allowed time off school, especially after speaking to the receptionist, and it is now very likely we will not get the money back from the travel agent either !
Would this be the end of the matter or can we take things further i.e. appeal again the decision?
Any advice offered would be greatly appreciated.
My wife and I are planning to go on a 2 week holiday to India with our twin children, in late October this year. The two weeks would be made up of the one week half term holiday plus the week after. So in reality, they would only be missing 5 school days. Going to India in late October is very popular and the travel agent advised us to book the holidays asap since it would have been very difficult to book a reservation after the month of May. We booked our tickets in mid May. We do know that it is difficult to get reservations for late October, if you inquire about them in June - so the travel agent wasn't telling us any false information.
Anyway, before booking, we rang the school, and the receptionist said there shouldn't be much of a problem with getting time off school, since it would only be 5 days. She said, when making the decision, the school mostly look at grades achieved so far and the attendance record of the child. Both our kids have satisfactory results in the school work and have almost 100% attendance record. She also stated that we need to give definite dates for our holidays, so both my wife and I decided to book the holidays before giving in the kids school holiday forms.
After booking and paying for the tickets, we gave in the holiday forms for the children to school. However, today we received a letter from the school stating that they would not allow the kids time off school !!
Both my wife and I are very upset about this, since we were hoping that our kids would be allowed time off school, especially after speaking to the receptionist, and it is now very likely we will not get the money back from the travel agent either !
Would this be the end of the matter or can we take things further i.e. appeal again the decision?
Any advice offered would be greatly appreciated.
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Comments
Schools these days are getting very strict on kids having time off, and for holiday purposes it will always likely to be a no.
Many thanks for your replies.
Are you suggesting it is not worth appealing against the decision?
Not necessarily. They could take work with them and the children complete studies while away.
I think the experience will far outweigh what will be learned in the five days and would def appeal. especially since they have good attendance records and grades.
Slightly off topic but I think this policy is just hitting soft targets. There was a story of a boy who killed himself int the news the other day and he hadnt been at school for 3 years and no one bothered their arse. Another child battered had been missing for months. This is where they need to direct their resources rather than parents taking them out for a one off trip..
£630 fine, £300 costs and £63 victim surcharge!
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2014/01/15/shropshire-couple-in-court-for-holiday-fine-case/
You can either go and risk being fined £60 per child per parent, so £600, doubled if you don't pay within 21 days. Its down to LEA, some are hot on it, others not so much. There is also the aspect of missing school work.
Or go in school holidays like everyone else.
You could try appealing, it's worth a go.
Just remember though a holiday is not considered a good reason for taking kids out of school.
If both your children had 100% attendance and are achieving higher standard of results this would also work in your favour.
So your saying that the kids will be able to do the same amount of work as the ones who have stayed in school? Not much of a holiday then.
I agree holidays are good experiences, but school is more important. Not disrupting the learning of the rest of the class is more important. There is no reason other than selfishness that these experiences can't be had in the school holidays.
What can they do if you just go?
Genuine question. My children went to school in an age when teachers knew their place, i.e. doing their job and leaving family decisions to families.
Do they really think 5 days off is going to affect your children that much? They have enormous superiority complexes if they do.
I'm trying to laugh at the thought of these little Hitlers pontificating around thinking they are important, but actually it's very annoying.
Personally, I'd just go and ring in sick.
or £240....if its £60 per child per parent.
I'd just go and risk getting the fine.
And people are OK with this? What has this country come to?
I wouldn't care so much if they actually got some education at school, but that seems a rarity these days.
It can if they haven't got a 100% attendance record, also depends on the child ages as well.
It really can't. They could catch up this in a weekend.
Genuinely curious here ... would it not matter if the teachers took a week off in term time ?
Some have teachers barely able to teach anything and should be in another job and act like little hitlers even to the parents
[The reason why parents cannot take children out of school is because it's seen to cause disruption, not just for them but for the class. If everyone was allowed to take their kids out whenever they wanted for a holiday or extended weekends away, the disruption would be huge.
Many parents these days want their kids to go to a school graded as Outstanding. This means schools are having to hit their goals to achieve that status and so it's in their best interests to keep kids in school to get the best grades they can get and get the best attendance they can get. ]
Some do....a teacher at my daughters school had extra time off for her honeymoon.
OK. But I really meant ALL the teachers.
So that the specific child would be missing 5 days of school because there were no teachers rather than because the child wasn't there.
e2a - actually, is it still the case that primary school children just have one teacher for everything? In which case, my point is moot.
Depends on the school. My kids primary school, the have a form tutor and then are streamed for their literacy and their maths, meaning they have in effect 3 teachers.
You say that, and yes for teachers there are, but not every parent is able to get school holidays, as in some industries it is their peak season.
I think a trip to India is a good education experience