Unauthorised School Absence

[Joanne UK]

Hello,

My daughter starts In reception this September and the school she is going to won't authorise any absence at all. I was planning to go to DLP in November but have now brought that forward to July to avoid any run ins in her first school term.

Reading various threads alot of you take your children away out of school term and I was just wondering what your "punishment" is, if any. Usually we like to go to DLP again in November but I'm thinking this wont be possible anymore. I don't want to say she's sick and can't go to school because I just don't like lieing about things like that and anyway she would want to talk about her holiday when she went back to school - and I'm not going to encourage a 5 year old to tell lies to her teachers if it came to it.

Joanne

 

[Miffy2003]

Joanne you may get emotive responses to this one!!

I always said I would never take my children out of school. My choice, and I would not judge anyone else who did.

However in December becasue we were travelling with our in laws the "price" was more important than usual and for a family of six it cost us £4000 less by missing nine days of school, so we did it. My view was that not a lot of "work" gets done just before the Christmas break anyway!

Our DDs schools' response? Their headmaster rang me at work to tell me to have a fantastic time and that family time together was very important and not to worry about missing school. We moved to our village specifically to get our DDs into their school which is one of the top (non independant) ones in the county. Our head's view happens to be that education for a child is far more than just what is taught at school. However he is not, I think, typical of most heads.

I hope you manage to sort it all out

 

[natalielongstaff]

we always take our dd out of school and will take her and ds out this septmber 3 weeks into his 1st term we cannot afford to go in the holidays
our head has always been fine about it and last year i took worksheets for dd to do and she compiled a trip diary as well. i think family time is just as important as school work, and travel can be very educational at times

 

[Madjock]

Hi Joanne,

Sorry I don't know what the punishment would be as our DDs school allows absence so long as you fill in the required form.

We have always gone to WDW in October but now that our oldest is at senior school I won't take her out during term time now.

Personally, I don't think at infants/junior school they miss much and the school can always give them work to complete during the break.

Annmarie

 

[Danauk]

As a year 6 teacher I have no problem with children in my class going on holiday in school time. However I really would not recommend taking year 6 children out in the Spring term or the summer term until SATS week, revision work at this time is hard to catch up with. When a child returns to school I will give them copies of homework completed in their absence for them to do. However I do not pre plan work for children to take with them (hey, they are going on holiday!)
At our school we will authorise 10 school days absence a year for family holidays. In your circumstance I would not lie to the school as to where you are going. An unnauthorised absence will not affect you directly in any way. However schools have to report their unnauthorised absences each year to the LEA.

 

[Stella_the_Staff]

Hi Joanne, Unauthorised absences started at my children's school last year, they are trying to bring in soon, a fast track system where they will fine you if you willingly take your children out of school during term to have a holiday. They're not sure if it is going to start in Sept (in our school) and could be £100 per child. That means it would cost me £300 and even though I explained to the school last week that I booked my holiday last June they said it was not down to the school itself but the education authority! Anyway if it does happen it would still be cheaper than going in July/August, the school said that travel companies are starting to recognise the situation and are supposed to be gradually bringing their prices down! My eldest daughter is 15 and will be missing 7 days off before half term, which is not very good as it is her last year at school, however I would rather go on holiday and know what she is upto than hanging around with her mates on the estate.

 

[Miffy2003]

, the school said that travel companies are starting to recognise the situation and are supposed to be gradually bringing their prices down! .

Stella, I don't doubt for a minute the school said this to you but it will never happen unfortunately. As someone with two children in school I wish it would!

 

[florida sun]

Hi

My daughters school is another that will not allow unauthorised absence, but it is a high school. I took my daughter out of school when she was in Infants/ Juniors but I would not be so keen now she is in the last 2 years of high school due to the exams she is studing for. I always go the last 2 weeks of August when the price does seem to come down a little. I am sure a day or two would'nt hurt but my daughters school wont have any of it.

I am sure every school is different as my sisiters children go to a school where they dont mind at all.

Sue

 

[Verity Chambers]

At our school you are allowed up to 10 days authorised absenses, these include holidays. I thought this was the case everywhere, guess I was wrong!!!

Anyway, I am a reception teacher and don't really think a few days holiday is unreasonable.

 

[Verity Chambers]

Stella, I don't doubt for a minute the school said this to you but it will never happen unfortunately. As someone with two children in school I wish it would!

