horrible thought

[SophiesDad]

I've just had a horrible thought,we are flying to orlando on 12/6.We had to take daughter out of school because it was the only way we could afford a holiday to WDW,but as she will miss 11 days instead of the permitted 10 we could get prosecuted...now my horrible thought...if we get prosecuted for this does it count as a criminal record and we will need a visa to get back into USA anytime in the future ?

 

[alisonbestford]

Oh dear, what a dilemma!

Think you probably need to weigh up the age of your daughter, whether she has much time off sick, alongside the school's policies re: authorised abscence

We have taken DD (now aged 7) out of school every year so far as her Dad (due to his tumour) struggles to cope with the heat, crowds etc of the main 6 weeks holidays.
School has always authorised her abscence but, I have to admit that we've never dared stray beyond the '10 days rule'.
We dared to take an extra holiday, to Greece, last year and I called from the balcony, on my mobile, claiming she was unwell, for the last day before she broke up !

The 'upside', I guess, is that DD now understands that she will only be given time off school if she works hard

Guess this doesn't really answer your original question but, as I understand it, you only have a problem re-entering the US if you've been convicted of doing something to harm someone else - I doubt that having your child take time off school would count

 

[kazd]

We have just applied for 13 days, 10 are authorised and 3 are unauthorised. Its up to the Head whether to inform on you. I think most are fairly sympathetic though. I know ours is despite them having to take holidays during school holidays.

This is our last opportunity to take them out during term time, from September my eldest starts secondary and his school do not allow holidays out of term time.

In all his years of schooling so far todate we have only taken them out for 8 days. I think we are justified in taking them out. He has done his sats and he is expected to get high 5's. We feel fine about it.

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

No, you will not get prosecuted.

"Unauthorised" absences (regardless of whether headteacher has given permission or not) still go down on the system as unauthorised. This can get reported to education welfare. However, I would point out this is MOST unlikely (this is for persistent offenders who use the usual pathetic excuses for their children not turning up to school again and again - the ones who don't even think to ask permission for time off).

Don't worry, as long as it's not at a crucial time (lead up to and during SATS or other exams), one day extra shouldn't be a problem.

 

[SophiesDad]

thanks for the replies i feel a bit better now,my daughter has got 100% attendence certificates for the last three years so its not as if she is off school a lot.

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

As a year 2 teacher I would say the likelihood of this happening is very slim. We have kids who take the 10 days all the time, but then miss a couple of days afterwards due to jetlag etc. It will be fine.

 

[spoiltrotten12]

Hello, I am a teacher at a secondary school (currently on maternity leave) and I'm sure one day won't change anything. In my experience, if students are on holiday and go over 10 days, they are just marked down as an unauthorised absence and nothing comes of it. I'm sure it'll be all be fine. Look forward to your trip!! Not long now I see!

 

[Karenpowley]

Hi,

I work at a school too. Just make sure u ask for permission for the holiday from the Head, and assure her/him it was an oversight on your part and it wont happen again. Like someone said earlier, the extra day will just be put down as unauthorised. But make sure you put the request in writing! Our Head is quite accomadating aslong as she gets the request asking permission for the holiday, NOT just telling her when your going!

Hope that helps.

Karen

 

[disneycymru]

As Chairman of a Board of School Governors I would consider it unimaginable that a Headtreacher would report such an incident to the Welfare Officer unless your child was 'failing' at school. Even then I would have thought that the Welfare Officer would just have a chat with you. After all their purpose is to provide support to the pupils to help them acheive to their potential. Should you have both an unreasonable Headteacher and Welfare Officer I still cannot see this one incident ending in court I can assure you that unless they are very lucky they have much more pressing matters to deal with!

 

[shellbell]

Due to DH's leg (having the frame on for so long) he now has to have a few months rehab and physio to rebuild the musle and to alow the bone to heal 100%. This means the earliest we can go is October half term. We are going the 2 weeks before and will also be there the 3rd week. We will be taking DD out for 11 days but due to the circumstances we are hoping the school will understand. She will be 5 on August so she will be moving into year 1 in September. We wouldn't normally do this but if we went earlier we run a huge risk of DH not being fit enough and causing more damage to his leg. When should i write to the school and ask permission for this?

 

[Karenpowley]

Hi Shell Bell,

Put in ur request as early as poss. There shouldnt be any problem, especially in your circumstances.

Karenx

 

[shellbell]

Thankyou

 

[jna]

In January we lodged a request for ten days absence for our holiday in October - five days each side of half term. To date our only response (in February) from the school is as follows:-

"There is a possibility that new guidelines will be issued for acedemic year 2006/07 from the government (DfES) regarding the authorisation of holidays during school time."

It goes on to say that we we will be advised in the summer term whether or not the absence will be authorised. We've not argued with this reaction fearing that criticism will lead to an answer we do not want. We can only assume they are waiting for these new guidelines in the hope that they will be more strict than now.

The holiday is not mentioned at home. It is rather sad that the usual build up has been ruined because we don't know if we can actually go. I've had to put down deposits on flights, hotels etc. totalling over £800, all of which are non-refundable. I gather from reading the forum that Virgin have stopped allowing the transfer of a deposit to another date.

 

[alisonbestford]

Not sure what anyone else's schools are like at letting you know whether your application has been approved but I know that DD's only sends out the letter the week before you go!

That's happenend 3 times now and we always send the application in months in advance

 

[mark&sue]

I e:mailed my DD's school asking for 7 days out of school in October on 24th March. I have had no reply at all. I phoned up a month later to check if the e:mail had been received and was told that it had only just been passed to the Head. I will now just request again a few weeks beforehand if I hear nothing. However I feel it is very rude as I know our council has a policy for replying within a certain period of time even if it is only a holding letter. This applies to e:mails too.



Susan

 

[disneycymru]

School's will reluctantly authorise 10 days reluctantly as this is judged as part of their performance data! Failure to do this would result in the school having a lot of unauthorised absences they would have to explain. Do not however expect the school to ever say they are happy for you to take your child out of school they are not allowed to do so! The sooner a modernised system of educational terms is introduced the better but I don't think this would be supported by school teachers who have got used to the current system of long holidays.

 

[catherine]

Because we have frequent family reunions in the States with DH's family sometimes we have to take our DDs out of school if we want to go. We have discussed this with the school and the head told us if they will be out of school for more than 10 days then we should request authorised absence for the 10 days and the other days will be counted as unauthorised absence. It isn't a problem as far as he is concerned!