Originally posted by duchy
According to a teacher friend (whom I would assume to know what he is talking about-but yes-it's second hand) there has never been a test case challenging the right of parents taking children out of school-nor is there likely to be.
I hate to keep banging on about this, but it is a false assumption that parents have a legal right to take their children out of school for family holidays. I'm afraid your teacher friend is wrong. This is the legal basis for what I'm saying:
Education (Schools and Further Education) Regulations 1981; Regulation 12.
Contained within this regulation, there is a discretionary power for leave to be granted for the purpose of an annual family holiday or an annual holiday during term time. Such permission is granted in accordance with arrangements made by the governing body of the school. Only in exceptional circumstances may the amount of leave granted exceed (in total) more than two weeks in any year. No parent can demand leave of absence for the purposes of a holiday as of right.
The above definition is further refined and clarified by the:
Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 1995
Section 8 (1) Leave of absence may only be granted by a person authorised in that behalf by the proprietor of the school
Section 8 (3) Subject to paragraph (4), on application made by the parent with whom the pupil normally resides, a pupil may be granted leave of absence from the school to enable him/her to go away on holiday
Section 8 (4) Save in exceptional circumstances, a pupil shall not in pursuance of paragraph (3) be granted more than ten school days leave in any school year
The above regulations clearly make the point that the headteacher has the final decision as to whether to authorise the holiday or not. If any parent, here on DIS or elsewhere, goes into a school and demands their right to leave of absence so their child can have a family holiday during term time they should be aware that no such right exists, and it is up to the school whether they grant leave of absence. If they do not grant leave of absence there is no appeal to a higher authority.
If leave of absence is not granted (which will only happen in a minority of schools) it is then up to the parent to decide whether to take their child on holiday anyway, with their child's absence being recorded as unauthorised. As I said previously, having up to 10 days unauthorised absence on your child's record is not a major problem.
Regards
Rob