As a teacher i would LOVE this too!!!

V.xxx

 

[Ware Bears]

At the moment, both my eldest DD's secondary school and my younger DD's junior school allow up to 10 days authorised leave a year although the secondary school advises that they would "prefer" not to sanction any leave in years 10 and 11, and the junior school will not sanction leave in Sats time for year 6.

We always manage to go away in holiday time apart from our trip to Florida last year when they each took 4 days off before the Easter holidays started, thus saving us well over £1000. I personally don't like the idea of taking them out of school but with that sort of saving, we didn't really have a choice. However, we took them out at the end of a term (when all they seem to do is watch videos rather than the start of the term when they would be buckling down to work) and did not get any problems with either of the schools. We will not be planning to take them out of school again until 2007 when my eldest will be in year 10 and then only for a few days before Easter again, it will be interesting to see if the leave will still be sanctioned then! My friend's sons go to a different junior school then mine and she is allowed to take them out of school for daytrips to Legoland and Alton Towers etc! I thought she was joking at first and was pretending to the school that he was sick but no, the headmaster sanctions it!!! Talk about the other extreme to your daughters school, Joanne!

 

[mumloveseeyore]

As with several of the others i feel that the children can learn as much by broadening their experience of the world and that education does not just happen in school. Both of my childrens schools authorise absences of up to 10 days. Any system of fines would have to make the holiday more expensive than the ridiculous price hike for the school summer holidays to act as deterrent. I'm lucky that my son's head, from a special needs unit regards our holiday as a valuable learning experience. Gill

 

[vicky1bfc]

We also are one of the lucky one's in the school will allow up to 10 days holiday per school year.If i was told by there school as in your case that they wouldn't allow it,im afraid i just wouldn't go or go during school holiday's.



Otherwise im all for taking them out as long as they are not in an important year.After all having family time is just as important to me as schooling.We just couldn't afford to holiday during school holiday's.

 

[Cyrano]

While I would always try to avoid taking children off school there are times when it cannot be avoid. I'm thankfully that my daughter's and son's school did not view the absence last November badly, in fact both teachers and head-teacher were very understanding.

Reid

 

[SammieG]

Whilst I agree that you can broaden a childs knowledge and horizons by travelling to different places I have to say I am always shocked at how many people take their kids out of school for a wdw trip! The planes are always completely full of kids when we go out of season.

My son started school in September and now we go in the holidays.. its a shame.. but that unfortunately is the way it has to be. Our school would very much frown upon us taking him out. Plus, I just dont think its fair on my son to take him out of three weeks of school. I would miss the last couple of days of term if they were not important, but never take him out in the middle. The child then has to catch up with stuff, and I just dont think its fair.

I know you will probably disagree.. and of course you are all entitled to your opininions.. Its one of those subjects I actually feel really strongly about.. remember also its actually illegal to take your child out of school. They are supposed to be at school.

This 10 days unauthorised leave seems ridiculous to me! Of course if that is the ONLY time you can take a family vacation due to work commitments (although I cant believe that over christmas, easter and the summer you cant find 2 weeks that you can take on holiday - but I am sure there are instances where its just not possible) then I suppose I will let you off, but other than that..

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

I've got two hats on when replying to this thread.

The first is as a mother. We have always taken our DD out of school for term-time holidays - primarily because up until this year my DH's job has not allowed holidays any other time than October or May (luckily that's fitted in in with our wish list for holiday times). Also, financially, it has been cheaper to go at these times. However, I have noticed the prices creeping up in October The travel companies have definitely cottoned on to how popular it is to go away with children at this time of the year.

Each tme we have taken Katie out of school, before booking I have asked her teacher if it would be ok. We are lucky to be blessed with an "able" child, therefore her schooling has never been an issue and each time her teachers have been more than happy for her to have time off, especially since we've been lucky enough to visit places like St Lucia, Hong Kong and the Philippines, as well as Florida. All vastly different cultures to our own and Katie has done a journal of her trips each time. Geography "mini projects" have varied from the Mountains in St Lucia, to tall buildings in Hong Kong, poverty in the Philippines, to The Everglades in Florida - all useful things to learn about.

BUT, she is now in Year 7 in senior school and I have always said - and stand by - that I will not take her out during term time for long periods of time. The work/homework is very different and a lot more of it than primary school and I wouldn't want her to miss out on any "just" for a holiday - this is because she's normally missed two weeks of school for our three week holidays, the full "10 days allowable authorised absence".

Mind you, we're off to Florida this August and OMG the price is frightening But we know this is going to be the last trip to Florida for a few years since there's loads of other places we so want to visit, so this year it will be and the only time we can go for three weeks is during the Summer holidays.

Secondly, I am an Admin Officer at a school. Therefore no term-time holidays any more for me. A real bummer, but when I weigh up the pros of all the school holidays I DO get off, it doesn't seem so bad (until I look at the invoice for the cost of the trip this August ).

And this is where it gets emotive, as Karen says. I am astounded by some parents attitudes when it comes to asking permission to take their children out of school. And permission IS required by the local education authority.

I do not have a problem at all for people taking children on holidays for both financial and family time reasons. However, some of the excuses we get are pitiful and this is why both the government and local education authorities are trying to crack down.

I'm only going to give one example of a child who had a day off last week. Got a call at 11.30 in the morning to say little Treasure wasn't going to be coming into school today since mum and dad were taking her to buy a puppy. She then had two more days off because she couldn't bear to leave the puppy on its own during the day This is a Year 6 student, coming up to SATS in May and with a heavy revision schedule because she doesn't cope so well as other students. Sorry, but totally irresponsible and the teacher is already feeling stressed about how to get children like this through exams which are important not only to the school, but more so for the child's future.

 

[TinkTatoo]

As with several of the others i feel that the children can learn as much by broadening their experience of the world and that education does not just happen in school. ................ Gill

I've seen many parents justify taking their children out of school using this argument but you get the same valuable learning experience taking the kids during school holidays.

We plan our trips in August so that the kids won't miss school and will have plenty of time to get over the jetlag when we get back. It is more expensive than taking them out of school but it is not an option for us so we just save harder for our summer trips.

I know this opinion won't please everyone but I don't feel regularly taking kids out of school for a family holiday is justified.

 

[Hilary]

This is an emotive issue and there isn't a black or white answer, IMO. Every child is different, every family's circumstances are different and every headteacher will view the situation differently.

We took DDs out of school for a week tacked on to a school break right up to the time eldest DD was in yr 13 (pre A levels), always with authorisation from the school. But I consider us to be very fortunate that both DDs cope well at school (eldest DD achieved four excellent A levels that year!) and neither of them have needed to take a lot of time away from school for illness. If they had required a lot of sick time or hospital visits, etc., or if they struggled to keep up academically, then I'm sure we would have felt differently.

I don't agree with the reasoning that children get taken out of school because parents 'can't afford to go on holiday during school holiday times because the prices are so much higher'. Surely that should be 'parents can't afford to go on the holiday of their choice during school holiday times'. Florida's not the only place to take children on holiday!

We chose to take DDs out of school to ensure we could go as a family together, with DH and myself able to take time off work together - yes, it was at a considerable saving, but that wasn't our no.1 objective. If we hadn't been able to afford to go to Florida, we'd have opted for somewhere else.

We're all different, aren't we?

 

[alisonbestford]

Just a note but I notice the Virgin website has just placed an advertisement advertising £400 off or a free child place at some hotels in Florida if you book in the holidays - not sure exactly how many places there'll be though or whether it'll be for top price hotels I think one was for the AllStars.
Might help in cases where the affordability is the issue?
Alison

 

[diberry]

We have no choice as my DH and I are both teachers so we have to go in school holidays!!!! But it does make a huge difference financially and of course it's also incredibly busy in August!! I don't think it's fair to take a child out of school at the start of a new school year because new friendships are made and old ones re-established in those early weeks and it can be absolutely vital for the child's social life which is an incredibly important part of school life too. Also just before exams I would say it's not a wise thing to do. I've had parents let kids take time off school to go to the hairdresser's!!! Only last year one of my year 11 pupils was taken out of school literally a couple of weeks before GCSEs started - to go to Butlin's!!!! You can imagine my reaction to that one!! But on the whole I can sympathise with parents who want to take kids out of school occasionally as long as they make sure that they catch up with any important work missed. My DH however would absolutely disagree so. as has been said, it's a very personal decision. But I think the most important point is that you obviously appreciate the importance of education or you wouldn't be doing the soul-searching so your children no doubt have the right attitude too.